There aren’t that many times when a new technology becomes available in the market place that I can get excited about but this VPS option is a game changer. For years I have know that Web+Center can not be installed on a “shared” windows web hosting environment, where you pay $5-$20 month for basic web hosting. The best option to host Web+Center yourself outside your on-site computers was to host it on a dedicated windows server. Professionally hosted dedicated Windows servers now run about $150 – $300 per month and prices haven’t significantly dropped in the past few years and in some cases have gone up in pricing.
Now a third, and very affordable option exists called the Virtual Private Server (VPS). Many web hosting providers now offer very affordable Virtual Private Servers services. Virtual Private Servers is like having your own windows computer where you get full desktop/remote administration access to the machine but you share the physical hardware with other users. I was familiar with VMware types of products for the corporate and organizations that could afford this type of technology in house but did not realize that hosting providers were providing this type of services at very affordable and dropping prices.
Prices vary from as little at $10/month to maybe a mid range of $40 with some managed VPS features included to more fully managed VPS options at $70+. We are evaluating a GODADDY Windows VPS plan with Windows 2012 R2, 2GB RAM, 60 GB storage, 3 IP addresses for $39/Month. This price includes Parallels® Plesk | Patching | Security | Monitoring | Backups. This configuration seems easily capable of handling some of our hosting requirements for significantly less than our dedicated server costs we are now paying.
Internet Software Sciences is not recommending any particular VPS vendor at this point, but wanted to share this significant technology cost saver that could aid in your decisions for Web+Center migrations or upgrades in the future.
We talk to clients daily who wish to move their Web+Center installation to a hosted facility but dedicated server costs of $150+ per month often prevent users from taking their installation out of their own computer operations.
The cost of buying your own Windows 2012 server, power, and redundant high speed Internet connectivity, back up options and power UPS services for a small organization or business wishing to use Web+Center can be very expensive. VPS gives you that computing environment you need for hosting Web+Center for a low monthly cost.
Here are some reasons why VPS may be a solution you will want to research when considering your next Web+Center upgrade.
- Outside the firewall – Many clients still have security policies and practices that prevent Web+Center from being hosted outside of their firewall. With the addition of mobile and smart phone Web+Center apps, there is a need to allow users to access Web+Center on the Internet and this hardware option may be the option that management, budget and security folks can finally buy off on.
- Cost Savings – Purchasing your own Windows 2012 servers and licenses is expensive, especially knowing that it may be replaced in 3-5 years. At $40/month, it will take several years of VPS hosting fees to exceed the cost of a $2000 server box plus the electricity and your own connectivity and service/support.
- Power and Internet Reliability – Most businesses and organizations don’t have the resources to provide Internet redundancy that is high speed and power backup options to keep it running for hours and days if needed.
- Windows 2003 server reaching End of Life (EOL) in 2 months (July 2015) – Although that 2003 server works fine and will probably work fine after July 2015, Microsoft has commanded us to move on with our lives and our servers. If your Web+Center is currently hosted on 2003, your next home for your Web+Center installation might be in a VPS somewhere!
- Easily Scalable and upgrading – Most VPS plans allow you to easily upgrade to more RAM and disk if your VPS hosting requirements increase.
Migration and upgrade support –
Internet Software Sciences is here to support you with a migration to a VPS with upgrade or not if you have a current support contract with your Web+Center licenses. You can always check the status of your support contact with Internet Software Sciences customer Account Manager.