For the life of me, I can't seem to find an explanation on this. What's the difference between a dedicated server and a colocated one, and the advantages and disadvantages of each? Thanks.

Dedicated: You rent the server from a provider. Provider is responsible for hardware problems.

Colocation: You own the server and put it at a provider's facility. You are responsible for hardware problems.

There's other differences, but that's the skinny of it.

Advantages of colocation:

1. You can design your hardware completely to your spec, and you have total control over it.

2. Not counting server costs, colocation is generally cheaper.


Advantages of dedicated servers:

1. Your host is responsible for hardware problems.

2. While you generally have complete control over your box, your host can usually help you troubleshoot problems that occur.

Disadvantages of colocation:

1. If anything but the data center breaks, you have to fix it, that means it is a good idea to have spare parts around, and you really need to know your hardware inside and out, as well as your operating system.

2. Buying the server up front can be expensive.

Disadvantages of dedicated servers:

1. Your host may suck, and either take 10 hours to respond to an incident or accidentally destroy your data trying to repair a hardware problem.

2. If you do decide to move to another provider you have to copy all the data from one server to another and get used to the new environment, rather than just picking up your box and moving it.