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Dedicated Server vs. Co-location Web Hosting
So - you know shared hosting no longer cuts it, and your
single office connection is not enough to host a web server
- so which is best, leasing a dedicated server or buying
your own server and co-locating it someone's data center?
Difference
For those that are unsure of the difference, here it is
in a nutshell. When you co-locate, you are simply renting
space within someone else's facility to store your own server
or servers. It's like a high tech gym locker that you are
renting all or part of to house your servers. You either
ship or deliver your server to your provider. Additional
services provided with co-location vary from host to host
but it certainly won't include the actual server. With a
dedicated server you are getting all the features of co-location,
plus the actual web server itself.
Which is better?
While it certainly depends on your particular needs, and
there are excellent situations for both the dedicated server
option is quickly becoming a better choice in more and more
cases. If you already own a web server, or cluster that
you prefer to use, then obviously co-location may be your
best choice. If you are considering buying new equipment
and shipping it off for co-location - please reconsider.
The prices and equipment available in dedicated hosting
these days are outstanding plus relieve you of the burden
of hardware. Most hosts keep identical spare parts on hand
for the types of servers used and are quick to react if
something fails. Depending on your arrangement with a colocation
deal hardware failure could mean paying to have a server
shipped back (or you drive to get it), having it fixed yourself
then sending it back to the data center.
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