ServePath Blog

Chances are, if you are reading this post on the ServePath Blog, that you are a Managed Hosting customer of ours or simply interested in Managed Dedicated Hosting. But, you probably have also been hearing about Cloud Computing (if you haven’t, you should probably take a look at our Cloud Computing product, GoGrid or read some of the posts on the GoGrid blog). Cloud Computing isn’t the solution to every hosting dilemma. There are some hosting requirements that simply cannot be handled within “the Cloud.” High-end, data intensively or highly transactional database servers are a good example. Also, if your product offering requires some eCommerce transactions and associated compliance therein, you may want to opt for a  dedicated environment for that sensitive data.

Back in November 2008, we announced a new product that is a hybrid hosting solution called “Cloud Connect.” The idea behind Cloud Connect is fairly basic. It is essentially a dedicated connection between a Cloud Computing front-end infrastructure (with GoGrid) and a Managed Hosting back-end server (with ServePath). This is a “World’s First” product offering!

When you configure a hybrid infrastructure, you are enabling the “best of both worlds” between Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing. Not only do you get the configurability and high-performance of a dedicated server, you also get the elasticity and scalability of Cloud Computing. In our press release and on our product page, we outlined some possible uses of Cloud Connect:

• Hybrid Load Balanced Server Network – hybrid infrastructure lets you combine cloud and dedicated servers to build a hosted load-balanced server network allowing you to harness the elasticity and low CapEx of cloud computing while getting the hardware control you need from dedicated hardware.
• Development and staging environment – build a development and staging environment in the cloud and conveniently connect to your dedicated server production environment.
• Sandbox –build a sandbox development area in the cloud to test websites, website operations, and untested code in an isolated manner.
• Spikes/surge – deploy servers in minutes to handle seasonal or sudden spikes of internet traffic and pay only for what you use. Avoid long-term contracts for the servers required to handle short-term internet traffic fluctuations.
• Database-intensive applications – deploy large databases with lots of bandwidth, processing power and persistent storage needs with very flexible front-end web servers that interact very efficiently with the database.

You can add a variety of ServePath services to your dedicated back-end environment including:

• Unified Security & Backup
• Managed Server Security & Hardware Firewall
• ProActive Monitoring
• Managed Data Backup & Storage Area Network (SAN)

Cloud Connect uses secure gigabit private networks to “cross connect” GoGrid Cloud Servers with custom-built, managed and dedicated ServePath servers. The gigabit private networks, the GoGrid Cloud and ServePath dedicated servers are all located in the same data center with hard-wired  connections to ensure high performance.

If you are interested in setting up a Cloud Connect solution using GoGrid Cloud Servers and ServePath Dedicated Servers, please contact a ServePath sales representative at 1-977-946-4743 or via the Live Chat on the ServePath site.

Microsoft Windows 2008 Server is scheduled to be launched on February 27, 2008 and most hosting providers will not have it available to offer to their customers until some time in April 2008.

However, using the special “GoLive License” that Microsoft has created for hosting providers, ServePath can offer Windows 2008 Server NOW as a hosting solution.

ServePath, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and among the first hosting providers to provide Windows 2008 Hosted Servers, currently offers Windows 2008 Web and Standard editions. Pricing varies based on the number of processors, amount of RAM and the features required.

• Windows 2008 Web Edition is configured with IIS 7.0 and SMTP.
• Windows 2008 Standard Edition comes with Terminal Services Gateway, RDC, Application Server, Active Directory Domain Services, DHCP Server, DNS Server Windows Clustering and SMTP.

More information on ServePath’s Windows Server 2008 hosting can be found here. Be sure that you use promo code “ServePathWS08” (while available) to receive a Free Setup for your new Windows 2008 Server account. You can save between $250 to $1000 on the setup costs. Also be sure that you tell your sales representative that you heard about this offer from the blog! Call Sales at 1-866-321-PATH (1-866-321-7284).

Touted to be a revolutionary upgrade, Windows 2008 Server includes:

• Web
  • Internet Information Service 7.0 (IIS 7.0)
  • Hosting of Applications and Services
  • Management and Lower Infrastructure Costs
• Virtualization
  • Hyper-V Server Virtualization (not available at launch)
  • Terminal Services Presentation Virtualization
• Security
  • Network Access Protection
  • Read-Only Domain Controller
  • Active Directory Rights Management Services
• Solid Foundation for Business Workloads
  • Management
    • ServerManager
    • Windows PowerShell
    • Power Management
    • High Performance Computing
  • Reliability
    • ServerCore Installation Option
    • Next-Generation Networking
    • Failover Clustering
    • Dynamic Hardware Partitioning

Learn more about Windows 2008 Server at the Microsoft Windows 2008 Server Launch Site. Order your Windows 2008 Server Hosting Package from ServePath by calling 1-866-321-PATH (1-866-321-7284).