Upcoming Maintenance 11/10/2020
Always Something to Improve.
This Sunday we have some upcoming maintenance that needs to take place.
This Sunday we have some upcoming maintenance that needs to take place.
We believe in always taking steps forward and trying to improve ourselves and the services we provide. Last week we took a big step in that direction.
Anyone who has visited our Sheffield Data Centre before will know about the big generator we have outside of Unit 9. Obviously, it’s job is to automatically takeover and provide power to the Data Centre should we experience a power outage. This, along with several UPS, massively helps increase the amount of redundancy and resilience are overall infrastructure has!
New Addition
Last week we had a delivery bringing us a brand new generator. This is the same model as our current Unit 9 generator and will be used to improve Unit 7’s backup power. This now means that both of our Units we operate in are backed up by a generator now!
This is just one of many steps we’re taking to make sure the service we provide is as good as it can be!
One of the perks of Rack Colocation Hosting is physical access to your server is always available. Quarter Rack, Half Rack and Full Rack customers; will have access to their servers whenever is needed and will be given keys and door codes so they can let themselves in. The only thing that needs to be organised ahead of time is a moving-in day/time. This is so we can prepare your Rack, Keys, codes and whatever else you need to make the transition to a Rack as smooth as possible. After this, you’ll have free reign over when you choose to visit your Rack!
Here at HA Hosting, we are always aiming for 100% uptime for your servers. We’re so confident in fact, that we offer you credit on the rare occasions your server uptime falls below an acceptable level. Of course, accidents, whether that be our fault or someone else’s (ISP etc). In the event that an outage happens or maintenance is needed, we make sure to keep all affected customers updated! We want you to feel confident that you can trust us to help! Our Status Page is updated regularly and tracks all Data Centre activity.
Our Rack Colocation Hosting comes with free Remote Hands Support. This is so you can have someone physically interact with your server – saving you a trip! We like to help out and make things more convenient for you if we can! This can be particularly helpful for small fixes or replacing hot-swap components.
With our Rack Colocation Hosting, we allocate your IP Addresses beforehand, so you can start to configure your servers before you get here. This means you can show up on your moving-in day with a working server. We find this helps speed up the process of moving in for you. If you need helping to configure your servers, let us know and we’ll be happy to help!
If you’re missing something, let us know beforehand (although we know that things can go wrong and crop up) and we will do our best to find what you need. We want to make the transition to one of our Rack Colocation Hosting as easy as possible!
If you have any questions about Colo then you give us a shout here. You can find out more about our colocation here.
Keep Updated!
You can catch us on our social media platforms below to stay updated with what we’re doing at HA Hosting!
Colocation Server Hosting is an option that can offer a lot of benefits to a business who needs their own servers but can’t host them themselves. To see the benefits of Colocation, click here.
However like with most things, there are some tradeoffs to using Colocation as well.
Using a Colocation Server Hosting provider means that a lot of the environmental factors (power, cooling, network etc.) will be taken care of as part of the service.
However, as far as the maintenance of the actual server, that falls on you. This means any physical upgrades, repairs or anything else must be done by you. Think of Colocation like this: you are essentially renting out space for your servers to live in. You wouldn’t expect a landlord to pay your bills or make your dinner, would you? If you want to use a server but don’t want to maintain it, Cloud Hosting could be an option to consider.
Depending on the size of the business needing it, Colocation could be an expensive option. For very small businesses, colo can be pricey – of course, this depends on a number of factors such as:
We’ve seen prices for Single Server Colocation vary from £40 all that way up into the hundreds range. We like to think our Colocation Server Hosting is priced at an accessible level 😉
Due to the nature of having your servers be hosted by a third-party, physical access to your servers means travelling. This can often be a big factor when businesses look at Colocation options. Especially if they are planning on accessing the Data Centre regularly.
What you need to ask yourself is: “How far am I willing to travel if I need to fix something quickly?”
Unfortunately, there is no set rule that makes the answer to this question easy. Although generally speaking, if it’s more than a couple of hours I’d think hard about your decision.
To find out more about our Colocation, click here.
The best way to stay up to date with what we do here at HA Hosting is either through our regular Blog Posts or via our Social Media:
Recently we’ve discussed what Windows Cloud Hosting is and what benefits it can bring. So we figure now is a good time to go over who would benefit from Windows Cloud Hosting the most.
Before we start, here’s a quick recap of Windows Cloud Hosting in case you’ve not read our previous blog.
Windows Cloud Hosting is a service where you can pay a Data Centre in exchange for a bundle of digital resources. These in turn can then be allocated and divided however you like. This means you can buy one ‘bundle’ of cloud hosting and then either use or resell your virtual servers on to clients! The benefit of this is the speed and flexibility of creating, editing and deleting your virtual servers. Especially when you compare how long it would take to do the same actions with a hardware-based server. The other key benefit is that as long as you have resources left you can create as many virtual servers as you want.
Time to get into the nitty-gritty, here’s what you need to know.
Typically Cloud Hosting services are aimed at and used by IT Service Providers. Technically anyone can use and benefit from using cloud hosting – think having access to your own servers for passion projects without physical server costs. However, generally speaking, ISP’s will find being able to buy resources and allocate them into multiple smaller servers more useful. Typically this is because they can either run different tasks or be re-sold onto their own clients.
From our own experience and working with other businesses who use our Cloud Hosting we’ve found that:
Due to the virtual nature of Cloud Hosting, expansion of both individual servers and the total amount of resources you own is easy. You can easily expand, create and delete virtual servers through a client portal – this also includes requesting more resources.
If you have any questions about whether you should consider multiple Single Servers or a Quarter Rack, get in touch with us here. We’re happy to answer any questions!
We post updates and content regularly. The best ways to keep up to date with what we’re doing at HA Hosting is through our Blog and Social Media.
Recently we’ve discussed what Colocation Hosting is and what benefits they can bring. So we figure now is a good time to go over who would benefit from Colocation Hosting the most. In this blog we’ll be tackling Rack Colocation – Check out this blog for Single Server Colocation Hosting.
Before we start, here’s a quick recap of Rack Colocation in case you’ve not read our previous blogs.
Rack Colocation is a service where you can utilise a Data Centre’s infrastructure and hosting capabilities to host your servers. The name ‘Rack Colo’ comes from the option to use your servers and put them in a secure rack. The major benefit of doing this as opposed to self-hosting is a massive reduction in costs – setting up hosting is expensive! It’s then the Data Centre’s job to make sure your servers have Power, Internet, Cooling and are secure. You can also physically access your server whenever you need to. Typically Rack Colocation customers get keys/codes for 24/7 access.
Let’s get right to it, here’s what you need to know.
Typically Colocation services are aimed at and used by IT Service Providers. Single Server Colo is a more accessible option. Rack Colo on the other hand, due to the cost and scale of the service, is more suited towards ISP’s.
As mentioned earlier, Rack Colo lets you host multiple servers that are stored in a private rack, as opposed to a single server in a shared cabinet. This ranges from a Quarter Rack to a Full Rack. From our own experience and working with other businesses who use our Colocation we’ve found that:
Typically the decision to invest in Rack Colocation should have considered near-future growth and expansion. For example, you might predict to need another 5U’s (U us the unit of measurement for a server) worth of room. So a business would buy their size of rack with that in mind.
On a technical level, it is definitely possible to upgrade from say a Quarter Rack to a Half rack. However, the process isn’t as easy as it would be to upgrade the number of Single Server Colocation you use. This is why it’s important to calculate near-future expansion. Typically as well, Rack Colocation is a longer-term solution – often with annual contracts.
If you have any questions about whether you should consider multiple Single Servers or a Quarter Rack, get in touch with us here. We’re happy to answer any questions!
To find out more about our Colocation, click here.
We post updates and content regularly. The best ways to keep up to date with what we’re doing at HA Hosting is through our Blog and Social Media.