Virtual Data Center FAQs
Detailed operating instructions for the Virtual Data Centers can be found in the VDC Manager User Guide.
If you need advice or assistance with any sales, service or support related query or issue you can contact us via email at service@smartservers.com or complete and submit our online contact form.
| ANSWERS: Virtual Data Center General FAQs | |
| What is a Virtual Data Center? | [Top] |
| Also known as a "VDC" for short, a Virtual Data Center is distributed or "Cloud based" computing platform that allows Virtual Machines similar to traditional dedicated servers to be deployed quickly and easily without the burden of having to purchase or maintain the supporting physical hardware and related equipment. Built on enterprise class infrastructure, the SmartCloud Virtual Data Center from Smart Servers provides access to rapid self-service Virtual Machine provisioning via a web based portal which allows the setup of servers of all types and operating systems in just minutes. Once set up you can easily scale Virtual Machine CPU, RAM and disk drive resources up or down instantly as needed providing practically unlimited flexibility and scalability for all usual data center and colocation related services. | |
| What can a Virtual Data Center be used for? | [Top] |
| In time Virtual Data Centers will serve as the next generation replacement for practically all traditional data center services. Currently a major use for the VDC is to support the migration of old style stand alone dedicated servers to the more cost effective, flexible, scalable, secure and redundant environment provided by the Virtual Data Center. Practically any application or service you see being run anywhere on the Internet can be installed and run on Virtual Machines in a Virtual Data Center environment. | |
| How will a Virtual Data Center benefit my business? | [Top] |
| Increasingly more mission critical business applications and services are migrating to the Cloud in order to achieve cost savings as well as provide new opportunities for enhancing productivity and collaboration. The Virtual Data Centers from Smart Servers are available at price that is comparable to traditional data center and colocation services but with no need for having to be concerned about expenses involved for the purchase or on-going maintenance and upgrading of server hardware and related equipment. While sometimes being a complex process, migrating existing applications to Cloud based platforms like the VDC can provide levels of performance, security, scalability, ease of management and total cost of ownership unlikely to be possible in-house. | |
| After placing an order how long will it take to provision my new VDC? | [Top] |
| After placing your order you can expect to be in receipt of your VDC login and configuration details within 1-6 hours. Factors that can influence the setup time are completeness of your order and in particular whether valid and verifiable contact details have been provided. | |
| How do I access and administer my VDC once it has been provisioned? | [Top] |
| The Virtual Data Centers have a multi-level control panel system available for all administrative functions. The SmartCloud VDC Manager interface is a brandable (your logo) multi-tier control panel system which provides the ability to manage all aspects of your Virtual Data Center including the ability to create and deploy new Virtual Machines, start, stop and destroy existing ones as well as upgrading or downgrading the hardware specifications of any VM including CPU, RAM and disk drive resources as needed. The VDC control center is accessible with all common web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari as well as hand held devices such as the iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry Playbook etc. | |
| Is the Virtual Data Center environment protected by a firewall? | [Top] |
| Each SmartCloud VDC is protected by an intrusion firewall which is intended to provide automatic protection for the core system itself. All of the Virtual Machines supported in your VDC can also be protected by whatever usual firewall software or applications are available on the operating system such as iptables for Linux. | |
| How many Virtual Machines / Servers can be supported in my VDC? | [Top] |
| Depending on the VDC system a SmartCloud VDC can support between 5 and 40 Virtual Machines/Servers. A SmartCloud 5u VDC will support up to 5 Virtual Machines and a SmartCloud 40u VDC will support up to 40 Virtual Machines, similar to a traditional 40u data center or colocation cabinet or rack being able to house 40 1u servers. | |
| How does the VDC provide high levels of redundancy and uptime? | [Top] |
| The Virtual Data Center is able to leverage all of the technological features of new Cloud based virtual infrastructure models including integrated full disk replication backups and automatic redundancy and failover capabilities to provided higher levels of stability and redundancy than previously possible for most data center related services. | |
| What type of hardware are the Virtual Data Centers built on? | [Top] |
| We use branded hardware from leading companies such as Dell and Supermicro and our systems are built, tested and maintained by skilled professionals who have many years of experience working in complex mission critical computing and hosting industry environments. | |
| What operating systems are supported on the VDC? | [Top] |
| The VDC environment is able to support practically all common PC and server operating systems including Linux variants such as CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and Redhat Enterprise as well as other Unix based operating systems such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris and OpenSolaris. All Windows based operating system including Windows XP and Windows 7, Windows Server 2003/2008 and Enterprise Editions are also supported. | |
| Does the VDC include the operating system licenses? | [Top] |
| The SmartCloud VDC includes a selection of free Unix based operating system templates such as CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and FreeBSD which will allow you to set up Virtual Machines in minutes. These operating systems are free of charge. You can also install other operating systems such as Windows Server 2003/2008 and Red Hat Linux and generally these would be on a "bring your own licence" basis in that you would be responsible for obtaining the appropriate licence for the software however we can offer licenses for Windows and other operating systems for a reasonable monthly rate if required. | |
| Can I use my own operating system licenses with the VDC? | [Top] |
| The operating system templates provided with the VDC should accept valid licence keys for most commercial operating system software such as Windows 2003/2008 however depending on the licence type you may need to either consult your software vendor to see if it is possible to use an existing license or otherwise arrange to purchase an alternative appropriate license. Smart Servers is able to provide licensed versions of most popular commercial operating system software for a reasonable monthly fee if required. You can discuss available options by contacting Smart Servers sales by email at sales@smartservers.com or complete and submit our online contact form. | |
| What applications and services be supported in the VDC environment? | [Top] |
| You and any clients and customers that you provide Virtual Machines to in your VDC will have full root access to all servers supported in the VDC as they would any regular dedicated server so practically any application or service you see being run anywhere on the Internet can be installed and run on servers in your VDC. Some some software and applications related to things like IRC, warez and file sharing sites however are not allowed to be supported using the VDC. For more information on this you can consult our Terms of Service. | |
| Can I install and run any third party applications or hosting software I want? | [Top] |
| Yes, practically any application or service you see being run anywhere on the Internet can be installed and run on servers in your VDC. A wide range of hosting control panels can be installed depending on the base operating systems that are used on the servers supported in your VDC including cPanel, Plesk, Direst Admin and others. If you have special requirements with respect software applications for servers supported in your VDC you can discuss available options by contacting Smart Servers sales by email at sales@smartservers.com or complete and submit our online contact form. | |
| Are additional IP addresses available? What is the charge for extra IPs? | [Top] |
| Additional IP addresses are available if required at a cost of $2.50 per IP per month. There are no limits as to how many IPs a server may have however depending on the number of IP's requested justification (a legitimate technical reason) may be required. | |
| Is data transfer between servers in the VDC included in the bandwidth allocation? | [Top] |
| Data transfer between servers supported in your VDC is not counted towards the total monthly bandwidth allowance. | |
| Can I upgrade CPU, RAM or disk resources without upgrading my VDC? | [Top] |
| This may be possible depending on circumstances. To discuss your requirements you can contact Smart Servers sales by email at sales@smartservers.com or complete and submit our online contact form. | |
| How long does it take to upgrade the VDC and will there be any downtime? | [Top] |
| Upgrades from one Virtual Data Center environment capacity to another can be carried out with as little as a few hours notice and there would be no downtime or interruption of service involved either for the VDC itself or any of it's supported Virtual Machines. | |
| Are there backups made of the Virtual Machines / Servers hosted in the VDC? | [Top] |
| The SmartCloud VDC systems are a fully redundant design which incorporate integrated data replication and backup utilizing automated drive image snapshots and other comprehensive hardware layer data replication technologies. Virtual Machines can be fully restored from the latest backup within minutes if necessary, drastically reducing typical server restoration time and giving you the ability to quickly recover from any data loss. | |
| Is there an uptime guarantee or SLA for the Virtual Data Centers? | [Top] |
| Smart Servers offers a 100% Uptime Guarantee on the Virtual Data Centers as per the terms of our SLA. For more information see Smart Servers SLA. | |
| Can I resell the VDC systems and/or dedicated servers supported in my VDC? | [Top] |
| Yes, you are completely free to resell servers supported in your VDC without restriction as you wish subject to the usual terms of our acceptable usage policies. If you are interested in reselling the VDC systems themselves if you are an established ISP, Web Hosting Provider, VAR, MSP or other Internet professional you may be able to resell the VDC systems as a "white label" service under your own brand. Please consult OEM & White Label Solutions and also our Reseller / Partner Program Overview. | |
| Is there migration assistance to help me move my servers from another provider to the VDC? | [Top] |
| Our expert server migration service is included free of charge for any servers that you migrate to your service with us, whether it be a single VPS or Dedicated Server or multiple servers of any type migrated to one of our Virtual Data Centers. This service is offered on a "best efforts" basis and due to the wide ranging and complex nature of migration we cannot make any guarantees that a migration will be able to be carried out completely free of technical glitches however our technical support team has extensive experience in this area and will do their very best to ensure that all server migrations take place as smoothly and with as little in the way of service interruption as possible. | |
| Will I have to change IP addresses if I upgrade from a dedicated server to a VDC? | [Top] |
| Generally you should be able to keep your IP addresses when upgrading from a Dedicated Smart Server to one of the Virtual Data Center environments. There may be some technical issues involved on your end such as if the IP addresses are in active use to support web sites or other services however Smart Servers technical support can generally work with you in these cases to ensure as smooth a transition as possible to the new server while keeping your existing IP's. | |
| Is there an iPhone App for administration of the VDC? | [Top] |
| There is currently no iPhone App for the VDC however the VDC control panel would be compatible with and accessible from most common hand held devices and tablets including the iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry Playbook, etc. | |
| ANSWERS: Virtual Data Center Technical FAQs | |
| What type and level of technical support is included with the VDC? | [Top] |
| Smart Servers handles all issues related to the network and server hardware aspect of the service including the proactive monitoring of critical systems associated with your Virtual Data Center. Smart Servers technical support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have a technical support related question that has not been answered in the Smart Servers FAQs or Knowledge Base or related documentation for your server operating system or control panel or if you require technical support advice or assistance with any matter related to your service you can contact support via email at service@smartservers.com or complete and submit our online contact form. For more information on Technical Support and Service Options & Policies see Smart Servers Technical Support Overview. | |
| Can I adjust the CPU, RAM or disk drive on a server that has been deployed? | [Top] |
| Yes, hardware specifications for any Virtual Machine in the VDC can be adjusted up or down at any time. All that is necessary is a few clicks of the mouse and a simple stop and restart of the Virtual Machine to carry out hardware specification upgrades or downgrades. | |
| How quickly can I allocate additional resources to my Virtual Machines? | [Top] |
| Any upgrading of hardware resources allocated to a Virtual Machine can be carried out within minutes requiring only a few clicks of the mouse and a simple stop and restart of the Virtual Machine. | |
| What is the maximum server size supported by the Virtual Data Center? | [Top] |
| Currently the VDC is able to support individual Virtual Machines with a maximum specification of 32GB of RAM, 16 CPU cores and 4TB of disk drive capacity. If you need a Virtual Machine with a higher hardware specification than this you can create multiple Virtual Machines and set up a load balancing arrangement between them. | |
| Do I need any type of system administration experience to operate the VDC? | [Top] |
| The administration of the VDC itself is generally quite simple and is carried out entirely from and easy to use control panel system which allows the administrator to handle all usual functions related to the system so you will not necessarily need to have any significant degree of system administration experience to administer the VDC itself. However if you intend to manage the Virtual Machines supported in your VDC environment you may need some degree of Linux/Unix and/or Windows system admin experience. | |
| How can I access the Virtual Machines / Servers supported in my VDC? | [Top] |
| The Virtual Machines supported in the VDC would be accessed by the normal means used to access any type of regular dedicated server such as SSH, Telnet, FTP and remote desktop as well as using any installed control panel systems such as cPanel, Plesk etc. All of the Virtual Machines supported in the VDC are also be able to accessed via the VNC/IPMI console from within the VDC control panel so that the Virtual Machines can be administered via the console like any regular dedicated server. Access to the VNC/IPMI console for each Virtual Machine is able to be allocated to your clients and users via a login account you can set up for them in the VDC control panel. This login account will also allow your Virtual Machine clients or users to start, stop or reboot their Virtual Machine if necessary as well as carry out operations such as the re-installation of the server operating system. | |
| Do I have full root/administrator access to each Virtual Machine in the VDC? | [Top] |
| Yes, you or your Virtual Machine clients or users will have full root access and control over the Virtual Machines just like they would any regular dedicated server. | |
| Can I import my own server image or export the image of an existing server? | [Top] |
| You can generally upload any iso operating system image and install this on a Virtual Machine via the VNC/IPMI console just like you would with a regular dedicated server. It may also be possible to import or otherwise migrate other operating system images, templates and even entire active servers into your VDC. If you need advice or assistance on this aspect of administering your VDC you can contact technical support. | |
| Can I use my own iso or operating system images with the VDC? | [Top] |
| Yes, you can generally upload any iso operating system image and install this on a Virtual Machine via the VNC/IPMI console just like you would with a regular dedicated server. All common operating systems would be supported including Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Solaris etc. | |
| Is it possible to build my own custom operating system templates? | [Top] |
| Yes, you can build your own operating system templates for use in setting up Virtual Machines in your VDC. If you need advice or assistance on this aspect of administering your VDC you can contact technical support. | |
| What is the difference between VDC servers and regular dedicated servers? | [Top] |
| With the SmartCloud VDC you can create and deploy a server in only a few minutes, as opposed to having to purchase a physical hardware machine and arrange to have it placed into a data center or colocation rack or cabinet and then connected to the network, which may also require the lengthy process (setups fees etc) and expense of entering into a contract with a data center or colocation services provider. You can also resize the plan and bring up multiple Cloud Servers quickly and easily for much less money. Other than less expense, ease of deployment and scaling of hardware resources servers in the VDC environment operate exactly like regular dedicated servers in practically every respect. | |
| Does the VDC provide load balancing and server clustering abilities? | [Top] |
| Most common commercial and open source load balancing and server clustering software can be installed on a Virtual Machine and deployed and used in a similar manner as hardware based systems of this type in a "virtual appliance" type manner. If you have questions or special requirements with respect to load balancing and clustering options Smart Servers Technical Support may be able to provide you with advice or assistance in choosing and/or deploying the right load balancer or server clustering arrangement to suit your needs. | |
| What if I do something to my VDC or one of the Virtual Machines and am unable to access it? | [Top] |
| The VDC control panel employs a number of safety controls so it would be highly unlikely that you would be able to make a mistake which would cause you to loose access to the control panel other than if you forgot your login password. However if you or one of your Virtual Machine clients or users have made a configuration mistake on a server has resulted on your being "locked out" for some reason or if it has caused the server to be unreachable from the network or via the VNC/IPMI console Smart Servers Technical Support are available to respond and fix things for you on a 24/7/365 basis. Usually there is no charge for this type of technical support assistance however if the issue is something to do with a third party script or application which has not been provided or installed by Smart Servers or if the issue is due to something you have done to cause a server not to operate properly and it is not a simple matter to fix the problem then there may be a service fee imposed depending on the nature and complexity of the issue and the time it takes to resolve it for you. | |
