Housing

Written by Antoni Saurina

Housing, also called colocation in English-speaking countries, refers to the possibility offered by the hosting company to host a client’s servers in its data center. In this modality, the client benefits from the security conditions, air conditioning, firewall or protection and connectivity of the data center, avoiding having to assume these expenses individually.

Housing is the service offered by hosting companies to host the client’s server in their data center.

In this hosting modality the servers are the property of each client, as well as the software, configuration, licensing and maintenance costs, which must be done by their own technicians.

The most important characteristics to be taken into account when contracting this service are:

• Bandwidth: an Internet connection with a bandwidth to support the connections made to the server.
• Connectivity: to allow the server to remain connected to the network even if one of the connections has problems.
• Power supply: a power supply without fluctuations and with redundant lines that can prevent possible power outages.
• Physical security: refers to the security of the facilities to access the server and prevent theft.
• Fire safety: these are the safety systems that prevent and act against possible fires that may occur in the facilities.
• Climate control: temperature and humidity control is very important to ensure proper server operation.
• Support: to act as soon as possible against possible incidents.

Housing Advantages

Some of the advantages of hiring this service compared to other web hosting services or having the server physically in the client’s own company:

• Choice of server: the server is the client’s, so you can choose the characteristics of the server depending on your needs.
• Facilities: the facilities are prepared for optimal server operation.
• Reduced price: compared to a dedicated server, the price of the service is usually lower.
• Better connectivity: data centers have specialized facilities to ensure excellent connectivity and solutions against Internet outages.
• More security: against theft and other incidents such as power outages, fires, floods and other natural disasters.

Housing Disadvantages

There are also disadvantages to this service, some of the most important of which are:

• Server in property: it is necessary to have a server in property or to acquire it in its defect. The hardware will eventually need to be upgraded or replaced in case of failure.
• Location of the server: since the machine is located outside the customer’s company, it would be necessary to travel to the data center for any need related to the physical parts of the server, such as, for example, the replacement of a part.
• Qualified personnel: it is necessary to have qualified and knowledgeable personnel to configure and administer the server.

The housing service is usually contracted according to the physical space occupied by the servers in the server cabinets (measured in “U”, which is the standard height of a server) as well as the data transfer required.