If you buy dedicated hosting are you able to also purchase special add ons, or get more unusual requests met? For instance, I always worry about lightening damage. Can you (paid for extra of course) get protection installed for your server (if such protection exists of course).

It really depends on the host where you purchase the dedicated server from but most of them always offer different upgrades so they can earn additional cash from your server purchase.
As for the "lightening damage" this is the last thing you should worry about

Heh, maybe. However when I wrote that post we were under the loudest, one of the most spectacular storms I've seen in a long time. It's been a scary season, with many storms, tornados and so on and so yes, storm damage is very much on my mind.

Locally, some houses have lightening rods. If residences can have, why not data centers?

AbbieRose no one DC will guarantee you anything.... and you have understand that. And take care about that yourself, I believe that the mirrowing is the dest way.

Even with a dedicated server, remember to have backups.

Oh I fully realise that. Nor am I asking for guarantees of anything. But recent threads have had me wondering exactly what is available to those with the money, and those who feel the need.

Backing up is the essential thing of any business.

I don't recall seeing lightening protection as an add-on available for purchase, however, when you look at data center specifications there is usually mention of over-voltage protection. I would bet that all 'real' data centers would have this type of protection, taking care of the entire data center.

With regard to add-ons in general, there's usually quite a few such as: control panels; backup methods; load balancing; DNS service.