Website hosting is a common decision that anyone setting up a website has to make at some point. There are two major options that you will have to choose for your hosting; these include a dedicated or the data centre collocation hosting. While the two are someone the same, there are some differences that you obviously will need to look at before you can decide which is the best option for your new website.
What is Data Centre Collocation?
When you use data centre collocation, you are actually renting the space that houses your main server and any other servers for other companies may be present next to your server. They are housed together in the same location. Data centres around the world house numerous servers for many different companies where they also monitor the data and the servers to make sure they are working properly so that your website is up.
The nice aspect to the collocation is that your service is constantly monitored 24×7, this means you have the peace of mind knowing that your information and your website always up and in the event something goes down, you have technical support that is immediately on the scene in order to fix the issues. Many companies, in order to be more cost efficient, are using data centres in India because it is less expensive than having their server housed in other areas.
In addition, in the even of a power failure, the data centre collocation is on a generator backup so that no information is lost and your site continues to run properly. Many companies are choosing to use off site collocation because if something happened to the building their servers were in, websites would be offline across the world.
Dedicated Hosting
When you choose dedicated server hosting, this means that the server is dedicated to just one website owner, which means if you decide to go this route, your space is not shared with others and you can manage the server with your own configurations and settings as needed. This option also gives you complete remote access to your server, even if you choose to house your server off-site, it is not shared with anyone else and you can access it and make adjustments any time you wish.
Companies have changed the way in which they house their data and keep their website up and running. Larger online businesses normally have their own data centres, while smaller companies simply cannot afford to house and support the various servers needed to adequately host their sites. This is especially true if someone has more than one website, but they are two entirely different businesses.
Therefore, the main differences between collocation and dedicated server hosting is that of ownership, if it is dedicated, the user owns all the rights and it is unshared, if it is collocated these are shared spaces that can be anywhere in the world.
The best hosting plan for you depends on your needs, size of your business, and of course, your budget. Obviously, having your servers monitored 24 hours everyday as well as providing technical support will cost more than if you were monitoring yourself.
