Single Server Colocation – The Best Move For Companies

Business continuity is the name of the game these days. Latency and lag are words that firmly belong to the past, and for good reason. With growing advancements in technology and impatience of users, even a second’s delay can cost a company thousands of dollars in lost revenue and trust since most users would turn away at the slightest delay in webpage downloading.

Most people are of the opinion that if one has to host their own servers and applications; they would have to go in for building their own data center to be able to do so. However, going for an entire data center is a cost-, labour- and time-intensive move. Not to mention the headaches those usually accompany such a move. If you feel that your operations are not big enough to warrant the expenditures associated with data centers, why not try Single Server Colocation out?

All you have to do is purchase the server and send it to a colocation provider. The provider would place your server in their rack/s. The installation of the operating system and other applications, and the maintenance and upkeep is your responsibility. However, you can enter into an agreement with the provider who will provide you with bandwidth, data transfer, power, etc. Payment for these services can be made monthly or quarterly – you can decide on that in concurrence with the provider.

Most such agreements or contracts are usually for a year; however, some providers offer flexile plans too. There are several benefits of Single Server Colocation. Here are some of them:

• As you would be sharing the services offered by the provider with a number of other clients, the costs incurred would be quite less.
• Most providers employ bandwidth lines from multiple services, the chances of excellent availability at all times are quite high.
• You will save on safety and security costs since that is checked by the provider, who usually employ multi-layered systems to safeguard their clients’ servers.
• Scalability is not an issue with Single Server Colocation services, since if you feel the need to add more power to your operations; you can just request the provider for more server space to host additional servers.
• Some providers offer a centralized monitoring system to their clients, making remote access an easy task.

In all, this move is beneficial is many ways and the disadvantages are few.

Why You Must Buy Dedicated IP Hosting

When you buy dedicated IP hosting you can have several benefits for your business. Before delving more into the benefits, learn more about what exactly an IP address is and how it works.

When a computer is connected to the internet, it is assigned a unique IP (Internet Protocol) address that enables it to communicate with the other internet users. It typically is a 32-digit numeric address that is separated by dots after every four digits.

Two types of IP:

In the web hosting platform, the IP addresses are available in two forms. One is the shared IP address. As the name suggests, your website shares one common IP with several other websites. The other option is just opposite. Suppose you buy dedicated IP hosting, your website will be assigned a unique address that is exclusively yours.

The dedicated IP is also called static or fixed IP. An IP address is not mandatory for every type of business so the web hosting providers do not include its costs in their plan costs.  While some charge extra for a dedicated IP, many top providers absorb the charges when the client buy some hosting services. 

Who must buy dedicated IP hosting:

Generally, if you are hosting on a VPS or dedicated server, you are automatically given an individual dedicated IP address.

It is only in the shared hosting that the problems can arise. In case, you are sharing the server with a frequent spammer, all the websites on the shared server will be blocked and banned from using the internet. This could disrupt your business and cause a damage to your reputation as well as result in monetary losses.

It is mandatory for every e-commerce store to have an SSL certificate to enable them to accept payments online. For an SSL, it is necessary to have an IP address. Google has made having SSL certificate as one of the factors for its search engine rankings. It builds up your brand s reputation.

 

Gaming and chat servers require a dedicated IP address. There could be a possibility of needing a static IP to run certain scripts.

Static IP and SEO:

There have been contradictory statements regarding the impact on SEO when you buy dedicated IP hosting. SEO is crucial for every website. Some industry experts dismiss the theory that a dedicated IP will improve search engine rankings. However, as mentioned earlier, a static IP is required for SSL certificate, which in turn, does reassure a visitor that a site is secure to do business with.

However, there are several websites running successfully on a shared IP but with a fixed IP, you are in control and know your site will never have any risks of suddenly going offline for no fault of yours.