Collocation at
Walltech
Collocation services are for those that
require complete control over their server
configuration.
Collocation is a
service in which we will connect a
server that you own to the internet. If you
do not already have one, some companies
offer to build a server for you. This is the
key difference between
dedicated servers
and collocated servers. In a dedicated
environment, the server itself is owned by
the web hosting company, whereas in a
collocated environment, the server is your
own.
There are two costs
associated with collocated servers - rental
fees and connection fees.
- Rental Fees
- These are the costs associated with
actually having your server located in
the web host's datacenter. Ranging from
1U to a full rack, this measurement is
the height of the server's) being
hosted. Most servers come in either 1U
or 2U configurations. Servers with a
large number of hard drives can be as
big as 3U or 4U.
- Connection
Charges - Instead of measuring the
total number of gigabytes transferred
per month, a connection average is
usually used. So a 1 mbp/s connection
means that you can average 1 megabyte of
transfer per second for the entire
month. Getting more complicated now,
there are two other things to consider.
Firstly is how
this transfer is measured. Some simply
take the amount of bandwidth used that
month, divide it by the number of
seconds in that month, and come to a
figure that way. Much more popular
though is a system called '95th
percentile' in which bandwidth
measurements are taken every 5 minutes.
At the end of the month, the top 5% of
readings are discarded, and the highest
remaining reading left is what the user
is billed at.
This brings us
to the second point - burstable
connections. While you may be allowed to
average 1 mbp/s, you can suddenly
burst to a higher transfer rate.
With a system of measurement such as
95th percentile, you have to make sure
that you do not need to burst your
connection often.
Since you are
entrusting your server in the hands of
another company, there are other things to
be aware of -
- Facility
- It is important to know where your
server will be physically located.
- Physical
Infrastructure - Natural disasters
can and do occur. You want to ensure
that your server and the data it
contains is kept safe.
- Security /
Access - Just as you would not allow
anyone into your server, you want to
make sure that only people with the
proper authorization will have access to
your server.
- Bandwidth
- Not all internet connections are
equal. For more detail, please refer to
our page on
differences in
bandwidth.
- IPs -
If you want to be using features such as
Anonymous FTP, private name servers, or
game servers, having multiple IPs can
become important. The host should be
checked for how many IPs they can
provide and at what cost.
- Support
Options - This is important with any
type of hosting. You want to make sure
that the people that work with your
servers are both knowledgeable and
helpful.
- Cross
Connect Fees - This is a more
advanced feature. In certain places, you
can actually physically co-locate your
server with one host, while having the
internet connection provided by another
host. These additional fees are called
cross connect fees.
- Uptime
Guarantees - Just as they are very
important in virtual hosting, it is
extremely important to ensure that
your host has guarantees in regards to
the performance of your connection.
- Contract
- The fine print is always important.
Things to be noted include the terms of
service, an uptime guarantees, and the
contract length.
If you are looking for
a company to colocate with, please call us
today for Connection Information
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