As context, I have recently built a website using ASP.NET MVC that is backed by SQL Server 2005 database. I am now looking to host this on a dedicated server and have found a suitable web host. So far so good.
As this is my first website I have extremely limited knowledge (read zero) of servers, how to configure them, what is best practice, pitfalls etc. Whilst I am willing to learn, right now I have no spare time as all my efforts are devoted into refactoring my web app, making functionality improvements etc.
My question is: am I just better paying my web host to take care of all server side issues for me?
I have taken a look at Plesk which appears to be a point-and-click way of managing your server set-up and configuration but it is unclear to me whether that will help with everything I need e.g. setting up forwarding email accounts, setting up SQL server etc. My web host is offering Plesk at ~$50 per month but I am not sure whether I will still need to get my fingers dirty with the server directly and makes me think I should take the other web hosts option of paying them to do everything?
Any thoughts on this? Is Plesk a viable option for somebody in my position?
EDIT - I would welcome any book / .pdf recommendations on getting started with windows server 2008 and configuring it for web applications etc. After some googling there seems to be a number of resources but being an abecedarian in this field it is hard to sort the wheat from the chaff and guidance from the scholars on this site would be greatly beneficial...