Managed vs. Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting.

QT_ · 10-13-2003, 10:17 AM

So you hear the term "Unmanaged Dedicated Servers" and your first instinct is to run away. It's a pretty scary term to many people (ie: non-gurus), but in reality it's not as scary as it seems. The fact of the matter is that unless you happened to stumble upon an awful provider or you have unreasonable expectations, you get more support than what the average person would think. So what's the difference?

The definitions vary among providers. Typically speaking, Managed Hosting is summarized by your provider taking near complete steps to take care of your server. This mostly includes your patches to applications, basic system maintenance, basic monitoring, security and so on. If you have needs for dedicated hosting and want to rely on your host for anything and everything under the sun dealing with your server specifically, then a Managed Hosting Provider is definitely for you. Managed Providers involve skilled professionals spending hours making sure that your server gets the attention that it requires to run properly and efficiently. Keep in mind that every customer is unique, so at times it's hard for a Managed Provider to be overly systematic. When you've made the decision to go with a Managed Provider, you can expect to pay much more than your average $99.00 Discount Dedicated Provider. However, that shouldn't become a problem if you've made the decision that a Managed Provider suits your needs and meets all the expectations that you have. Consider it money well spent.

You should always check with the provider before you buy and make sure you know exactly how much they do and do not manage. As mentioned above, different companies have different ideas of what managed means, so you will not get the same level of service from every provider claiming to offer managed servers.

altyfc · 10-14-2003, 03:14 PM

I would say don't touch "unmanaged" unless you *really* know what you're doing. Here in Aardvarkland we have two *managed* dedicated servers.

Aaron

UKZJ007 · 10-22-2003, 07:12 AM

Agreed. well said. both of you.!

Anthony · 10-22-2003, 03:53 PM

We offer managed dedicated servers and run all servers ourselves. As the first post said, unless you really know what you're doing and have need for total flexibility, a managed dedicated solution would probably be best in the long run, even if it costs slightly more money.

**John Scott** · 10-22-2003, 03:56 PM

Tell me more about your dedicated. I'm curious.

UKZJ007 · 10-23-2003, 04:09 AM

hmmmmm,
!

Anthony · 10-23-2003, 02:41 PM

It's not an official service yet as we're still debating over a few pricing issues, but we can generally offer a fully managed P4 2.0GHz with 512MB RAM and 750GB/m of transfer for around $220 USD per month, running RH9. That would of course include the latest CPanel as a user control center. For clients with particular needs, we can also arrange to have extra services added to the server, or we can custom build a server to the specifications of the client and have it shipped to the datacenter for colocation if needed.