Server housing
As a server housing (or Serverhoming , Collocation [of English collocate ], colocation [of English colocation ] and co-location ) refers to the placement and grid connection of a client server in the data center of an Internet service provider (ISP). In contrast to hosting , the hardware is not provided by the provider, but by the customer or tenant. The provider only provides infrastructural services and operational support for the customer's hardware.
Accommodation
The devices are housed in rooms specially designed for this purpose (mostly air-conditioned , video-monitored and alarm-secured ). Gas extinguishing systems and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with multiple protection are usually part of the standard equipment of large data centers. If complications arise with a server , qualified personnel are usually on site around the clock to solve problems. Due to these measures, a high availability of the servers can be expected.
The advantage over operation "on site" is usually the much higher data transmission rate , which is guaranteed by a fiber optic network at this location.
The electricity price that the customer has to pay for each kilowatt hour used varies greatly from provider to provider and is usually between 1.5 and 2 times higher than the usual market price. The surcharge is only lower for particularly energy-efficient data centers. The ISP as a "bulk electricity buyer" has a cost advantage when purchasing energy, but offsets the costs for cooling the computer rooms, UPS power losses and the like. Ä. About the energy consumed. The logic behind this is a quasi-linear relationship between energy consumption and heat generation by the server systems and other power consumption.
Access to the colocation is usually accompanied by the security service, who opens the racks and ensures that only the customer's own systems are maintained. Unattended access around the clock is only possible with some providers and usually only when renting entire racks.
If the customer does not want to drive to the data center for maintenance work, he can order so-called "remote hands" from many providers. Here a technician works explicitly in accordance with the customer's specifications in the data center. Common tasks include restarting the server, cabling network ports, replacing components such as hard drives or power supplies.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Markus Deutsch, Hans-Werner Grotemeyer, Volker Schipmann: IT planning for company founders, Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, 2007, ISBN 9783528059187 [1] , page 5