What Does Colocation Hosting Cost You?

If you’re weighing your hosting options and leaning towards colocation, it’s wise to be armed with information on the pricing structure and the fees you’ll have to shell out for services rendered. While some features are included in your service plan, there are others that cost extra. The main costs associated with colocation are:

Rentals for rack space

If it’s your own server, you’re going to be charged according to the amount of space it takes up at the facility. Storage units at colocation centers measured in terms of U’s, and with servers normally available in sizes of 1U or 2U, space is allocated accordingly. If you have a larger storage capacity and include more hard drives in your server, you’re probably going to need at least 3 or 4 U’s of space and will be charged per U of storage. If you’re renting a server at a colocation center, you’re going to be charged the monthly rental fees as set by the facility.

Bandwidth charges

Some facilities use the Straight Data Transfer method to calculate the bandwidth your server uses to download and upload data – the number of bytes are added up at the end of the billing cycle and you’re charged according to the going rates. Others use the 95th percentile method where your data transfer is measured every three to five minutes. At the end of each billing cycle, the highest 5 percent usage is discarded and you’re charged for the rest. The second method is preferred by sites that have sudden traffic surges a few days a month as it’s more cost effective.

Costs associated with managed services

If you’re not in a position to manage your own server (take care of regular maintenance tasks, troubleshoot issues as they arise, and install updates and patches on a regular basis), you’ll have to shell out extra for the managed services that the colocation center provides. If you have a strong IT team, are physically near the colocation facility, and are thus able to manage your server yourself, you may be charged for remote reboots for minor problems that crop up and technical assistance provided for both hardware and software issues. Check your service level agreement (SLA) to see what’s included and what’s not in the package you sign up for.

Miscellaneous expenses

Some services are included in your SLA up to a certain usage limit after which they’re charged, like the number of IP addresses you need and the DNS servers that host your DNS files. You may be charged extra for each additional IP address and domain, for backup mail servers that prevent email from bouncing when your main mail server is down, and for firewalls that protect your server from malware on the Internet.

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of top web design schools. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.