Managed Server Provider (MSP)

A Managed Service Provider or MSP is a company that remotely manages a companies servers and other IT infrastructure.  These services are great for small companies that can't support a full IT Team.  There are several different types of MSP pricing models.  The main 5 options for pricing are as follows 1. Monitoring only 2. Per Device 3. Per User 4. All Options. The first option Monitoring is pretty simple.  In this tier they simply monitor your systems which is basically making sure that all  your equipment is running properly and this could potentially also include monitoring what is going in and out of your network.  The second tier is per device which means that they will monitor and keep the equipment on the device up to date.  The 3rd tier Per User, in this tier all the same services are applied however they company is billed on how many employees they have.  The 4th tier is the most expensive tier, this tier companies can mix and match which features they want to use.  MSP's are great for companies that do not have the budget for a full IT team or if the company that has a satellite office that needs to monitored.

Containers or VM's?

Containers are the equivalent to a sever core install.  It has only the basics needed to run the OS.  VM Ware takes up a lot of space since it has a full suit of tools and capabilities.  Containers sound all good and fun however they have some slight issues due to how light weight they are.  One issue is their security.  Since containers are stripped down they have to use part of the OS to store files for the OS that they are hosting which can be a bad thing if they are not secured properly.  These files contain important files that the OS needs to run.  However these files can easily be protected by changing them to read only however that is not their default setting.  Another factor to think about when deciding on containers vs VM's is what type of applications are running.  If you want to run one instance of several different programs then containers are the way to go.  If you want to run multiple instances of the same program then you should use a VM.  Containers are good for supporting many different types of things and VM's are good for running several of the same programs.