WEB SITE HOSTING - The
world of web hosting is teeming with a
bewildering array of alternatives. Each is
generally defined by the balance points
between the responsibilities assumed by the
provider and the responsibilities retained
by the customer. There's colocation, dedicated hosting and
managed hosting. And there are the ambiguous
combinations of all these
alternatives.
The following descriptions quickly
encapsulate the most common types of
hosting. They concentrate on the
responsibilities the provider and the client
assume.
Managed Hosting carefully balances the
clients' need to interact directly
with the operating system without
compromising application environment
security, uptime and scalability. The
provider owns, installs, maintains and
monitors the data center, the network and
devices like servers, firewalls,
operating systems and application
infrastructure components, while the
client retains full control of their
operating system. This frees clients to work
on their business, rather than dedicating
their time and resources to building and
constantly maintaining an infrastructure.
Managed Hosting is a smart investment for
those needing 100% uptime, responsiveness
and a high-end infrastructure. The cost of
building and maintaining these capabilities
internally would cost a fortune.
See our Managed Hosting
Plans
This form of hosting allows clients to
lease pre-configured, high-end
equipment and connectivity from the
provider. Offering less responsibility than
colocated hosting, the client generally
retains control over their hosting
environment. They choose their operating
system and software and tailor it to their
needs. The provider, however, remains
responsible for administration.
Clients using a Dedicated Hosting solution
require an overall competency
in IT and server administration issues. It
also requires a more significant
investment of finances, time and human
resources than Managed Hosting.
For clients who desire complete control
over their server, colocated
hosting is an option. The provider offers
only space for a server on their
rack and usually a low performance
bandwidth. The client is responsible
for everything else — purchasing,
configuring and maintaining the physical
hardware (servers, firewalls, etc.),
software and the operating system.
Setting up and maintaining a colocated
server is not a simple undertaking.
It demands that the client have a great deal
of IT expertise and time. Any
extra services or assistance by the provider
also incurs extra costs. |
