What is dedicated managed hosting?
A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.
Source: Wikipedia
Latest News
Rackspace Cloud Keeps Blog Afloat Amid iPad Announcement Traffic Onslaught
When there are rumors of a new Apple product, the world waits with baited breath. Yesterday was no different as Apple, after wide speculation, announced the new iPad. gdgt, a Rackspace Cloud Sites customer, was able to support the big announcement without any hiccup whatsoever. While other blogs were cratering because of the massive amounts of traffic, the gdgt blog remained stable and fast, exemplifying the power of hosting at Rackspace.
While the end result may look easy, it’s actually a large undertaking that requires preparation and collaboration. We not only had close coordination between our support and operations teams, but also were in in communication with the customer while the event was in progress. Having the only stable and reliable site covering Apple’s new iPad announcement truly demonstrates the power of Fanatical Support™, marrying our knowledge and desire to serve with some great technology.
Ryan Block, cofounder of gdgt, offered some of his insights into what made the event such a success. “We’ve been working with Rackspace on our live event coverage for quite a while now. We continue to work with them because of the great service and awesome support,” Ryan said. “There are plenty of providers who can throw a lot of boxes at a problem, but few can pair that with great support. Rackspace was actually able to deploy technicians to work with our team in real time, which is crucial under incredibly high load. That’s something that you don’t just get anywhere else, and it can make the difference between staying up and crashing and burning.”
Here are some stats of how massive this event was:
• 55,697,141 requests serviced for the event (excluding content serviced by the Rackspace Cloud Files CDN).
• Over 110,000 Concurrent Connections
• 4 load balancers supporting the site through DNS round robin
• 61 total web servers
The total number of connections for the gdgt web nodes during the Apple iPad event.
Total connections to the Rackspace Cloud Sites Environment per load balancer during the event. The top four were handling gdgt's traffic.
As you can see, this was a huge amount of traffic! This event shows that when Rackers and customers work together, we can achieve amazing results.
This isn’t the first time that Rackspace has hosted a successful live event with gdgt, read how we kept their site up during an Apple Keynote in 2011. Check out gdgt for some of Ryan Block’s first impressions of the new iPad.
Live at Rackspace: The Next Web’s Bus Tracker Show for March 8th
We’ve got some special guests at the Rackspace Castle this week… Hermione Way and Sarah Austin are broadcasting live on The Next Web with The Bus Tracker Show, checking in live via Skype with startups heading to ATX (Austin, Texas) for SXSW Interactive. Buses are traveling from the Midwest, the East Coast, the West Coast and Mexico to converge at Rackspace HQ tomorrow. Keep up to date with Hermione and Sarah and everything going on with StartupBus.
Today’s broadcast from 2pm – 4pm CST is live from the Rackspace Castle. Featured in today’s broadcast, the StartupBus buses are getting closer to San Antonio for a pit stop at Rackspace Castle and Hermione and Sarah will be checking in as SXSW begins on Friday. Robert Scoble will be chatting about Fanatical Support and what that piece of mind means to a Rackspace customer. Catch all of The Bus Tracker Show action here!
Rackspace Startup Program Spotlight on Vuru
Montreal, Quebec, Canada is home to one of the Rackspace Startup Programs partner startup accelerators, FounderFuel. Vuru, an automated stock analysis engine that turns complex financial data into clear, transparent reports that investors of any skill level can leverage, comes from FounderFuels Fall 2011 class. Vuru empowers the emerging group of younger, self-directed investors to properly understand the financials and intrinsic value of a company before they invest. With Vuru, these investors can be confident in their investment choices amidst the volatility of the stock market.
“We originally set out to automate the stock research process for advanced investors, but we quickly realized the people that would benefit most from this automation were beginner and intermediate investors, as they don’t have the skills to interpret complex financial data,” explains Cameron Howieson, CTO and Co-Founder of Vuru. “We’re passionate about leveraging technology to level the playing field for retail investors. Due to frustration with the financial industry, more individuals are taking control of their investment portfolio than ever before. These people are turning to the web to find tools that help them do it.”
The Vuru approach to the stock market is different than most and follows these fundamental principles.
1. Understanding the business behind the stock is the first and most important step in any investment decision.
2. Emotions should not affect decisions to buy or sell, only objective analysis.
3. The market price of a stock has no impact on its value.
4. Over the long term, value investing is the best way for the self-directed investor to maximize gains and minimize losses.
“We apply these principles in our own personal portfolios and we believe that every investor should do the same. We’ve built Vuru to enable every investor to make sense of a stock’s fundamentals and to understand the intrinsic value behind their investments,” says Yoseph West, CEO and Co-founder of Vuru. “We’ve made it easier for beginner and intermediate investors to leverage complex financial statements by distilling them into clear, transparent reports that show them the fundamentals that matter. Our users find stock research simpler and more efficient with our clean and easy-to-use interface.”
Vuru has built its company on the Rackspace Managed Cloud platform. Here’s what Cameron Howieson had to say about working with the Rackspace Startup Program, “Rackspace has a great program for startups that allowed us to leverage Cloud servers the way we wanted to at minimal cost. They also have a solid reputation for uptime and support, and so far experiences with both have been great. The Managed Cloud service lets me focus my time on our product and code, rather than needing to worry about server maintenance on an ongoing basis, which is a huge bonus.”
Named one of the best investment websites in North America by Canada’s largest national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, Vuru is a website that makes sense of financial reports for self-directed investors. It’s an automated analysis engine that does thousands of hours of stock analysis in seconds. It distills complex financial statements into clear, transparent reports that show investors the fundamentals that matter.
Are you currently working for a startup? Have you always dreamed of starting your own business? Do you need some assistance finding a startup accelerator to take your idea to the next level? Contact the Space Cowboys with the Rackspace Startup Program and find an accelerator that fits with your business needs.
