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Article : Co-Location Server
Understand Your Hosting Needs
The first obvious step is to determine your needs
and analyze your own operation. You try to see what
exactly is your priority and what you don`t want in
your business which depends on the size and style of
your business. If you have a defined budget, decide
which criteria are the most important ones on your
list and keep those priorities in mind as you speak
with providers.These analysis are particularly
useful when assessing the need for "managed
services" such as data storage, Internet connection
security, scalability and application hosting.
Make notice on industry news
There are colocation providers who have withsatnd
the swings of dot com and telecommunication
businesses for years. Then there are some who have
been hobbled and are facing crises, and some have
already failed in their venture or been sold. So it
is important that you decide to work with a company
who has a modest revenue plan, not a newbie in the
market and have enough financial back up.
Monitoring and evaluating industry news sites is one
way to stay connected and thus you have a fair idea
of which providers are faring well and which ones
may be carrying large debt loads.
Neutral Provider
A neutral carrier specific provider offers a single
bandwidth or has business incentive to its direct
customers to a particular provider.
Features
Neutral carrier provider offers customers a choice
of connectivity.
Make sure that you have many alternative carriers
available to provide you the
coonection. This eradicate the compulsion of working
with a single provider.
Having choices is important for both price and
flexibility.
Power
A reliable and redundant power supply is the basic
need for colocation services. Obtaining electric
service is increasingly expensive for facility
operators, and some maintain more capacity than
others. Know as much as you can about how much
energy your equipment will require, and whether the
provider can meet your needs.
Redundancy
Having enough power isn't enough. Your servers must
continue to operate if a facility loses power.
Uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems featuring
battery banks and powerful generators are standard
in most quality data centers. The best facilities
will have backups for the backup equipment in these
key areas.
This same approach to redundancy should be applied
to other mission-critical systems. Ideally the
facility should be equipped with dual fiber and
power feeds into the building.
Survivability
Would your servers stay up and running if an
earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit
the neighborhood where the data center resides? Try
to have a knowledge whether the facility has been
engineered to withstand disasters such as
earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and fires.
Physical Security
Finally, educate yourself about the physical
security in place at the facility. Many colocation
providers employ tools such as thumb scans or
retinal scans to verify a user's identity. Some have
"man-trap" corridors to restrict access in case
intruders who get past the first line of security.
Video surveillance is another important component in
a facility security plan.
With such measures in place, be sure you understand
which employees will be granted access to the
facility, and in what scenarios an employee of the
colocation company or vendor technician will be
allowed to access your equipment.
Is collocation right for you
When you know that you have grown more than the
capacity of your local web host you know that time
has come to switch to a bigger one. Co-location
differs from leasing a dedicated web server in that
you actually provide the hardware to the hosting
company. You basically "rent" space in their Network
Operations Center (NOC) where you receive the
bandwidth and facilities to get your web server up
and running.
The big advantage of co-location is that you can use
your own machine. This allows for greater
flexibility in terms of administration and
implementation of services, especially when dealing
with your own clients and customers. This is also
beneficial if you have an existing machine that will
suit your web server needs but lack the appropriate
facilities to get that machine online. Co-locating
your server with a hosting company is usually
cheaper than leasing a dedicated server directly
from the company because you are providing the
hardware rather than leasing a machine.
Typically your machine will be housed in a Network
Operations Center (NOC). This gives you many
benefits that would not be otherwise available.
These include an environmentally controlled and
secure facility, uninterruptible power supplies,
24x7 monitoring and the availability of bandwidth to
meet your web hosting needs.
One of the biggest drawbacks to co-locating your web
server is that hardware tends to become obsolete
very quickly. Unless you have an existing machine
that will serve your needs, purchasing a new machine
specifically for use as a web server may not be cost
effective.
Co-location advantages include :
Greater flexibility
Ability to use existing hardware
More control over web server administration
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
Co-location disadvantages include :
Initial cost up front
Hardware may become outdated quickly
Web Server Administration is your responsibility
When considering co-location, it is important to
determine your specific needs and compare the cost
associated with co-location and other types of web
hosting solutions. When evaluating a company, be
sure to ask plenty of questions and ask for
references.
Colocation v/s dedicated derver
If you have outgrown your current virtual Web
hosting account and you want greater control over
your Web site, you may want to consider co-located
or dedicated server services. Both provide greater
control and flexibility but there are differences as
well.
The primary difference between co-located or
dedicated server services is that with co-location,
you provide the hardware and the Web Host provides
the facility, bandwidth, etc. With a dedicated
server you lease or rent the hardware that is owned
by the Web Host.
If you have an existing machine that will serve the
needs of your Web site, then it may be most cost
effective.
Leasing a dedicated server is usually more expensive
than co-location but you receive the full package
including hardware, software, bandwith, etc. Leasing
also allows you to easily upgrade as your Web server
needs change.
What is Co-Location?
With co-location the Webmaster provides the server,
and houses it in a data center orfacility that links
it to the Internet. Typically, the customer pays a
housing fee (called a “rack fee”) in addition to the
Internet uplink that runs directly into their
server. Dedicated servers, on the other hand, are
just that: you have a server dedicated and rented to
you, which is managed by the data center or
provider, but you do not have absolute ownership
over the server.
This is the reason why many favor co-location. After
a year of paying a dedicated server, you’ve probably
paid the server off 3-4 times over, and yet you have
no ownership of the hardware. However, if you don’t
expect to have a great deal of traffic, and you’d
prefer the additional support that providers give, a
dedicated server may just be the right way to go.
Owning the server and being responsible for
replacement hardware may be an unnecessary cost for
your business.
Co-location and dedicated servers compare to buying
a home and paying property tax or renting an
apartment. Both have their advantages, but they vary
according to the situation. The only way to know
what you are getting into is to sit down and do the
math. Co-location is more expensive at the onset,
and cheaper in the long run. Dedicated servers are
more expensive in the long run, but cost less up
front.
Selecting an Operation System
There are several different Network Operating
Systems available today, so finding one that
satisfies your needs while complying with your
budget can be a difficult task. I’ve chosen two of
the more popular ones to discuss here: Windows NT
and Linux.
Windows NT
The obvious difference between these two popular
operating systems is that NT attempts to bring the
familiar Windows interface to a server environment.
NT allows Webmasters to operate their server by
pointing and clicking, which has been a major
contributor to the increased popularity of NT. Aside
from the user-friendly interface, NT is ideal for
sites that plan to run third-party developed
software, and NT makes it especially easy to work
with databases (Access, Oracle, SQL, DB2).
Linux
Linux is also favorite for many, is undeniably
harder to learn, but it’s probably the most secure
OS. You can expect a Linux machine to literally run
for years without crashing. In addition, very few
viruses have been found on Linux machines, and Linux
runs very efficiently on almost all hardware. Linux
sites usually run the free Apache Web server, and
while it lacks the point-and-click tools that NT
incorporates, the majority of experienced
administrators prefer the flexibility that Linux
gives by allowing you to work with the raw code.
Selecting Server Hardware
Selecting the correct hardware for your server is as
critical as picking anOS. The three most popular
platforms in the industry are Sun, Intel, and
Cobalt. Sun is acknowledged in the server business
for its speed, efficiency, and its reliability;
however, Intel does not stray far behind, and tends
to be much more affordable for the average
Webmaster.
Cobalt, owned by Sun Microsystems, has recently
become a major player in server hardware. Cobalt is
perfect for Webmasters who need to support many
sites, and is the most inexpensive of the three. The
Cobalt RaQ server is a great out-of-the box machine,
but it is not recommended for high traffic sites.
Networking Cards
The next step is to select your networking card.
Here, our request is don't go for a cheap card. Your
Networking Card is your connection to the Internet,
and since you are co-locating (paying for the
hardware yourself), you will experience some major
downtime and expenses, in both labor and parts, if
you’re forced to make a replacement.
Memory
Selecting the amount of memory for your server can
vary with your plans, but I’d strongly recommend
that you purchase at least 256MB. The server will
store accessed Web pages in the memory, so the more
memory you have, the more pages can be stored.
Hard Drives
Hard drives also play a major role in performance.
Hard drives generally come in speeds of 5400, 7200,
10,000, and 15,000 RPM. These numbers represent the
speed at which the metal disks inside the hard drive
rotate. Needless to say, the faster the rotation
speed, the faster your server is able to access
data.
Selecting a Provider
Selecting your provider is undoubtedly the most
important decision in this process, and should be
taken very seriously.
The first step is to determine and list what your
needs are and keep this list in front of you while
you “listen” to the sales pitch. Otherwise, you may
be sold on the small things providers are so
aggressively marketing, without ensuring you get
exactly what you need.
Things to look at while searching for a provider
include :
Price
You may be tempted to take the cheaper route, but
having frequent downtime is very unprofessional, and
will result in instant credibility loss among your
users.
Technical Support
Available technical support is another issue that
should be taken seriously, and ought to play a major
role in your decision. Most reputable hosts have
24/7 support via email and phone.
Redundancy
Another vital aspect to look into is your host’s
connection. You may have the best hardware for your
server, but if your host cannot match this with a
good connection to the Internet, you may experience
downtime that results in loss of business. Good
hosting companies have multiple connections to the
Internet, and should also facilitate the use of
on-site back up equipment in case of a power
failure.
5 Questions to Ask Your Host!
Do you provide 24/7 support? Via email, phone, etc.?
What type of back-up systems do you have in place?
Do you provide a 30-day money back guarantee?
How many connections to the Internet do you
currently have running in to your facilities?
What is the turnaround time for server setup?
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