Colocated Dedicated Server Hosting
Colocation hosting
Colocation server hosting is another way of hosting your server in a data centre environment, but instead of renting the server itself from your web hosting provider, you actually own the server meaning that you only have to rent bandwidth and power from your web hosting provider. Colocation server hosting can cost considerably less than renting a proper dedicated server, since you are only paying for bandwidth and power meaning that the cost of the server itself included. There are many advantages of owning your own server in a colocation web hosting environment, such as the fact you can easily pick your server up and move to another colocation provider with ease. Colocation hosting can also have disadvantages though, such as it would be easy for the data centre or web hosting provider that you use to block you from physical access to your dedicated server.
When paying for a colocation hosting package, the main thing you are paying for is the space that you will be taking up in your web hosting provider’s server rack. For example, most colocation providers are now basing their prices on the amount of ‘U’ (or height) that a server uses up in a rack and the power socket requirement, meaning that most colocation prices are now ‘per U’ with a certain amount of bandwidth included in the price. In most cases, you are able to purchase more bandwidth if you need to, since most colocation server hosting packages only come with a small amount of bandwidth which is far too small for many of those who choose to use this type of dedicated hosting.
With colocated server hosting, you are provided with full root or administrator access to your dedicated server, since at the end of the day you own it. A colocation server works in the same way as a dedicated server, you are given a set amount of bandwidth that you are able to use, although you aren’t provided with any upgrade options for colocation servers just as you are unable to purchase extra power for a standard dedicated hosting server. Colocation webhosting is a type of server hosting that is only really used by businesses and individuals who require a large pool of servers in one central location; the main reason for this being that dedicated servers themselves cost alot of money.
Colocated dedicated server hosting requires that you have your own private server machine, since without it you have nothing to host in the space that you are renting from your web hosting provider. When purchasing a colocation spot, you will need to ensure that you have purchased enough power (rated in amps) for your server, since at the end of the day you don’t want to find thay your server is inoperable in the rack space that you have purchased.
When choosing a private server to colocate, you should ensure that it is a rack mountable server since these are the only type that are accepted by most web hosting providers and data centres, although you may be able to get away with tower servers if you are lucky. The reason for most data centres and web hosting providers only allowing the colocation of rack mountable dedicated servers is because they are able to pack more rack mountable servers into the space that would be used up by a single tower server. Also, rack cages are normally very secure and unfortunately there is no similar solution for the storage of tower servers as there is for rack mountable servers, which puts many web hosting providers and data centres off.
Colocated server hosting normally comes with no sort of support for the server itself, due to the fact that you are the one supplying the server and not your web hosting provider. This means that you should ensure that you have the necessary knowledge to manage your own server before colocating it, since once its colocated you may be unable to retrieve it for a certain amount of time.
In conclusion, colocation web hosting is a form of private server hosting for those who are able to afford their own server right out. Unlike dedicated server hosting, you are given more freedom as to the choices of what you can do with your server, and are under no limits since you own your server. The only limits you may face could be put in place by the web hosting provider or data centre that you are hosting your server in, and are likely to be in relation to the amount of power you can use or the amount of bandwidth that you can be assigned.
