It’s interesting to note how many people operate servers without proper maintenance. Several times a week someone opens a support ticket where the system’s package manager is non-functional. Not only does this cause issues with doing something like installing Apache, but the larger issue is it means the system is not receiving security updates. In turn this has a cascading affect of providing a vector for malware to thrive.
I’m thinking this is a result of the low-priced non-managed dedicated server business. When the price is under USD$100 or even USD$50 (I’ve found cheaper on Google) per month, the profit margin is too low to manage the numerous servers in the data centre. People tend to want the dedicated server for the control it gives, but all too often the purchaser lacks the knowledge and skills to properly care for the dedicated server.
Supposedly this is where low-cost server management services enter the picture. There are a number, but the question is:
Why are people not using the server management services?
Price and availabilty might be two factors. Price, because some people are really, really tight. Without an immediate return for the expenditure, some will not justify the cost on a continual basis. They would rather pay a one time amount to resolve a specific problem. Perhaps that works better for their accounting, but not the Network as a whole.
Availability in the sense that many of these people don’t know the management services exist. These are people that do not read Industry magazines. The management services need to advertise in different places to make themselves known. Perhaps whatever would be the equivalent of SEO Monthly, Reseller Weekly or whatever such people read.
