I’d found this question quite silly the first time I saw someone to ask it in any web hosting forums. Then I realized that I have spent too much time in the hosting industry and that my perception about what’s important and what’s not does not work when it comes to to certain issues. I have also remembered that it was very hard for me back in 2002 to choose whether to stay on a dedicated server or to buy my own machine.
Many people who have a lot of web sites and need resources ask themselves “Should I get a dedicated server or to colocate my own machine”. It is important to have an aswer on this because the right one would save one a lot of money. So lets say a few things about Dedicated Server Hosting and Colocation Hosting.
Colocation and Dedicated Hosting – Advantages and Disadvantages
When people buy a dedicated server, they get a certain amount of resources on a physical machine, which is leased exclusively to them. However the user does not own the physical server and it is their for as long as they pay a monthly fee. As anyone would assume the servers cost money and web hosting providers calculate the upfront costs they have on purchasing server into the dedicated hosting customer’s monthly bill. This is fair!
So the monthly costs of having a dedicated server are significantly higher than those for Colocation. However when someone wants to colocate a server they need to buy their own machine first! So unlike Dedicated Hosting, the Colocation requires the server owner to face upfront costs of ownership.
Dedicated Hosting definitely offers more flexibility to the user unlike Colocation. Anyone who got a dedicated server on monthly contract, could replace or upgrade the machine, if the hosted applications require more resources. The user just switches to another dedicated server or web hoster takes care of the upgrade. In colocation the server owners should order and install the parts on their own (or to pay for a remote hands to a data center technician). If the server owner has chosen a hardware redundant server and if the data center in which the machine is housed is located in the same area, the owners could do replacement on their own. Otherwise they need a technician to work on the machine.
So we can consider Dedicated Server Hosting as a type of hosting service which provides more flexibility to the customer. However, it is important to know that in a long run, when it comes to a IT hosting projects longer than 8 months, the total cost of ownership which people pay to use a Dedicated server a significantly higher that if they buy their own machine and colocate it in any data center.
Another thing which anyone should consider when choosing between Dedicated Hosting and Colocation is that if one needs to colocate more servers and want to use its own in-house management, it is a good idea to obtain its own Autonomous System and to consider to be independent of the data center when it comes to IP space and network connectivity.
How Much Data Transfer (Bandwidth) Does Anyone Need?
You never need “Unlimited”. So do not go with any hosting provider just because it claims to offer unlimited. Use this tool to calculate your monthly bandwidth usage – http://web.forret.com/tools/bandwidth.asp. It is important whether you publish content on daily basis, whether you are uploading audio and/or video streams? You should also take into consideration the email service you need. If you send 1 Mb – 5 Mb per day, then you will need at least 200 Mb monthly traffic for your email only.
“Web Hosting” Very Often Means “Shared Hosting”
Virtual Hosting is a technical term used to describe what is best known as “Shared Hosting”. Shared Hosting refers to web hosting service in which many websites are hosted on one physical or virtual server. Each website has its own partition on the server, to keep it separate from other sites.
“Web Hosting” Very Often Means “Linux Hosting”
When you see term “Linux Hosting”, you should know that this is a standard web hosting service. Most websites on the World Wide Web are hosted on Linux powered servers. Unlike consumer computing, where Microsoft Windows and MacOS dominate the market, in the enterprise hosting market Unix/Linux based Operating Systems (OS) “rule” the industry. So when any company offers “Website hosting” or “Web Hosting”, this is a Linux based IT hosting service, by default.
“Web Hosting” Means “cPanel Hosting”
The standard software platform for Shared Hosting is – CentOS (nowadays CloudLinux) operating system and cPanel/WHM hosting automation control panel. Go check cPanel and make yourself know with this hosting automation control panel.
Web Hosting Has To Come With a Excellent Technical Support!
It is very important that any site owner could rely on the customer support one gets from a web hosting provider. Many web hosts claim to have 24/7 support. Make sure the web host offers phone support and chat support via Skype or any other instant messenger.
Read the Web Host’s Terms of Service
The web is full of overselling hosting providers. Check their Terms of Service to see how do they restrict their customers accounts and use of hosting service. Make sure that the web hosting provider offers “30 days money back guarantee” for Shared Hosting and that you can cancel the account when your subscription expire.
Does The Web Host Operate Its Own AS & Redundant Network?
Redundant network means that the web hosting provider has more than 1 uplink to Internet and is connected to at least two different IP bandwidth providers.
May web hosts are completely dependent of their data centers or on other bigger web hosting providers. Many of the popular Shared hosting provider for example are nothing but Resellers of companies like Softlayer. Sone of the Shared Hosting providers do not own IT infrastructure, do not own their own an Autonomous System (AS), do not operate their own Internet network and even do not own the servers they use to host customer’s accounts. Do you want to be a customer of a web hosting provider like this?
Many people who have a lot of web sites and need resources ask themselves “Should I get a dedicated server or to colocate my own machine”. It is important to have an aswer on this because the right one would save one a lot of money. So lets say a few things about Dedicated Server Hosting and Colocation Hosting.
Colocation and Dedicated Hosting – Advantages and Disadvantages
When people buy a dedicated server, they get a certain amount of resources on a physical machine, which is leased exclusively to them. However the user does not own the physical server and it is their for as long as they pay a monthly fee. As anyone would assume the servers cost money and web hosting providers calculate the upfront costs they have on purchasing server into the dedicated hosting customer’s monthly bill. This is fair!
So the monthly costs of having a dedicated server are significantly higher than those for Colocation. However when someone wants to colocate a server they need to buy their own machine first! So unlike Dedicated Hosting, the Colocation requires the server owner to face upfront costs of ownership.
Dedicated Hosting definitely offers more flexibility to the user unlike Colocation. Anyone who got a dedicated server on monthly contract, could replace or upgrade the machine, if the hosted applications require more resources. The user just switches to another dedicated server or web hoster takes care of the upgrade. In colocation the server owners should order and install the parts on their own (or to pay for a remote hands to a data center technician). If the server owner has chosen a hardware redundant server and if the data center in which the machine is housed is located in the same area, the owners could do replacement on their own. Otherwise they need a technician to work on the machine.
So we can consider Dedicated Server Hosting as a type of hosting service which provides more flexibility to the customer. However, it is important to know that in a long run, when it comes to a IT hosting projects longer than 8 months, the total cost of ownership which people pay to use a Dedicated server a significantly higher that if they buy their own machine and colocate it in any data center.
Another thing which anyone should consider when choosing between Dedicated Hosting and Colocation is that if one needs to colocate more servers and want to use its own in-house management, it is a good idea to obtain its own Autonomous System and to consider to be independent of the data center when it comes to IP space and network connectivity.
How Much Data Transfer (Bandwidth) Does Anyone Need?
You never need “Unlimited”. So do not go with any hosting provider just because it claims to offer unlimited. Use this tool to calculate your monthly bandwidth usage – http://web.forret.com/tools/bandwidth.asp. It is important whether you publish content on daily basis, whether you are uploading audio and/or video streams? You should also take into consideration the email service you need. If you send 1 Mb – 5 Mb per day, then you will need at least 200 Mb monthly traffic for your email only.
“Web Hosting” Very Often Means “Shared Hosting”
Virtual Hosting is a technical term used to describe what is best known as “Shared Hosting”. Shared Hosting refers to web hosting service in which many websites are hosted on one physical or virtual server. Each website has its own partition on the server, to keep it separate from other sites.
“Web Hosting” Very Often Means “Linux Hosting”
When you see term “Linux Hosting”, you should know that this is a standard web hosting service. Most websites on the World Wide Web are hosted on Linux powered servers. Unlike consumer computing, where Microsoft Windows and MacOS dominate the market, in the enterprise hosting market Unix/Linux based Operating Systems (OS) “rule” the industry. So when any company offers “Website hosting” or “Web Hosting”, this is a Linux based IT hosting service, by default.
“Web Hosting” Means “cPanel Hosting”
The standard software platform for Shared Hosting is – CentOS (nowadays CloudLinux) operating system and cPanel/WHM hosting automation control panel. Go check cPanel and make yourself know with this hosting automation control panel.
Web Hosting Has To Come With a Excellent Technical Support!
It is very important that any site owner could rely on the customer support one gets from a web hosting provider. Many web hosts claim to have 24/7 support. Make sure the web host offers phone support and chat support via Skype or any other instant messenger.
Read the Web Host’s Terms of Service
The web is full of overselling hosting providers. Check their Terms of Service to see how do they restrict their customers accounts and use of hosting service. Make sure that the web hosting provider offers “30 days money back guarantee” for Shared Hosting and that you can cancel the account when your subscription expire.
Does The Web Host Operate Its Own AS & Redundant Network?
Redundant network means that the web hosting provider has more than 1 uplink to Internet and is connected to at least two different IP bandwidth providers.
May web hosts are completely dependent of their data centers or on other bigger web hosting providers. Many of the popular Shared hosting provider for example are nothing but Resellers of companies like Softlayer. Sone of the Shared Hosting providers do not own IT infrastructure, do not own their own an Autonomous System (AS), do not operate their own Internet network and even do not own the servers they use to host customer’s accounts. Do you want to be a customer of a web hosting provider like this?
Colocation Hosting or Dedicated Server? Which One?
Reviewed by Vorapankaj
on
June 12, 2018
Rating:
Reviewed by Vorapankaj
on
June 12, 2018
Rating:
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