Colocation explained

[WebHost Admin]

Introduction to Co-Location

Co-location is probably the most serious web hosting arrangement you can make, and almost the province of experienced webhosting companies and medium to large enterprise solutions.

It involves buying your own servers, and then leasing space in a datacenter. Responsibility for connection and running of your machines - both in terms of hardware as well as software - is entirely in that of the company colocating.

Most webmasters will almost certainly never use colocation as a service themselves, but if they do they face a number of issues to address, not least datacenter fees, hardware costs, and all on top of the overall technical challenges of dedicated hosting.

However, webhosting companies will often evolve their business model towards co-location, as working by volume of clients it can prove to be the most cost-efficient method of running a webhosting business over the long term, despite high initial investment costs.

Companies, or websites that need to deal with clustering and load balancing due to exceptionally high traffic, may find a colocation solution helps not simply with lowering overall running costs, but also by ensuring there is a dedicated technical team on hand without having to rely on third-party availability.


What to expect from Colocation

Colocation is where it falls upon the company or individual in question to take full responsibility for the management of the servers, and this includes having proper hardware replacements as and when parts of the server starts to fail.

And when that happens, it is up to the colocating company to send their staff to the datacenter to make the required repairs and/or replacements, with their own hardware.

Whilst the datacenter chosen for colocation may offer some degree of help and guidance, all hardware, software, and server administration is otherwise the sole domain of the colocation company to deal with.


Advantages/Disadvantages of Colocation

Pros

• Control of almost all variable relating to the server, including the hardware
• Cost-effective long-term solution
• Full customised allocation and use of resources

Cons

• Initial expenses can be very high
• Requires very good organisation to maintain
• Own technical staff are often required
• Far too advanced solution for all but the most demanding websites

Overall

Colocation is a very serious form of web hosting arrangement, and is usually only an option for companies with serious hosting requirements.

If you do need to look at colocation, then so long as you have a proper organised technical support to cover hardware as well as software issues, you may be able to justify the costs over dedicated hosting over the long term.

However, if you are looking to host an e-commerce site for taking orders on a daily basis, then you may find that shared hosting environment may not offer the continued reliability and stability that you need.

[CuriousGal]

Pretty Nice Information! I like the way how the details are organized! Any one who knows english can understand, I bet! Easy and very nice information Webhost Admin!

Good work! Thanks

[ItsComeToThis]

I love this post! When I first heard of co-location some time ago, I was so confused by it, especially when it got down to nitty-gritty ins and outs. It's nice to read simplified things that really make a word/concept into a clear picture in my mind.

[technoflutemom]

Thanks for the explanation! How much of an initial investment are you talking about? Thousands/tens of thousands?

[monaghan]

A basic co-location can be as little as a single 1U server (from about £500 to buy and £50/month co-location, plus any software you need such as a control panel), however this often is not cost effective over renting a 1U server. When you have multiple servers or a specialist requirement, then 1/4 rack (or more) can get you space for a router/firewall and a few servers.

When you co-locate a low number of servers, you don't usually get the benefit of bulk discount on control panel software, this is often the critical factor in cost saving when choosing between rental and co-lo for the hosting market. Check with your intended data center whether they will offer you a control panel at a discount.

[Dave White]

The cost and the number of people involved in Colo has not made it so popular.