Excuse the ignorance, but I see that hosting companies (non-resellers) are hosted with either Alabanza or VDI NOC's. What does this mean? That they don't really own their own servers but lease them as well as the bandwidth?? Basically, what is the difference between the two? and which one is better? Thanks...

I'm not the master on this stuff...
but the way I understand it...

VDI and Alabanza are companies that keep servers for hosts in a very controlled environment and also provides connectivity (bandwidth) to servers with a monthly fee

by controlled environment, i mean like... well actually, go here and read through the tour of VDI's NOC: http://www.vdi.net/tour/

you can see that they have power backup generators, nicely air conditioned rooms full of racked servers and etc.

most hosts that use VDI or Alabanza use colocated services, this means that the host will buy their own server and send it to either VDI/Alabanza for them to store/rack and provide bandwidth. (so the servers are owned by the hosts) its just like renting an apartment or something :)

and the difference between the two NOCs differ by opinion, but i'm seeing alot of Alabanza based hosts move to VDI for some reason (some have been complaining about the decrease in Alabanza's service)

lol, but don't take my word for it, im sure other people who have actually worked with both NOCs will respond :)

i am just another person who asked this same questions a month or so back :)

Well, one comment is that with Alabanza you are leasing their servers. They do not have colocated services (at least I am not aware of any). VDI can be either colocated (you supply the server) or you can lease one from them.

The main advantage of a big NOC as I see it is security. Not much change of some yahoo in a pickup smashing a door in and stealing a hundred companies worth of servers.

Anyone who got the WebHostingMagazine's Jan Web Awards edition will remember No.1 - the Equinix IBX... sweet!

Individually secured cabinets, airducts you can fit VW beetles in, hand print security recognition

... and 180 000 square feet of floor space. Built for 'specialty company' needs

Many others use 24 video monitoring, motion seeking cameras, armed guards, fire supression, 20-40 ton diesel power generators etc etc etc...

That's why many hosts lease servers (or colocate) rather than buy their own and set up locally. Even with all that there are still 'companies' running out of Uncle Joe's shed while he's in prison :)

Greg Moore

Who is better would be a matter of opinion - VDI tends to be cheaper. Another difference would be staffing. I do not believe VDI is staffed 24/7, but Alabanza is.

Originally posted by akashik
The main advantage of a big NOC as I see it is security. Not much change of some yahoo in a pickup smashing a door in and stealing a hundred companies worth of servers.

Anyone who got the WebHostingMagazine's Jan Web Awards edition will remember No.1 - the Equinix IBX... sweet!

Individually secured cabinets, airducts you can fit VW beetles in, hand print security recognition

... and 180 000 square feet of floor space. Built for 'specialty company' needs

Many others use 24 video monitoring, motion seeking cameras, armed guards, fire supression, 20-40 ton diesel power generators etc etc etc...

That's why many hosts lease servers (or colocate) rather than buy their own and set up locally. Even with all that there are still 'companies' running out of Uncle Joe's shed while he's in prison :)

Greg Moore


Greg,
I'll be damn dude, what you just said sounds like taken out of MI:2 or something :)

Greg,
I'll be damn dude, what you just said sounds like taken out of MI:2 or something :)

Actually the reasoning isn't that far removed. Since companies store a lot of sensitive information on servers these days, it's worthwhile for some people to try to knock off their servers, and use that information. Or it's a simple matter of taking them offline to kill their business for a period of time. Some companies make and/or trade millions of dollars daily through their sites so it's no small amount of cash lost if they're offline for any serious amount of time. Maybe just enough of a loss to tip the scales.

Then again, exposing a company's sensitive information (client details etc) is enough to break a company these days. Granted most won't store that information on the webserver, but it's usually close by on another box as I hear it

So yeah, security is pretty big :)

Greg Moore

Originally posted by akashik
these days, it's worthwhile for some people to try to knock off their servers, and use that information. Or it's a simple matter of taking them offline to kill their business for a period of time. Also, though perhaps less dramatic, there's just the fact that there's a market for computer hardware. There's a small colo place near my office that seems to be empty all night and most of the weekend. I've often thought that I wouldn't want to place a box in a place like that because it might be too tempting someday for some bozo to decide a bunch of them fancy computers might be worth trading in at the local pawn shop.