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Renting Dedicated Servers verus Co-Location

Renting Dedicated Servers verus Co-Location Dedicated Servers and managed dedicated servers are a type of internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the servers, including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Dedicated severs usually are used for extensive websites which serve too many online visitors at once. Mail Servers, Virtual Universities or extensive Ecommerce websites are samples of Dedicated server usages. Dedicated servers provide huge web space and bandwidth. If server is physically owned by the customer but located in a third party datacenter it is then called a Co-Location Server. When a physical server is divided to multiple Virtual Servers we will have several Virtual Private Servers(VPS). These servers can provide greater control and performance than a Shared Hosting account without the expense of a whole server. They come with exactly the same features, autonomy and functionality of a dedicated server, and are suitable for a wide range of tasks such as application testing/development, domain and hosting resellers, high traffic websites or game serving. In dedicated servers the user gets his or her own web server and gains full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); However, the user typically does not own the server. If the server is administered in a third party datacenter but owned by you its called Co-Location Server. These are suitable for: • high traffic websites • database-intense websites • online products seller sites. In Virtual Private Server(VPS)(slicing up a server into virtual servers), each user feels like they are on their own dedicated server, but they are actually sharing a server with several other users. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) offers a more stable, secure, and flexible hosting environment than a shared hosting plan without the cost of a dedicated server. The major difference between server co location and dedicated server hosting is ownership of the hardware and facilities. With a dedicated server, you are renting the hardware and paying a third party for support and management services to a pre-agreed standard; whereas, with a co-location facility, the hardware is owned by the user. The actual facilities will, in fact, be owned by a number of different business users and a good analogy is a condominium for servers. Server co-location involves several users sharing the cost of technical support, facilities, internet connectivity, and other data center infrastructure, and provides economies of scale to business users. Typically, business users tend to be web based e-commerce companies and enterprise class organizations that are looking to free up their own networks and take advantage of the cost savings. Now, which one is the best, leasing a dedicated server or buying your own server and co-locating it in someone's data center? This can be answered by assessing your company’s technical needs, budget, internet traffic, and growth expectancy. It is fair to say that larger, established companies typically rely on co-location over a dedicated server. Whereas, smaller aspiring businesses, which do not have the ability to administer a server, can opt for web hosting on a shared server and then ultimately transition over to a dedicated server. Once a company has the ability to administer a server, it usually graduates to utilizing the benefits of a co-location facility, which allows a company the autonomy it often desires. When you co-locate, you are simply renting space within someone else's facility to store your own server or servers and provide bandwidth. It's like a high tech locker that you are renting all or part of to house your servers. You either ship or deliver your server to your provider. Additional services provided with co-location vary from host to host but it certainly won't include the actual server. With a dedicated server you are getting all the features of co-location, plus the actual web server itself. While it certainly depends on your particular needs, and there are excellent situations for both the dedicated server option is quickly becoming a better choice in more and more cases. If you already own a web server, or cluster that you prefer to use, then obviously co-location may be your best choice. If you are considering buying new equipment and shipping it off for co-location - please reconsider. The prices and equipment available in dedicated hosting these days are outstanding plus relieve you of the burden of hardware maintenance and replacement . Most hosts keep identical spare parts on hand for the types of servers used and are quick to react if something fails. Depending on your arrangement with a co-location host, hardware failure could mean paying to have a server shipped back, having it fixed yourself then sending it back to the data center. With the online industry slowing down e-business economists are struggling to reduce operating costs for their respective companies. For the dot coms thriving on high traffic, there is no doubt efforts have been put towards trying to reduce hosting or bandwidth costs. As the internet server hosting market has evolved, many companies have focused a great deal of time into determining the cost advantages and disadvantages of co-location over dedicated serving. Co-location is not always the most cost efficient choice. For instance, if you choose to co-locate, you first must purchase all of the hardware (a server and router). However, if you already own the hard ware, it may be wise to simply ship it to your local data center and co-locate it. This option is especially attractive when you are knowledgeable in the hardware and software running on your system. For the rest of us, who don't own hardware and can’t afford to buy hardware, we'll be stuck paying for dedicated servers. Co-location can be compared to dedicated servers as buying a home and paying property tax to renting an apartment. Both have their advantages, but they vary person to person, company to company. The only real way to know what you are getting into is to sit down and do the math. Co-location is more expensive right away, and cheaper in the long run with lower monthly costs. Dedicated servers are more expensive in the long run with higher monthly costs, but have no upfront costs. Server co-location is for the serious enterprise business user that has the budget to invest the financial outlay to build a data center. This is typically beyond the budget of many companies, unless they have a dedicated web business that requires c0-location facilities. For the majority of businesses, dedicated server hosting provides the route to a financially viable business solution to ensuring security and dedicated server uptime for their purposes. The growth in server co-location is typically amongst the enterprise class business market, and this sector is still maturing, compared to dedicated server hosting centers that have been around for over a decade now. The level of managed services that can be delivered at a fraction of the cost of server co-location investment provides a broadly comparable level of service for even the small business. Managed dedicated server hosting providers tend to be negotiable on what exactly they will provide for you, even providing support for business critical applications such as e-mail, accounting software applications, and other business solutions, generally known as ASP (Application Service Providers). With regards to connectivity, speed, and bandwidth uptime, server co-location provides the means to maximize connectivity, as the business user select the size of connection, as well as how many physical connection points to the data center there will be. Serious web and e-commerce hosting tends to take place at co-location centers, simply because of the high speed and redundant connectivity they offer. Though large savings can be achieved through the economies of scale, this is more than many business budgets can handle. Dedicated server hosting centers, in comparison, are able to offer similar facilities as a server co-location center; however, more users will be utilizing the connection, or limits will be placed upon the volume of traffic by the hosting center itself through their acceptable usage policy. Pay attention to how much bandwidth you are allowed to use in order to avoid any unpleasant surprises when the invoice comes through the door. In terms of the amount of uptime you can experience, a server co-location facility will probably provide greater uptime, simply because these centers tend to be used by telecommunication companies providing the internet backbone themselves. For practical business purposes, however, this may simply be splitting hairs, as a dedicated server-hosting center will in all likelihood be able to guarantee 99.99% uptime in any event. In brief, your company’s resources and stability will dictate your decision making process. There are many co-location companies and dedicated server companies that can fulfill your needs once you come to the best conclusion for you. Technology is constantly evolving, placing greater demands on a company’s ability to compete in its marketplace. Co-location provides the leverage to respond to those demands, affording more opportunity to a company than dedicated servers. About HostChart.com HostChart, a Web Hosting Company Resource, is a leading web hosting directory website that has been in business for over 6 years. They provide numerous web hosting articles and tutorials as well as news, interviews, and reviews. You can use their extensive set of tools to research and evaluate your current or future web hosts. HostChart is a Property of Advantage1 Web Services, which also operates ResellerConnection.com, a a href="http://www.resellerconnection.com">Reseller Web Hosting Resource, HostingKnowledge.net, and FoundHost.com, a a href="http://www.foundhost.com">Budget Hosting Resource. About the Author: Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including HostChart.com, ResellerConnection.com, FoundHost.com, ResellerForums.com, and HostingKnowledge.net. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.

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