You can often rent dedicated servers to sort a hosting requirement. Colocation can, depending on the situation save a business a lot of money, since with a dedicated server you are renting the hardware as well. In the short term, collocation is expensive due to the hardware costs, however long term you save as you are only paying for bandwidth and rackspace. So what different colo packages can you take up? We are going to look at them from top to bottom.
If you wanted the most expensive colocation package, you'd fit out an entire datacentre. Having your own datacentre is a very complicated job- you'll need to sort out connectivity, power and security from the ground up. Due to cost and practicality, this option is ruled out for most businesses. A datacentre can have thousands of racks over multiple floors, to half a dozen racks in a purpose fitted comms room.
If a datacentre doesn't fit your budget, you can always consider a private cage or suite. This ensures your individual racks are locked away. The benefit of this is you are separated from other customer's racks.
If a private cage is overkill, then individual racks might be considered. Normally a rack will be around 40U of space, and you will have up to 16 amps of power. You'll normally fit around 30 servers in this rack. Servers are becoming more power efficient these days to to the rising power of costs and concerns about the environment. All racks can be locked front and back for peace of mind.
A full rack might not be the best bet if you are only hosting a few servers- and you might instead consider quarter or half lockable racks. A half and quarter lockable rack gives the same level of security as a full rack for a lower cost. Sometimes you may find quarter and half lockable racks shared the same power feeds as other lockable rack customers. Make sure you have your own power feed for peace of mind.
For those with only a couple of servers, lockable racks might be a bit too much. Don't worry though, there is a simple colo package for you. Many companies will rent out proportions of a full rack allowing you to buy shared rackspace. You can host anything from a 1U through to a 4U server. Make sure with your colo provider, before you sign up that they allow unaccompanied access. Do consider that if you are in a shared rack, you are sharing power and bandwidth with other customers.
The many different packages you have to choose from, make colo a very viable option. It doesn't matter whatever your requirement, whether small or large, you should find a suitable colo package for you business.
If you wanted the most expensive colocation package, you'd fit out an entire datacentre. Having your own datacentre is a very complicated job- you'll need to sort out connectivity, power and security from the ground up. Due to cost and practicality, this option is ruled out for most businesses. A datacentre can have thousands of racks over multiple floors, to half a dozen racks in a purpose fitted comms room.
If a datacentre doesn't fit your budget, you can always consider a private cage or suite. This ensures your individual racks are locked away. The benefit of this is you are separated from other customer's racks.
If a private cage is overkill, then individual racks might be considered. Normally a rack will be around 40U of space, and you will have up to 16 amps of power. You'll normally fit around 30 servers in this rack. Servers are becoming more power efficient these days to to the rising power of costs and concerns about the environment. All racks can be locked front and back for peace of mind.
A full rack might not be the best bet if you are only hosting a few servers- and you might instead consider quarter or half lockable racks. A half and quarter lockable rack gives the same level of security as a full rack for a lower cost. Sometimes you may find quarter and half lockable racks shared the same power feeds as other lockable rack customers. Make sure you have your own power feed for peace of mind.
For those with only a couple of servers, lockable racks might be a bit too much. Don't worry though, there is a simple colo package for you. Many companies will rent out proportions of a full rack allowing you to buy shared rackspace. You can host anything from a 1U through to a 4U server. Make sure with your colo provider, before you sign up that they allow unaccompanied access. Do consider that if you are in a shared rack, you are sharing power and bandwidth with other customers.
The many different packages you have to choose from, make colo a very viable option. It doesn't matter whatever your requirement, whether small or large, you should find a suitable colo package for you business.
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For help with colocation, please consult CCS Leeds, who specialise in collocation.
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