Data Center Geeks Hub

For a rapidly growing control panel that deals with countless types of data center operations on a daily basis, keeping up with the times seems to be the only right New Year’s resolution. And even though we are still a few days away from officially stepping into 2022 with this very goal close at heart, we are closing the EasyDCIM’s busiest year of development yet with a true cherry on top - a spanking-new 1.8.2 release which apart from following the current trends and customer expectations, progresses in leaps and bounds into the future, especially in the field of effective control over switch devices. VLAN management got smarter… again! Juniper was today joined by the switches based on the HPE Comware Software and Arista VEOS systems in the group of officially supported devices. Just like the previous addition, this pair of newly implemented drivers is responsible for allowing you to manage VLANs as well as toggle the network ports on and off without the need to use any other protocols. Switch Management For EasyDCIM, with its latest 1.4.0 edition, is an extension where all the key actions on VLANs happen, including that of: VLAN addition, VLAN assignment to the network port (either singly or in bulk), automatic detection during the device’s polling process. Let all those craving an even more sophisticated understanding of the subject feel cordially invited to explore our documentation loaded with various business-critical insights. Zero in on furthered Proxmox VE support Another major step up for the automatic OS installation has been scored by adding the leading-edge generation 7.1 of Proxmox Virtual Environment to the rich portfolio of system templates - all for your clients to acquire instant access to a number of functional capabilities of this ultra-modern platform for virtual machines and containers management. But that’s not the only reason why we are bringing OS Installation For EasyDCIM right before your eyes today – let’s not forget that Debian 11 "bullseye" system template also forms a central part of the extension’s fine-tuned 1.9.5 update. Feeling tempted to delve much deeper into this brand-new spot on the EasyDCIM’s growth map, and learn how to work the above described along with multiple other supplies of freshly unlocked powers straight into your data center business? View the Full Changelog!

Now that the quality graphics of "Locations" and "Floors & Racks" sections have smoothly blended into your everyday workflows, making your admin experience as aesthetically pleasing as it is technologically advanced, the timing is perfect to unlock more doors to EasyDCIM's functional growth. Though the expanded PDU management capacities alone can elevate it to the must-have status, this article highlights a few more reasons why the all-new EasyDCIM v1.8.1 deserves every ounce of attention it can get. Raritan takes the stage What many shall view as the centerpiece of this stand-out release - and quite rightly so - is PDU Management For EasyDCIM v1.2.1 which has had its collection of PDU drivers enlarged with support for Raritan devices - more specifically, for their PX2 and PX3 series. Something to think about: Raritan’s intelligent solutions have been chosen by more than 60,000 data centers around the globe - including 9 of the top 10 Fortune 500 technology companies. Among the key features that we developed with Raritan’s PX PDUs in mind you will find, for example, detecting devices along with their key parameters via the Auto-Discovering process, controlling the status of power outlets as well as collecting real-time data on power usage in graph form. Two more reasons to appreciate JAVA KVM IPMI Integration For EasyDCIM is back in a vastly updated 1.4.2 version featuring a couple of new drivers for the JAVA KVM console: one dedicated to HP iLO 5 and the other to Lenovo ThinkSystem (TSM) devices. Whether either of these two is a likely choice for your business, we’ll leave it for you to decide, and instead focus just on reminding how important, yet often unseen role the KVM console plays these days. Working as an application in your browser, the console’s job is to imitate a real-time keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) interaction with your servers from any remote location. To put it more visually, if that helps your understanding: imagine as if you were sitting directly in front of your server - this is precisely how easy it is to operate your devices with the use of a KVM console. Another attractive OS alternative at hand The guide to our favorite additions of EasyDCIM v1.8.1 could not possibly be complete without mentioning the growing catalog of OS templates. Included in OS Installation For EasyDCIM v1.9.4, the latest template is responsible for the automatic installation of Windows Server 2022, the system which continues to be quite a hot-button issue in the eyes of the IT community. Interestingly, Windows Server 2022 did not become known for an outstanding set of features in the first place, but rather for its pretty unusual - to say the least - way of announcing its own general availability, far less festive than the one which made Bill Gates dance 26 years ago. However, it would be grossly unfair not to give Microsoft credit for a number of new solutions contained in Windows Server 2022 that rank it as the most sophisticated version to date. The most noticeable enhancements include: ✓ Secured-core server - Apply an active multi-layered protection against advanced attacks. ✓ Azure hybrid capabilities - Connect with Azure Arc to take advantage of assorted cloud services with on-premises Windows Server 2022. ✓ Flexible application platform - Benefit from 40% smaller Windows Containers images, better application compatibility and simplified Windows Container experience with Kubernetes. Help is on the way! A different yet just as valuable feature that was made available upon the update of OS Installation extension is a new SystemRescueCd 8.0.4 rescue template full of tools that will come in particularly useful when the need to restore the server configuration arises. Essentially, it secures an easy way to carry out many key actions on your computer such as creating or editing the hard disk partitions. We hope this article, though brief, shows clearly how many more doors EasyDCIM v1.8.1 has opened when it comes to efficient and trouble-free data center management. Make your next stop at our website as the full changelog of this release promises you an even wider variety of the newest developments to delve into. View the Changelog!

If you own a hosting business then you are likely familiar with the potential that comes from upselling accounts. The most common way that providers upsell customers? By offering larger and more robust infrastructure options. Dedicated servers, specifically, offer huge growth opportunity for companies and their clients alike. Such a server gives users the technological horsepower needed to run even the most ambitious sites, applications, and projects. Similarly, these higher-end offerings can be a huge profit center for the company as well. More reliable in nature, those solutions command a higher price point and result in increased customer satisfaction. In fact, while many providers begin by selling simple shared accounts, most have the ambition to offer bigger - and more expensive - services to customers over time. However, if selling dedicated servers was so easy then everyone would do it, right? The truth is that expanding your hosting offerings with solutions more complex in scale is fraught with challenges and roadblocks that can frustrate even the most experienced technologist. In this Blog post, we will cover seven main struggles that you may be forced to deal with if you own a hosting company and start providing different, high-priced offerings to your customers. 1. Reading customer needs Dedicated servers are often more trustworthy and offer better performance than shared hosting plans since they have access to more resources. Furthermore, those resources are not shared with other tenants. Even if they sit idle when not in use, resources from this type of a server are specific to the customer, and not impacted by other users or companies. The difficulty behind selling dedicated servers may lie in figuring out what customers want with regard to server specifications, which can depend on the company's target market. Some users want higher quality at a lower price, while others need devices for high-traffic websites that experience spikes in demand throughout the day. 2. Taking inventory One of the main challenges in offering dedicated servers comes in how to keep up with them as they grow more and more in demand. There are typically two ways to maintain the inventory: by hand or with some type of an automated system or software. The manual method includes counting from an account dashboard. For some businesses, the manual calculation comes from literally walking into the data center and adding up devices on the rack. With an automated system, the number crunching is handled regularly by software, reducing the manual work and improving the accuracy of calculations. For example, EasyDCIM automates inventory counts for connected servers, showing what devices are in use and which are idle, and thus available for provisioning. This allows owners and administrators of hosting providers to save vast amounts of time. Additionally, the platform makes the inventory calculations more precise and stored in a streamlined system instead of being kept in a random spreadsheet or notebook. 3. Server restarts Another challenge comes in how you choose to handle device restarting processes. The common ways of addressing this need are either performing restarts internally or allowing customers the freedom to handle this task individually for servers they purchased from your company. In case you choose to shut down and turn on the servers all by yourself, then it becomes an integral part of your professional workflows, costing time and resources. Then again, if you choose to give users the ability to restart servers they are using, it ends up being a shared responsibility. In general, it is not possible to equip clients with the power to perform server restarts without the right software. Hosting providers that utilize EasyDCIM can easily offer this sort of functionality to their customers, and all that without sacrificing control over the provisioned devices. 4. Server hardware investments and expenditures Dedicated servers are a sizeable investment for most hosting companies mainly because there are ongoing costs associated with upkeep and maintenance. The challenge is knowing when or how often server hardware needs to be upgraded or replaced. In many cases, reseller programs can be a great option for hosting providers looking to grow. By leveraging a reseller program held by a larger provider, a company can branch out into offering a wide range of dedicated devices without taking on the burden of buying or leasing any hardware. When adding in the costs of data centers, connectivity, electricity, and security, it rarely makes sense for a small or even mid-sized entrepreneur to purchase hardware for sale. 5. Migrating customers between hosting server types Migrations are complicated in almost every situation, and the migrations from a shared hosting account or VPS to a dedicated server are no exception. If you are going to offer more powerful infrastructure, you should first consider how customers will be transferred to these new offerings. Will you have a separate team for professional services to lend a hand? Automated software to handle the process? Or, like many providers, will you leave the migration to the users and their team, and not provide any help at all? Ensuring migrations go smoothly is a go-to way to sell more units and keep customers happy. At the same time, you should take into account that providing technical assistance can prove to be a costly burden to your company’s support and engineering teams. 6. Pricing strategy Settling on the price of any infrastructure service can be complicated. Some hosting providers choose their pricing rates based on the rest of their products and solutions catalog. Others price their offerings relatively to competitors or according to customer surveys. Because dedicated servers are inherently higher-performing, more reliable devices then they are typically priced higher than VPS and shared alternatives. Outside of that guidance, however, you’ll likely need to try different price levels to see what your market and your clientele will bear. 7. Marketing dedicated servers Lastly, many providers may face various challenges when it comes to marketing and selling dedicated servers. The goal is to advertise these devices as a premium product because they are more robust and powerful than shared web hosting or VPS plans. The best way to market your new, higher-priced offerings is to position them as the next stage in the natural growth path for customers as their businesses evolve. This is an effective technique to let your clients feel you are a partner in their success and not simply trying to sell them something more expensive. Dedicated servers provide high performance and uptime - users that need both will recognize the value in your new offering when the time comes for that to fit their needs. Should you make dedicated servers part of your business? As you can see, there are quite many challenges hidden in the craft of selling dedicated servers. However, what should be stressed above all is the fact that each of these possible struggles is far outweighed by the positive impact that branching out has on your business. Improved customer satisfaction and higher-value sales can be transformative for your hosting business. Our team at EasyDCIM is on a mission to help hosting providers and their customers get the most possible value from dedicated servers. The platform's suite of extensions as well as integrations with key systems like WHMCS turn the server management into something to look forward to. If you are keen to learn more about adding dedicated devices to your product base, simply click the button below. We would enjoy the chance to help you explore how adding better solutions and more valuable revenue streams can impact your hosting business. Contact us!

While growing the variety of EasyDCIM tools with ever more advanced solutions is an explicit goal, it is of equal weight for us to keep its equipment invariably easy in navigation and intuitive in regular use. But what exactly does it take for a control panel to be user-friendly? On August 25th, EasyDCIM makes a successful comeback in a 1.8.0 version, ready to bring some next-level thinking to the table, together with its newly minted "Locations" and "Floors & Racks" sections. Let’s unfold the map! As the user experience officially becomes a ranking factor in Google search results, it no longer comes as a shock that the times of text-heavy content are over (good riddance!), replaced by a way more digestible model of data visualizations. It was therefore only to be expected that we tap into this indisputable trend sooner rather than later. And voilà! The grand debut of two new sections of EasyDCIM is a tribute to an effortless, and visually aesthetic management of locations, floors and racks. Everything from generating a building view to placing racks in a grid of selected sizes is now based on easily navigable graphic representations. Hand in hand with the world map showing the exact location of each server, switch or PDU device, the "Locations" section invites you to scan statistics on either all or single locations in the system as well as traffic and power usage presented in graph form. The "Floors & Racks" section features the building’s 2D view where you can create a grid for each floor and locate rack cabinets in any preferred position with no more than just a few clicks. This one is also equipped with a handy set of graphs and figures to let you quickly drill down into specific pockets of information on floors and racks. [gallery link="file" size="large" ids="3027,3028"] No such thing as too much choice OS Installation For EasyDCIM extension continues to be more and more versatile with its collection of system templates. To satisfy a popular demand, its 1.9.3 edition unlocks the automatic installation of: 1. Rocky Linux 8 - named after one CentOS co-founder (Rocky McGaugh) and kicked off by the other (Gregory Kurtzer) in direct response to Red Hat’s strategy shift towards CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux has proven instantly popular as a free, "bug-for-bug compatible" drop-in replacement distro for the RHEL distribution. See Kurtzer himself praising the project on LinkedIn: 2. Oracle Linux 8 - aspiring to the title of the fastest-growing Linux distribution on the market, Oracle Linux is a freely distributed open source OS that is fully compatible - both source and binary - with RHEL, and suited to enterprise-class workloads. If you are eager to learn some salient facts about other operating systems hailed as the most functionally capable to fill the void left by CentOS, this article is your next go-to guide. More functional powers on tap Just in case you are wondering, that is still not all EasyDCIM v1.8.0 has up its sleeve. Go ahead and dig around for more updates packed into the following extensions: IPMI Integration For EasyDCIM v1.4.1 PDU Management For EasyDCIM v1.2.0 EasyDCIM v1.8.0 with its brand-new layer of graphics is much more than just pleasing to the eye. It improves scannability and reduces mouse clicks by providing a high-level snapshot of the absolute essentials - locations, floors and racks, with at-a-glance views of how much data transfer is used. And that’s all at a fraction of the time it would take to get the same meaning from just the numerical data! So, are you ready to take your data center beyond the bare figures? View the Full Changelog!

Right after answering the fundamental question of why you should capitalize on dedicated servers, the very next one in our series that deserves an in-depth elaboration is the "how" question. However, given the many "hows" involved, in today’s article we will focus specifically on how you can upscale your business through server reselling via WHMCS with just a little effort put into it. So now that you have followed our advice, and branched out your offer into dedicated servers with a helping hand from EasyDCIM, you are actually able to spend more time thinking about ways to further polish your routine workflows. To help you put this train of thought on the right track, we are highlighting a couple of cutting-edge WHMCS tools that will make you wonder how you could possibly go so long without the advantage of business automation. Auto-provisioning at its finest EasyDCIM Dedicated Servers For WHMCS is a free module designed by ModulesGarden to create a bridge between your WHMCS and EasyDCIM, and by that means open up a whole new level of possibilities in realms of your offerings. Not only will you be able to provision adjustable dedicated servers of EasyDCIM in a fully automated manner, your customers will enjoy a wide choice of available instruments for handling their own products, and all this without ever leaving your website. Eventually, there may come a time that selling dedicated servers on your own no longer feels like you are tapping the full potential of your business. And there is nothing wrong about that! That most likely is the first sign that your company has reached sufficient maturity to go all in and establish your own circle of resellers. Benefits of the reseller model make a long list, one that seems to only grow over time - starting with reaching a much wider audience and targeting customers in sectors you may haven’t even thought of before. And if we were to give you just a single tool go-to for thorough and seamless management of your reseller network, this would certainly be Products Reseller For WHMCS. A new stream of reselling flexibility Products Reseller For WHMCS is another vastly innovative ModulesGarden module that will empower you to effortlessly manage your reseller groups without leaving the confines of your WHMCS. A number-one reason why it may mark a turning point in your career is the tool’s newly secured integration with EasyDCIM Dedicated Servers For WHMCS which unlocks an extra spectrum of using its extensive toolkit to resell dedicated servers! To be slightly more precise, the module will equip you with all kinds of features essential to set up custom pricing rates for your products and services, track generated income via smart graphs as well as supervise everyday actions taken by your resellers. Each of your resellers, on the other hand, besides being welcome to look up all crucial information on acquired customers and orders, will gain access to advanced API documentation and use it to supply your servers to end clients through their own platform, be it WHMCS or any other one. See? There are ways and means for optimizing the management of dedicated servers that you can make immediate use of in order to forge enviable bonds with your resellers and create an unblemished, tailored customer journey at the same time. Add to that the fact that these terrific modules will please your wallet as much as your business, and you already know what your next move is going to look like. Dare to thrive!

What can safely be described as the end of an era is unfolding right before our eyes. The EOL of CentOS as we all know it. The news of this unlooked-for farewell that shocked the entire community triggers a rather obvious question: "What to do now?" To make answering a bit easier for you, we are today delivering our latest brainchild - EasyDCIM v1.7.4 kitted up with three entirely new system templates going hand in hand with a major bonus for IPMI proxy servers. As for April 28th, 2021, CentOS Linux is actively used by 4.7% of all the websites whose operating system is known to public. However, that level is doomed to drop radically in the months to come, all because of the latest Red Hat announcement about shifting focus exclusively to CentOS Stream. CentOS under the microscope CentOS, which stands for the Community Enterprise Operating System, is a 100% rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. While RHEL is a paid product, CentOS has always had a definite advantage over it due to being a free community-inspired Linux distro. Developers and companies with first-hand experience in Linux in most cases have opted for CentOS to kill two birds with one stone - that is, to save money, and work with enterprise-class software at the same time. But the free ride is over. What’s next? Even with the support for CentOS Linux 8 being maintained up until the end of 2021, many people are already considering replacement - and who could blame them? To spare you the research, we are sharing what we found to be among the no. 1 alternatives on the market. 1. AlmaLinux, created by CloudLinux and launched with the code-name Project Lenix, is a community-driven, free and open-source Linux operating system, self-proclaimed to be the perfect replacement for CentOS 8. The first stable version of AlmaLinux was released just a month ago, on March 30th, 2021. ✓ When asked "Why Alma?", Igor Seletskiy, CEO & Founder of CloudLinux explained: "At CloudLinux, we have benefited from the dedicated, nourishing efforts of the Linux community - just like everyone else that relies on a Linux-powered OS. This community is the soul of Linux – and in the spirit of a dedicated community, we decided to call our new distribution Alma: a Latin-language word for soul." ✓ Some others say AlmaLinux may owe its name to the goal of capturing the soul of CentOS. ✓ AlmaLinux created a non-profit organization called AlmaLinux Open Source Foundation meant to take over managing the future project development. ✓ CloudLinux granted a $1 million annual endowment to support AlmaLinux until at least 2029. 2. CloudLinux, the origins of which reach as far back as 2010, needs no special introduction. It is a community-supported Linux operating system known for delivering advanced management of resources, strengthened security and a high-quality performance tailored specifically towards the multi-tenant hosting ecosystem. 3. CentOS Stream is a logical and interesting alternative. It is a rolling-release distro, serving as the upstream development branch of RHEL. It has been brought into being as an initiative to bridge the gap between the surging Fedora and the latest stable release of CentOS.   // The above analysis of the emerging trends in the data center space laid the groundwork for what has become a prime addition to the OS Installation For EasyDCIM extension. Updated vastly into the 1.9.2 version, it now features three entirely new system templates to ease the installation process of: AlmaLinux 8 CloudLinux 8 CentOS Stream 8 With so many alternatives available for immediate use, the demise of CentOS doesn’t sound so terrifying anymore, does it?   A new face of IPMI proxy servers We wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't introduce at least one more enhancement to the brand-new release. And here it is! You probably think: "But IPMI proxy is hardly news". Technically yes, but to make it work properly so far you had to configure an additional physical server, which in a way was a needless waste of the resources. Upon promoting the IPMI Integration For EasyDCIM extension to the 1.4.0 version, IPMI proxy servers have been moved to remote agents. Now all you need to do is configure a proxy server, and specify in the settings which remote agent should use it. No additional data to connect, no additional servers. Easy and resource-friendly! Among the other new IPMI proxy-related features that made it into EasyDCIM you will spot: three predefined JAVA versions to choose from in place of just one an all-new possibility to change the JAVA version for a proxy server downloading JAVA KVM applets now taking place on the remote agent instead of on the EasyDCIM main server to avoid problems with network configuration   How did you take the news of the CentOS project coming to a close? Even if you consider the Red Hat’s decision to be a somewhat controversial move, you have no other choice but to face its consequences. But you do not have to shoot in the dark, luckily. Spare an extra minute to scroll through the rest of changes in EasyDCIM v1.7.4, and make it your most trusted business partner! View the Changelog!

In every story there is always an unsung hero, the one who does a great deal of job and pushes the course of action forward but remains unnoticed and receives little or no recognition. Would you agree that in the data center world the role of such a gray eminence is performed by PDU devices? The EasyDCIM v1.7.3 release that we have the genuine pleasure to trumpet today, places the PDU devices much in the foreground and widens the selection of PDU drivers you now have the full convenience to choose from. New PDU drivers suite Here's a quick reminder on what the PDU is for those who need their memory refreshed: PDU stands for Power Distribution Unit, and simply put, is a device for distributing and managing large amounts of electricity within a data center environment. PDU Management For EasyDCIM v1.1.0 received a solid update to include drivers to such two intelligent PDU devices. One of them is Sentry Switched PDU which offers SNMP traps delivering automated alerts for power and environmental conditions via Syslog and email as well as the possibility to add extra outlets under one IP address. The second one is PowerAlert PDU which, thanks to free NMS software, aims at reducing troubleshooting time by providing a color-coded alarm history in an easy-to-read list format. PDU devices under close guard The red-hot 1.7.3 version of EasyDCIM has a much wider repertoire of novelties in the realm of PDU management. It grants you the power to handle the status of power outlets and control the electricity supply just with the use of these no-sweat actions: Outlet On, Outlet Off and Outlet Reboot. Feeling a shiver of excitement down your spine already? Sit down comfortably in the armchair and watch carefully for more because the Auto-Discovering process will automatically detect devices which are connected to the network. That is still not enough because the PDU Management extension is at the ready mode to present you with a whole lot of information about the detected devices. It may give you a sense of being a data bank or a sort of a fact file for a while when the Auto-Discovering process will reveal the type, model, series number, label and producer of the piece of hardware it has just detected. And know what? There are still more experiences that come with the just-out EasyDCIM 1.7.3 because the freshly added feature will not let you guess the levels of power usage during the device's polling process as it collects the information automatically for you. API-based PowerDNS 4 support The special requests of our clients encouraged us to stretch the list of available DNS submodules. DNS Management For EasyDCIM v1.4.0 has been tuned to connect with PowerDNS 4 via API, and this substantial change brings about a wide range of handy tools to you. They are meant not only to import the existing DNS zones, but also add and later on edit them whenever the need arises - without leaving the device view. The creation of rDNS records can be performed just as easily. To work up your curiosity for more, let's also give a mention to new advanced filtering options that are now available in the extension's tables to facilitate the search of DNS zones and records. Although the extent of improvements waiting to be discovered is much larger than what can possibly be covered here, there is one last feature deserving a spotlight - KVM console support for Dell PowerEdge C6100 and C6220 devices introduced to IPMI Integration For EasyDCIM v1.3.1. But not to spoil you the fun of exploring the remaining details of EasyDCIM v1.7.3, you are more than warmly invited to treat yourself to the full changelog! Let’s dive right in!

For web hosting providers the future has never been more exciting, nor more challenging. On the one hand, the demand for great infrastructure is growing faster than ever before. On the other, competition is fierce, and acquiring even a single customer can feel like pushing a boulder up a hill. Savvy hosting providers understand that success is a combination of offering quality web hosting services, excellent support, and strong business management. Thriving hosting providers share some common traits regardless of where they are on their business journey. One of those traits is offering solutions that fit customer needs while also adapting to the customer’s own growth goals. Think of it this way: if infrastructure needs to grow relative to business growth, then it stands to reason that a business will have very different needs as it grows in size. What works for a solo-practitioner starting a law firm is unlikely to be sufficient when the practice has grown to a dozen partners, paralegals, and support staff. As a result, your web hosting company should offer dedicated servers to customers. In this post, we will explore four key benefits of offering dedicated servers to both new and existing customers. 1. Dedicated servers widen your potential customer base Offering dedicated servers to the market creates a great opportunity to expand your customer base. Even with the rise of the public cloud, dedicated servers and private clouds are still used by businesses the world over. Some applications cannot run in the cloud. Some industries have privacy and compliance requirements that make such servers the only option. And some organizations simply want to be in complete control of their infrastructure. By offering dedicated servers, this entire segment of customers can start to consider your web hosting business as their infrastructure partner. 2. Dedicated servers provide an upsell opportunity and a path to customer growth While shared hosting and VPS offerings are a great and relatively cost-effective way to start a web hosting business, you’re missing out on high-value upsells by not offering dedicated servers. As your customers grow their needs will change. Small shared accounts work for scores of users, but many of those same users will eventually grow to need more robust infrastructure and grow to a VPS. But what happens when those using VPS need to graduate to a dedicated server? If that isn’t something you offer then those customers will leave for a competitor that does. What’s worse, some potential customers that anticipate future growth may not give you a chance to win their business in the first place if they see that you won’t be able to provide what they need in the future. 3. Dedicated servers increase customer retention Did you know that customers choosing a VPS are likely to keep that VPS twice as long as a shared account customer keeps a shared account? If not, then surely you don’t realize that customers who choose dedicated servers are likely to remain customers THREE times as long as traditional shared hosting customers keep their shared accounts. When you factor in a higher price point, the life-time value (LTV) of customers purchasing dedicated servers is significantly higher than any other type of hosting customer. The reasons for this customer stickiness are numerous, but one prominent theory is that businesses and mission-critical applications favor more robust infrastructure compared to a lightweight shared account. Whatever the reason, dedicated servers don’t just mean more revenue, they mean longer-term customers as well. 4. Dedicated servers increase company revenue For many web hosting companies, the best reason to offer dedicated servers is for the revenue opportunity presented. A dedicated server typically starts at a price point in the hundreds of dollars. In many cases, dedicated servers cost customers ten, twenty, or even thirty times as much as shared hosting accounts! True, the margin percentages aren’t exactly the same, but dedicated servers can be great sources of profit, especially if you’re grinding out only a few dollars per month from each shared account. Conclusion The benefits of offering dedicated servers should be quite clear. Both customers and your business benefit in a variety of ways. From doing a better job supporting customer needs and initiatives to opening new avenues of growth for your web hosting company, dedicated servers are the key to securing your future with your best clients. With the public cloud and other competitors offering robust infrastructure solutions, it is critical that your web hosting business keep up. The good news is that managing dedicated servers has never been easier. From keeping an accurate inventory to simplifying provisioning to allowing customers to restart servers on their own (and many other features), EasyDCIM provides a full dedicated server management suite for web hosting companies like yours. If you’re curious how EasyDCIM can help you grow your web hosting business with dedicated servers, learn more about our mission. We would be excited to discuss how dedicated servers can help your web hosting company reach new heights. Get in touch!

There’s no denying that we always aim at surpassing our own expectations, and defining ever higher standards in development of EasyDCIM. Could we resist sharing with you another ambitious goal accomplished in the platform’s 1.7.2 version that just saw the light of day? Of course not. We just can’t hold the excitement in as we announce that one of the features most frequently asked for is now a part of EasyDCIM! Before we show you around the variety of advantages that the spanking new VLAN Management is about to fit into your business, let’s get back to basics for a minute. What is a VLAN? A VLAN stands for Virtual Local Area Network, and is meant to gather a set of network ports on a switching device into a single broadcast domain. In a VLAN, computers, servers, and other network devices are logically connected so they can freely communicate with each other, regardless of their physical location. Created as a response to specific problems that may occur in switched environments, VLANs provide increased operational capacities, and allow effortless segmentation of the network. VLANs Management As from the 1.7.2 version, EasyDCIM is equipped with a brilliantly inventive mechanism of VLAN Management that supports Juniper devices with JUNOS 12.3R12-S12. A diverse range of functionalities aimed at handling VLANs has been introduced into Switch Management For EasyDCIM v1.3.0 module, and consists of such actions as: integration with the NETCONF protocol, automatic detection of VLANs during the process of a device polling, adding VLANs, assigning a single or multiple VLANs to a network port of a switch. [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="2849,2847,2846,2850,2848"] Provisioning VLANs One very important detail of the whole release is advanced support for VLANs during the provisioning process of your device. This profound feature extends the purpose of IP Address Management For EasyDCIM 1.8.0 module by creating the possibility to mark VLANs of a switch as provisioning VLANs. EasyDCIM will from now on come as supremely helpful in a situation when a switch has a few VLANs, and you need to select one that shall be used during the installation of operating system on dedicated servers. This way, before launching the process, a given port of a switch will be transferred to the provisioning VLAN. Once the installation is complete, the previous VLAN for this network port will be restored. Let’s dispel any possible doubts with this quick example: Your dedicated server has a network interface that is connected to the switch port ge-0/0/3. This switch port is located in the appropriate VLAN destined for this server, that is "VLANServer10". Now, the IP Address Management module allows you to decide that "VLANProvisioning" is intended for the operating system installation of this switch. Once you run the installation on a dedicated server, EasyDCIM will automatically transfer the network port of the switch ge-0/0/3 to the VLAN "VLANProvisioning". As soon as the process has been finished, the previous VLAN "VLANServer10" will be restored. SNMP Auto-Discovering We pulled out all the stops to supply the Auto-Discovering process with ultra-competitive functionalities that will raise the performance bar of EasyDCIM a notch further. As a result, the whole mechanism of automatic device detection has been transferred to the servers of Remote Agents. Not only will it bring relief to the platform’s main server that no longer needs to have access to SNMP dedicated servers or switches, but also tighten up network security, as well as enhance the efficiency of the process from A to Z. Debian Non-Free Drivers It comes as no surprise that Debian is one of the most powerful Linux distributions given how widely appreciated it is for security, stability as well as an excellent system of package management that has proven to be very supportive when coming across certain dependency issues. The current stable distribution is Debian Buster which is the development codename for Debian 10. It is a well-deserved follower of the previous Debian Stretch that stands for the development of Debian 9. During the installation of the operating system, the installer detects the appropriate devices, and adjusts the drivers for these devices. Unfortunately, the installer has only standard built-in drivers with limited support for some types of devices. In some cases the installer may detect the need to use a non-free driver, and a user is asked to provide the firmware to complete the installation process successfully. Such a situation commonly occurs with wireless network cards which require non-free firmware to work properly. EasyDCIM v1.7.2 delivers a perfect solution to this bothersome problem. Now, the administrator is empowered to indicate the appropriate URL that contains the driver package for devices that previously fell outside the scope of support.   Rest assured that the above rundown through EasyDCIM v1.7.2 is nowhere near to being complete, and many more substantial upgrades are not to be missed - all listed neatly in the changelog! View The Changelog!