Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : what to do with unused servers

[plvconsulting]

Hi all,

Due to the way my business work, I have a lot of dedicated server that I rent but that I don't use immediately. Some of them can stay on the side for months before I need to put them live, which is a waste of money.

Is there anything I can do to monetize them? I'm not trying to make an income here, just reduce a little bit the overall cost, so ideally, whatever it is, it would need to be low maintenance.

Appreciate any advice.

[Preetam]

Is it still worth it to mine Bitcoins?

Seriously though, you need to change the way you're handling your servers. You shouldn't have unused resources for that long.

[plvconsulting]

Originally Posted by Preetam

Is it still worth it to mine Bitcoins?

Ahah, I should try this!

Originally Posted by Preetam

Seriously though, you need to change the way you're handling your servers. You shouldn't have unused resources for that long.

Unfortunately, I can't avoid it unless I use some sort of private cloud which would cost me more for less performance at the end.

[steven99]

How about a distributed computing project -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...uting_projects . Presuming you're already having these servers running already though. Though, bitcoin would be good to, we just need our cut.

[Preetam]

Originally Posted by steven99

How about a distributed computing project -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...uting_projects . Presuming you're already having these servers running already though. Though, bitcoin would be good to, we just need our cut.

Just throw BOINC on those machines. I don't know if it has a CLI application though...

[musicman153]

You might just rent out some sever space to others (family, friends or business associates) if you have the time to provide support. provided they are not high usage or high maintenance it might defray the cost of running your servers and not effect your business.

I have one VPS that's using less then 20% of its resources and from time to time throw a site up there for people who I know and are starting their own businesses. They are static html and have no effect on other sites. I give them space for $1.99 a month ($23.88 per year) and accept for designing a site for them costs practically nothing.


Just an idea,

Good luck

[Preetam]

Originally Posted by musicman153

You might just rent out some sever space to others (family, friends or business associates) if you have the time to provide support. provided they are not high usage or high maintenance it might defray the cost of running your and not effect your business.

He needs them later on though. People don't like it when you just cut their service.

[musicman153]

Originally Posted by Preetam

He needs them later on though. People don't like it when you just cut their service.

Adding a couple of HTML/CSS sites doesn't use enough resources to make a difference in service. Not much different then adding another couple of pages to your existing site.

[Serverfruit-Kris]

Originally Posted by Preetam

Just throw BOINC on those machines. I don't know if it has a CLI application though...

You can do it via CLI, and then manage it from a local BOINC manager. I have not gotten it to work with CentOS though. It works fine with Ubuntu.

[plvconsulting]

Originally Posted by musicman153

You might just rent out some sever space to others (family, friends or business associates) if you have the time to provide support. provided they are not high usage or high maintenance it might defray the cost of running your servers and not effect your business.

There's an idea here, but as Preetam said, at some point I will need to remove their sites, or move it somewhere else.

I was thinking, maybe with those servers, I could create a virtual file system on which I could host customer files, when I need a server, I remove it from the pool. As long as there's enough server in the pool, that could work...

Anyone has an idea of what is the best ditributed filesystem for that kind of usage?

Thanks

[plvconsulting]

Originally Posted by lakridserne

You can do it via CLI, and then manage it from a local BOINC manager. I have not gotten it to work with CentOS though. It works fine with Ubuntu.

What is CLI?

[kpmedia]

Mining Bitcoin or folding for a DNA/SETI type of science project.

CLI = command line interface.

[plvconsulting]

Originally Posted by kpmedia

Mining Bitcoin or folding for a DNA/SETI type of science project.

CLI = command line interface.

Thanks for the advice, mining bitcoins seems pretty romantic but I think I will pass for now

Thanks for the definition!

Patrice

[Ramon - i3D]

This kind of depends on which region you're hosted in. But you might want to try asking your provider if they can offer servers in standby mode. (aka you do your configuration, then power down the server and reactivate it once you need it)

The provider saves on power/bandwidth you'd otherwise be using and you have a server ready to go when you need it. Saves you some money at least.