Re:Ask HN: Colo hosting cheaper than high-end VPS, so why VPS?
by tworats on Wednesday June 16, 2010 @01:58PM
(#1436409)
That's a fair list. I'd argue that you can get scale-up by augmenting your colo servers with on-demand VPS servers and still save money on the common case (we did this not too long ago when we got an unusual traffic spike). If the traffic is consistent, just add another colo sever.
The "replace hardware on vacation" argument is the most compelling so far.
Better hardware and better physical security I don't necessarily buy; security is the same at a colo, and good hardware is pretty cheap these days.
- Assured hardware continuity when you depart from the project (death, buy-out, vacation).
- Easy temporary duplicate server for migrating database.
- Remote console at a more affordable price.
- Affordable geographical distribution. (Provision in London and Tokyo just because you feel like it.)
- Rapid scale up. And scale down if the project turns out to only need a $15/month VPS.
- Instantly replace bad hardware on vacation.
- Rapid hard drive failure recovery.
- Better hardware (SAN + premium RAID, redundant power supplies, ECC memory).
- Better physical security (deep background checks for every person allowed in the building).