Where do you host/rent your server? Is it better to buy and colocate or to rent the server? And who has the best deals with the most bandwidth and the best hardware? I currently use FDCServers and, although they're ok, they're not spectacular.
softlayer.com you pay a bit more but it's much better then FDC if you have enough money to buy your own server, which can be quiet expensive, collocating is cheaper in the long run.
Some places do not offer discounts to colocation so you need to indeed check out the pros and cons. With a dedicated server, the hardware is not your responsibility and the datacenter needs to fix or replace it if it fails. With Colocation, the hardware is yours and any breakdowns would require you to fix it yourself. You can have the datacenter do the replacement but it probably comes with an hourly charge and only for components which they have. With dedicated server, you can change hardware according to your needs without being tied down to old configuration.
I use Hostgator.com dedicated. Excellent service, but maybe a tad pricy, but I like them. PM me if you want to use my Ref link =)
LT has been good to be in the past, prices are decent and they're a pretty known company. Nothing bad to say about HostGator either.
I have no interest in managed hosting since I already run a webserver. I prefer Windows 2003 to linux. A lot of data centres charge extra for windows, on a monthly basis, which seems like a total rip.
Are you using business internet connection or a normal one? Static IP or dynamic? And how do you guarantee minimal downtime?
Most datacenters which offers Linux usually offers CentOS which is free while Windows is not free. For datacenters, they typically lease the Windows OS for their servers so there is an additional cost to it. I believe they pay Microsoft something like $15/month per Windows License per CPU.
I seriously dont understand the difference between VPS and Dedicated, why is VPS considered a dedicated server isnt it the exact same thing as Shared Plans? Please elaborate Thanks Tyler
Shared plans typically don't offer you any guaranteed CPU cycles or ram space, they just boot anybody who starts to degrade anyone elses performance. why? I honestly don't know static that's not up to me it's up to the datacenter.
Tyler: A Virtual Private Server (VPS) and a dedicated server is alike but different at the same time. With a VPS they are taking one large server sectioning it off into little servers. The little servers are able to happen because the virtualization software allows you to run their own operating system like a dedicated server does. In addition, the VPS will allow you to do many more things then a shared plan. The shared plans have a custom configuration where as the VPS can have their own apache, php, etc configuration files and not affect the other virtual servers. chompy, we own all of our equipment and colo it through several datacenters. Please, contact me via PM and will see if we can get you a better solution. Colocation isn't as cheap as many think unless your doing it in volume.
If you want a windows server you can use hostdeparment. It is a good cheap service with unlimited everything. If you aren't on a windows server though forget it...
I think it depends on the type of server your looking to run, a higher end server maybe better to colocate as it would be cheaper in the longer run then a lower end server.
I've had severs at layerered tech don't ever go there they are terrible also theplanet wasn't very good either.. It really depends what you need, more bandwidth, ddos protection, or whatnot..