dedicated/Co-location solution

[Handruin]

I've stumbled onto servermatrix tonight and it got me thinking. I might be able to spring for a dedicated solution to relieve us of our constant performance problems. I've read good reviews about this company and I think it might be a possibility.

I also noticed they had a semi-decent price on co-location. I see pros and cons to both sides, but I wanted to everyone's opinion.

Dedicated solution Pros
Their hardware, they support it
More bandwidth than co-location (7.5x more than Colo: 750 vs 100)

Dedicated solution Cons
Higher cost
Less storage space for the money
Restricted to their choice of hardware

Co-location Pros
We pick the hardware
Cheaper monthly cost
Any size tower or 1U-4U case (same price)
Hardware is expandable without a monthly cost involved.

Co-location Cons
Owner responsible for hardware
Server must be purchased up front.
Less initial bandwidth (even though it is less, it is significantly more than SF needs)
Server must be shipped to company

Here are their Colo FAQ's.

 

[CougTek]

What we need to ask ourselves is what SR needs. Then we should opt for whatever is the cheapest way to get it.

 

[Mercutio]

SR? Did you maybe mean SF?


I think I'd rather have dedicated than colocated. Unless one of us lived very near the host, anyway.

 

[Handruin]

The datacenter is in Dallas, TX but I don't see how that matters. The worst part would be the shipping cost. They provide free reboots and hardware replacment at market costs.

We are currently on a host with dual PIII 933 MHz with 1 GB ram. The most affordable machine for dedicated hosting is a Celeron 1.4GHz with 512MB ram.

Given there would be a significant reduction in the amount of users on the host, the performance difference may balance out. I believe that the 1.4GHz can handle our traffic, however my largest concern is RAM. I would like to see the server have 1GB is possible, but that would add another $20 per month to the cost of the dedicated machine.

Building a Co-Lo machine would require some research and price shopping. I haven't looked into that stage yet. I'll have to work together the total cost of ownership for both situations. This might give a better view of the situation. My thought was that for a reasonable amount of money, we could build a machine that would be stable, redundant, and powerful for less of an investment of a dedicated machine.

It would also allow me to test the machine locally before shipping it to the datacenter. I could run some stress tests on it and configure it accordingly.

 

[Mercutio]

I don't think the problems we have are that severe. Certainly not as bad as those on our first provider.

I've actually been the "on site guy" for companies with colo'd equipment. Granted, it was a very different experience (36 servers, 168 disk drives, SAN hardware, etc) based on scale, but being able to say "the fan in that power supply doesn't sound very good, send me another one" is very useful.

 

[Handruin]

The problems aren't that severe, but can be annoying. I'd like to make our site better if possibe, but at the same time I don't want to make it worse.

Are you saying Co-Lo is a bad idea?

Thoughts on something like this? I could buy some additional ram and an extra hard drive and make this a mirrored server running RH 9.0 for slightly over $300 USD.

 

[CougTek]

Thoughts on something like this?

It's an evil Celeron, don't touch it. Anyway, just adding the components' prices for a similar system on Newegg gives me a total of ~300$...with 256MB of RAM. The Dell server isn't even a deal.

 

[Handruin]

OK, I'll skip the dell deal, that's why I ask. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mercutio]

If we really wanted a colo box I'd donate money or hardware to the cause. I usually have enough crap sitting around for a spare machine or three anyway.

 

[Handruin]

I'm not trying to push co-lo to the point that it's our only option, I'm trying to talk this through with you guys. You expressed an interest in a dedicated solution, but even that has the (as CougTek worded it) "evil Celeron".

I've searched through many hosting companies and this was the first that I found in an achievable financial area for our website. Co-location allows us to design a system using all of our expertise. By doing so we could possibly build a fantastic server for a reasonable amount of money and the monthly hosting cost is reduced. (it plays the whole game of pay for it now or pay for it later when compared to the dedicated hosting)

I currently pull in $30 per month in hosting sales with an expense of $25. The $5 profit has been consumed in buying tools to make the hosting business easier to manage for myself, so in reality (if my time-spent working on that is not counted) I'm still operating at a loss, but nothing significant enough to even be concerned.

I've been in talks with one of my hosting clients and he may have an interest in a dedicated solution because I can offer them more storage space for a slightly increased cost, thus offsetting the new co-location fee. One of the other clients may also be interested in the same deal.

Merc, you're very generous to offer further contribution, but I would like to ask only for hardware and software advice in building a machine as a donation. (Provided you have the time/energy.)

You and many others here have donated a significant amount to me and that in itself was way to much! (Sending my thanks once again) I'm the one pushing this venture and maybe it's not what we need right now. I would not ask for funding help unless we were at a point of potentially closing shop.


Lets say I selected the dedicated host in its current config. That would cost $80 per month. Subtract my current earnings and that leaves a bill of $50 per month.

Longer term:
1 year of hosting would be $600

Co-lo would cost $50 per month. Subtract the $30 and we have $20 per month.

Longer term:
1 year of hosting would be $240
(not including the cost of the machine)

Machine cost estimated at $400 (Roughly $33 per month)

Year end cost is $640.

==================================

2 year estimate:

Dedicated = $1200
Co-lo = $880

==================================

4 year estimate:
Dedicated = $2400
Co-Lo = $1360

My estimated life-span of the server is roughly 4 usable years

Given the span of 4 years...the price difference doesn't seem drastic, but significant enough. None of my figures take into account of possible hardware failures of clients canceling. Those conditions are the risks I face.

 

[blakerwry]

And then there's always the cost of leaving it like it is....