HostEntrepreneur

For a while now we’ve used other Brother P-Touch printers for labeling equipment… and they worked. But figuring out how they’re going to look with a simple lcd screen was never fun. Then I got my hands on this handy little printer, the Brother PT-1230 “PC Connectable” printer. By PC connectable they mean it has a USB port.  Of course some program needs to be run to design a label, but for PCs with Windows prior to Win7, you can leave the switch on the back in basic mode, and the software’s on the device itself. For Windows 7, you need to download the enhanced version (which you probably want to do anyway for the extra features like barcodes), and throw the switch in the back.

The list price on this little sucker is a bit unrealistic at $79. But it’s often at half that at buy.com  ( Buy.com link ) and sign up for thier daily emails, and every so often (3 or 4 times a year maybe) it will go on sale. It was on sale a few weeks ago for $16.99 with free shipping.  If you want one decide beforehand and wait for the sale. Once you see it, don’t hesitate or it will sell out on you. It happened to me twice, once I “thought about it” and when I went back it was sold out, and the other by the time I read the email it was gone already. But as they say 3rd time’s the charm.

For anyone sending equipment to colo centers this can be a life saver. Label your equipment with hostname, main ip, contact name and phone number. It can really help them find you server in racks of dozens of servers… Also if you have multiple drives label each drive, for example, use /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc.  This way if a drive fails, it makes them determining which drive to swap pretty painless. After all you’re paying for their time usually, you want them to be fast about it.  I also suggest using the brother “Extra Strength Adhesive” series of tapes. Be aware that there are multiple sizes (widths) of tape. The largest this will use is 1/2″, so the TZS231 gives you the largest printing area for black on white labels. I don’t recommend the TZS131 (black on clear) as they can be hard to read unless your surface is a light color.

When choosing a data center to colocate your servers in, it is important to check the colocation providers financial situation and consider how reliable they are. Colocation is a costly business and should it happen that the provider runs in to financial problems or goes bankrupt it can have serious consequences for your business.

In case the power or connectivity is turned off, your servers will become unavailable and unless you have planned for disaster recovery with a secondary backup data center your business will most likely be damaged. It obviously depends on what kind of business you are in and what the servers in colocation are used for, but on the short term clients could be unable to find you and do business with you while in the long term it could damage your reputation due to your site(s) and/or services being unavailable.

Furthermore if the colocation provider is filing for bankruptcy and all the assets are being held back in the bankruptcy estate, you might be unable to get your servers and more importantly data until the attorney handling the case has an overview of the colocation business. He obviously needs to validate that the servers are actually owned by you and not an asset owned by the bankruptcy estate, usable for improving the financial situation for the creditors. In such a situation you could risk having to purchase new equipment and set up from a backup at a new colocation data center if the process takes too long.

Therefore make sure to raise the topic of financial stability with the colocation data center before signing a contract, to see how they respond to it and how they feel about their own financial situation and if they have taken any measures to ensure that things keep on running and that you can get your servers and data in case problems should occur.

Going with a large provider with a good reputation and perhaps even several data centers is therefore often worth considering. Checking for business and data center certifications is also a smart thing to do, as it often is a good signal if the data center is SAS 70 audited, tier 4 certified, PCI compliant or has taken other measures of that kind. Make sure to google the provider and check industry forums and blogs to see if there are any bad reviews, outages or other negative things about the company you are considering using.

Colocation providers can easily be found via tools such as Data Center Map, where you can search for colocation data centers.

Colocation is a type of web hosting service, where clients store their server’s at a Colocation Centre, which is a type of Data Centre. It is becoming more popular all the time as a preferred form of hosting.

A Colocation Centre works by providing rack space for clients to rent. The clients’ server will then be placed into this rack space which they have rented from the Colocation Centre. It is the rack space that is hired, not the server itself. The server and other equipment is owned by the client. It is in their control and they perform maintenance and other tasks and are responsible for the server’s up-keep.

One of the main benefits of storing a server at a Colocation Centre is that it is cost effective when compared to renting you own server. As the Colocation Centre has several clients they are able to drive the cost down. Another advantage is that certain other things (such as the environment the server is kept in and security) are taken care of so the client doesn’t have to worry about it. The client knows that the server is being kept in a safe place and they to not need to be concerned with providing security themselves.

Measures are put in place to make the servers as secure as possible. Protection against natural disasters and fire is provided, with the server areas being secure and fire proof. Close circuit television (CCTV) is usually provided and there are normally security guards on duty meaning the areas is protected against intruders. If clients were hosting their own server they would need to provide this themselves and this would involve extra costs.

All the necessary power that is required is provided by the Colocation Centre. It may be priced at a set amount per month for power and bandwidth usage up to a certain point. If a client requires extra in a particular month it will usually be provided automatically and they will be billed at the end of the month. This means downtime is less likely to be an issue. Using less that the expected amount of power or bandwidth will mean a reduced bill. There is normally power backup as well. There are generators that can be used in case there is a power failure or a similar problem.

The Colocation Centre’s environment is designed and managed to be the optimum for web hosting. Air conditioning is used to keep the air at the right temperature – usually between 20 and 25C.

At some Colocation Centre’s assistance is available, while at others it is not. This can be an advantage as the Colocation Centre’s employees will have high expertise, something that is especially useful if the client does not have advanced knowledge themselves. This may be part of the package with assistance included in the original price, or it may be an optional extra that can be purchased when required.

Colocation is for those who want control and their server but do not want to host it themselves. It has the advantages of the right environment and protection that hosting it at the clients premises would not provide, while still meaning they can maintain control, something they would not be able to do if it was being completely managed by the hosting company.

Andrew Marshall ©

Colocation