Hello Experts,

I have been hosting for almost 5yrs now and now I want to take my web hosting business to the next level. I need your advise guys.

First I'm in the planning to put up my own datacenter somewhere in the Philippines. I have these questions in mind, hope any of you guys can answer me.

1. Hardware, physical equiptments.
2. Software, cpanel licensing, helm, plesk etc.
3. Connection, Internet Connection, not sure what I need.

I broke down the questions with the category above, any list posted would be greatly appreciated.

I would want to start around 10 to 20 servers initially and scale as needed.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Marvin

Do you mean you want to... build your own Datacenter? Or rent rack space in a datacenter?

Hi Kemik,

I want to build my own datacenter. I'm in the planning stage and I wanted to know the ins and outs as well as the hardware and software needed.

Marvin

I want to build my own datacenter.

Well that's quite something. You'll need housing, racks, security systems / people, power backup generators, multiple gigabit connections with major carriers, etc, etc. It's quite an invenstment your talking about. I don't know how big your hosting company is but building your own datacenter is requires a multi-million bank account.....

Thanks for the info SjaakT.

I want to setup a minimal investment for a start up datacenter a pretty decent one but not cheap. I currently have 3 dedicated servers and around 17 VPS. I want to grow big!

As I said I would like to start about 10 to 20 servers. I would like to request a list of hardware and software that is needed. Pricing also if possible. This is my dream and I want this to materialize. I will get some investors if I can't do it alone. I just want to get the hardware and software list to get me started on my plan.

I am offering a very affordable web solution here in the Philippines and I want to offer more and go biggie.

Pros and Cons are very much welcome. All your ideas will be greatly taken into consideration.

Thanks a lot guys!

Marvin

Read through this thread for why this is a bad idea:

http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467118

I will copy/paste my reply to that person below:


I have experience in this area. We ran a small local datacenter for several years (1700 sq ft) and with all of the 'big guys' that have dropped pricing in the last year, and with all of the costs involved - its not cost-effective and you won't be able to compete. Maybe five years ago you could have pulled this off, but not now.

I'm not trying to dash your dreams, but you have not thought this through. With a maximum of 200 sq ft, you'll fit MAYBE 15 racks + related equipment in there if you're lucky. Now figure a bare minimum of 1 mbps per server (and pray all of your customers never come close to that) and a whole lot of air conditioning, which will drive up your electrical bill like you would not believe. Do not underestimate the amount of heat that servers generate. One rack of servers would be enough to heat a room that size and keep it fairly warm for the winter...with no other source of heat in the building. Now, multiply that by 2 racks, 3 racks, 5 racks....15 racks. You get the idea.

Figure your costs at $20 per server for electrical/air and a minimum of $60 for bandwidth per server and then figure out how much your rent costs you per server. Just to colocate one server for someone and give them ONE mbps of bandwidth, you'd have to charge them at least $100 a month to cover your own expenses without even making a profit. If you think you're going to offer dedicated servers, you'll have to triple that price - for something low-end. Who do you think is going to rent a $300 per month unmanaged AMD 2400?

Unless your local market is willing to pay a huge amount of money for not so stable service, this is not going to work out.

--Tina

To open up your options 10 to 20 servers, depending on the amount of units they are in size, will only fill one rack. Are you aware that datacenters contain at least 20 racks (guess)?
Have you ever thought of renting a rack from a datacenter and then doing what ever you wish to do with it to see if you have a pleasurable experience.
I don't think a datacenter would cost less than several $100,000 due to security, wiring, building, etc.
If you still want more detailed information, as you may not be aware of the sheer amount of money these things cost, then I would employ an expert. I'm not sure how many of us on here has the knowledge to give you the information you require.

Hope that helps! Stick around, I'm sure theres others how are more experienced at this than me.

I'm in the planning stage and I wanted to know the ins and outs as well as the hardware and software needed.

Also, not to be mean....but if you have to ask these basic questions here at WHT, you are NOT ready or qualified to run a successful datacenter by any means. Save yourself some time, money, frustration, heartache...and just colo a rack with one of the big guys.

--Tina

Thanks for the info guys.

I might not be able to run a successful DC myself but I can hire people who can.

I'm contacting my finance consultant right now. I have done some math earlier I just want to know the hardware and software list to base my study. I have a list with me since I know a guy who works in a DC and were able to setup a small DC himself. Just need some validation.

Oh by the way I have investors that can guarantee me money. If this materialiaze I will announce it. And I'm pretty serious about this.

Any more ideas?

Marvin

How long has your friend operated his DC. How stable and successful is he at it and are you sure he's not just bragging? Hardware and software are going to be the least of your worries and expenses. Cooling is going to be your nightmare and bandwidth/redundancy is going to be EXPENSIVE. Unless you're planning on charging alot of money for not-so-reliable service...you won't be successful at this and you're causing yourself alot of extra work, just to be able to say "I own my own datacenter". Trust me on this one, its not worth it. It can't be done on a small to medium sized budget.

--Tina

I want to setup a minimal investment for a start up datacenter a pretty decent one but not cheap. I currently have 3 dedicated servers and around 17 VPS. I want to grow big!
Stick to colo, if you're already doing that. Maybe look at jumping into your own setup when you have hundreds of servers, with good revenues to support the initial and ongoing investment.

Your investors can still come along for the ride, but you don't need to be driving on the edge of a cliff. Stick to the safe roads, when you have passengers. :)

Thanks for the comments guys.

My friend actually has setup a couple of DC in the US. The reason why I want to have my own DC is that there is no DC available here in the Philippines and I want to take advantage of that situation.

Thanks for the advise AH-Tina I will take that into consideration.

To Aussie Bob colo is not an option for me since there is no near DC here in Manila or anywhere in the PH. That means I have to ship the server to the US first but I still don't get to visit them.

I can build a quality support engineers and admins as my priority and let them monitor all the servers 24/7. I got to talk to a local UPS and AC contractor who will give me a quote soon.

All replies has been helpful in making my decision. I have untill Feb 06 to decide to or not to push the idea.

Please share me your ideas and comments.

Marvin

I'll talk to friends, but I know of a few DCs in PH. Can't give you addresses off the top of my head, but I've lost some business to them before :P

Do some more searches, I'm SURE there's something like that in Manilla.

I'll ask around and see if I can't get some links for ya.

Hi axe9,

Thanks for the info if you can give me any. I did some homeworks but I didn't get a solid result.

Marvin

We did a feasabilty study once for a similar thing for an small ISP I used to work for. The cost of a good internet connection with fast links to backbones is staggering (and this was in South London, close to the UK's main hub in East London), forget cooling and other costs. Unfortunately, as people have said, you need a huge bank account to absorb that kind of cost.

Good luck though if you do decide to go ahead with it!

I think that out of all of the responses you received, Tina gave you the most sound advice. Let me offer you some useful facts about building and managing datacenters.

Nothing is impossible. If you have the money, inclination and time you can do what ever you want just about where ever you want and however you want. (so don't be discouraged by naysayers.)

However, just because you can, doesn't mean it's a good idea. I think that's what everyone is trying to point out to you. Here's the deal from someone who has experience building and managing datacenters. But before I go on, a few points. It's always a bad sign when a person shows up on a public forum and asks complete strangers for advice on such fundamental issues as what kinds of equipment is needed to do x. Here's why, as someone who claims to be serious about this venture those things are the least of your worries. It also shows that you are rushing to implementation without proper planning.

Therefore,

Phase 1: Business Planning (There are alot of good books and Internet resources on on this subject. This is probably the most important thing you could do because it will help you to understand the requirements and risks associated with starting and operating different kinds of businesses. It will also give you some ideas about how to research different markets etc.)

After you complete this phase you will have a realistic view of your options. I could go on but there is no substitute to phase one.

Here's a few points to ponder building vs buying.

Building:
======
Do this to leverage existing investments, some of the largest hosting companies had huge infrastructures that were built during the dotcom boom. They then opened those resources up for public use. It was a good way to increase ROI and turn moneyholes into $$$.

Do this if you require complete control. (But know that this option is not going to be as profitable or give you the flexibility to compete effectively with established competitors.)

The benefit of building is a long-term strategy the profitability and flexibility will be realized at some future point.

Buy / Rent:
==========
Do this is you want to shorten your time to market.
Do this if you don't require complete control.
Do this if you want to compete effectively.

The benefit of buying is a short-term strategy because your costs are somewhat fixed. You can also get more bang for your buck. You increase the possibility that you can turn a profit sooner because your costs aren't as high. This option also let you focus your attention on your core business.

The bottom line is, if you rent or buy services from an established provider you could try your business idea out without all of the associated risks of building and owning all of the infrastructure.

Hope this helps.

I found this link
http://www.globequest.com.ph:8080/globequest/index.jsp
On a website called filipinolinks.com ( http://www.filipinolinks.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?query=Data+Centers&catid=
)

I did no further research

Thanks leeware and thank you all. I know you are more expericed than I am and I take your advises very seriously.

I will do more research before I jump into this. I don't want to rush things.

Again guys thanks for all the info you put up.

Regards,
Marvin

http://www.pacific.net.ph/corporate/productsandservices/hostingservices/colocation.html

offers colocation as well.

They do seem to offer a nice amount of bandwidth :eek:

Hi reanncw, Thanks for the link, I did checkout that site but bandwidth is an issue. My current provider gives me about 1200GB/mo so pacific.net.ph is way too slim for my requirements, and expensive!

Thanks guys for all the info. I will take everyone's comments and ideas.

I'm now talking to all my associates for this plan and leaving no stones unturned.

I thank you guys again for all the comments, they are all helpful.

Marvin

Hi reanncw, Thanks for the link, I did checkout that site but bandwidth is an issue. My current provider gives me about 1200GB/mo so pacific.net.ph is way too slim for my requirements, and expensive!


That would probably give you a good indication of what the costs are in your local market. And what you would have to charge.

I looked into local colo and it was atleast 4 times the price just for colo and 15 GB of transfer and then you had to add the server cost into that. It was crazy compared to what I could get at other places such as layeredtech.

steadfastph:

Starting your own DC is not something entered into lightly or easily. Assuming you have the capital to put behind it, find an established pre-existing DC in the Phillipines that has the infrastructure already in place (network power cooling etc) and purchase from them some cage space. Install your own racks and get yourself going. If you are successful and expand to a point where you can build out your own facility later, congratulations!

_______________________________
Icelab Networks
Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Colocation

I looked into local colo and it was atleast 4 times the price just for colo and 15 GB of transfer and then you had to add the server cost into that

Its not so easy to compare colocation and dedicated-servers, and similary not so easy to compare colo to running your own network, and gets even more interesting when you add in your own facilities and/or datacentre :D

Colo would have given you the control - the ability to have specified the server to any level of details, to be connected (usually) to decent network infrastructure, with guaranteed bandwidth, burstable switchports and a million other benefits - as opposed to some $200 desktop on LT overcontended connectivity :p

Its not so easy to compare colocation and dedicated-servers, and similary not so easy to compare colo to running your own network, and gets even more interesting when you add in your own facilities and/or datacentre :D

Colo would have given you the control - the ability to have specified the server to any level of details, to be connected (usually) to decent network infrastructure, with guaranteed bandwidth, burstable switchports and a million other benefits - as opposed to some $200 desktop on LT overcontended connectivity :p

I wasn't trying to directly compare the two, I was more or less comparing the price. After running some number the cost of a small P4 server colo'd here in my home town would have made rackspace look like a budget host. Yes the server would have been in my hands and I could see it but I would have had to price my plans so high that I doubt anyone would want to pay that much. It all boils down to the low bandwidth commitment companies would have here. It would have been a T1 connection to boot.

Its almost always financially better to take the server to the bandwidth rather than bringing the bandwidth to the servers :)

I really appreciate everyones feedback on this. I'll have to get quotes from local telecoms here how much I can put up. If the math says it's a no no then I will not push it, but if the math says it's good to go I will move heaven and earth just to have my own DC.

Thanks guys and I really love all your replies!

did you fella's ever think maybe steadfastph is a internet tycoon with 10,000x what he said he's got ?

lol..... he seems to be rich to me....

did you fella's ever think maybe steadfastph is a internet tycoon with 10,000x what he said he's got ?

lol..... he seems to be rich to me....

Alot of hall mointors on this one. I believe he really just wanted to know what it takes. Not what he needed. I hope someone can give you some actual help in this thread. Best of luck and I hope it works out well for you.

...
First I'm in the planning to put up my own datacenter somewhere in the Philippines. I have these questions in mind, hope any of you guys can answer me.
...
3. Connection, Internet Connection, not sure what I need.
...
Alot of hall mointors on this one. I believe he really just wanted to know what it takes. Not what he needed. I hope someone can give you some actual help in this thread. Best of luck and I hope it works out well for you.
I'm pretty sure he's asking what he needs to do this, and the people in this thread are telling him. He needs space, HVAC, UPS, generators, fuel supply, dedicated internet links, security personnel, technicians, etc... even for a small DC. It's a tremendous expense, and for just 10-20 servers. What he needs most is a consultant with experience in the industry to tell him that it's not worth it for such a small number of servers, when there are already fully-built datacenters in his country.

Hi reanncw, Thanks for the link, I did checkout that site but bandwidth is an issue. My current provider gives me about 1200GB/mo so pacific.net.ph is way too slim for my requirements, and expensive!

Your costs to provide that amount of bandwidth is probably going to be just as expensive as pacific.net.ph, if not more. Bandwidth is cheap in certain markets (US, UK, Holland), and very very expensive in others (sometimes 10 times as much).