Unmanaged vs. Managed: What's the Difference?

Managed can mean different things to different people. Most hosting companies don't take the time to define what you get when you buy a "managed" service. We do. Note, however, that the same applies to "unmanaged" service. "Unmanaged" services we sell are often much more "managed" than the "unmanaged" services sold by the competition. Here's a list of some of the differences between "managed" and "unmanaged", as we define it for our services. In the table below DIY = Do It Yourself.

 Task  Unmanaged hwVCI Managed hwVCI
 Education and virtual software walk-throughs as required
 Maintaining the server hardware
 Maintaining the network hardware
 Supplying uninterruptible electricity
 Maintaining acceptable levels of expert staff to do all this work
 Training staff so they can unbork whatever gets borked
 Designing and implementing and reliable and fast systems for your use
 Installing standard software via the included package manager within the hwVCI to match your needs DIY
 Configuring standard software within the hwVCI to match your needs DIY
 Adding/Removing/Modifying user accounts (up to 10 per month) DIY
 Adding/Removing domains (up to 10 per month) DIY
 Installing SSL certificates (up to 3 per month) DIY
Installing software update packages to standard software within the hwVCI DIY
Restarting services as needed DIY
Maintaining standard services (http, smtp, ftp, ssh) DIY
Restart the hwVCI (if ever required) DIY
Apply security updates as required DIY
Create/maintain firewall rules (if requested) DIY
 Clear out defunct server processes DIY
 Notify account holder on low resources (bandwidth, disk, RAM) DIY
Uploading files supplied on CD/DVD/etc.   DIY or available for a fee
Web site content creation/edits  DIY or available for a fee
Installation of software not available via the standard package manager on the hwVCI  DIY or available for a fee   DIY or available for a fee
Software programming DIY or available for a fee   DIY or available for a fee
Fixing software broken by you  DIY  DIY or available for a fee
Filling out order forms  DIY DIY 
Getting your coffee DIY DIY 
Clicking your mouse  DIY DIY
Brushing your teeth  DIY DIY
Preparing your budget  DIY DIY
Something else DIY Maybe, ask us

hwVCI common uses

Web hosting / web server
DNS server
File sharing server
VPN server
VOIP server
Email server
Backup storage
Game server
Media streaming server
Programming code repository server
Database server
Mobile app backend
Chat server
Remote desktop server
Cloud app hosting

The hwVCI is intended to be a direct replacement for a dedicated server or a VPS. It is a building block upon which you can deploy your own cloud solutions or use as a standalone server. It offers the flexibility to grow resources in near real time with little to no downtime. Need more instances? They're just a few clicks away with automated provisioning.

The hwVCI is engineered to be a cut above what most people would call cloud computing. Carefully selected enterprise-grade hardware powers the hwVCI, not the cheap commodity hardware that powers most cloud computing platforms. While others compensate for the low reliability of cheap commodity servers by installing numerous systems and allowing for failover, we prevent the failures in the first place with high reliability systems and we *also* have systems in place for failover in the unlikely event of a failure.

The hwVCI is the next evolution of server technology built on years of experience with diverse customer workloads, comprehensive engineering, thorough testing, tuning, and retesting to deliver what you demand: a reliable, fast, scalable, flexible, and economical platform upon which you can achieve your goals, without limit. 

All hwVCI plans include the following:

  • Fast High Capacity Storage

    Your storage is a technological work of art. We've blended the durability and speed of enterprise class SSDs with the economical capacity of enterprise mechanical hard drives and a large RAM cache to create a single cohesive high capacity storage resource that is reliable, fast, and economical.

  • Redundant Redundancy so you can rest restfully (aka Boss Silencer)

    Two power input breakers per node. Two power cords per node. Two hot-swap power supplies per node. Multiple hot-swap cooling fans per node. Dual multi-core CPUs per node. Error-correcting RAM. Double redundant hot-swap storage. Redundant storage links and paths. Two auto-failover network links to two different switches in the local network. Block-level off-site backups of storage. That's just the virtualization node and, yes, there's more than one of those, too. Just wait until you hear about our network network

  • Near Native Performance

    The hwVCI CPU and I/O virtualization is implemented with hardware-based processor extensions and paravirtualized network/storage drivers for optimal performance. The hwVCI storage is implemented in an intelligent fashion to maximize performance without compromising reliability.

  • Upgrade in place or add instances

    Scale as needed from the included resources to much larger resources without moving files, changing DNS entries, or server reconfiguration. Alternately, you can add more resources by adding hwVCI instances and splitting the workload between them. Unsure the best way to grow? Our technical experts can help when you're ready!

  • Flexible as a young whipper-snapper

    Any and all resources can be upgraded to insane levels in whatever order your usage dictates. Assistance with planning resource allocation for your hwVCI is provided by our technical staff at no charge. You can choose between three server-grade Linux operating systems: CentOS (available now), Debian (in development, available soon), or Ubuntu (in development, available soon).
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Here's the part your Accountant will love:

  • Includes a full 90 day Money Back Guarantee
  • Includes a 99.99% or better Uptime Guarantee
  • Includes 24/7 Premium Technical Support by toll-free phone, online forum, email, and ticket system.
  • Free setup

hwVCI plan options:

  • Performance hwVCI

    $45.00 monthly Number of vCPUs:
    8 included vCPUs, 16 max     ECC RAM:
    8 GiB included, 128 GiB max     Redundant Fast Storage:
    375 GB** included, 24 TB** max     Monthly Data Transfer included:
    1 TiB in+out
    (hwVCI to hwVCI is unmetered)
    Buy Now

  • Standard hwVCI

    $35.00 monthly Number of vCPUs:
    4 included vCPUs, 16 max     ECC RAM:
    4 GiB included, 128 GiB max     Redundant Fast Storage:
    375 GB** included, 24 TB** max     Monthly Data Transfer included:
    1 TiB in+out
    (hwVCI to hwVCI is unmetered)
    Buy Now
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Unmanaged vs. Managed: What's the Difference?

Managed can mean different things to different people. Most hosting companies don't take the time to define what you get when you buy a "managed" service. We do.

Note, however, that the same applies to "unmanaged" service. "Unmanaged" services we sell are often much more "managed" than the "unmanaged" services sold by the competition. Click the link below to see some of the differences between "managed" and "unmanaged", as we define it for our services.

Click to learn more about what's different between an unmanaged VPS and a managed one.

  • Ready to discuss your solution?

    Please click here to contact us. In the contact form, please provide as much information about your requirements as you can so we can have a meaningful discussion from the beginning.
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Customer Quips

  • M.W. proclaimed:

    "The variety of plans, options, the continual communication with their customers and the technical skillset of Advantagecom.net makes them stand out as the leader of web hosting companies."
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