Dedicated Server

So you’ve decided that a dedicated server is the best option for your website because it is all your own, and you are free to customize it how you need to, but what comes next? Next, you must decide whether to buy or rent your server space.

Dedicated hosting is an arrangement where you lease a server from a colocation hosting web firm. You may choose to purchase your own server and house it a hosting location off premises, and have the hosting company do all the work to connect the server to the internet. This is called collocated hosting.

Collocated hosting has the same advantages as dedicated hosting, because you still own and have control of your server. The added benefit you receive with collocated hosting is a reduced cost per month.

As you’ve purchased the physical server, rather than just renting it, you’ll only need to pay your comcast web hosting for the actual space your server occupies in its data center.

The higher initial cost of a quality server is typically offset over time by the lower incidence of significant problems, such as unexpected downtime.

What is the cost for collocation?

This expense is based on the amount of space used by your server. Data centers will usually keep the servers in racks, which are kept in cabinets.

A cabinet is usually 40 units in measurement, which one rack measuring 1.75′. Rack units are the standard measurement method for servers that are rack mounted – 1U = 1.75 ft. Server cost is determined by server size, with 1U, 2U, and 4U being the most common server sizes.

Another thing to consider with collocated hosting is how much bandwidth your site will require and how much the bandwidth will cost. Your bandwidth cost is dependent upon both the amount of bandwidth allocated to your particular server, and the total amount of data transfer, as your server’s traffic is routed through the data center.

Collocation versus Dedicated Hosting

Using collocation, you manage the hardware, which indicates that you have to fix it if there are problems. Whenever your hard drive or CPU fails, a replacement will be required.

A dedicated commercial web hosting plan delegates the responsibility for managing and correcting any critical failures of your equipment to your hosting company.

Collocated servers require that you pay for the software licensing costs affiliated with the server, such as the operating system or various types of software that you use. The required software are normally provided by dedicated hosts to let you operate your server.

In summary, collocated hosting is, over time, a less-expensive option than dedicated hosting, but it demands both more expertise and a greater initial investment than does dedicated hosting.

If the resources are available to you to maintain a collocated service, and your needs are high, your best option might be collocation.

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