Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » managed hosting

The Truth About Managed Web Hosting

Art — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:21:29 +0000

We troll the same Internet sites you do, and trust us, we know what’s out there: If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of myths circulating about managed server hosting. Though the style of hosting isn’t perfect, it certainly deserves a better rap than it’s earning. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a brief list of our biggest complaints with the naysayers, as well as some general thoughts on why managed web hosting is the best thing since sliced bread. If you dare to clarify your knowledge set, press onward, Solider! There’s a lot of rumors to be sifted.

Only Newbies Need Managed Hosting: This thought is derived from the idea that paying someone to manage your server for you is somehow a sign of geek weakness: Only those inexperienced enough to run their own server need to hire a company to manage their content. However, this is completely untrue, and can wreck your business model if you’re not careful. The idea behind managed hosting is not to tie over gaps in your experience, but to save you the pain of having to manage the thing yourself. If you’re a large company with more resources than time, it makes all the sense in the world to outsource control of your servers. Why bother to fix your car by hand when you can afford to pay someone to do it for you?

Managed Hosting is More Expensive Than a Dedicated Server: Again, this is a classic example of short-sighted thinking. Though you might pay slightly more upfront to create a managed server, in the long run opting for this service will save you a boatload in cash. Because your server is managed by professionals that will keep your server ship-shape, you avoid the need to hire a team of server masters, or an army of tech soldiers. This means less crunch on your payroll, as well as fewer financial headaches when something goes wrong server-side.

My Software Choice is Too Limited With Managed Hosting: This common myth shows a lack of research into the modern market. To be competitive, web hosts have to support a wide variety of consumer-desired softwares, likely including the one you’re after. Before writing off managed hosting based on a lack of software, take a look at some of the more popular hosts: You may be surprised by what you find.

5 Hosting providers that re-define “Managed”

Art — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:23:27 +0000

“Managed hosting” is a term that most everyone in the web hosting industry understands, despite the fact that it is a bit vague. We know that it means that you have a server, it’s hosted at the web host, and you have access to it but the majority of the maintenance is done by the host themselves. However, there is an important question to ask yourself in consideration of this server, and that is this: what maintenance does this include?

There are certain items that will always come with it: rebooting stuck servers, load monitoring, and just about anything that relates to making sure that your server maintains a bare minimum standard of operation are just about always in there. If nothing else, your host will need to do most of these things to make sure you don’t have a greater impact on their network.

Nonetheless, some hosts push the envelope by offering you way more than that, stuff that you would normally just assume would always be your responsibility to handle. We went through our list of providers, and here are some hosts that are stretching the boundaries of what it means to be “managed::

1) Codero

Codero offers four different levels of managed hosting. Three of the plans include managing operating system, server and software patches. The top 2 include daemon and service troubleshooting and security audits, and the highest level account also adds in application troubleshooting. All four packages include optional paid support for anything else not already covered.

2) Lunarpages

Lunarpages’ highest managed service offers a number of important security features. Among these are notifications of exploits on popular software packages, guaranteed same day hardware replacement, upgrades of Apache, PHP and even the kernel upon user authorization. For the latter, they don’t just do it, but inform you and then let you decide. Hardware replacement can be a major bonus if some critical flaw is found in, say, a RAM chip on your machine.

3) AYKsolutions

The list of services AYKsolutions offers goes right off the chart. Control panel support, hack recovery and dissection, server hardening and optimization are included. Hack recovery and dissection means that if you are hacked, they’ll help you figure out how to fix it. Guess what? That’s in their lowest level package! Their list of what they add to that for their full package is a few dozen items long, and includes such items as installation of 3^rd party software and custom kernel configurations: considering what a host risks if they do it wrong, that’s a highly notable service to offer.

4) Hosting.com

Hosting.com doesn’t have a list of services as long as some of the above, but they do offer some specific services that many sites might find critical. Among them is compliance management, in which they help the user achieve compliance with a number of important business certifications, such as HIPAA and PCI (Payment Card Industry).

5) Connectria

Connectria’s managed hosting services offer some of all of the above. They will perform server hardening for both Linux and Windows machines, server protection from many different fronts including “Advanced Attack Correlation”, and more than a half dozen types of data encryption.

Web hosts are aware of the fact that there is far more involved with web hosting than even the most dedicated and capable webmaster can keep up with. They are showing this understanding in their managed hosting packages, and this is a case where you, as the consumer, can definitely use this to your advantage.

Dedicated Hosting: Managed or Unmanaged?

Art — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:27:17 +0000

Here’s the conundrum: You’ve shelled out the extra money for the dedicated server, opening up worlds of business potential and enough bandwidth, storage space, and domain names to rapidly expand. However, just as you’re finalizing your hosting options, there’s one remaining problem to be sorted: Do you stick to managed or unmanaged dedicated server hosting?

It’s a complicated affair, and depending on how you answer, you may either streamline or exacerbate your future headaches. Choosing between either system is an important milestone for your business, and to help you along, we’ve compiled this handy guide to both managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting. No, no need to thank us—unless your thanks comes in beer form, that is!

What are Managed and Unmanaged Dedicated Servers?

There’s one key difference between unmanaged and managed dedicated servers: One puts all the effort on your shoulders, while the latter puts all the stress on the host’s end. With an unmanaged dedicated server, it’s up to you to perform server troubleshooting, maintenance, and security. If anything goes wrong, you’re on your own, Pilgrim. This sounds like a big downer, but the trade-off is that you have full control over everything that happens with your server, including what complex applications are installed there.

A managed dedicated server, on the other hand, is kept up by the hosting company itself. They’ll do all of the security implantation, whistle checking, and updating. This frees up your anxieties, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business, rather than your server. The other benefit is that you can call up your provider at any point in time and more or less demand something be changed. Just try not to let the power go to your head, King Midas.

So Which One is Right For Me?

The choice between unmanaged and managed dedicated server options really boils down to a few important points: If you have little time to worry about your site’s hardware, and would rather focus your efforts elsewhere, then managed hosting is the way to go. Likewise if you can’t afford to hire a server administrator, or don’t have the technical knowledge to perform maintenance yourself, managed dedicated servers are a no-brainer.

However, if you do have the resources to manage the server yourself—or hire someone else to do it non-server-side—and want the control an unmanaged server offers, then the choice is rather obvious. Also, if you hope to perform some downright Frankenstein-style stuff to your server, or want a specific software version, then having more control is a necessary function, leading to an unmanaged offering.

From Dedicated Servers To Managed Hosting – Life In The Fast Lane

Art — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:47:10 +0000

The world of web hosting has seen many drastic changes in the past few years, and the speed at which changes are being roped in to make the whole concept more efficient and useful is always increasing.

Managed Web Hosting is a term that would certainly interest many webmasters who seek hosting plans to develop and sustain their online businesses. This service works in close conjugation with the concept of dedicated servers. Though dedicated servers are great resources to have in your arsenal of web hosting plans, there are some technicalities associated with the same that dampen the buzz to a great extent. Managed web hosting jumps to the rescue and does exactly what it claims – it simply manages the web hosting.

The Need Of Managed Hosting

When the traffic on your site becomes almost too much to handle and strains the servers, you should consider a dedicated server, and this is where you might also examine managed hosting providers. Maintaining a dedicated server would mean that you have a lot more to chew than what you initially agreed to, and this is where managed hosting makes life easier by providing all the services such as monitoring, reporting, load balancing, database handling and security concerns.

Finding The Right Managed Host

Remember, many people have made the move you are about to make, i.e. shifting to a managed hosting plan. Therefore, their reviews become the best resource of guidance for you. Invest some time in scanning through the reviews of the managed hosting providers and try to locate those that would suit your needs. Also, you would do well to research as to which dedicated hosting providers offer you managed hosting services as well.

Pick A Reliable Hosting Provider

You need to be assured that there would be help available when needed. In order to test a prospective managed web hosting provider out, send in a query and ask a few tricky questions. A prompt and thorough reply is ample reason for you to further consider the services of a managed hosting provider confidently. However, there is food for second thoughts if the reply is delayed and not satisfactory.

The Launch of the Savvis Markets Infrastructure

Art — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:14:36 +0000

Savvis, an industry leading managed web hosting provider, recently announced the launch of the first phase of Savvis Markets Infrastructure which enables financial organizations to utilize customized information technology solutions. Savvis was recently acquired by CenturyLink, a telecommunications company, for stock and cash totaling $2.5 billion.

Creating a Flexible Commercial Model

The Savvis Markets Infrastructure will allow users to utilize flexible solutions from within a commercial model. As a result, clients will be able to tailor information technology needs by incorporating a range of capabilities such as colocation, managed and cloud-based hosting. This will provide enough storage, computing power, network services and a high-level of security.

Advantages of the Platform

The web hosting community will benefit from this launch because of the cost-effective connectivity directly to marketplace data, trading partners, execution venues and service providers throughout Savvis’ globally managed, high performing, low-latency network. The system is transparent allowing different parties to view various aspects of the financial organization thus improving communication.

Savvis’ Extensive Data Network

The recent launch will introduce a new commercial model for financial service providers. Future scheduled releases will deliver an enhancement of tools and features. Currently, Savvis boasts 32 data centers across the glove with low latency connectivity through over 200 exchange and liquidity venue feeds. This allows for some of he highest performing data centers available.

Experience with Financial Entities

Savvis has extensive experience with regards to traditional equities and derivatives exchanges, foreign exchange, alternative trading venues and fixed-income electronic communication networks. Therefore, the experts are well aware of the common hardships and limitations faced by modern financial firms from a systematic standpoint and have implemented them into the infrastructure.

Furthermore, Savvis Financial Systems was recently awarded a $9.8 million contract by the United States Federal Election Commission. In early June 2011, NYSE Technologies released a cloud-based platform for the financial industry, more specifically financial traders. This is further evidence of Savvis experience with the financial marketplace and how they can improve companies in the same industry.

The launch of this innovative software package should assist the financial industry with streamlining many processes while providing the other elements required for a successful company. Being that Savvis has experience in the financial market, this platform will cater to those needs and be implemented successfully. The first phase should eradicate the majority of bugs in the system allowing for a clean infrastructure to be implemented in the future.

Global Event and Media Group Managed Hosting Solutions

Art — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:32:07 +0000

DediPower, an expert in cloud and managed hosting, currently provides the power and performance behind Tarsus PLC’s digital presence. This includes exhibitions, publications, conferences and other online media throughout the Americas, Middle East, Europe and Asia. Many of Tarsus’ international sites like the Dubai Airshow and packaging exhibitions utilize DediPower’s Enterprise Class data facilities located in the United Kingdom.

The Importance of Design and Development Services

The other important aspect of Tarsus’ digital presence is the design services which are currently provided by Deeson ONLINE. The two organizations work in conjunction to design and build online services. As a result, Deeson ONLINE selected to work with DediPower because of their unrivaled technical expertise, performance and “Support with Passion” policy.

A Statement from the Tarsus Group

A representative from the Tarsus Group released a statement commenting that the company is extremely satisfied with the collaboration between DediPower and Deeson ONLINE to guarantee the digital presence is supported. Each company has taken a collective, no nonsense approach to the project with a focus on technical solutions. As a result, the group has consolidated digital strategy which will lead to a stronger online presence.

Advantages of DediPower and Deeson

DediPower provides scalable, reliable, optimized platforms, monitoring and dedicated system maintenance which free Deeson to meet their objective of delivering outsourced web services for the in-house teams across the globe. Deeson was selected by Tarsus to manage their transition to Drupal, one of the top open source content management systems. DediPower was chosen because of their passion for service.

Reputation is Everything

In the events and media marketplace, reputation is everything. In the virtual world, customer perception is driven by look, content and most importantly, performance. DediPower is an expert in hosting web applications like Drupal due to knowledge, support and experience while delivering fast, reliable, secure hosting.

As a result, all three firms are working closely together to reach the same output of success. Since each utilizes an individual skills and expertise, all facets of the project are covered by the proper professionals.

The use of DediPower and Deeson ONLINE will certainly present positive results for Tarsus once the transition is complete. This is an excellent opportunity for all three firms to expand their client base while reaching an excellent goal. Look in the future for these three firms to be collaborating on other projects.

Ascent to Partner with Comcast

Art — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:37:22 +0000

Colocation web hosting provider recently announced it has partnered with industry-leading telecommunications company Comcast Business Services. The partnership will allow both companies to have access to Ascent’s data center in Pittsburgh through Comcast’s fiber optic network. The partnership will grant customers access to colocation, virtualization and managed hosting as well as disaster recovery and business continuity.

Data Center Specifications

The data center is a 20,000 square foot, SAS Type II certified facility located in RIDC Park, O’Hara Township; approximately 12 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. The combination of services between the two companies is a response to the growing demand for cloud hosting services. Both companies are hoping the partnership will offer small and mid-sized businesses with the resources to improve data security and information technology through a point-to-point connection.

Growing Success of Both Companies

Comcast is excited about the collaboration as it will help to continue driving success for both companies through a dedicated Metro Ethernet bandwidth that provides a secure and scalable solution to meet customer’s expanding bandwidth demands. The pairing of services also bring Comcast’s fiber-optic based network together with Ascent’s secure data center to provide customers with quality, performance, robust solutions and exceptional value.

Ascent Company Information

As the leading provider of data center services in the Pittsburgh area, Ascent offers a variety of services including managed, colocation, server virtualization, data security, cloud hosting and business continuity. All customer information and applications are protected by their state-of-the-art data center. Applications and infrastructure is outsources to third-parties which significantly improves operational efficiencies and decreases business risk.

Comcast Business Services Company Information

Comcast Business Services is the leading provider of business-grade Ethernet, video solutions, phone and internet for all types of customers. The voice and data plans come packed with features developed to assist the continued growth of businesses. Comcast’s Metro Ethernet features a 40 gigabit fiber-optic backbone, the largest in the nation. Packaged with the Ethernet is reliable, around the clock support resulting in a robust, scalable solution for organizations of all types.

Ascent Data and Comcast Business Services are leading service providers in their respective industries and regions. Therefore, the partnership between the two organizations should result in a major increase in new customers for both parties. As Comcast continues to expand its services into other industries, the company is continually improving its products and services provide for to a wider audience.

Latisys Expands Credit Facility to $125 Million

Art — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:00:31 +0000

Latisys is the leasing provider of colocation, managed hosting and services and disaster recovery solutions in the United States. The company recently announced a major expansion effort to its credit facility from $110 million to $125 million. The expansion was reflected by strong support for future company growth and the implementation of state-of-the-art data center locations across the United States.

Expanding Efforts with the Extra Credit

The new funds will be utilized for supporting customer growth and expanding capacity at Latisys’ 123,000 square foot data center campus in Northern Virginia. At the beginning of 2011, the firm added 14 megawatts of power and expanding the floor space at the facility by 26,000 square feet. At the same time, Latisys announced a new data center that was optimized to meet the growing demand for high-density space, power and cooling.

Other Recent Expansions

Since then, Latisys has strategically improved its overall operations by acquiring and expanding current facilities while investing in resources toward improving the managed hosting arm of the company. Additionally, the enterprise has expanded its cloud computing capabilities. By increasing the credit facility, Latisys is able to take advantage of the many business opportunities in the Greater Washington, D.C. area and other large markets.

Source of the Credit Facility

The $125 million credit facility is primarily funded by an existing group of eight financial institutions including, RBC Capital Markets, Bank of America, CapitalSource, GE Capital, Caterpillar Financial Services, TD Securities, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Madison Capital Funding.

Current Facilities

Latisys currently boasts state-of-the-art data centers in Northern Virginia, Denver, Chicago and Irvine, California resulting in coverage across all U.S. time zones. This allows for unmatched scalability and multi-site redundancy for all information technology infrastructure demands, setting them far ahead of the competition.

Information about Latisys

Latisys provides managed hosting and services, colocation hosting and disaster recovery solutions to government agencies, enterprises and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 1994, Latisys has been serving customers utilizing multiple high-density SAS70 Type II data centers across the United States. The company continues to offer its popular scalable outsourced IT infrastructure management solutions providing everything a customer could need.

Latisys is a major player in the web hosting industry boasting some of the most hi-tech facilities and best managed solutions. With this credit facility expansion, the company will be able to further its presence and continue to have a commanding edge over the competition.

Pros, Cons, and Types of Managed Dedicated Hosting

Art — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:15:22 +0000

Dedicated web hosting is usually seen as the top of the hosting industry, offering unparalleled access to customized web server resources that are only allowed to be utilized by one webmaster at any given time. The majority of cheap hosting plans offered by major web hosting providers are operating within the shared hosting environment, which is much less robust than dedicated hosting because you have to share a web server with hundreds of other website owners, which usually amounts to thousands of other websites.

While dedicated hosting is definitely preferable over shared or some types of VPS hosting, not all dedicated hosting types are the same – just have a look at our top 10 list of the dedicated server providers. The enhanced functionality and additional capabilities offered with a dedicated server come with difficult server administration duties that must be performed to ensure optimal server performance. Fortunately, managed hosting provides an all-inclusive solution that does not require the webmaster to be familiar with web server administration. The following paragraphs provide a brief overview of the pros, cons, and types of managed web hosting.

Partially Managed Versus Fully Managed Web Hosting

There are two main types of managed web hosting – partially managed hosting and fully managed hosting. However, the boundaries that separate these two types of managed hosting are not always made clear by individual web hosting providers. For example, what one web hosting provider may call fully managed, may be another hosting provider’s idea of a partially managed plan. In general, a fully managed hosting plan will include 24-hour customer service, on-site technical support, and fully managed server administration and performance maintenance. On the other hand, a partially managed web hosting plan would only provide services such as routine server resets, and ensuring basic functionality of the server. Partially managed hosting is therefore only ideal for webmasters on a budget that are experienced with server administration. The following are the pros and cons of fully managed hosting.

Pros of Fully Managed Hosting

Perhaps the most appealing advantage of fully managed web hosting is the ability to focus on more important tasks associated with managing an online business, while the managed hosting provider handles all of the administrative server duties on a continual basis. Since you no longer have to update, optimize, and maintain the performance of your web server, you can boost the productivity of your business in other areas, expanding your outreach into more diverse endeavors. Instead of spending several hours of your day trying to fix technological bugs within hosting control panels and performing server maintenance, you can spend the same amount of time soliciting new clients and expanding your business for greater profits.

Cons of Fully Managed Hosting

Unfortunately, for webmasters that are experienced and demand the utmost control over their web server, a fully managed hosting plan may not be the best solution. Along with the simplified server management and included technical support comes reduced freedom over the software configuration of your server. Hosting providers tend to think that webmasters that do not know how to use a Web server should not have full control over it, as they may accidentally cause software errors that will consume the time of the hosting providers employees unnecessarily. Fully managed hosting also tends to cost more than other types of dedicated hosting.

What Does a Managed Web Hosting Provider Do?

Art — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 22:24:58 +0000

If you’ve been shopping for a web hosting plan recently, you’ve probably read that plans that utilize dedicated servers are the most powerful and robust on the market. While this is true, it is important to note that there are two types of dedicated hosting – managed and unmanaged – each one geared towards a completely different type of webmaster. An unmanaged dedicated web hosting plan essentially puts you in complete control of the web server, so that you are effectively leasing a server that is stored in a remote location. A managed dedicated web hosting plan gives you access to comprehensive support and customer service that allows you to focus on the important aspects of your online business, while the web hosting provider deals with server administration tasks. So what exactly does a managed web hosting provider do that an unmanaged web hosting provider does not?

Server Setup

When you purchase a managed web hosting plan, you have the option to choose which operating system you would like on your web server. It is important to note that Windows web hosting is usually more expensive than Linux hosting, because Windows is not a free open-source operating system like Linux. When you make your decision and purchase a plan, a managed hosting provider will automatically install the desired operating system and set up the server so that is fully functional before you ever log into your control panel. With many cheaper unmanaged hosting plans there is no operating system installed on the server, or an undesirable operating system is installed, so the webmaster is required to install the software and set up the server themselves.

Server Backups and Maintenance

Managed web hosting providers also perform the task of keeping the hardware and software configuration of your web server secure at all times. To do this, the managed web hosting provider will make complete backups of your entire web server on a routine basis, and then store the backups on several redundant servers to prevent data loss. Within unmanaged web hosting plan you would need to log into your control panel, which you would have to install first, and manually create a backup of your server. Theoretically you could create a Cron job within an unmanaged hosting plan to have server backups performed automatically on a scheduled basis, however this is much more difficult than simply using a managed hosting plan. Managed hosting providers also defragment web servers and perform daily server maintenance to ensure that the server is functioning optimally at all times.

Technical Support and Customer Service

The level of customer support and services offered with a managed web hosting plan is leaps and bounds above that offered with an unmanaged hosting plan. In fact, many unmanaged hosting providers do not offer technical support at all, and may require the webmaster to use their own internet technology specialist or assistant in order to fix problems that occur within the software installed on the server. Most managed hosting providers offer 24-hour technical support and comprehensive customer service, which is an essential feature for the vast majority of novice to intermediate webmasters.

Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » managed hosting

The Truth About Managed Web Hosting

Related posts:

5 Hosting providers that re-define “Managed”

Related posts:

Dedicated Hosting: Managed or Unmanaged?

Related posts:

From Dedicated Servers To Managed Hosting – Life In The Fast Lane

Related posts:

The Launch of the Savvis Markets Infrastructure

Related posts:

Global Event and Media Group Managed Hosting Solutions

Related posts:

Ascent to Partner with Comcast

Related posts:

Latisys Expands Credit Facility to $125 Million

Related posts:

Pros, Cons, and Types of Managed Dedicated Hosting

Partially Managed Versus Fully Managed Web Hosting

Pros of Fully Managed Hosting

Cons of Fully Managed Hosting

Related posts:

What Does a Managed Web Hosting Provider Do?

Server Setup

Server Backups and Maintenance

Technical Support and Customer Service

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