how smart is it to buy a used server and using colocation to start your hosting business?

I'm still considering dedicated vs colo but since used servers might be a bit cheaper this might be a good option and the monthly fees will be much lower that way.

Usually co-location is much more expensive than a dedicated server. Along with that you also have to replace any hardware that fails in a Co-Located server, unlike most dedicated's.

From my local ISP, Co-Location is $475 a month you can get a fairly decent dedicated server for like $225 a month.

There are many facts which play into which is better for you.

If you are going to buy used, I would recommend buying quality like IBM, Compaq or Dell. Also plan for some failures, buy an extra hard drive, maybe an extra fan or two. Other than that you should be fine. Quality servers usually become outdated before they die. Watch the moving parts as that is what usually goes bad.

You also want to look at how much your colo provider charges for hands on. Colo usually provides you with more flexibility, not necessarily better pricing.

Good luck.

I've been checking into this very thing myself. I'm going to be buying some refurbished IBM x300 servers to get started.

I've gotten quotes from local guys anywhere from $49 a month per 1U space to about $350 a month. Of course the way they sell the bandwidth comes into play as well.

The $49 quote included 50GB of transfer. Some of the others wanted to charge by average bandwidth.

However, all in all, I'm liking the idea of being able to go in and see my servers. I've been rather concerned lately about what might happen if one of my current vendors goes out of business or has some kind of problems. I'm currently on a virtual server. Previous companies I've been with have been sold 3 times which hasn't been always an improvement for me.

David

IBM, Compaq, Dell quality :laugh:

IMHO: proprietary overpriced garbage!

David get a dedicated box with a decent company get the part list of the server your wanting to rent. Search google for all the parts the data center says they use in the server, check reviews and specs for each part. This means you'll need to look at the company inside and out. Shopping for a data center isn't a week long event, it takes about a month.

\---Places to start looking---/

http://rackshack.net
http://vdi.net
http://dedicatednow.com <-- Pretty new but supported by a decent company.

I guess if Dell is quality they have their own data center.
http://www.dellhost.com/

The dude guy prolly answers Technical support! Dude what do you want .:eek:

I guess if you want IBM stuff why not resort to buying it from IBM on e-bay, don't have to worry about middlemen.

http://www.stores.ebay.com/ibmauthorizedauctions/plistings/list/all/dept5/index.html

Compaq isn't even worth more then this sentence.

If your starting, and are banking on getting customers to pay for the colo, then dont jump in the deep end by spending hundreds on a server, then quite possibly hundreds a month coloing. OK, so colo is usually cheaper, but just an example.

Start by being a reseller/dedicated server. If business is good enough, buy a server and colocate it. Exactlly what we did, started off as a reseller, got a dedicated server, and now we have a few servers colocated :)

dude you got a dell!


sorry I had to

Originally posted by Newbie
IBM, Compaq, Dell quality :laugh:

IMHO: proprietary overpriced garbage!


Newbie, we have been using Dell hardware for over 2 years and out of hundreds of servers I can count our hardware failures on one hand (and most of those are hard drive failures)! For me and our customers, that is well worth the extra $! When the server arrives, it works, all the components are compatible, etc. We just plug it in, load the OS and we are off and running. Saves us tons of money in support costs.


I guess if Dell is quality they have their own data center.
http://www.dellhost.com/


Dell does not own Dellhost. Originally it was farmed out to Interliant (I believe) and now I believe DellHost is owned by Sprint.