I'm thinking about getting this for my brother's business and using it for myself. Anyone know how much the the start-up costs would be (local loop, install, etc.)? I already have Cisco routers for the T-1's in the office, so I don't think we would need that.

I know the $3,000 is for service providers, but since my brother's employees are mainly going to use it for Internet access, wouldn't it qualify under the $1,000 pricing? Can't I sneak in a few web servers for this price?

Anyone ideas?

hard to say... your best best to get info would be contact cogent...

Sorry. Cogent only installs into carrier hotels or large datacenters... And I think some building overs 500,000 sq feet.

100MBPS for $1000? What's the catch? There is probabley someting missing here. Where can I have it installed?

Well cogent is currently tier 2 so that means some, and they are loosing millions of money... But cogent is trying to improve their peering, once that's done cogent mayb become a bigger player. But they're peering has vastly improved as time goes on. check out serverhost.com as they have a traceroute script so you can trace from cogent to soemone else. The main problem with cogent is you can only access them via carrier hotels, and a few 500,000sq ft.+ buildings. Cogent has to figure out how to get the "last mile" into consumers. They'res not really a BIG catch.

Strange.. I just spoke to the salesperson and I told him the specs of the building. He said if the building was within their range, it would be a $1,000 install, plus monthly fee. Our building is not a data center... nor is it a 500,000 sq. ft. building.

Let's say I have my own rack. I wish to collocate my entire rack and have it hooked up to a 1MBPS connection with expandable possibilities. Where would be the most cost effective place and method of doing this?

Maybe, you're building already has fiber into cogent... Or maybe they've changed policy.

If your reselling the bandwidth it`s $3000.00 not $1000.00 fro cogent

So if you are a hosting company you will be hit for $3000.00


Also you have to relize also, you do your own routing, bgp session and support.

Thats why it`s so low, the reason so many people don`t have what it takes to manage the IP and sessions.

If your router blows up and and needs to reinstall the configuration, can`t call the upstream...

Mr Bill ...

Is VDI going to get cogent at all?

cheers,
:beer:

Let me know, i`ll get cogent :) If you guys want to try it, it`ll take me 30 days to get it turned on

as long as cogent is not the only line you will have, yes ... I am interested to test it out :) So ... 30 days from now? :D

cheers,
:beer:

I just made a announcement on the VDI page, sooooooooo ..

The Hotel we are going into has Cogent in it, and many other providers...

We are getting rid of the oc3s and getting Oc12 now due to the growth.

Originally posted by William
I just made a announcement on the VDI page, sooooooooo ..

The Hotel we are going into has Cogent in it, and many other providers...

We are getting rid of the oc3s and getting Oc12 now due to the growth.

Hmm. You make it sound too easy.

Well, if you want the details and expenses, then it`ll sound better :)

LOL. All it takes is a phone call and a check. Then wait. :D

I have talked to Cogent. Did you know you have to buy your own router? Cost anywhere from 10K-100K per router

What kind of router?

I am not too sure right now. I e-mailed them and am trying to find out. What kind of router would you think I need? I thought it was a simple rj45 wire with a 100mb/s connection and all I would have to buy is a switch to split the traffic amongst servers.

Cogent drops a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet line, nothing special. No special router needed, heck a Linksys would probably work.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Cogent drops a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet line, nothing special. No special router needed, heck a Linksys would probably work.


Are you 100% sure? 3 people told me I need a router.

A router doesn't have to be too complicated. We have a router called freesco that runs on a floppy disk, no hard drive required. Of course it all depends on what you need out of your router.

I'm quite sure you can spend a lot on a router, but you don't need to.

Originally posted by ClusterMania
I have talked to Cogent. Did you know you have to buy your own router? Cost anywhere from 10K-100K per router


Of course you have to buy your own router, errr did you think they get you one ??

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Cogent drops a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet line, nothing special. No special router needed, heck a Linksys would probably work.

You need to router for your traffic and annnounce your IPs / session. a router of some sort, and remember it` also going to be needed fo subnetting or some sorta control on your network.

Alot of providers will handle routing at their core router for you, so you dont have to screw with it, cogent will not do this they give you a 100mbps feed and provide no routing period.

I would highly recommend you not script on routing hardware, only cisco or extreme for routing. You should be willing to spend about 10k on a low ened router after all cards etc are bought and about 25k on a good router. I recommend the cisco 7206 it runs about 25k...

You can get a extreme switch/router their pretty good, but if you want to do bgp on your router you need to get a cisco 7206 if your pulling any type of throughput or load.

yea! the 7200s Rock :D

of course, freeSCO is okay too, i think the site is sponsered by felix Canhost.

we are considering Cogent as well :)

Which router are you talking about? Found a few results for cisco 7206


Cisco Cisco 7200 7206VXR Router
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?DPNo=930548


CISCO 7206VXR W/ NPE-400 VOICE PA (30 DSP) I/O CONTROLLER W/ 2

http://www.pcnation.com/asp/details.asp?item=055621

CISCO 7206 ROUTER SHELF DO NOT QUOTE* *CALL SALES CHAMP*

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?DPNo=877221

OK, what are you going to be doing with the drop? You will probably not need a Cisco 72XX anything. That's way overkill!

We are talking about a simple Ethernet drop. Any Layer 3 switch/router would probably do it. You can pick up a Foundry or Extreme unit for less that $5,000.00 and get a very nice/solid piece of equipment.

If you are just going to hook it up to a couple computers/servers, you can just plug it into any old Layer 2 switch an off you go (assign a static IP address, out of your assigned subnet, to each machine).

Originally posted by RackMy.com
OK, what are you going to be doing with the drop? You will probably not need a Cisco 72XX anything. That's way overkill!

We are talking about a simple Ethernet drop. Any Layer 3 switch/router would probably do it. You can pick up a Foundry or Extreme unit for less that $5,000.00 and get a very nice/solid piece of equipment.

If you are just going to hook it up to a couple computers/servers, you can just plug it into any old Layer 2 switch an off you go (assign a static IP address, out of your assigned subnet, to each machine).

Does the HP Procurve 4000 work as a router or just a switch? And going to get one anyways for the server farm. Not sure if it can route the 100mbs connection. Its layer 2

The 4000 is a layer 2 switch and won't get you any routing. How many computers/servers are you looking at running? Are you just going to use Cogent bandwidth?

Originally posted by RackMy.com
The 4000 is a layer 2 switch and won't get you any routing. How many computers/servers are you looking at running? Are you just going to use Cogent bandwidth?

Starting with 3-4 servers then will add more if I do well. I will also add Yipes as bgp for redundancy.

Actually if you want to do bgp you cant hand off to a simple router, bgp requires a lot of resources to handle all the tables. Youll need a fairly powerful router to do bgp on 2 providers for any type of traffic at all..

Actually if you want to do bgp you cant hand off to a simple router, bgp requires a lot of resources to handle all the tables. Youll need a fairly powerful router to do bgp on 2 providers for any type of traffic at all.. Well, that all depends on how many/much subnets you are going to advertise on your BGP routes.

It looks like Yipes also delivers Ethernet drops so you could use something like an Extreme 4i/5 or a Foundry NetIron 4802. They will give you everything you need to run a BGP network between Cogent & Yipes, plus you can get 2 (and run VRRP or similar) for the price of any 1 Cisco product. (all you Cisco fans, please no bashing :)) This will also get you some nice port density/unit

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Well, that all depends on how many/much subnets you are going to advertise on your BGP routes.

It looks like Yipes also delivers Ethernet drops so you could use something like an Extreme 4i/5 or a Foundry NetIron 4802. They will give you everything you need to run a BGP network between Cogent & Yipes, plus you can get 2 (and run VRRP or similar) for the price of any 1 Cisco product. (all you Cisco fans, please no bashing :)) This will also get you some nice port density/unit

How much do these routers cost? I looked at the Extreme products and they only seem to make switches.

http://www.extremenetworks.com/products/products.asp

So some products can do both switching and act as routers? I found a HP product on ebay.

PROCURVE SWCH 9300 8PT SC 1000B-4LX/4SX MOD W/ MGM

http://www.codemicro.com/store/prod_results.cfm?mode=5&srchparm=J4146A

Well, routers & switchs are converging (about time) more and more. Most Extreme & Foundry switches are Layer 3 which allow most routing features.

The HP 93XX series is the Foundry BigIron, OEM'ed. I would go with the BigIron, they are awesome but again it's way to much horsepower for what you need.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Well, routers & switchs are converging (about time) more and more. Most Extreme & Foundry switches are Layer 3 which allow most routing features.

The HP 93XX series is the Foundry BigIron, OEM'ed. I would go with the BigIron, they are awesome but again it's way to much horsepower for what you need.


Well, price matters alot. Will the HP 93xx do the job though? I can't find any prices for the Foundry switches.

The HP 93XX will do everything you need and a lot more. The NetIron version (actually the original) is less expensive and you will get better service than with HP.

For what you are doing I would recommend the NetIron 4802 over the 93XX. It runs about 11K new, but you can get deals on them from resellers.

There are even less expensive items than this depending on what you are needing....

Originally posted by RackMy.com
The HP 93XX will do everything you need and a lot more. The NetIron version (actually the original) is less expensive and you will get better service than with HP.

For what you are doing I would recommend the NetIron 4802 over the 93XX. It runs about 11K new, but you can get deals on them from resellers.

There are even less expensive items than this depending on what you are needing....

Ok, since that works as the router. Do I still need to buy the HP Procurve 4000 Switch to share the 100mb/s to multiple servers or does that do the job also? Thanks

You might also want to check out www.zebra.org -- you can build your own router out of a simple Linux box.

I think that after Cogent gets the peering arrangements acquired from Netrail turned up they will be a tremendous deal for all types of applications... I would go ahead and lock into a contract now before they raise prices.

The 4802 is a 48 port unit, so unless you are going to use more than 45 ports it should be just fine.

Originally posted by jkehe
You might also want to check out www.zebra.org -- you can build your own router out of a simple Linux box.

I think that after Cogent gets the peering arrangements acquired from Netrail turned up they will be a tremendous deal for all types of applications... I would go ahead and lock into a contract now before they raise prices.


Cool, thanks. I was considering buying the HP not the NetIron.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
The HP 93XX will do everything you need and a lot more. The NetIron version (actually the original) is less expensive and you will get better service than with HP.

For what you are doing I would recommend the NetIron 4802 over the 93XX. It runs about 11K new, but you can get deals on them from resellers.

There are even less expensive items than this depending on what you are needing....

A Cogent tech gave me spec on the type of router I need.

"The most important thing is that is does routing, and will handle at a minimum--a /30 on a single GIG E interface. You will need an additional interface for your connected devices. If BGP, and other enhanced routing functions are not an issue, this should work"

Will this switch do all that?

Yep! That's a pretty easy config.

Originally posted by jkehe
You might also want to check out www.zebra.org -- you can build your own router out of a simple Linux box.

I think that after Cogent gets the peering arrangements acquired from Netrail turned up they will be a tremendous deal for all types of applications... I would go ahead and lock into a contract now before they raise prices.


How much bandwidth can a bsd box with dual 1.13 GHz with 2 Gig of ram handle? Can it route more than 100mb of traffic?

if your doing routing for a datacenter, it would be stupid not to have a cisco router. for the extra price your getting allot more than just a product. Their support couldn't be any more top notch. Plus, their Certifcation program brings in many CCNAs, CCNPs, and CCIEs to support their product. Don't go with some product you never heard of. Its taking a risk, Cisco is known for its quaility and its leadership in the market, you can trust that they will stay in business and develop new products that will create new market trends. Ok, lets say you want to save a little money. one day--OOPS, your switch dies out on you or the OS is giving you problems, that will bring your datacenter to a hault, plus loose of money/clients. Are you willing to loose that money? There are many reasons to go with the high end companies. you get what you pay for. Cisco Empowers the Internet. "I never heard of NETiron" .

thats my 2 cents.

Just don't forget Juniper routers.. They also have a large market share. It would not be stupid to have a juniper router.

if your doing routing for a datacenter, it would be stupid not to have a cisco router. for the extra price your getting allot more than just a product. Their support couldn't be any more top notch. Plus, their Certifcation program brings in many CCNAs, CCNPs, and CCIEs to support their product. Don't go with some product you never heard of. Its taking a risk, Cisco is known for its quaility and its leadership in the market, you can trust that they will stay in business and develop new products that will create new market trends. Ok, lets say you want to save a little money. one day--OOPS, your switch dies out on you or the OS is giving you problems, that will bring your datacenter to a hault, plus loose of money/clients. Are you willing to loose that money? There are many reasons to go with the high end companies. you get what you pay for. Cisco Empowers the Internet. "I never heard of NETiron" . Cisco is losing more and more market share every month to companies like Foundry, Extreme, Jupiter, Bay, Nortel, etc.

Cisco is not the greatest & only product out there! The biggest issue is you get a lot more for your money going with an Extreme or Foundry product. With Cisco if you want Qos/rate limiting, it's extra. You want basic features added to the IOS, pull out your wallet. If you want support for your Cisco equipment, get ready to pay more for support than the actual piece of hardware.

Performance wise, Cisco is starting to get beat by every one of their competitors.

Now don't get me wrong, Cisco is a great product but there are other great alternatives.

If you have a systems engineer that understands the Cisco's IOS, then they can work on a Foundry or Extreme product. The IOS commands are 99% the same.

Cisco Empowers the Internet.Not any more. A lot of IDCs and backbone providers are moving from Cisco. Savvis only uses Extreme and Nortel products. Pair, Broadlink, PSINet, US Datacenters use only Extreme equipment.

you get what you pay forWell, this is true 99% of the time but not in Cisco's case.

Bottom line, there is nothing wrong with going with a Foundry, Extreme, Jupiter, Nortel product over Cisco.

Originally posted by mmhosting
if your doing routing for a datacenter, it would be stupid not to have a cisco router. for the extra price your getting allot more than just a product. Their support couldn't be any more top notch. Plus, their Certifcation program brings in many CCNAs, CCNPs, and CCIEs to support their product. Don't go with some product you never heard of. Its taking a risk, Cisco is known for its quaility and its leadership in the market, you can trust that they will stay in business and develop new products that will create new market trends. Ok, lets say you want to save a little money. one day--OOPS, your switch dies out on you or the OS is giving you problems, that will bring your datacenter to a hault, plus loose of money/clients. Are you willing to loose that money? There are many reasons to go with the high end companies. you get what you pay for. Cisco Empowers the Internet. "I never heard of NETiron" .

thats my 2 cents.

Cisco is great in some ways, particularly support as you noted, but there are definitely some shortcomings in their products which have created tremendous opportunities for competitors such as Foundry (they make NetIron switches and BigIron routers) and Juniper (who has taken 25% or so of Cisco's high-end router market).

The Juniper software is based on FreeBSD and has a much cleaner and logical configuration system. It's rock solid, and the performance is wire-speed in all respects. You can run OC-48s in a Juniper M20 and it won't even blink. The high-end equivalents from Cisco are more expensive and you have to pick between twenty different dodgy software branches.

Foundry is focusing on switching, not routing anymore, but their boxes can still do that job if you need. The equipment is reliable and the software is more straightforward.

In my opinion, Cisco's biggest weakness is that both their software and hardware platforms are weighed down by supporting old technologies. The 7500 series is essentially ten years old and has relatively little packet processing power until you add new expensive blades to it. Just as an example.

We've gone with Juniper for routing, Foundry for aggregation, and Extreme for endpoints, and have never looked back. I see no reason to buy any more Cisco products. But that's just me.

Kevin

Yeah, but what does Kevin know? Its not like he runs a large, successful web hosting company or anything. :)

First off ever hear of the saying, "If it's too good to be true, it more than likely is."?? If you do any reading on Cogent, you will find that they are in some big time money trouble. Since I work for a profitable Tier one provider(Sprint), I find this fast hand off connection a joke. See if you ever hit anywhere near 100Mbs. Hell anything that big and you are in the OC range. I am just saying you get what you paid for and if you have a good experience with them and things work out, great! I am not going to wish anything bad on anybody, but I will say let's see where these guys are come Q3 next year. Here are also some other things that make Congent weak...


· Cogent trails well behind industry giants such as AT&T, Qwest, Sprint, and UUNet, and the company is significantly behind new competitors such as Yipes and Telseon, which now provide service in 20 or more cities nationwide.

· Cogent only focuses on businesses that it deems are easy to reach -- meaning, the business must be located within a multi-tenant unit, in a large urban market and be within 1,250 feet of one of the hubs of Cogent's network. Businesses not fitting this criterion are out of luck for the foreseeable future.

· Business customers have to wait up to nine months for Cogent to provision their building for service and turn up the first customer. In fairness to Cogent, once the first customer in a building is turned up, the others in that same building can get service in a matter of days, but provisioning that first customer is often a lengthy endeavor.

· The potential merger with Allied Riser also has some drawbacks. Although Cogent will have access to in-building networks, the company will still be required to build/lease its own metro ring and last mile connection, as ARC did not own these facilities. Also, of the over 900 buildings that are ARC lit, there is no way (at this time) of determining how many building will meet the eligibility requirements Cogent has in place in deciding which buildings to turn up service in.

· Business customers requiring 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps connections are rarely companies taking their first step toward developing an Internet presence. They are likely to be Internet-savvy companies that want more than just a high-speed connection.

· Cogent's VPN service is more or less a function of its network architecture, the end-user is required to purchase equipment and software for encryption and security (e.g., firewall). Cogent does not support a network-based VPN product, nor does it even provide the customer with the CPE -- it is all up to the customer.

How come all these tier 1 providers are too scared to openly say where they work for. Why not just say I work for qwest or level3 or uunet, etc.

Not sure if this was the edit :), Since I work for a profitable Tier one provider(Sprint)

Yes, thanks for telling us who you work for.

Doesn't Cisco still own or at least own part of Cogent?

Doesn't Cisco still own or at least own part of CogentWho has Cisco not vendor financed? :)

I think brently27 has been to one too many tier 1 sales rallys.

carinet and RS can tell you some of the stuff you posted is out dated.

Originally posted by UmBillyCord
I think brently27 has been to one too many tier 1 sales rallys.

carinet and RS can tell you some of the stuff you posted is out dated.

It looked like it came from a "point sheet" distributed to Sprint sales engineers.

I could make a big list of problems with Sprint from our point of view, but what's the point? Everything has advantages and disadvantages. (For the record, I still like Sprint as one of our providers.)

Kevin

I am trying to start a freehost that offers pay hosting. I am a startup with only a certain amount of cash. I am planning to use Cogent and BGP Yipes.


Juniper for routing, Foundry for aggregation, and Extreme for endpoints and someone recommended a pix cisco firewall. The I got to buy 3-4 servers to start with.

All sounds very very expensive. Juniper and Foundry doesn't even have pricing on their website.

Originally posted by ClusterMania
Juniper for routing, Foundry for aggregation, and Extreme for endpoints and someone recommended a pix cisco firewall. The I got to buy 3-4 servers to start with.

All sounds very very expensive. Juniper and Foundry doesn't even have pricing on their website.

Mind you, we host well over 100,000 Web sites on 600 or so servers. We started with Cisco and 3Com equipment six years ago.

Cisco doesn't usually have pricing on their Web site, either. You buy through a outside sales company such as Solunet. http://www.solunet.com/

Kevin

Originally posted by sigma


Mind you, we host well over 100,000 Web sites on 600 or so servers. We started with Cisco and 3Com equipment six years ago.

Cisco doesn't usually have pricing on their Web site, either. You buy through a outside sales company such as Solunet. http://www.solunet.com/

Kevin

I have not problems getting quotes on cisco and 3com equipment. Just can't get pricing for Juniper or Foundry

Originally posted by ClusterMania


I have not problems getting quotes on cisco and 3com equipment. Just can't get pricing for Juniper or Foundry

http://www.solunet.com/

Search their product catalog, read the material on the manufacturers' Web sites, send them an inquiry, and in my experience, you'll have a detailed quote within 48 hours. For a while, they used to have the actual pricing on their site, as well.

Kevin

I have looked through google lots and never fond any prices for juniper equipment. Everyplace wants you to ask for a quote.

Originally posted by Tetraboy
I have looked through google lots and never fond any prices for juniper equipment. Everyplace wants you to ask for a quote.

Yes, we are agreeing with each other. You have to ask for a quote. There are different discounts for different end users. There are different hardware selections. It's not like buying a bar of soap ;)

Having said that, a nicely built-out Juniper M20 that can run, say, four DS-3's, four OC-3's, and Gig-E to your LAN, will run you around $125K. Or you can setup a lease. Or buy a smaller model such as the M5 or M10.

A nicely built-out Foundry BigIron with a couple dozen Gig-E ports will be around $60K or so.

Kevin

How about an M160? With a few OC48s and GIG-Es?

Cisco is losing more and more market share every month to companies like Foundry, Extreme, Jupiter, Bay, Nortel, etc.

This would have happened years ago too, but then they had enough money to buy out their competitors. I lost count at how many companies Cisco bought in the big money days of the .coms.



Having said that, a nicely built-out Juniper M20 that can run, say, four DS-3's, four OC-3's, and Gig-E to your LAN, will run you around $125K. Or you can setup a lease. Or buy a smaller model such as the M5 or M10.

A nicely built-out Foundry BigIron with a couple dozen Gig-E ports will be around $60K or so.

Wow. I knew it was high, but man.

Id say a majority of OC192 backbones are using Juniper M160s.

Go to juniper.net and read all the press releases where companies chose juniper for they're core routers.

I only want to route a $3000 per month connection from Cogent. That's far out of my budget.

I might just buy the PROCURVE ROUTING SWITCH 9304M 32 GIGABIT ENET PORTS

https://www.infinity-micro.com/infmicro/index.cfm?p=det&prod=1497129&search_key=J4139A&key=0&source=verity&cat1=05&cat2=21

I can't afford the expensive routers. This is a router and switch in one I think. Now I don't think I need to buy the HP 4000M switch.

Originally posted by Tetraboy
How about an M160? With a few OC48s and GIG-Es?

Those are free, dude. Really.

Kevin

I might just buy the PROCURVE ROUTING SWITCH 9304M 32 GIGABIT ENET PORTS You do know that is only the chassis and does not include any blades? You will need a managment blade (about $7K) and at least 1 - 10/100 eth blade (about $6K). It's about $20K for that core switch/router.

Again, the Foundry 4208 is a better choice unless you want/need core routing.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
You do know that is only the chassis and does not include any blades? You will need a managment blade (about $7K) and at least 1 - 10/100 eth blade (about $6K). It's about $20K for that core switch/router.

Again, the Foundry 4208 is a better choice unless you want/need core routing.

I have no idea on what core routing is. I got all exciting about Cogent with their cheap bandwidth. Now its going to be alot more expensive than I thought. You have any idea how much the foundry 4208 is? I thought it was a simple 100mb/s ethernet connection and all I needed was a switch.

You have any idea how much the foundry 4208 is?< $10,000.00.

You know, if you are going to run just cogent and a couple servers you can proably use any layer 2 switch?

Originally posted by RackMy.com
< $10,000.00.

You know, if you are going to run just cogent and a couple servers you can proably use any layer 2 switch?

Yeah, just a couple of servers. They told me I need a router though.

They are going to drop you a GIG-E (1000 Mbps drop) that can plug right into a switch. They should be able to give you a /24-/23 which will give you 200+ IP addresses in the same subnet. Since they are in the same subnet, an Layer 2 switch can handle that.

Now, you want to add more subnets, BGP, etc. you will need a router.

Make sense?

This is what the cogent tech guy said

"If you are a service provider, then you will need a router or other layer 3 device that can do routing. We won't allow a Layer 2 switch for service providers, as we expect them to handle their own routing and management. A layer 3 switch will be fine. Summit24 or Summit 48, (Extreme Networks) 2948
G L3, (Cisco) are a couple that I know about and will work very well for you. You can find the extreme networks stuff on Ebay for real cheap-$1500 or so for the 24 port summit."

Will the Extreme switch do BGP?

ClusterMania, instead of going back and forth, back and forth, what exacally are you trying to do? It's hard to recommend anything as you keep changing your mind.

Yeah, just a couple of serversThen you are not a service provider, correct?

I would like to help, but I cannot tell what you are wanting to do. Are you building your own datacenter, using it for a few servers, doing it for fun?

It all depends on what you are going to do.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
ClusterMania, instead of going back and forth, back and forth, what exacally are you trying to do? It's hard to recommend anything as you keep changing your mind.

Then you are not a service provider, correct?

I would like to help, but I cannot tell what you are wanting to do. Are you building your own datacenter, using it for a few servers, doing it for fun?

It all depends on what you are going to do.


I am going to start a freehost on Cogent Bandwidth (100mb/s) and BGP with Yipes (10mb/s) I will start out with about 3-4 servers. Once I get the hang of running everything, I will use profits (If I make any) and buy more servers to offer pay hosting to people that want to upgrade from freehosting. Then I will eventually offer dedicated hosting but thats way in the future. I don't have alot of money to start with so I want to start small. I can't afford a 10K router.

I am going back and fouth cause I am trying to find the most cost effect way of doing it.

Originally posted by ClusterMania

I am going to start a freehost on Cogent Bandwidth (100mb/s) and BGP with Yipes (10mb/s) I will start out with about 3-4 servers. Once I get the hang of running everything, I will use profits (If I make any) and buy more servers to offer pay hosting to people that want to upgrade from freehosting. Then I will eventually offer dedicated hosting but thats way in the future. I don't have alot of money to start with so I want to start small. I can't afford a 10K router.

I am going back and fouth cause I am trying to find the most cost effect way of doing it.

I'm not sure how you make money on freehosting, but I'm setting that point aside.

If you need to start small, just get one connection. Use a switch with basic Layer3, like the Extreme you can buy used. It won't do BGP but with only one upstream, it doesn't have to.

Kevin

Heck, if you are only going to have 2-3 servers you should able just to use the IP addresses asssigned to you w/o doing any routing. Then if you grow and need to add more IP/Subnets, then buy the router.

So to start, just use a Layer 2 switch with a GIG-E uplink which is <$1,000 and go from there. Or get a basic Layer 3 like an Extreme (which Kevin recommended), Foundry, etc.

You will not be able to do BGP unless you want to spend several thousand ($6,000+) on equipment.

If you wish to do routing and BGP fairly cheaply, i would recommend, the extreme 48i its a 48 port switch, with routing, and the ability to do BGP.

While its not cheap cheap, its more affordable then its competitors, and in my opinion extreme makes better gear then cisco....

The Extreme 48i and Foundry 4802 are very nice machines! We demo'ed both and they are very nice.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
The Extreme 48i and Foundry 4802 are very nice machines! We demo'ed both and they are very nice.


Looks like I will have to get the Extreme 48i since it offers routing, switching and bgp4. Is it worth the money to get dual power supply? And whats the difference between full layer 3 and basic layer 3?

Thanks for all the help.

The Extreme and Foundry are almost identical in features.

Full layer 3 includes RIP, Qos, etc. Basic will only get you general Layer 3 routing.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
The Extreme and Foundry are almost identical in features.

Full layer 3 includes RIP, Qos, etc. Basic will only get you general Layer 3 routing.


I guess I will get the Basic cause I am only starting out. Is the extra power supply worth the extra $1000? How often do power supplys fail?

Well, they do go out. How often? Not sure. Just remember that if your switch goes out, you have no network connectivity until you get a new one. :(

You better bet is to buy 2 and run VRRP or ERRP between them.

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Well, they do go out. How often? Not sure. Just remember that if your switch goes out, you have no network connectivity until you get a new one. :(

You better bet is to buy 2 and run VRRP or ERRP between them.

I just found out that only the Full Layer 3 switch offers BGP4 =(

What's that?

Err.... Now the Yipes tech told me to get two seperate products instead of getting the 48i switch. Anyone have experience with Radware LinkProof? I never heard of them.


"We feel that BGP will be a difficult
solution for you to manage remotely and suggest the Radware LinkProof
product / www.radware.com

I will work up a quote for this and a switch if this is ok with you. The
switch will be Extreme NetWorks www.extremenetworks.com Probably a Summit 24"