Data Center Geeks Hub

Every business owner experiences it to some extent – the inflow of so much data, that it can become practically impossible to keep up with the constant development of your enterprise. Well, it doesn’t have to be this way, and certainly not with the latest EasyDCIM v1.9.4 and the spanking new addition of Email Summaries, which will ensure you stay on top of your time-consuming duties better than ever before! Vital insight now at a single click! There must have been many situations with unfavorable circumstances which you found yourself in, not allowing you to conveniently and, more importantly, quickly gain access to information about what’s going on in your system. From now on, you can happily relax and stay up-to-date by having every piece of news handed to you not exactly on a plate, but in the form of personalized Email Summaries. Not every piece of data bares the same importance, so it is entirely up to you which ones should be received, and how often. Daily, weekly, monthly – however you like! With 7 widgets to choose from, you’ll be able to highly customize your email notifications, including exactly what you want to take a closer look at. So, what are the aspects EasyDCIM can let you know about? Location Statistics Presents information on all locations, including statistics on data and power consumption, rack occupancy and server availability. General Statistics Includes data on new orders, devices and parts, as well as completed OS installations, server reboots and updated devices. New Orders Shows the details of each order, including the customer data, order date and its status. Top Servers By Traffic Contains information on servers that consume the highest data transfer amounts. Top Servers By Uptime Indicates the servers that stay active the longest. Top PDUs By Usage Lists information on the PDU devices that consume the most power in Amps. Top Worst Devices By Polling Time Displays a list of devices, for which the data polling process takes an unusually long time. This is nowhere near the end of customization possibilities, as you are also empowered to personally select the administrators that will receive these email messages, perfectly enclosed in a brand new, modern template that ensures clarity and accessibility. The range of opportunities widened Say hello to OS Installation For EasyDCIM 2.0! This eagerly anticipated update integrates well with new versions of our system templates to allow the automatic installation of Vmware ESXi 8.0 and Oracle Linux 9, as well as the freshly added VzLinux 8, an environment that has not been previously supported! Each of them successfully handles the crucial processes, such as time zone and language configuration, disk partitioning, the creation of user accounts and root password, the configuration of network interfaces and the installation of additional system packages, as well as post-installation and first boot scripts. As always, we kindly invite you to take a moment to explore the whole changelog and see the entire update summarized. Spare a moment of your time and dive into the most profound details of EasyDCIM v1.9.4 in person! View the Changelog!

Owning and operating a web hosting business is about more than just the technology. In fact, one could strongly argue that attributes such as disk space or RAM come second to the most important part: the customers. After all, a web hosting enterprise is not much of a business at all without them. While technology is important and ultimately drives customer success, a number of other, often overlooked factors goes into making a company thrive in this particular industry. In this post, we will outline ten things that web hosting providers can do to keep clients satisfied. While this is far from exhaustive, it does provide a good foundation to best fulfill your customers' expectations and make them happy for the long term. 1. Keep your hardware and software up to date Nothing will drive clients away faster than a security breach of their website or application. One way these happen? Insecure networks or hardware. Whether you are offering bare metal servers or shared hosting accounts, take great care to apply all patches and updates in a timely manner. It’s extremely important to do so, otherwise you might find yourself in a situation where you’ve left your customers open to nothing other than potential security breaches. Not only will this negatively affect their trust, but it could also lead to refunds or even lawsuits if any client was affected by the breach. For this reason, it is crucial to remain extremely careful when applying patches and updates for both networks and hardware. This includes making sure that all of your servers are patched (or replaced) before they can be used again after an attack. 2. Offer round-the-clock customer service One of the best ways to keep clients content and make your company stand out from the competition is to offer 24/7 support and customer service. Many of your customers are likely to work on websites and applications outside of standard business hours. Additionally, if they are located in different parts of the world, then providing support only during specified hours is unlikely to meet their needs. By being in a position to help the clientele at all times you are showing that you care about their success, which is directly related to your own! It is worth noting that providing round-the-clock service and support can be very expensive. One way to lessen the costs is offering only critical support during your typical non-working hours. For example, you could set up a mailbox for less important inquiries that you only check once a day while a separate inbox is connected to the mobile phone of support team members. This way the primary support needs can be monitored at all times while lesser priority inquiries can be addressed at a later, more convenient time. Many web hosting companies even charge an extra fee for 24/7 support, which can be a great way to increase revenue and offset costs. 3. Stay current with ever-changing technology New technical solutions get released on a regular basis when it comes to servers, storage, and connectivity. The EasyDCIM control panel also frequently introduces new features that benefit not just web hosting providers, but their customers as well. Sometimes these technologies introduce better security, other times they make servers, applications, or websites easier to use. What all providers need is to stay updated on what is new in order to offer their clientele exactly what they are searching for. From a business perspective, your offerings should be up to date so you can remain in line with or even ahead of competitors. On the other hand, you want to offer as much value as possible to those that choose to do business with you. Keeping abreast of new technology allows your company to achieve both of these goals. 4. Allow customers to restart servers on their own Many web hosting companies do not realize how absolutely crucial it is for their clients to be able to restart their servers independently. They may not sell dedicated servers, or simply do not receive that many restart tickets and, as a result, overlook this. But customers that utilize dedicated servers absolutely do not want to have to wait for a support specialist to open a ticket, log their information, and THEN restart a server when they could do it themselves if only they were granted permission. Servers can require restarts for a number of reasons. From new software updates requiring a restart to purging old files, some activities can only get carried out via a restart, which is all the more reason to give clients the ability to restart servers on their own, just like EasyDCIM does. 5. Offer flexible payment options... The majority of web hosting providers offer two types of payment options: monthly or annual. Annual payments often carry a discount in the form of a "free" month or two. And while these options tend to work for most customers, what about payment options themselves? Some hosts accept credit card payments, others ACH or wire. However, physical checks still tend to be the preferred method of payment in many countries. As a web hosting provider though, you should definitely consider new forms of payment, such as Bitcoin. Additionally, offering multi-year payment terms can be a great way to not just lock in customers for longer terms, but also serve those that have complex procurement processes. Pay-for-use or pay-for-consumption models have been popular for years with public cloud providers. Traditional hosts should consider offering similar pricing models when possible, as more and more businesses in many sectors are looking to maximize their return on investment by paying only for what they use. These various payment terms are not right for each individual web hosting provider, of course. However, knowing what works best for your customers is always a worthwhile business strategy and payment terms are no different. 6. ...And reasonable prices Nobody likes overpriced products, but picking out something that is not expensive can become quite a difficult task. Web hosting providers need to make sure that their prices are reasonable in order to give customers what they need without breaking their budgets. It is important to note that "reasonable" pricing does not necessarily mean "lower" pricing. As more and more web hosting services become commoditized, thus driving prices down, it is imperative that the providers work to deliver value that matches the prices they do charge. Better performance and support are great ways to add customers and increase revenue. Even better, a reasonable price for excellent web hosting service is much higher than a price for sub-par, lower-quality one. 7. Make it easy to upgrade Customers are not always fully certain of what they need when it comes time to upgrade their hosting, but that does not mean that they should be forced into a package in order to save money. All providers need to make sure their clients can easily upgrade and downgrade in order to get the features that they want without having to pay for anything extra. Today's traffic patterns for websites and applications can change in the blink of an eye. A big announcement or a viral blog post can bring in colossal scores of traffic. Seasonal businesses might be super busy for weeks at a time, just before their doors close completely for months. What you should do, is to always keep your offer scalable and allow your customers to upgrade (and downgrade) effortlessly, based on their needs. No one wants to feel stuck in the wrong solution because their web hosting provider does not have a clear path to easily change their plan. 8. Check-in from time to time Web hosting providers often fail to stay in touch with their customers. One way to reduce churn and benefit from the upsell and cross-sell opportunities is to regularly reach out to individual clients. For your highest value clientele, a simple phone call or video meeting once a quarter or a couple of times each year can go a long way. Firstly, clients will be glad to know you care about their business and their goals. Secondly, and more importantly, these conversations or meetings can help uncover areas of opportunity for you both to expand your relationship. Make it a point to review support tickets prior to the meeting and address any concerns or comments. Customers will be amazed by your involvement and will start to see your business as a partner instead of as a vendor. 9. Proactively communicate with customers In the same vein, a regular newsletter or release note about feature introductions or improvements will regularly bring customers up to speed. For example, we have recently emailed our clients about implementing the "Mass Edit" toolkit as part of the EasyDCIM platform. This way, they immediately got to know new tools and functionalities which not only strengthen our relationship with them, but more importantly, helps them grow their businesses. 10. Keep an eye on the competition Barring a bad support experience or outage, many clients of web hosting companies are disinclined to switch to a new provider. A great deal of churn with hosts, particularly for those providing VPS and dedicated servers to business clients, comes when a project ends or a resource is no longer needed as opposed to canceling the service with the intention to move it elsewhere. However, one area of vulnerability may well be all it takes to make web hosting providers lose their clientele to competitors - not keeping up with features and functions offered elsewhere on the market. One such example is automatic backups. As recently as a decade ago automatic backups were not available from many (most?) web hosting providers. They have become so popular during this time though, that it would be a great disappointment if one’s offer did not include them. A great way to keep customers satisfied with their choice of provider is to make sure your offerings match or exceed the market standard. To sum up: Focus on the customer! Web hosting providers should strive to create a customer-centric business model. This includes web hosting that is fast and reliable, as well as effortless upgrades and downgrades when needed. While the best way to keep clients happy may vary from one person or company to another, you should definitely know what your target audience needs so you can provide them with those solutions. This way you will ensure their cooperation now and in the future. Take care of your customers and they will take care of you. Do you have questions about how EasyDCIM can help your web hosting business deliver on the promise of greater customer happiness? Get in touch!

Starting now, you can happily bid farewell to devoting more and more of your precious time in order to take care of monotonous tasks which lead to another deadline missed. Thanks to the release of EasyDCIM v1.9.3, you’ll be able to complete actions that used to take you hours in a matter of seconds using the new tool for bulk editing. Let’s find out precisely what we managed to come up with this time! Bulk editing no longer just a wish! Let’s face the truth: on more than one occasion you wanted to make some changes to all of your 8 servers or edit just one detail, but in 10 CPUs. We bet that the first thought that crossed your mind was "Oh, how I wish I could just modify items in bulk and not each one individually!" You don’t have to wish anymore, as it’s at this very moment that we present a brand new feature that will get rid of the repetitiveness: "Mass Edit" option! Similarly to what the "Mass Add" tool of the 1.8.3 release is capable of, you’ll be able to quickly edit as many devices or items of the same type as you need! This new option can be accessed from multiple tables such as "Search Inventory", "Servers" or "Network", providing you with a really quick access to bulk editing. Would you like to take a look at all changes you performed? Simply view the Mass Edit Summary and you’ll have them all on display! User traffic consumption outlined "Total Traffic" is a spanking new option of the 1.9.3 release that will shed light on the bandwidth consumption of all given user’s devices. This tool will enable you to view information in graphs on: Devices, putting in the picture the traffic of those assigned to a given customer, Servers, giving insight into the traffic of all of client’s assigned servers, Orders, summarizing the traffic of all colocations and servers ordered by the customer. It’s never been that effortless to lay hands on all crucial bits of information you were looking for! What's new with EasyDCIM extensions? The 1.9.9 update of OS Installation supports SystemRescueCd 9.0.4, a new installation template for managing or repairing your system and data. This popular toolkit isn’t the only addition of the latest upgrade – Detect Hardware is a new version of a template that, as the name perfectly sums up, is responsible for detecting the hardware installed on a dedicated server. Last but not least, we are proud to unveil PDU Management 1.2.3, where the new type of graphs gather details about power consumed by single outlets on specific APC and Raritan devices. It’s our top priority to ensure that you can fully benefit from the full potential of everything you have just read about, and for this very reason we want to remind you once again of the crucial migration to Debian 11. You are welcome to use our detailed instructions, or even leave it completely to our team – how does that sound? We in no way want to take away the pleasure of discovering each detail the new EasyDCIM v1.9.3 has to offer, so let us cordially invite you to explore it yourself! View the Changelog!

You may have thought that in order to start experiencing the full potential of our ultramodern and feature-rich control panel for bare metal server provisioning, you would have to spare a lot of your precious time to go through an arduous process of configuration. This, however, could not be any further from the truth with Quick Configuration Wizard, which crowns the list of innovations delivered in the brand-new release of EasyDCIM 1.9.2! Easy, for a reason! Quick Configuration Wizard is meant to be initiated right after the installation with the purpose of taking you through the basics in just six simple steps. Each of the following actions is designed to take as much weight off your shoulders as possible, empowering you to kick off your EasyDCIM journey quicker and with less effort than ever! 1. General Configuration Providing the company name, email address and password of the administrator. 2. Location Defining the first location and subnet configuration for the DHCP server. 3. Remote Agent Installing a remote agent in a location different than this of the main EasyDCIM server. 4. Switch Configuration Detecting the first switch via SNMP protocol during the Auto-Discovering process. 5. Server Configuration Adding the first server with network configuration and IPMI access data. 6. Finishing Up And finally, validating the completed steps. After rapid set up by means of the Quick Configuration Wizard, you will be granted the possibility to instantly try out the essential features of EasyDCIM, such as installing operating systems, rebooting the server remotely, or gathering data via polling! What's more, even after your journey with Quick Configuration Wizard has come to an end, you'll still be fully taken care of, as you can use a helping hand in setting up other EasyDCIM features at any moment later on. Just one click at the "Show Next Steps" button placed conveniently on your Dashboard, and you know exactly what else to pay attention to! The more, the merrier Stretching the choice of supported system templates with each new version of EasyDCIM is slowly becoming our trademark. The 1.9.2 update could not be any different! The OS Installation extension returns in the 1.9.8 version, ready to deal with the installation of Rocky Linux 9 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS in a fully automated manner! And to leave zero room for wondering: all crucial processes, from the time zone and language configuration to the execution of first-boot scripts, are handled flawlessly via EasyDCIM, just as in all previously delivered additions. With such a wide variety of templates at hand, do you already know which one you’ll go for? New drivers on radar IPMI Integration For EasyDCIM will bring you even more levels of automation, with the updated 1.4.4 version, which introduces new drivers for the JAVA KVM console: the first dedicated to Huawei iBMC 5, and the second to Inspur devices! Migration already ticked off? We wouldn’t be asking whether you've migrated to Debian 11 yet if our top priority wasn’t making sure you can fully benefit from Quick Configuration Wizard as well as the remaining features of EasyDCIM v1.9.2. After all, only with "bullseye" installed can you gain access to all kinds of advantages this and future updates have to offer! Worry not, as you won’t get left confused not knowing how to go through this process – we offer step-by-step guidelines, as well as a completely free possibility of our team upgrading your current EasyDCIM server for you! With excitement at its peak, fueled by an overwhelming sense of adventure, make your next stop at our website and see the full changelog of EasyDCIM v1.9.2, for a brief, straight to the point description of the spanking-new Quick Configuration Wizard and the summary of other no less impactful changes. View the Changelog!

Like most businesses, regardless of their sector, web hosting companies are always looking to increase their operational efficiency and reduce costs. This is where automation comes in, as it can help with both of those goals. Automation speeds up processes while reducing the possibility of an error occurring. This frees up employees to focus on core tasks instead of necessary but low-intellect work. While there are many tools on the market for automating dedicated servers, not all of them are well suited to your needs. Some are likely to be too expensive. Other ones are technical in nature and require an expertise too comprehensive for most individuals. There are also ones that still will not include the automation functionality crucial for your web hosting business to continue growing and reaching its goals. In this blog post, we will talk about four different automation systems available to web hosting providers offering dedicated servers: WHMCS, WISECP, Blesta and HostBill. While this list admittedly does not cover all available ones on the market, it does represent the options that we find to be the best fit for small and mid-sized companies looking to add automation without high costs or complexity. We'll cover what these four tools do and how they compare so you can find the perfect server automation software for your company! Recommended Automation Tools for Web Hosting Providers WHMCS To start, let's talk about the best-known and most widely used management platform in the web hosting industry: WHMCS. The acronym stands for Web Host Manager Complete Solution and it is considered one of the most popular options available to you as a business owner. WHMCS has an integrated billing system that can help with your day-to-day tasks such as invoicing and accepting payments from users in addition to a suite of tools for managing your dedicated servers. WHMCS includes an industry-standard billing platform with many powerful features, but it's also known for being slightly more complex to implement into your business workflow. WHMCS can require a lot of customization and configuration for some users. This means you'll be spending more time on the backend to make sure everything is working properly. However, once WHMCS is operating correctly for your web hosting company, it is undeniable that it provides the functionality necessary to successfully automate a number of key activities. One aspect should be kept in mind: WHMCS charges an annual license fee for each user that accesses it, so if your business has a large number of customers this can add up quickly. WHMCS standard features: Integrated billing system Automated server provisioning system Dedicated server management tools Invoicing and accepting payments, including support for recurring payments WISECP WISECP is an automated billing system that works best for smaller web hosting companies. It includes a suite of tools for managing dedicated servers and can be installed on any operating system. WISECP also has an API so you can integrate it with all sorts of software products without having to worry about compatibility issues, or hiring programmers to write custom code, just because they're not using the same platform as you are. This allows businesses to use multiple systems simultaneously while still being able to sync data between them seamlessly. The API even lets developers export data from WISECP into other applications if they want to. WISECP is a one-stop-shop for managing everything that running your business involves. It's a good choice not just for web hosting providers but also security firms and other types of business that need to automate the management of their dedicated servers. WISECP offers comprehensive solutions for billing, customer service automation, CRM integration, chatbots, and more. WISECP standard features: File manager Domain manager Device configuration tool Account creation Rebuild, restart, start, and shutdown functionality Blesta Blesta is an automated billing platform that includes an integrated customer log-in with their own portal. It also provides a software to help you manage your dedicated servers including file manager, domain manager, and server configuration. Another stand-out feature is that it can be installed on any operating system. Blesta is another powerful system that service providers and hosts use to simplify their workflows. It has everything WISECP does plus a few more tools like billing automation, recurring invoices, and automated provisioning. It also integrates with WHMCS so you can get an even more powerful single sign-on experience where users only need to log into one system and they're automatically signed in on all other areas of your business too. Blesta includes a complete billing suite that helps user companies run efficiently and save both time and money. Blesta standard features: Integrated customer login with their own portal Suite of tools for managing machines File manager Domain manager Support platform for managing customer inquiries HostBill HostBill is a full-featured billing and CRM solution that gives you everything you need to run your web hosting company. You can easily manage customers, invoices, recurring bills, warranties and more, all in one system with no extra add-ons required. HostBill also integrates seamlessly with WHMCS so if you're already using it you can get the same benefits that WiseCP and Blesta offer. Perhaps the best thing about HostBill is how affordable it is to start up. HostBill also has an API that enables developers to integrate multiple systems simultaneously without having compatibility issues or hiring programmers to write custom code just because they're not using the same platform as you are. HostBill standard features: Automated billing Device and domain automation Client support and management Client self-service portal The Right Automation Tool for Your Web Hosting Business So how do you choose what's right for your business? As with any other software consideration it is important to understand your existing technology stack as well as the goals you are trying to reach. Automation for automation's sake is unlikely to succeed. Have a plan for what challenges you are trying to address and how new automation will impact, and hopefully improve, not just your business but your customers' experience as well. Automation greatly reduces costs, by removing manual tasks from employees' daily routines and allowing them to focus on more productive activities instead, which is its most important benefit. In addition, automation makes it easier for companies to streamline their business processes, which is another way of saying that it helps them save money. If you are looking to add automation to your web hosting company, the four above mentioned options are worth considering. While each has its strengths and drawbacks, all four can help save time and streamline processes in your business. Our team at EasyDCIM is proud to work with WHMCS through EasyDCIM Dedicated Servers For WHMCS and EasyDCIM Colocation For WHMCS modules officially maintained by ModulesGarden. Simultaneously, the platform supports a number of other systems designed to help growing web hosting companies. Interested in leveling up your workflows with the extra potential of integration between EasyDCIM and such esteemed automation tools as HostBill, Blesta, WISECP or any other suitable alternative? Get in contact with us!

It may seem that the turmoil of emotions has long since faded away and the dust has already blanketed the grief after the controversial demise of CentOS, but as soon as you step a little further behind the front door of most industry forums, you will quickly find out that the struggle to hook up with a worthy replacement is still very much real. So how could we not back you up on this battlefield by going the extra mile to keep EasyDCIM's support for the top alternative operating systems in peak condition? It is in precisely this way that our platform reached the release of version 1.9.1, further accompanied by the evolution of colocation support. A real treat for CentOS ex-users When one of the best-loved and most popular free Linux systems is forced out of nowhere to pack its bags, and vanishes into thin air, replaced by pretty much a totally different architecture, one can easily imagine most of the community entering the state of utter confusion progressing to borderline panic. Expecting crowds of disoriented users rushing to google all possible alternatives to CentOS, we quickly put on our superhero capes and equipped EasyDCIM with new templates meant to allow the automatic installation of operating systems thought of as most likely to fill in the vacant spot. Remember how quickly our poll revealed everyone's favorite? But implementing these templates is one thing. Keeping them closely fitted into the post-CentOS landscape is a whole other story, which today unfolds right before your eyes with the release of EasyDCIM v1.9.1. The OS Installation extension received a solid dose of code refreshments to deal with the 9th generation of AlmaLinux and CentOS Stream in the smoothest manner possible. Moreover, the spectrum of OS templates has been stretched to new levels after developing support for Fedora 36 Server. All three successfully handle the most needed processes which are: Time zone and language configuration Disk partitioning Creation of user accounts and root password Configuration of network interfaces Installation of additional system packages as well as post-installation and first-boot scripts If we were to run another round of this poll today, would your vote be the same as it was back then, or would it be different? Colocation hits the sweet spot Citing the report drawn up by Grand View Research, "The global data center colocation market size was valued at USD 44.42 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.3% from 2021 to 2028 to reach USD 117.82 billion by 2028". Quite an impressive trend, don’t you think? Like many of its kind, this one has emerged mainly due to COVID-19. When the pandemic swept the world, it changed the rules of the game once and for all, pushing thousands of companies outside the comfort zone in order to stay afloat in this competitive marketplace. With more and more employees working from home, and the explosion of our virtual interactions, the colocation route makes now more sense business-wise than ever. Expanding the colocation-related capabilities of EasyDCIM, therefore, felt like the only right direction for the platform to grow in. Consequently, in version 1.9.1, all data center owners are assisted by new actions when handling colocation orders: Enable/disable traffic aggregation ports Delete RRD files with graphs and traffic data Remove the activity log entries Unassign network ports/colocation devices But introducing these options didn’t seem functionally enough to call it a day. That’s why we took it even a tad further and enhanced the EasyDCIM’s client area with a list of network ports assigned to each colocation (with instant access to numbers behind data consumption), as well as a brand-new section specifically for adding and removing rDNS records within the colocation. Looking at how well the colocation data center market is doing today, would it actually be too bold of a move to jump on the bandwagon, and see for yourself where it gets you? Still to make friends with Debian 11? We know there’s a lot on your plate already, but as someone who cares about you a lot, we feel compelled to make sure that migrating to Debian 11 hasn't slipped too far down your to-do list. We wouldn't be making such a big deal out of it if it weren't for the fact that without "bullseye" installed, you won't be able to benefit from EasyDCIM v1.9.0, nor from any future updates! Don’t forget we offer comprehensive assistance with this process, and by comprehensive we mean step-by-step instructions as well as the possibility of our team upgrading your current EasyDCIM server totally free of any charge! However much we have already revealed, don't let your curiosity be fully satisfied just yet. Spare another minute or two to scan the changelog of EasyDCIM v1.9.1 some further as it guarantees you a detailed insight into new criteria-based order matching as well as multiple other enhancements that belong to the realm of modern data center management. View the Changelog!

Many web hosting providers wonder if selling dedicated servers is a good idea. On the one hand, dedicated server sales generate more revenue per unit than shared or VPS hosting. On the other hand, the technical knowledge and financial investment necessary to offer dedicated servers can become an issue if done in a hurry. As with most things, there are trade-offs with selling dedicated servers. Calculating if this product fits your business offer requires more than a simple checklist. Concentrating on your business goals, existing resources, and ideal customer set is crucial when considering whether or not to sell dedicated servers. Selling dedicated servers vs. selling shared hosting Dedicated servers require various investments, buying or reselling hardware, expanding to a clientele that will spend more money, and technical ability that is different than spinning up a VPS and selling small chunks via inexpensive shared hosting. This post will address what goes into adding dedicated servers to your hosting business and answer the question: "Would it be difficult for my web hosting company to sell dedicated servers?" From technical know-how to marketing, we will explore how to sell dedicated servers and help determine if this exciting product makes sense for your next venture. Requirements of selling dedicated servers Technical know-how required Unlike virtualized technology where the web hosting provider's responsibility often starts at the hypervisor, with a dedicated server you may also be responsible for the hardware itself. To sell dedicated servers you will need to have or gain access to a resource with deeper technological expertise than if you are only selling shared hosting. In most cases selling dedicated servers means understanding the physical machines themselves as well as their connectivity, power, and security. Investments and resources Selling shared hosting is fairly straightforward: set up a VPS and WHM along with a simple website and you have a fledgling web hosting company. Selling dedicated servers requires resources and investment into more powerful and more expensive hardware. Reseller programs from web hosts do provide access to dedicated servers if you do not want to purchase or lease your own hardware, but the investment in time and resources to sell them is significant. Marketing to a different clientele The customers seeking out dedicated servers search for something completely different than those choosing shared or even VPS hosting solutions. As the name implies, dedicated servers mean not sharing any server resources with other tenants. That means a higher price and thus a different set of customers than those used to paying a few dollars a month to host a personal website or blog. Dedicated servers typically cost well into the hundreds of dollars per month per server. Crafting a message and marketing plan that resonates with this type of buyer is key. Benefits of selling dedicated servers Dedicated servers provide upsell opportunity While technical know-how, more resources, and different marketing can be the hard parts of selling dedicated servers, there are some significant and worthwhile benefits as well. The most obvious one? Having a better, higher-performance solution for existing customers as their hosting needs grow. Most web hosting providers know the awful feeling of a customer leaving because the provider no longer has the product the customer needs. Dedicated servers provide a logical upsell path that reduces churn, increases revenue, and keeps customers happy for the long haul. Dedicated servers cover a wider range of customer needs Just as dedicated servers offer an opportunity to generate greater revenue and reduce churn, so too do they offer a way to address a wider and more varied range of customer needs. For example, imagine you have a business-class customer that chooses to invest in a new ERP system that requires a dedicated server. If this is not part of your product catalog then you run the risk of losing some or all of that customer's web hosting business to a provider that does offer dedicated servers. By offering this technology your hosting business becomes a viable option for almost all clients across industries with various hosting needs. Dedicated servers generate more revenue... and profit It is wonderful to have a natural upsell path for existing customers. It is also great to cover a wider range of customer needs. Another excellent potential outcome aligns with your web hosting company's goals: generating more revenue. Dedicated servers command a higher price point which can positively affect your business in many ways. A solution that generates hundreds or even thousands of dollars per unit of profit is considerably more profitable than shared hosting which can generate only a few dollars of profit per month per unit. Selling dedicated servers means you need fewer customers to reach similar financial goals and opens new areas of opportunity for your business. What you need to sell dedicated servers Despite initial assumptions, selling dedicated servers is not complicated once you understand what you need to be successful. Additionally, the benefits of selling these can substantially outweigh the challenges, particularly once you get your dedicated server offerings out to the market for the first time. In the most basic sense, you need three things to successfully expand your business offer to new and existing customers. Dedicated servers through purchase, lease, or reseller agreement First, you will need access to dedicated servers. In some cases, it makes sense to purchase or lease servers and take responsibility for their complete management, maintenance, and security. However, if you are new to selling this solution then we would suggest finding a reputable web hosting provider with a reseller program you can join. These programs typically include a generous gross margin for you when you resell a dedicated server. Additionally, reseller programs often leave the provider responsible for power, connectivity, and physical security for the dedicated servers. This means less for you to handle while still recognizing the benefits of selling this new solution. Software to manage dedicated server automation Next, a number of software offers including EasyDCIM can help automate a lot of the technical aspects of offering dedicated servers. For example, inventory counts and server provisioning can be handled by EasyDCIM. Tools like WHMCS and HostBill can help with billing. In fact, most of the actions necessary for the management and maintenance of your dedicated servers can be addressed with software. The right software can completely remove the need to do anything manually when it comes to the dedicated servers you are offering. A marketing plan to target new and existing customers Finally, to succeed in selling dedicated servers you will need a marketing plan or strategy to promote this new addition to your offer. Email newsletters announcing and promoting dedicated servers to existing customers can be very effective. Otherwise, the marketing channels you are already utilizing can be excellent for promoting dedicated servers, you simply have to fine-tune the messaging a bit. From targeting potential buyers with larger budgets to sharing potential use-cases where dedicated servers are the best option, different messages and audiences can lead to a significant increase in sales. Difficult or not? The conclusion Selling dedicated servers can feel difficult but in reality, it is not complicated in the slightest! With essentially the same amount of hard work as selling shared or VPS solutions, you can find success selling this higher-end solution. The challenge emerges when gaining access to the servers themselves, managing technical requirements, and getting the word out. Thankfully there are straightforward solutions for each of these. The decision if your business should offer dedicated servers ought to be driven by your business goals and the amount of time and attention you can offer to make such an initiative a success. To learn more about how automation software, including the EasyDCIM platform, can make selling dedicated servers easier for you, feel free to reach out to us. We would love the chance to work with you as you begin offering dedicated servers to both new and existing customers. Contact us!

Considered "so good, there's simply no reason to not use it", Debian 11, with quite a suggestive nickname "bullseye", has become our next prime target as soon as it popped up on our radar back in 2021. It immediately seemed clear to us that turning integration with this particular Debian distribution into an official feature of EasyDCIM would be... a bullseye (pardon the pun). But what precisely does the transition from Debian 9 mean for EasyDCIM, and how does it justify calling the platform's 1.9.0 version a game-changer on so many functional levels? We're about to find out! The mother of all Ubuntu-based distributions Among all Linux distributions you could possibly think of, Debian, with almost three decades of growth, is continuously being ranked as the most stable and versatile one. Its leading position on the global stage can best be illustrated by the fact that other no less known distributions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary OS, etc. can find their roots in Debian. Did you know? Each Debian release gets a codename from a Toy Story character. In like manner, it is Woody's wild west horse from Toy Story 2 that has officially become the face of Debian 11. Eleven is your new lucky number Debian 11 premiered officially on August 14th, 2021 and, just like all previous releases, is going to be actively maintained for the next 5 years. And to give you a scale of how fruitful two years, one month and nine days of development can be - "bullseye" contains over 11,294 new packages out of an impressive number of 59,551 ready-to-use packages overall in Debian's repositories. As you can easily guess, it's quite impossible to do Debian 11 justice in just a few words, but we'll happily use this limited space to discuss the most impactful changes (as if we haven't already done so dozens of times in the office), which we believe are: Linux kernel 5.10 series with support for the exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) filesystem used by default to mount exFAT filesystems. Several desktop environments, such as: Gnome 3.38, KDE Plasma 5.20, LXDE 11, LXQt 0.16, MATE 1.24, and Xfce 4.16. A huge variety of updated software packages, including: Apache, BIND DNS Server, Emacs, GIMP, LibreOffice, MariaDB, OpenSSH, Perl, PHP, PostgreSQL, Python, Rust, Samba, and Vim. The powerful combination of EasyDCIM v1.9.0 and Debian 11 will not fail to produce a vast range of benefits, with higher security and faster performance being those particularly welcome. A word of caution: Debian 9 "stretch" goes End of Life (EOL) on June 30th, 2022, and as such, will not receive any security updates after this date. In consequence, Debian 11 will from now on be the only supported system on which EasyDCIM can be installed. Our documentation has been updated with detailed guidelines that will walk you through migrating from Debian 9 according to the method you find suitable. EasyDCIM has got your back! Secondly, to ensure that you are never left without access to effective protection in the event of e.g. system failure, OS Installation extension returns in the 1.9.6 version with an updated equipment meant to help you with various admin tasks: Clonezilla 2.8.1-12 Memtest86+ 5.31b GParted 1.3.1 Hiren's BootCD PE 1.0.2 A new face of power outlet management Another bold feature of EasyDCIM v1.9.0 puts the spotlight on the range of PDU drivers which has been momentously expanded to cover a new driver supporting Dell rPDUs devices. The list of available actions handled by PDU Management v1.2.2 extension include, inter alia, automatic device detection with easy viewing of key parameters as well as power usage monitoring simplified with a graph. While we focused on highlighting Debian 11 support along with a few other newcomers in EasyDCIM v1.9.0 that we're personally most thrilled about, the changelog will, as always, detail every single kind of modernization that the platform has gone through. If you are eager to figure out which one is your own favorite, there's only one quick step left for you to take: View the Full Changelog!

As a data center owner, spare time isn’t likely something you have at hand in overly large amounts. There are quite a few things we imagine that you have a lot of though... like tasks to accomplish, and deadlines to meet. So how not to break down under the strain of overwork and carry through the business chores in a shorter time? With EasyDCIM v1.8.3 of course! Leap into (bulk) action! We would not do justice to the mightily time-saving nature of this just finished 1.8.3 release without turning the spotlight on a brand-new feature empowering you to add devices or items in bulk. The "Mass Add" tool has been introduced to free you from the repetitive, mundane task of manually creating inventory items one by one... We're getting a headache just thinking about it. Fortunately, those rough times are over, as now you can easily - and above all quickly - add as many devices or items of the same type as you only need. If you take a good look around this new set of equipment, you certainly won’t fail to spot an additional option for managing the bulk import from a CSV file. The possibility to import data about all your devices and items at once will come in particularly useful for new EasyDCIM users during the early phase of migration from other systems. And to make this entire process as comfortable as it is express, the form of the table with inventory elements mirrors that of the world-popular Google Sheets (with all proportions intact). Next chapter of visual makeover What only adds to the modern look and feel of EasyDCIM, manifested specifically in the visually pleasing 1.8.0 edition, is a new driver based on "Chart.js" that has been implemented to handle interactive graphs in the backend. Naturally, previous graph types are still supported, so you can freely specify in the global system settings which one exactly you would like to apply. Apart from an even more tasteful model of data visualization, the update is also responsible for enriching the repertoire of available graphs with as many as 13 new ones, presenting such important insights as: Aggregate Traffic Average Packet Size Load Network Traffic Percent Utilization Ping Power Usage Remote Agent Status Remote Poller Performance Status Traffic Unicast Packets User Aggregate Traffic Greater controllability at hand Is he using his port too much again? No worries, you no longer have to stand idly by. Because next time one of your customers starts generating a high traffic on their Arista VEOS device, you can simply change the allowed speed of their port to a lower one. All credit goes to Switch Management For EasyDCIM v1.4.1. Working hard will only get you far but working smart will propel your business to heights you have never even dreamed of. The changelog will take it from here to bring you up to speed on other newly established powers within EasyDCIM v1.8.3. Enjoy! View the Full Changelog!