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  1. #1

    Good source of cheap 1U servers in the SF Bay area?

    Hi All-

    I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a good vendor for cheap "throwaway" servers?

    There are plenty of places to find components, cases, etc. if I want to build myself a higher-end box. But what I am looking for is just a basic box with a small (1U) form factor to act as a DNS server. I'd also like to put some of my static web sites onto a separate box. I don't need SCSI or RAID or dual NICs or anything - just a basic server. Ideally fully assembled.

    Ideal specs:
    -1U case
    -single CPU - speed not essential
    -512M - 1G of memory (cache as much as possible)
    -9GB HD should be more than enough
    -100Mbps NIC (although 10 would be okay)

    Is it possible to find a configuration like this anywhere at a reasonable price? From the looking around I've done so far, it seems as though the lowest price for a 1U case, CPU, and HD comes to about $600 - $700.

    But I can get a low-end desktop for $400, and it includes Windows, a bunch of software - you get the idea.

    (I guess what I want is desktop hardware in a 1U form factor)

    Can anyone assist?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    San Jose, California
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    411
    I think there is colomachine.com , not sure if they are still selling or back-ordered.

  3. #3
    Originally posted by nectar
    I think there is colomachine.com , not sure if they are still selling or back-ordered.
    Yes! That is exactly the type of boxes I am looking for - but in the Bay area.

    Have you ever bought from colomachine.com?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    San Jose, California
    Posts
    411
    Types of servers in the bay area, Im unsure of. Sorry...wish i could tell you.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Sunny California
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    1,679
    If you want a company to build one for you, try NCAL Computers. They're in Pleasanton. I've bought 1U servers from them before... they basically build to order.

    Do you already have a place to colocate the server? If not, I'd recommend looking around for a cheap leased server... there are plenty of providers offering leased servers in the Bay Area that would be great for DNS backups.
    Erica Douglass, Founder, Simpli Hosting, Inc.
    »»» I founded Simpli Hosting, and sold it in 2007 to Silicon Valley Web Hosting after over 6 years in the business.
    Now I'm blogging at erica.biz!

  6. #6
    Originally posted by Simpli-Erica
    If you want a company to build one for you, try NCAL Computers. They're in Pleasanton. I've bought 1U servers from them before... they basically build to order.

    Do you already have a place to colocate the server? If not, I'd recommend looking around for a cheap leased server... there are plenty of providers offering leased servers in the Bay Area that would be great for DNS backups.
    Hey thanks for the tip about NCAL, I will check them out.

    I already have colo space, tho.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    San Mateo, CA
    Posts
    224
    You can also buy the complete servers at Racklogic. They are in Fremont, CA. I have had very good experience with them.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Posts
    542
    You probably can't do better than a $200 delta between desktop and 1U servers.

    There is much higher volume and more brutal competition in the desktop market; 1U server manufacturers have higher profit margins and lower volumes so it is very unlikely they can ever get to the same price point as a desktop machine.

    The good news is that the delta is now so much smaller than it was a few years ago.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    New York / New Jersey
    Posts
    753
    www.ironsystems.com ask for sam

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Posts
    542
    Originally posted by lostpacket
    www.ironsystems.com ask for sam
    Looks interesting - which models have you used and what was the pricing?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    New York / New Jersey
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    753
    I have about 50 units of the A-120 P4 2.4 512MB 80GB and was paying around $610/each.

    We also have several other systems dual xeon and some of their Via 1ghz. The servers are very well built. When you open the cover you can see the pride that goes into the building of the boxes.

    I would never buy from anyone else.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Posts
    542
    Thanks!

    We've been building Intel ISP boxes ourselves from the basics, but this looks like a great choice and more options.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Posts
    542
    Thanks!

    We've been building Intel ISP boxes ourselves from the basics, but this looks like a great choice and more options.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Posts
    167
    Originally posted by lostpacket
    I have about 50 units of the A-120 P4 2.4 512MB 80GB and was paying around $610/each.
    Is this 1U server from ironsystems.com ? Where did you get this deal?? Nothing this cheap from their website. Can to share more details?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Rialto, CA
    Posts
    2,039
    colomachine will drop ship for you

  16. #16
    Originally posted by Mrdredd
    colomachine will drop ship for you
    No, they don't do drop ship. It says so on their FAQ.

  17. #17
    Check out ironsystems.com

    they sell A110 for $499.

    Sweet boxes, we have 20 of them and they run like a champ on freebsd 4.8

  18. #18
    Originally posted by lostpacket
    www.ironsystems.com ask for sam
    Thanks. I will check those guys out.

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