Fun Things You Can Do By Renting A Data Center

For anyone who is eager to learn more about how computer networks work and what they are capable of, setting up your own server is an excellent safe exercise. It is also much easier than many people realize. In fact, if you rent a server from a commercial data center then you will be able to find detailed guides online that teach you how to configure your server in a variety of different ways: from making it into a proxy to creating a game server. If you find yourself asking “what is a proxy”, check out the Smartproxy blog for more information.

The majority of uses for a remote server don’t even require a powerful computer, even a low-spec machine will suffice. Below are some fun and relatively simple things that you can do with your own server.

Set Up Your Own Proxy Server

Staying anonymous online is becoming increasingly difficult. Everyone wants to track us and every device that we connect to the internet sends out information about itself whenever it communicates with an online server. This enables us to be tracked via fingerprinting, a technique that isn’t dependent upon IP addresses and can nullify the most common methods used to obtain online anonymity.

There are plenty of commercial proxy servers out there that you can turn to in order to gain better privacy and anonymity. However, from a security perspective, it is never ideal to be dependent upon someone else to maintain your anonymity. If a proxy provider is given a court order telling them to turn over any data that they hold on their users, they will have little choice but to comply.

On the other hand, with control of your own proxy server, you can ensure that no data is ever stored. The only way you can be certain that you won’t be compelled to compromise your own anonymity is by setting up your own infrastructure and configuring it the right way.

With access to your own data center server, it is easier than you might think to create your own proxy. In fact, configuring your own proxy server is a great little project for anyone who has enough time on their hands.

Use It As A Virtual Machine

Installing a virtual machine on a server enables you to run an operating system remotely, think of it like having a computer in the cloud (which is what it is). This means that you can use your virtual machine for anything that you would use a regular computer for. There are even servers running virtual copies of Windows that are used for gaming. With such a powerful server, it’s also possible to use a virtual machine for video editing and 3D modeling.

It is possible to set up a virtual machine on your own computer, but there are a number of advantages to using a remote server. For one thing, you will free up resources on your own system. Running a virtual machine while running an operating system is quite resource-intensive. When you use a remote server to host your virtual machine, the server can dedicate all of its resources to running the virtual machine.

The cost of your server will scale with its power. If you only require a basic spec for your virtual machine, your server costs will be minimal.

Personal Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is convenient, but data that you store in the cloud will only be accessible for as long as the service providing the storage continues to make it available. If that service goes bust, you lost access to your data. You will also have to trust their word that they are providing you with the level of security that they claim to. If you have your own cloud storage set up on a remote server then you can apply your own encryption and access protocols; you will have total control over everything.

Entrusting irreplaceable data with other people is always risky. Big cloud storage businesses are tempting targets for hackers and cybercriminals. Consider the nightmare scenario where your cloud storage provider is hit by ransomware and all the data on their systems ends up irreversibly encrypted. Under such a scenario, you could easily be facing irretrievable data loss. Depending on the nature of the data, this could be a disaster.

These are just a small selection of the many potential uses for a remote server in a data center. If you are currently paying a commercial provider for access to a VPN service, you should consider whether it is worth switching to your own custom proxy server. For most people, this will be a cheaper way of achieving the same thing and you will have complete control over the security and integrity of your proxy. The same benefits apply to any data that you backup to your own server. Anyone can rent a server and, unless you are doing something highly specialized, you don’t need to spend money on a high-spec machine.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes