A Guide to Web Hosting Colocation

Besides the pricing, web hosting colocation is very similar to dedicated web hosting.

One of the advantages of colocation is the lower monthly cost compared to dedicated hosting.

With web hosting colocation, the user owns the server on the host's rack, and shares their bandwidth as their own.

Colocation gives you physical access to your server, while with dedicated hosting you have virtual access. This also gives you peace of mind when you want to change hosts. Just pick up your server from the "old" host and take it over to the "new" one.

Like the website-hosting-advisor stated before, with web hosting colocation the user owns the server, therefore the monthly hosting expense is fairly low. Your hosting bill will usually cover a couple of things.

One item is the use of the host's facility. Things such as power, security, and the actual physical space your server takes up will show up on your monthly bill.

Bandwidth and data transfer of your host are other expenses that will show up also.

Web Host Colocation - You're In Control

With technology and computers advancing everyday, it becomes hard to expand and grow with them. Computers get out dated rapidly and it's up to you to keep up with changing times.

With web hosting colocation, you own the server and hence you are responsible for maintenance, upgrades, updates, and purchases.

So if you do not have proper knowledge of hardware components, software, security protocol, and server administration you will find your growth potential slow at best.

Even though the main drawback is the up front costs, web hosting colocation offers maximum performance. Servers can cost thousands of dollars, but since you own it you can fine tune it to whatever specs your pocketbook can handle.

Colocation - The Basics

In order for a company to house a custom server, they must charge a rental fee. Rental fees are based on the size U (Unites) the server is, which refers to the amount of space a server will take up on a rack. Each U is 1.75 inches (4.5 centimeters) and a full rack can contain 40U to 42U.

The next thing concerning web host colocation is the connection fee. Connection fees will vary from host to host. Most hosts will refer to a connection as a pipe. And pipes can range from 1 mbps (megabytes per second) up to 1000 mbps.

If a server has a 1 mbps un-metered pipe, the connection will be 1 mbps and no cap on how much bandwidth can be used. Of course, the larger connection speed the more expense you will incur.

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A fixed pipe that is metered will have a set amount of bandwidth allocated per month to the web host colocation server. Once the server reaches that allocation, it will go offline or be charged a per gigabyte fee for over usage.

An add-on companies consider is burst-able bandwidth. This is a connection that can burst or speed up at any given time. If a company has large amounts of users at a site at a certain time, this is an add-on that should be considered. However, it is fairly expensive and has to be paid for in advance.

Web hosting colocation is not for everyone. Those who ran their site in house and are looking to move into a data center are good candidates. Web host colocation will probably save them money and floor space.

Main users of web hosting colocation are other hosts. Hosts that are just starting out have several purchased servers and they colocate them.

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