Tips For Colocation Services

You own a server and you want to connect to the Internet. Numerous companies can make that connection for you and one option they offer is colocation. Colocation has one primary advantage over dedicated servers... you retain ownership of the server and control over its configuration. If this control is important to you then colocation may be your best route for connecting to the Internet.
Colocation Fees: Colocation uses a different fee structure than dedicated servers. When you colocate a server, the web host will charge you both rental and connection fees.
The rental fee is the monthly charge you will pay the host company for housing your server in their facility. Your rental fee will be based on the height of your server. Servers can range from 1U to a full rack. Most servers will fall in the 1U or 2U range, unless they have a large number of hard drives. Connection charges are based on a connection average
rather than the total number of gigabytes transferred per month. For example, a 1 mbp/s connection means that for an entire month you average 1 megabyte of transfer per second.
One way of measuring the transfer is to take the amount of bandwidth used in a given month, divide it by the number of seconds in that month and arrive at the transfer figure.
Another more popular method of measurement is called the "95th percentile". With this method bandwidth measurements are taken every 5 minutes. At the end of the month the
highest 5% of readings are not counted, and the highest remaining reading that is left is the measurement used for billing.
When considering colocation service, keep in mind that your server will not be located on your premises. You will want to ensure that your server and your data are adequately
protected. Be confident that you know the answers to these questions before signing a colocation contract:
What safety plans are in place in the event of a natural disaster? How secure is the host company's building? Who will have access to your server?
Bandwidth is another consideration. Bandwidth refers data transfer and is measured in gigabytes. There are different ranges of performance delivered by the companies that
provide Internet connections. For example, some companies provide lightning speed connections, but are usually quite expensive. For less money you can get a provider that
provides a slower bandwidth. A good way to test a web host's response time is to visit their web page several times a day. A slow loading website may indicate a slow and
over-loaded Internet connection.
If you will be using features such as private nameservers,anonymous FTP, or game servers, having several IP addresses could be important. You will want to make sure that the web
host can meet your needs. Technical support can be the defining factor in you
colocation experience. Be sure to select a host that has a knowledgeable staff. Ask about IT certifications and other qualifications. Also determine how easy it is to access
customer support and how fast they respond to problems.
Get it in Writing: Your server does you absolutely no good when it is down. Look closely at the level of uptime the host company can guarantee. How will you be compensated if
that guarantee is not met?
When you are ready to sign a contract for colocation services, negotiate and review all of the terms carefully. In addition to an uptime guarantee the contract should include the terms of service, the length of contract, the level of service and payment terms.