IDC knowledge base · Page 2
Practical guides to data center management, bandwidth billing, remote operations and IDC billing systems.
- Networking & IP
How to fix an IP address conflict: diagnose, trace and prevent
To fix an IP address conflict, find the second MAC address answering for the same IP, look it up in the switch MAC table to locate its port, then correct the misconfigured device. In a data center, an IPAM record for every address and IP source guard on access ports keep it from coming back.
- IDC business & buying guides
Colocation vs cloud: costs, break-even point and how to choose
Colocation vs cloud comes down to what you are buying: colocation gives you rack space, power, bandwidth and whole servers on a monthly or annual contract; cloud gives you virtualized compute billed by the hour. Steady, bandwidth-heavy workloads are cheaper in colocation, spiky ones in the cloud.
- Bandwidth & billing
What is 95th percentile billing? Rules, formula and examples
95th percentile billing is the standard way IDC, CDN and cloud providers charge for bandwidth. It bills the highest sample left after discarding the top 5%, which tolerates occasional spikes while tracking real usage better than a fixed commit.
- IDC business & buying guides
How to choose an IDC billing system: 8 key points on billing, provisioning and reselling
An IDC billing system is a provider's till and ledger: pricing, provisioning, renewal reminders and agent payouts all happen here. Choose the wrong one and every month's reconciliation becomes painful.
- IDC business & buying guides
What does an IDC management system do? 10 questions to ask before you buy
"IDC management system" covers a lot of ground: to some it means data center asset management, to others a sales and billing platform. This guide splits it into its two parts, then lists the questions worth asking one by one.
- Server operations
What is IPMI? A complete guide to remote power, OS install and console
IPMI lets you power a server on and off, see its screen and reinstall it even when it is off, frozen or has no operating system. This guide explains how it works, the commands you will use, and what to watch for when using it at scale in a data center.
- IDC business & buying guides
Server rental management systems: a guide to automating dedicated servers
Renting out dedicated servers sounds simple: the customer pays and you hand over a machine. But from order to delivery and from renewal to reclaim, there are more than a dozen steps. This guide walks through them and shows which system handles each one and what can be automated.
- Data center
What is DCIM software? How it differs from environmental monitoring
DCIM and environmental monitoring are both called data center management systems, but they solve different problems: one tracks what is in the data center and how it is used, the other checks that power and conditions are safe. Knowing the difference helps you choose the right system.
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