Data center services is a collective term for the supporting components necessary for the proper operation of a repository for storage, management and dissemination of data organized around a body of knowledge or pertaining to an enterprise. As such, data center services can involve hardware, software, processes and personnel.
Types of Data Center Facilities:
In-house Facilities
An in-house data center is just as it sounds – a facility that is designed, built, and operated by an organization internally. This approach limits or omits involvement from a third party, wherein the business takes it upon themselves to provide the space, power, cooling and equipment necessary to sustain operations. In-house hosting typically requires a long-term commitment and investment. It is more common among larger organizations and those with companies already in the tech industry, as an experienced technical support team is necessary to maintain the complex data center architecture.
Colocation Facilities
A colocation data center lies on the opposite spectrum of the in-house data center. Colocation facilities are third party organizations that are multi-tenant accessible, meaning that multiple businesses of any size or industry may house their equipment within the data center. Customers can select from a variety of solutions to accommodate the specific requirements for their business.
Colocation solutions vary, but typically include combinations of quarter, half, or full cabinets, as well as cages. In a colocation environment, customers are still granted access to their equipment, but outsource facility/location, and, in some situations, support to the provider. Some data center facilities are carrier-neutral, meaning that the data center does not affiliate with a single connectivity provider, but delivers access to multiple providers through a meet-me-room in the facility. Colocation data centers also offer power, cooling, security and 24-hour access, similar to in-house and other types of facilities
Types of Data Center Services
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting offers a smaller scale system for customers to store their information. In dedicated hosting server capacity is rented to single customers, to be managed independently by that customer. In a dedicated hosting solution, typically no additional services are provided, and the customer maintains full control over his or her server. That server is often dedicated to a single business or individual for a single purpose, such as website or application management. In a dedicated hosting solution, businesses can maintain their equipment without sharing among multiple customers and are granted access to all of the server’s resources, operations, and security measures for their own use.
Managed Hosting
Like dedicated hosting, managed hosting services operate under similar conventions but provide an additional set of amenities for customers utilizing the servers. In a managed hosting solution, the provider operates servers for its customers, while additionally providing administrative and engineering services. Some of these services include (but are not limited to) database and operating system administration, managed security and storage services, disaster recovery services, application management services, systems monitoring and remote management. In this environment, the server may be owned by either provider or customer, but management of that server is the responsibility of the provider and not the individual.
Shared Hosting
A final type of service offering that is common within the industry is shared hosting. In a shared hosting solution, customers share server capacity – namely, a server acts as a host to multiple clients or businesses. This shared hosting includes both the sharing of the physical server as well as the software and applications within the server. To make shared hosting possible, the facility deploys an interface overlaying the physical server to facilitate multi-tenant applications so that customers can configure their individual services. Shared hosting services are typically more affordable since the server cost is split between businesses.