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Web Hosting
> Dedicated
Hosting Service
A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed
hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the
client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This
is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have
full control over the server(s), including choice of
operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can
usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on
service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less
overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated
servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to
colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and
HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware
is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide
support for your operating system or applications.
Operating system support
Availability, price and employee familiarity often
determines which operating systems are offered on dedicated
servers. Variations of Linux (open source operating systems)
are often included at no charge to the customer. Commercial
operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server, provided
through a special program called Microsoft SPLA. Red Hat
Enterprise is a commercial version of Linux offered to
hosting providers on a monthly fee basis. The monthly fee
provides OS updates through the Red Hat Network using an
application called yum. Other operating systems are
available from the open source community at no charge. These
include CentOS, Fedora Core, Debian, and many other Linux
distributions or BSD systems FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.
Support for any of these operating systems typically depends
on the level of management offered with a particular
dedicated server plan. Operating system support may include
updates to the core system in order to acquire the latest
security fixes, patches, and system-wide vulnerability
resolutions. Updates to core operating systems include
kernel upgrades, service packs, application updates, and
security patches that keep server secure and safe. Operating
system updates and support relieves the burden of server
management from the dedicated server owner.
Bandwidth and connectivity
Bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate or the amount of
data that can be carried from one point to another in a
given time period (usually a second) and is often
represented in bits (of data) per second (bit/s). For
example, visitors to your server, web site, or applications
utilize bandwidth as the traffic moves from your server to
the Internet and vice versa. Connectivity refers to the
“access providers” that supply bandwidth, or data transfer
rate, through various connection points across a network or
footprint to one or multiple data centers where dedicated
servers are housed.
Bandwidth measurements are defined (per telecom standards)
as the following:
-
First – 95th (measured using average bits and speed of
transfer)
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Second – Unmetered (measured in speed or bits)
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Third – Total Transfer (measured in bytes transferred)
95th Method: line speed, billed on the 95th percentile,
average or peak usage, refers to the speed in which data
flows from the server or device. Line speed is measured in
bits per second (or kilobits per second, megabits per second
or gigabits per second).
Unmetered Method: The second bandwidth measurement is unmetered service where providers cap or control the “top
line” speed for a server. Top line speed in unmetered
bandwidth is the total Mbit/s allocated to the server and
configured on the switch level. For example, if you purchase
10 Mbit/s unmetered bandwidth, the top line speed would be
10 Mbit/s. 10 Mbit/s would result in the provider
controlling the speed transfers take place while providing
the ability for the dedicated server owner to not be charged
with bandwidth overages. Unmetered bandwidth services
usually incur an additional charge.
Total Transfer Method: Some providers will calculate the
Total Transfer, the measurement of actual data leaving and
arriving, measured in bytes. Measurement between providers
varies, though it is either the total traffic in, the total
traffic out, whichever is the greater or the sum of the two.
One of the reasons for choosing to outsource dedicated
servers is the availability of high powered networks from
multiple providers. As dedicated server providers utilize
massive amounts of bandwidth, they are able to secure lower
volume based pricing to include a multi-provider blend of
bandwidth. To achieve the same type of network without a
multi-provider blend of bandwidth, a large investment in
core routers, long term contracts, and expensive monthly
bills would need to be in place. The expenses needed to
develop a network without a multi-provider blend of
bandwidth does not make sense economically for hosting
providers.
Many dedicated server providers include a service level
agreement based on network uptime. Some dedicated server
hosting providers offer a 100% uptime guarantee on their
network. By securing multiple vendors for connectivity and
using redundant hardware, providers are able to guarantee
higher uptimes; usually between 99-100% uptime if they are a
higher quality provider. One aspect of higher quality
providers is they are most likely to be multi-homed across
multiple quality uplink providers, which in turn, provides
significant redundancy in the event one goes down in
addition to potentially improved routes to destinations.
Bandwidth consumption over the last several years has
shifted from a per megabit usage model to a per gigabyte
usage model. Bandwidth was traditionally measured in line
speed access that included the ability to purchase needed
megabits at a given monthly cost. As the shared hosting
model developed, the trend towards gigabyte or total bytes
transferred, replaced the megabit line speed model so
dedicated server providers started offering per gigabyte.
Prominent players in the dedicated server market offer large
amounts of bandwidth ranging from 500 gigabytes to 3000
gigabytes using the “overselling” model. It is not uncommon
for major players to provide dedicated servers with
1Terabyte (TB) of bandwidth or higher. Usage models based on
the byte level measurement usually include a given amount of
bandwidth with each server and a price per gigabyte after a
certain threshold has been reached. Expect to pay additional
fees for bandwidth overage usage. For example, if a
dedicated server has been given 3000 gigabytes of bandwidth
per month and the customer uses 5000 gigabytes of bandwidth
within the billing period, the additional 2000 gigabytes of
bandwidth will be invoiced as bandwidth overage. Each
provider has a different model for billing. As of yet, no
industry standards have been set.
Management
Managed dedicated server
To date, no industry standards have been set to clearly
define the management role of dedicated server providers.
What this means is that each provider will use industry
standard terms, but each provider will define them
differently. For some dedicated server providers, fully
managed is defined as having a web based control panel while
other providers define it as having dedicated system
engineers readily available to handle all server and network
related functions of the dedicated server provider.
Server management can include some or all of the following:
Dedicated hosting server providers define their level of
management based on the services they provide. In
comparison, fully managed could equal self managed from
provider to provider.
Administrative maintenance of the operating system, often
including upgrades, security patches, and sometimes even
daemon updates are included. Differing levels of management
may include adding users, domains, daemon configuration, or
even custom programming.
Dedicated server hosting providers may provide the following
types of server managed support:
-
Fully Managed - Includes monitoring, software updates,
reboots, security patches and operating system upgrades.
Customers are completely hands-off.
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Managed - Includes medium level of management, monitoring,
updates, and a limited amount of support. Customers may
perform specific tasks.
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Self Managed - Includes regular monitoring and some
maintenance. Customers provide most operations and tasks on
dedicated server.
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Unmanaged - Little to no involvement from service
provider. Customers provide all maintenance, upgrades,
patches, and security.
Note: The provider will continue to maintain security on the
network regardless of support level.
Security
Dedicated hosting server providers utilize extreme security
measures to ensure the safety of data stored on their
network of servers. Providers will often deploy various
software programs for scanning systems and networks for
obtrusive invaders, spammers, hackers, and other harmful
problems such as Trojans, worms, eggdrops and crashers
(Sending multiple connections). Linux and Windows use
different software for security protection.
Software
Providers often bill for dedicated servers on a fixed
monthly price to include specific software packages. Over
the years, software vendors realized the significant market
opportunity to bundle their software with dedicated servers.
They have since started introducing pricing models that
allow dedicated hosting providers the ability to purchase
and resell software based on reduced monthly fees.
Microsoft offers software licenses through a program called
the Service Provider License Agreement. The SPLA model
provides use of Microsoft products through a monthly user or
processor based fee. SPLA software includes the Windows
Operating System, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange
Server, Microsoft SharePoint and shoutcast hosting, and many
other server based products.
Dedicated Server Providers usually offer the ability to
select the software you want installed on a dedicated
server. Depending on the overall usage of the server, this
will include your choice of operating system, database, and
specific applications. Servers can be customized and
tailored specific to the customer’s needs and requirements.
Other software applications available are specialized web
hosting specific programs called control panels. Control
panel software is an all inclusive set of software
applications, server applications, and automation tools that
can be installed on a dedicated server. Control panels
include integration into web servers, database applications,
programming languages, application deployment, server
administration tasks, and include the ability to automate
tasks via a web based front end.
Most dedicated servers are packaged with a control panel.
Control panels are often confused with management tools, but
these control panels are actually web based automation tools
created to help automate the process of web site creation
and server management. Control panels should not be confused
with a full server management solution by a dedicated
hosting provider.
Limitations
Many providers do not allow IRC (bots, clients or daemons).
This is due to rogue IRC users triggering DDoS attacks
against the provider, which may overwhelm their networks,
lowering service quality for all customers.
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Adult content is disallowed by many providers as it may
either be of questionable legality or consume large amounts
of bandwidth.
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Copyright violation Hosting copyrighted material of which
you do not own the copyright to is almost always against the
terms of service of all hosting companies.
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