Reliable server solutions
Servers are usually the backbone, and among the most valuable assets a business can have. They house precious data and run business-critical applications and services. That’s where we come in. We provide fast, reliable server hosting in Kenya, and around the world.
In fact, we were at forefront of introducing cloud services to Africa. The founder of HOSTAFRICA, Micheal Osterloh brought his expertise from Germany where he was Managing Director of one of the largest virtual server providers in the country. Now, we’re an established hosting company leading in cloud server solutions in Kenya.
Our systems are German-engineered and run only on enterprise hardware. More importantly, we strive to provide nothing less than world-class service and support. Take a look at our comprehensive service portfolio. We’ve listed our servers below in ascending order of server cost.
Virtual servers
Not everyone can afford, or needs, an entire physical server. Cloud server software virtualises a physical server securely, isolating each user with their own share of resources. This allows clients to pay only for their portion of the resources they use. Dividing it up this way makes it affordable for anyone to buy a server online. We offer three kinds of virtual solutions.
VPS hosting
VPS (virtual private server) is a lightweight container that runs on the shared operating system of the host, which is Linux. This makes them the most cost-efficient virtual servers available. VPS’s are great for running websites, most lightweight applications, and websites that are too large for shared hosting.
Currently, we only offer VPS hosting in South Africa.
Cloud server hosting
Cloud servers are virtualised with different server software that gives each virtual machine its own operating system. Cloud servers require a fair amount of resources to perform optimally, which bumps up the server hosting cost. Affordability is, however, a small price to pay as their resource-intensive nature is their greatest strength. Cloud servers are thoroughly compatible with all applications and can handle complex, resource-heavy, processes.
Currently, we only offer Linux Cloud Server Hosting in South Africa. We do offer the choice between Linux Cloud Server Hosting and Windows Cloud Server Hosting.
Physical servers
Dedicated server hosting is hands-down the most powerful server solution there is. You get an entire high-calibre physical bare-metal server to yourself. One of the best parts? You won’t be hassled with the complications of acquiring and housing it in a state-the-art Data Centre. We take care of this for you. Dedicated servers are perfect for businesses that need high IOPS, read/write speeds, all CPU processing power, and the ability to tailor their server precisely to their requirements. If you’re trying to become a market leader, start here.
Managed servers
Servers are an extremely specialised technology and contain irreplaceable data, it’s imperative that they’re managed by qualified experts (enter HOSTAFRICA). If you lack the time or technical skills to manage your own servers, you’ll be happy to know we offer managed server solutions. Our world-class devs and sysadmins will keep your servers serving. Now that’s service!
Managed cpanel servers
If you need more CPU power, memory, or disk space than our web hosting or virtual machine plans offer, you’ll benefit greatly from our managed cPanel server solution. The same goes for resellers who’re used to managing cPanel accounts using WHM. The managed cPanel option may be added to our Linux and Windows cloud servers, as well as our dedicated server offerings.
Windows dedicated server management
Focusing on running your business means you can’t give too much of your limited time handling complex server management. Not to worry, because we provide a managed solution for 50% of the dedicated server price (KSh22,500/month minimum). This includes managed Windows OS updates, four hours of system administration per month, 24x7 monitoring, day-to-day management assistance, daily backups, custom backup retention, regular security audits, and priority technical support.
Customized servers
We know each individual and their business or online endeavours are unique. That’s why we tried our best to accommodate as many requirements as we could. You might find that your needs aren’t met by any of our plans, but we are able to tailor them. We understand your need for flexibility, and custom requirements, and will make a concerted effort to accommodate you. We offer the following customisations on our server solutions.
More resources and add-ons
For your convenience, you may add SSD storage, CPU vCores, RAM, IP addresses, VLAN, backup plans, and bundled cPanel accounts to any of our services. Simply add them at checkout or submit a ticket to our helpful support team.
Request a custom plan
All our virtual servers; VPS Hosting and both Linux and Windows Cloud Servers are eligible for custom plan requests. Simply get in touch with us and our expert support team will see if they can accommodate you.
Managed cPanel servers
Yes, we are happy to provide custom nameservers. We’re also keen to explore some other novel customizations you might want to try out. This, of course, is contingent on an investigation by our sysadmins to ensure everything runs smoothly. If you’re feeling adventurous, don’t hesitate to reach out to our support specialists.
Customise your OS
Customize your server with the following operating systems: CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, FreePBX, SNG7 & 3CX. If you have another OS in mind, you’re welcome to request a custom mounted ISO, however, it’s important to note that we don’t provide support for any custom OS related issues.
Connectivity options
Having a fast, reliable network is absolutely vital for any server. Easier said than done, however. Enterprise networking hardware is costly and requires skilled engineers to set up and maintain. That’s why we take care of all the networking costs for you. Our team consists of only the best experts, so you know your network will be among the most reliable.
More about connectivity
We boast Juniper backbone routers, 99.9%+ network availability, multiple upstream providers, 24x7 system monitoring, and protection against single network connectivity failure. Additionally, we’ve got peering agreements with multiple providers, so data takes the most efficient route to your audience. For businesses run on multiple servers looking to keep the internal traffic private, we’ll set you up with a virtual local area network (VLAN).
Frequently asked questions
If you still have unanswered questions, please reach out to us and we’ll be happy to assist.
When it comes to server hosting, the most important thing to remember is that there is no one-size-fits-all. The right server solution for you depends mostly on your budget, resource, application requirements, and server location (as this affects latency).
If you only need to run some lightweight applications and have a small budget, our VPS Hosting would be your ideal selection. This is the cheapest, most economical option. Our VPS hosting is only located in South Africa.
If you require no kernel (operating system) limitations, for instance, you intend to run a VPN or tunnelling software that requires unique kernel modules, then it would be better to choose our Cloud Server hosting. As each server runs their own OS, it’s highly compatible and a good choice for more resource-intensive applications and complex processes. Our Linux Cloud Servers are located in South Africa, UK, USA, and Germany.
If you need to run Windows, our Windows Cloud Server will serve you well. It boasts the same benefits and server locations as our Linux Cloud Servers.
If budget is not a concern, but CPU power, high IOPS, and customisation is, then our Dedicated Server would be your best choice. These bare metal servers are as powerful as it gets.
Reliable bare metal (physical) servers are very difficult and expensive to buy, house, set up, and maintain. It comes with huge up-front expenses. Server hosting providers like HOSTAFRICA solve these accessibility problems for the public. We buy and import servers from trusted, authorised suppliers. Additionally, we can afford the considerable server hosting costs in state-of the-art Data Centres around the world.
These Data Centres provide high redundancy and fibre speeds, clean power, rack space, cooling, DDoS protection, enterprise networking hardware, and 24-hour security — they literally have a no-fly zone, biometric access, mantraps, and more.
After we buy and house the servers, our expert systems administrators set up, virtualise, secure, and maintain them according to different needs. So, the public can effortlessly buy server hosting online from us just as they would buy anything else these days. It just takes a few clicks.
Essentially, we buy and host the servers, and clients rent them from us for a monthly subscription that renews automatically. Better yet, this gives clients the freedom to cancel, upgrade, or downgrade their server hosting to suit their needs at any time. Simply head over to one of our server hosting pages and order a hosting plan. Fill in your registration details, add payment, and your server with its respective resources will be deployed.
Physical (bare metal) servers and server hosting costs are extremely expensive. Server providers like us only use top of the line enterprise hardware for hosting, and it’s usually imported. Depending on the specs, simply buying one bare metal server can cost anywhere from KSh400,000 to over KSh800,000+. However, costs don’t end there. These servers need to be hosted in secure Data Centres around the world. These Data Centres charge based on server rack space and power consumption. In Kenya, one full cabinet with power will set you back another KSh95,000 per month. Don’t forget to include data traffic, hands on support for hardware changes and server reboots, insurance and replacement parts on hand.
Hence, it’s quite clear now that very few can afford server costs on their own. This is what makes our purpose as a server hosting provider so important. We carry all the up-front costs, set up, secure, and maintain these servers, then provide it to the public for incredibly affordable prices.
Cloud (virtualisation) technology allows us to divide these bare metal servers into virtual servers and only charge clients according to their share of resources. This makes it super cost-effective for everyone.
Our economical VPS containers cost as little as KSh860 per month and up to KSh32,000 per month. Our Linux Cloud Server hosting costs from KSh960 to KSh36,000 per month. Our Windows Cloud Server plans include Window Server licence, costing from KSh4,400 to KSh40,800 per month.
Lastly, our Dedicated Servers (bare metal servers) cost from KSh10,400 per month for our low spec server up to KSh26,000 for our high spec server.
Servers make the digital world go round. They store irreplaceable data, run business-critical applications and services, allow companies to operate and people to collaborate across continents; host websites, online stores, and web technologies; the list is extensive. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that data should be protected at all costs.
It’s absolutely vital to make regular backups of your servers. If that seems rhetorical to you, you will be horrified to know most people simply do not give it a second thought; until of course, they lose their data, and the regret comes crashing down on them.
How often your servers should be backed up depends on how critical your data is, how often your data changes, and how much you can spend on your backup service.
Ideally you should create 1 full backup a week, and schedule daily incremental backups. As the name suggests, incremental backups store small amounts of data regularly, specifically only the changes made since your last full backup was created. This saves considerable space and money. It’s also important that your backups are stored externally, meaning don’t store the backups of your server on the same server.
HOSTAFRICA’s Acronis™ backups are ideal for safeguarding server data with full and incremental backups. These backups are stored in a different Data Centre to where our servers are hosted and can be managed using our top-quality backup manager.