What is Colocation?
Colocation is where you place your equipment (servers, storage arrays, etc) at
a carrier grade Datacenter which allows you to retain full ownership, management
and control for day-to-day running of your server.
The main advantage of colocation is that the Datacenter offers multiple redundant
high-bandwidth Internet backbone connections, with 24 x 7 monitoring, physical
security management, and redundant UPS (uninterpretable power system) and generator
power at a cost far less expensive than providing similar carrier grade
services out of your own office. Colocation provides the ultimate flexibility
for the business with custom servers and software that need carrier grade
service.
What is a Dedicated Server?
If you do not already have your own equipment to Colocate, or simply wish to
manage your costs - you can use one of
TurnKey Internet's Dedicated Server Packages.
Dedicated Servers are physical computers that are setup and maintained by
TurnKey Internet in one of the TurnKey Data-Centers.
You have your own physical computer, dedicated to your business - your own
private hard drive, cpu, memory, and direct bandwidth connection to the
Internet via the TurnKey next-generation fiber-optic
network. You have complete root access to install and configure the
server to your needs, and unlimited potential to add more domain names, web
sites or other features. Dedicated servers include a built in Firewall
Security system with the TurnKey Real Time Firewall Monitor software. All
dedicated servers include custom intrusion detection software, 24x7 system
and performance monitoring, secure remote backups, advanced web statistic
reports, detailed system reports and the easy to use Server Control panel.
Dedicated servers come with large volumes of monthly bandwidth, over 1,000
GigaByte of monthly usage on some billing plans!
How do I remotely manage and update my Colocated Server?
Since the Colocated equipment is yours, you can decide what software to install
for remote management. Most equipment already will have web based or telnet
based remote management support, and most windows servers already have built in
remote management capability. Unix based Colocated servers typically support
SSH which is a secure encrypted method of remotely managing servers.
SSH is a replacement for the older insecure protocols
such as ftp, rlogin and telnet.
TurnKey Internet highly recommends SCP for
for managing any server capable of the SSH protocol, it is the fastest most secure way to send and receive files to your
Colocated Server (even faster than FTP). You can also use PuTTY: (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/),
and SecureCRT: (http://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt).
You are free to install any software on your Colocated equipment for remote management,
and TurnKey Colocation offers a TurnKey 'remote hands' administration service utilizing
just a web browser to attach to our custom KVM (keyboard Video Mouse) Switch that can
directly manipulate your server (as if you were at the screen typing on the keyboard,
looking at the monitor and moving the mouse!). This TurnKey 'remote hands'
administration service is ideal for emergency recovery, booting into multiple
operating systems, bios or system changes, and other non standard remote management needs.
Who provides your network connectivity and what types of connections are they?
TurnKey Colocation utilizes multiple redundant and independent Internet backbone connections
in each Datacenter. You can
view the Network connections
for each of our Datacenters. Each Datacenter has at least 4 Gigabit direct connections
to multiple providers, that is over 100 DS3 (T3) or over 2500 DS1 (T1) of
quality bandwidth! Unlike other 'budget' colocation providers that will use
low quality 'cogent' bandwidth (which is often blocked by most corporate
networks since its widely used by Spammers and Porn Hosting Providers) - all TurnKey
network connections are to quality Internet back bones such as
Global Crossing, Level3, MCI/UUnet, Time Warner,
Verio, Sprint, AT&T, SBC and much much more! Don't
get stuck with low quality 'budget' bandwidth for your business, TurnKey Colocation
provides everything you need to succeed.
Which Datacenter will my colocated server be placed in?
TurnKey Colocation service is offered out of each of our Datacenters.
Each Datacenter utilizes multiple redundant and independent Internet backbone connections
as well as provides complete redundancy in power, HVAC, fire suppression, network
connectivity, and security. While each datacenter offers a geographic foot print
which may be slightly faster to certain regions, generally speaking each datacenter
is identical to the others in quality, service and Network connectivity.
Depending on availability, you can select which datacenter at which to colocate your equipment.
How is bandwidth usage measured?
Bandwidth is metered at the Cisco Catalyst 2950 switch port for both
incoming and outgoing data transfer to your server and data is recorded every
5 minutes. TurnKey Colocation offers 95th percentile bandwidth billing, which
provides up to double the bandwidth usage of most colocation providers since
you can pass traffic in both directions simultaneously (where as other
colocation providers combine traffic in both directions against the same total
monthly Gigabyte data transfer limit). TurnKey Colocation
lets you use your bandwidth (standard packages include 1 Megabit,
about 2/3 of a T1 line) of 95th percentile bandwidth in both directions
simultaneously (in essence meaning you could have 2 Megabit of traffic
running 24 hours a day!). Our billing system ignores the top 5% of your bandwidth
usage, meaning you can burst to full 100 Megabit/second speeds for roughly 48 hours
a month without ever going over any preset bandwidth commitment levels.
In order to determine the 95th percentile bandwidth usage, readings are
taking every 5 minutes from your Cisco Catalyst 2950 switch port to
determine the 5 minute bandwidth average (taking the higher of the 2
readings of input and output, since we don't count both together, you can
run simultaneous full speeds!). At the end of your billing cycle, the top
5% of the readings (the highest peaks in bandwidth usage) are discarded
and the next highest point is your monthly bandwidth usage.
For Example: Here you see a busy server that utilized almost 100mbit
bursts, and many 20 to 50 mbit sustained transfers over multiple days of both
inbound and outbound traffic (remember we only take the highest of the inbound
or outbound traffic every 5 minutes, instead of combining and totaling them like
some providers do!). The 95th
percentile usage however is only 6mbit, as show by the red line (everything
above the red line is part of the 5% that the billing system ignores). As you can
see, 95th percentile billing means you can use a lot of bandwidth without
huge costs!
TurnKey Colocation offers a huge advantage in our 95th percentile billing plans,
letting your business use up to double the bandwidth that other colocation providers
will offer you. Bandwidth over your monthly allowance will be billed
as per the TurnKey Service Options and Upgrades
page.
Will you install new software or hardware if we ship it to you?
Depending on your service package, we do include an hour of standard service administration with
your server and can add or even upgrade hardware in most cases. However, due to the
wide range of software products available, you will need to remotely install any software
to ensure proper licensing restrictions. We will be happy to assist where available.
Please note, if you need to install remote software, we do offer a TurnKey 'remote hands'
administration service utilizing just a web browser to attach to our custom KVM
(keyboard Video Mouse) Switch that can directly manipulate your server (as if you were
at the screen typing on the keyboard, looking at the monitor and moving the mouse!).
Depending on your service package, or if you exceed the monthly usage of service
hours, you will be billed as per the TurnKey Service Options and Upgrades page.
Will you replace broken hardware if our server should fail?
Yes, depending on your service package we include an hour of standard service administration with
your server and can replace hardware. You will need to ship new hardware to us that
you wish to use for replacing, or keep an on-site spare server (with our low Colocation
pricing, you can easily look into a 2nd server that remains idle in case your primary
service experiences a hardware issue). We are not able to trouble shoot your hardware
other than to inform you of what problems may exist, and what should be replaced.
TurnKey Internet offers Fully Managed Dedicated Servers
that include 24 x 7 hardware replacement if you would rather not worry about
the maintenance of owning your own hardware over time.
Please note, if you need access to custom Bios or Hardware Bios boot
configurations, we do offer a TurnKey 'remote hands' administration service
utilizing just a web browser to attach to our custom KVM (keyboard Video
Mouse) Switch that can directly manipulate your server (as if you were at
the screen typing on the keyboard, looking at the monitor and moving the
mouse!). Depending on your service package, or if you exceed the monthly
usage of service hours, you will be billed as per the TurnKey Service Options
and Upgrades page.
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