colocation hosting

J

jlynch

New member
What's colocation hosting? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I haven't heard about it before. I'm familiar with VPS and dedicated, both and have been learning about cloud hosting.
 
Hi!
It's a situation where you provide a server and you trust some company to host it for you. It can be very expensive..but..in the long run..you can save money because you only pay for space, power, bandwidth and anything else.

Servers are different sizes..of course. "Normal" pc's are not designed to be mounted on a rack..so..they have special needs. Some colos can do this..others require you to have normal rack mount servers.

Bryon
 
Thanks, Bryon! That is a perfect answer to explain it to me. Essentially then, you loan your server out to someone else who hosts it for you? I just want to make sure I understand correctly.
 
Hi!
No..you're not "loaning" anything. It's still your server..it's your property. It depends on your arrangement with the host as to what you have to do and what they have to do.

Many offer remote hands. If you needed to add memory or replace a hard drive..they might do it for you. However..in many cases you would have to make a appearance yourself and do it. Some manage the server server for you..and monitor it. Some don't. Again..it depends on the arrangement you make.

You can also allow a third-party access to come on property and manage it for you. Again...it all depends on the arrangements you make with the facility and/or a third-party management company.

You have to "trust" your property to them, though. There is risk involved...because there are some very shady companies out there. It's still your server, though...your property. However..if you don't pay the bills it seems possible they could have a lien on it until the bill was paid.

There are always chances of overage charges and problems...as with any situation. As with any hosting..there may be cost savings and possible downsides/upsides compared to other arrangements.

It all depends on your needs and many other factors.

Bryon
 
So it sounds as if it's a very personalized sort of situation, where you can really specify exactly what you need, right? That sounds pretty cool. Thanks.
 
Colocation hosting basically means that you do not lease the server from the hosting provider and you have your own hardware which is placed in the data center and you pay for it's power usage, maintainence, bandwidth etc.

You should have your own hardware for colocation hosting which is to be placed in the data center of the hosting provider, however, it is recommended that you consider leasing a dedicated server from the hosting provider as you will be able to upgrade your server whenever required and you won't have to purchase the hardware which is costly.
 
If you're looking at one or two servers, I'd suggest leasing - less headache. If you have multiple machines, or possibly the host you want doesn't offer the hardware you need, then co-location is the option. Most people when it comes to co-location look at a data center near their house or business. It allows your own staff then to manage and maintain it. We had about 100 servers located at a local datacenter and the only thing we paid for was power and bandwidth. We used a KVM so we could access the servers and we had machines that did the automatic reboot through a PDU (power distribution unit). Basically allowed us to access a page and remote reboot the machine if it stalled for whatever reason.

As mentioned, it can be expensive. The expense lies in what you get out of it. USUALLY you have to have extra hardware on hand should something fail in the middle of the night. It also means you get those late night runs to the data center when something doesn't go 100% right.

Years ago we had a powerful server that no other hosting company would lease to us. It was a backup server with 10 hard drives and ran somewhere in the neighbourhood of $6,000 for the server. As a result we were forced into a CoLocation situation on that server as it was not something that was a high demand.
 
I guess everyone already provided the information about what the colocation hosting is. Now, if you wish to sign up for colocation hosting, you may need to consider the hosting provider services, data center facilities and etc. Please note that you have to bare the cost of downtime if there is hardware failure from your server.
 
What factors or guidelines lead businesses to select dedicated versus colocated?

At the top of my list are:
  • In-house technical expertise
  • Proximity of data center
  • Are managed services available
  • Are monitoring services available
  • What about backups and disaster recovery
  • Cost of power
  • Type of bandwidth offered (BGP/Cogent)?
  • Flexibility to upgrade and scalability factors
  • Entry cost
  • SLA (Service Level Agreement)
  • Terms of Service
  • Current reviews of each
  • Capital Asset Expense

Of course there are pros and cons to each plan, and neither may be the perfect solution for your requirements. Most hosts will work to customize a solution that matches your requirements.

Colocation Pros:

  • If you’re in close geographical proximity to the data center, you can work on your own equipment (upgrades, etc.) avoiding the cost of outsourced parts and labor.
  • As you grow, savings from colocation grow as well
  • It’s still your equipment, so it’s easier to migrate to another provider should problems arise.
  • As a rule, it’s generally less expensive when compared to unmanaged dedicated
  • Your fixed assets show on your balance sheet, indicating higher net worth (important to banks and potential customers).
  • If you’re using accrual accounting, you’ll be able to show profitability on your income statement by spreading expenses over three to five years (depreciation).

Dedicated Pros:

  • For smaller customers, dedicated makes more business sense
  • A broad range of managed services are available
  • The server belongs to the host and it’s their responsibility to maintain and keep it running
  • Their techs are familiar with the hardware more so than they would be with your colocated equipment
  • You benefit from data center amenities that may not be included in colocation packages (firewalls, load balancing)
  • Entry costs are lower and scalability is enhanced
  • O/S maintenance and upgrades may be included as optional managed services
  • Allows you to outsource IT expertise so you can do what you do best – drive your business
 
The server is yours and you hire another company to host that, it is called collocation. The write up from Steve may help you in a better way though.
 
Years ago we had a powerful server that no other hosting company would lease to us. It was a backup server with 10 hard drives and ran somewhere in the neighbourhood of $6,000 for the server. As a result we were forced into a CoLocation situation on that server as it was not something that was a high demand.
Click to expand...
And this is not uncommon...we wouldn't do this on a lease either without a long term contract. The risks are too high. How much colocation space did this server require?
 
Here is a little article I wrote up about colocation in the past.



Colocation is the provisioning of space, bandwidth, and power in a data center, and requiring the customer to “co-locate” thier own physical equipment (Servers, and infrastructure) within the datacenter. The customer in turn, manages their own computing hardware, either remotely, or by visiting the datacenter.

Organizations are increasingly realizing the benefits of colocating their mission-critical equipment within data center facilities. Colocation is becoming more popular because of the time and cost savings by using shared data center infrastructure as opposed to trying to build out their own facility.

By colocating their equipment within these datacenters, companies can focuse more on their core business, as opposed to being in the datacenter business. These facilities also offer the ability to scale as the larger colocation facilities are typically 50,000 to 100,000 square feet.

Major types of colocation customers typically include:

* E-Commerce companies
* Web 2.0 Companies
* Major Enterprises
* Telecom Companies
* and many more

Colocation Facilities typically include the following features:

* Fire Protection systems
* Smoke detection systems
* Redundant power feeds (A side, B side Power)
* Multiple connections to power grids
* Redundant Cooling (HVAC)
* Standard Racks and Cabinets for equipment storage
* Physical Security such as security cameras, biometric hand scan readers, man traps and more
* Generator Power in case of utility power failure
* Meet Me Room, where different bandwidth carriers are housed and can efficiently exchange data
* Mutiple Fiber Connections to the building to provide redundancy so that communcations can continue if one connection is lost
* Battery Backup systems for the interum between utility power failure, and generator startups
Click to expand...
 
2 reasons I really prefer colocation over dedicated because I have actual access to the hardware and I own the servers so I can make adjustments to what I want.
 
Depeche said:
2 reasons I really prefer colocation over dedicated because I have actual access to the hardware and I own the servers so I can make adjustments to what I want.
Click to expand...
Those servers can also be depreciated, which can make a huge difference in your tax return. :D
 
Cloud Hosting is internet based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information those are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, means its a type of internet hosting where the client leases virtualized, dynamically scalable infrastructure on their needed basis.
I can suggest you a link where you will get the best and reliable hosting at affordable prices that is planet online-web hsoting. check it out this one.

Regards,
Raicol
 
Colocation hosting is nothing but you are sharing bandwidth with the server colocation provider; this is how you avoid bandwidth charges. You can also rent a server from the server colocation provider. In that case, you own no part of the process but only data.
 
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