Web Hosting Reviews & Ratings

October 19, 2011

Things to Look for in a Good Co-Location Host

Co-location is a difficult service that is not always the best fit for your needs.  We have covered this angle here before.  That said, it is still a frequently offered service, and one that is still right for many businesses.  Co-location has its tricky elements, but it can still work for the right company.  If you are someone who is looking into this as an option, it would help for you to have an idea of what to look for.

Network strength

Unless your host offers multiple data center redundancy, which you might have a very hard time finding for your customized server, you're going to want to evaluate their network.  While you can't judge their network speed solely on the strength of their backbone connection, faster is still better.

You may not know how to read “faster” for this.  If you are talking about the company's “Tier”, lower is better, with Tier 1 being ideal (though this is a very complex network metric shoved into a single digit: get what information you can about their network architecture).  If you are talking the type of network line, then higher is better.  Of course, this is also dependent on how many customers they have.  A host with a million customers and an OC-192 is probably going to be slower than a host with a thousand and an OC-48.

Physical security

Believe it or not, not every host truly understands the importance of this.  Those that will do will post great detail about how physically safe your data is.  Take note of what their visitor policy is, as that can often be a data center's weak security point.

How do they feel?

This is a critical and related question.  The reason to take notice of how the company just “feels” to you is this: a company that does not ascribe to any solid values will often not treat their employees well.  This then makes their most likely point of security failure their own workers.  Even if someone doesn't physically make off with your data, it may be hard to trust that someone isn't peering in where they shouldn't be.

What are their return options?

Besides all of the above potential problems, sometimes you are going to need your server back from your host.  Sometimes you are going to need it fast.  Go over their return options.  You're not going to want to wait a week or two for someone to either schedule a pick-up date or send your equipment back.  Some of the best hosts will let you take back your equipment in 24 hours.

Geography matters

Finally, note where they are located.  Data centers are well equipped to handle emergencies of various kinds, but none of them can handle everything.  Right now especially you want to be wary of data centers in the largest metropolitan areas, or those areas getting hit by the current recession the hardest.  Blackouts and brownouts are becoming more common, and this trend will probably get worse.  Most data centers have generators, but few of them can survive a long, sustained outage.

Co-location as an option can still work.  Make sure, if you want this type of service, that you have vetted your potential web hosts against the above list of needs.

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