Dec 14, 2021
0 Colocation

Managed or Unmanaged Colocation: Which One to Choose?

Managed or Unmanaged Colocation

As an end-user, if you have decided to opt for colocation hosting for your web servers, you need to determine the best colocation option for yourself. The first option is to physically take your machines to the colocation provider’s location and use their racks. At the same time, the second option could be renting out the server machines from the colocation provider. When you decide to take the machine to the provider’s location, it is usually termed Unmanaged Colocation. When you rent out server machines from the provider, it is known as Managed Colocation. Be it managed or unmanaged Colocation. They significantly impact a Data Center’s maintenance, pricing, processes, & applications that run on the servers residing in the Data Center.

What is Colocation?

Colocation or ‘Colo’ is the practice of leasing out server spaces and other computing hardware at the premises of a colocation services provider. Colocation services generally include a physical infrastructure where everything is present at one place comprising networking devices, physical security & other cooling components needed for supporting servers & storage offered by users. With a colocation hosting service in place, businesses have to share the costs related to hardware. Usually, some of the best colocation providers have the capability to store numerous servers, generators & uninterrupted power supply. Also, the providers are standardized with industry certifications, much like other hosting providers.

Benefits of Colocation Services

1. For a business of any size, colocation hosting services help them to save their initial infrastructure investments. The Colocation hosting infrastructure costs are shared amongst other enterprises that are availing the service of the colocation provider. Additionally, colocation hosting provides state-of-the-art services like robust security & redundant bandwidth to an end-user. Smaller enterprises can be benefitted from larger IT departments without incurring any huge expenses.

2. One of the financial benefits of colocation services is minimized downtime, and downtime for a few seconds could cause huge monetary losses. Through a scalable infrastructure & supporting resources such as bandwidth, diversified power sources, etc., colocation providers ensure near-zero downtime and smooth functioning of hardware even during physical disasters.

3. Colocation service providers ensure multiple layers of security are deployed through smarter mechanisms. Colocation Data Centers are strategically placed at a distance from the client’s on-site. Additionally, an on-site IT support team is kept for monitoring the security of technology assets. Colocation providers also offer industry-leading security mechanisms that allow easy restoration of physical & virtual data in case of losses or disasters.

4. With colocation hosting, businesses can guarantee that enterprises are easily able to handle traffic surges with ease. For this, colocation providers offer enhanced levels of bandwidth, while this spike in data is shared with other tenants present on the colocation server. This ultimately reduces the overhead bandwidth cost for an individual server tenant.

What is Colocation

What is Managed Colocation?

Managed Colocation is a bit different from traditional colocation hosting. In managed colocation hosting, the provider is responsible for managing a business’s IT infrastructure along with the physical hosting of these. Other managed services like security, backup, and storage are also offered in Managed Colocation services. Managed colocation hosting can be an ideal option for those who’re looking to retain their infrastructure with a certain level of expertise in server management. For smaller businesses, the biggest advantage of Managed Colocation is that it helps their costs in terms of physical space and the need for hiring IT expertise & infrastructure.

What is Unmanaged Colocation?

In an unmanaged colocation hosting costs related to housing & protection of servers are done by the colocation provider. Here, the end-user can directly benefit from the Data Center’s infrastructure, and however, the user is responsible if the server malfunctions. Unmanaged Colocation services vary from provider to provider, with one thing in common: providing a safe & secure passage for housing the servers. Unlike managed colocation hosting, the user has to perform all sorts of software upgrades, monitor configurations, patches, security & troubleshoot if any problem persists.

Colocation Data Center Industry Growth

The colocation Data Center industry is at a growing phase and has witnessed growth at a CAGR of 10.4% during the period Fiscal 2015 – Fiscal 2021. The industry has gained significant traction during the pandemic phase due to pent-up demand from different business verticals. The past few years have witnessed the emergence of several new players in India, resulting in increased supply. Several Government-led initiatives such as Draft Data Center Policy 2020, Data Localization policy have accelerated the demand for Data Centers in India.

Wrap Up

The final choice between managed and unmanaged Colocation should be carefully determined. CIOs and business heads must consult with their internal staff & experts regarding how much of the servers they wish to keep in-house. The decision should be made by keeping in mind the long-run benefits that the business aims to achieve.

Continue reading
Sep 14, 2021
0 Data Centers

Determining How CDN Can Be Beneficial for Enterprises

CDN solutions 1

Businesses often use a Content Delivery Network or CDN to reduce the delay & latency on a network. CDN uses multiple & geographically scattered Data Centers, also known as Points of Presence (PoPs). When it comes to image hosting, static images can be deployed across these servers that ensure quick delivery, thus reducing the download time.

What is a CDN?

A Content Delivery Network or CDN defines a system of multiple servers containing replicated data present & stored across different PoPs. A rightly implemented CDN Solution helps in improving the data access as it increases bandwidth, thereby minimizing the latency. A CDN Solution comprises various elements like video downloads, image downloads, applications, and other objects. A trusted CDN provider comprises multiple & localized Points of Presence (PoPs) or Data Centers connected over the Internet.

How CDN Works

CDN Solutions contain several replicas of static resources present in the website and then cache these across various Data Centers that are geographically scattered. Whenever there is a website visitor, the visitor is presented with core and dynamic content present. The user updates the content frequently, and the static content present in the website uses their source URLs to be rewritten, delivered from different geographically scattered Data Centers.

Types of CDN

There are two basic models in any CDN Solution: peer-to-peer (P2P) network and peering/private models.

  • Peer-to-peer Network Model

This CDN Model is highly decentralized and made up of systems of individual users having access to certain files that can be extracted from the servers. In a P2P CDN Model, it becomes feasible for the CDN users to host their website along with the associated files. The biggest drawback of this CDN Model is security, and the complete processing of collecting files at a single destination can sometimes become a challenging task.

  • Peering/Private CDN Model

In this CDN model, enterprises ensure servers are geographically scattered. Each of the localized PoPs contains replicas of user files, and when a website visitor visits it, they can download the files from the Data Center that is present geographically closest to them. In a peering/private CDN model, the loading time gets enhanced multi-folds and secures the website from any crashes or failures.

How CDN Benefits?

With a CDN Solution in place, the following benefits are gained by users-

  • Speed

A CDN Solution assures website visitors by serving files directly from the Data Center present geographically closest to them. Such localized Data Centers reduce the distance traveled by the file and the number of relays & steps. This enhanced speed offered by CDN Solutions can be of great help, especially in large-sized files, as they tend to take a longer time than the small ones.  Smaller images have very low loading times and are fetched quickly from the nearest Data Centers.

  • Provides Alternates to Hosting

Users often use webservers for multiple reasons. The primary concern rests with the fact the website visitors are geographically dispersed, resulting in lower loading & accessing speeds. With a CDN solution deployed, it becomes easier to determine the main server and the hosting provider that meets the increasing needs of website visitors.

  • Reliability

CDN Solutions are well known for delivering redundancy. There is a constant risk of webservers facing physical damage or lags in the installed software. In case a node is not available, and a CDN solution is deployed. The network reconfigures itself for delivering the user requested data from the best node present in the network. In the case of websites, it is proven that hosting images enhance viewership by multi-folds; however, a single PoP can hamper the website’s performance during traffic surges. With a Content Delivery Network in place, the network distributes the load by redirecting the image requests to different CDN servers. As the load is distributed within the network, images and other media files on the website get loaded at faster rates.

  • Security

CDN solutions are often used by business heads handling highly confidential & sensitive data. CDN helps such CIOs & CTOs from these industries by providing them a high-level cyber defense against attempts made for hacking. Such security mechanisms are implemented on a broad level, benefitting every end-user.

Concluding Remarks

Content Delivery Network or CDN plays an important role in reducing the time taken by web hosting servers to process and deliver the user requested content. It also minimizes latency by fetching data from the nearest Data Centers present in the network, resulting in lower delay. Longer delays in data loading result in lower user experience, but with CDN, this problem is easily addressed, and user experience gets enhanced. Besides faster loading & data replications, CDN ensures that during scenarios like traffic surges, network downtimes, the website remains secure & safeguarded across the network. For websites, it plays an important role in improving their ranking.

Continue reading
Aug 4, 2021
0 Colocation

Colocation Benefits – A simplified solution

Colocation hosting refers to the transfer of your IT infrastructure to a third-party data center. The data centers are extremely dependable, secure, and have a fully redundant infrastructure. Co-locating your web servers to a data center is always a good idea because it offers many advantages and provides a secure physical environment for your server.

Colocation web hosting provides all of the extra capabilities while also protecting data from natural calamities. Customers who have their own server can host it at a purpose-built Data Center, which is referred to as colocation (or Colocation Center). Customers pay for rack space in which to store their server while maintaining control over it.

There are numerous benefits which can be classified as follows:

Cost-effective

The colocation service is considered one of the cost-effective solutions for your servers to maintain. Basically, you don’t need to build and maintain the in-house requirements that your server demands can cost you valuable capital in facilities, Internet connectivity, and maintenance personnel. The colocation hosting providers have such kind of full facility available with their infrastructure.

Reliable Uptime

For server owners, uptime is always a big worry. With a colocation facility, one can rest assured that his server will be up and running at all times. Everything in a colocation center is redundant, so if something goes wrong, the colocation customers’ server and network equipment will be unaffected because redundant systems are in place to automatically replace the ones that went wrong.

Air conditioning systems, UPS (uninterruptible power systems), power generators, utility electricity, network routers, redundant Internet backbones with plenty of extra capacity, and redundant onsite network engineering employees are all examples of this.

More Security

Security is of prime importance when it comes to the servers or leasing any services for your IT equipment. Data centers are generally considered to be secured and well-established infrastructure. Data centers should be monitored 24-7. Your systems should be housed in a state-of-the-art data center, with redundant air cooling and filtering systems, designed to operate even in the event of a power failure. Data centers should be located and built to withstand natural disasters and other emergencies.

Network Speed & Reliability

Every server owner is concerned about getting good performance and dependability. The gear is designed to withstand both a climate-controlled environment and power conditioning. You can use server hosting to have access to enterprise-level backup and monitoring capabilities.

Many colocation service providers use BGP and have multiple Internet backbones and redundant Internet networks entering their facility. When a firm sets up a network at an office, they typically only receive the Internet bandwidth capacity that they require, such as a single T3, which is 45 megabits, or an OC3, which is 155 megabits, without redundancy.

Outage Protection

When deciding whether or not to move computers to a data center, power redundancy and backup are critical considerations. Power generators and backup power supplies are frequently used in colocation data centers to provide redundancy. This will allow networks to stay up even if there is a long-term power outage. Colocation providers frequently provide flood and fire protection for servers.

Continue reading
Jun 24, 2021
0 Data Center

Data Center Checklist – Key Pointers to Consider

Data Center Checklist

In today’s Data-Driven world, Data Centers have an important & indispensable role to play. They are the home to numerous servers that drive the Internet and networking. Recently, the world has witnessed a massive transition in the technologies being deployed in these Data Centers. Server Visualization and powerhouses offering high-speed connectivity are seen as technological upgrades.

Data Center Checklist

However, any end-user of Data Center needs to consider some critical components, which are listed below-

  • Security

Today, Data Centers store vast volumes of critical data that are processed and distributed across used for driving valuable insights. This data varies in terms of vitality and confidentiality. Hence, security is one of the significant factors that must not be compromised at any cost. The capability of servers to encrypt the data, uplink security, etc., are some worthy aspects to consider for enhancing online security. Additionally, there also needs to be a proper hardware security recovery plan, which can be implemented in case of an unforeseen disaster or mishaps. Hence, servers and other hardware must be adequately secured against thefts and natural or human-induced disasters. Thus, the user needs to choose a Data Center provider that ensures the highest levels of security on multiple layers.

  • High-Speed Connectivity

High-Speed Connectivity is an important aspect when selecting a Data Center. Businesses usually like ‘High Speed,’ ‘High-Speed Servers,’ etc., but these are misleading. A Data Center user needs to understand that High Speed refers to the backbone network that connects Data Centers users and providers. Besides all this, the Data Center providers should also offer customized Solutions like routers, switches, load balancers, and their blueprints. A professional Data Center provider will go beyond providing traditional services and ensuring the guaranteed uptime.

  • Reliability

Reliability is an important consideration when evaluating a Data Center provider. It becomes essentially important to have robust backup plans and RAID offerings. The power systems must offer high backup, and the power equipment is well-versed in tackling emergency situations. As an end-user, he must carry out extensive research and review checks about the Data Center provider and the service quality level that they offer. Discussing the requirements with a Data Center provider like ESDS can make the decision process faster and efficient. Data Center users must have a clear idea about their provider’s Disaster Recovery mechanism and the guarantee levels for securing the critical data.

  • Redundancy

Today, most of the leading Data Center providers have their Data Centers located at multiple locations and different seismic zones. These redundant Data Centers help in the faster recovery of data in any unforeseen disaster event. The data present at these redundant Data Centers are secured by multiple level cyber and physical security. A reliable Data Center Hosting provider will have its different Data Centers in different seismic zones to avoid losses due to natural disasters.

Wrapping Up

The points mentioned in the above section are some critical aspects when looking for a Data Center provider. Users must carry out in-depth research and carefully evaluate Data Center providers on these parameters. Providers offering their own Data Center are keen to offer their infrastructure with the utmost security and end-to-end management. Some Data Center providers also offer a wide array of web hosting services if a user wishes to use them.

Continue reading
May 12, 2021
0 Data Centers

HYPERSCALE DATA CENTERS: INDIA’S DATA CENTER EXPANSION

There will be an expansion of data centers in India as digital users are growing unprecedentedly.

Indian consumers are among the significant users of social media services. Facebook has a practically equivalent number of users in India if compared to the US. Data localization will require storing all user-related information that incorporates the need for Facebook and other social media platforms to store its data and soaring data center demand in India.

The requirement for data center infrastructures in India is developing dramatically, as the scale of cloud adoption as well as data utilization and generation of half a billion digital users in India, is growing unprecedented.

Increasingly more Indian companies are hoping to evolve into digital-first businesses, with a characteristic movement towards increased cloud-driven advancements in all cases.

The spread of COVID-19 has halted different data center development projects in India. Experts at Arizton expect that the pandemic will respectably affect forthcoming projects expected to be opened in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. In any case, the spread of Covid-19 has fundamentally led to the growth of data traffic from March 2020.

To give all-time availability services, administrators are taking careful steps for their on-location workers. Hence, the COVID-19 effect on data center operations is expected to be low in India.

According to a new report (covered by Fortune India), jointly penned by real estate services company Anarock, and Mace, a London-based consultancy and construction company, stated that India will see an expansion of at least 28 enormous hyper-scale data centers in the coming three years.

The Anarock-Mace report contends that these hyperscale data centers will length over 16+ million sq. ft. with at least 1,400+ MW of IT power limit. This is almost “0.6 million sq. ft. What’s more, 50 MW per facility on an average per hyperscale data centre. It further mentions that India will see a significant development in the data center industry, driven by expanded data consumption and policy incentives.

According to another study, local vendors will rule the colocation market; nonetheless, the presence of worldwide sellers is expanding by means of inorganic techniques. Further, as the investment in technologies such as AI, big data, IoT increases, there will be a surge in demand for application-specific infrastructure solutions in India.

Source

Continue reading
« Older EntriesNewer Entries »