Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : UK Colocation

[Kepplar]

We're looking for colocation in london for a new server of ours, and we want to forge a long term relationship with a reliable partner which will eventually see many more servers to colocate with.

We have tried 49pence, but have found them unsatifactory for our requirements, I get questions dodged in emails, and inflexibility about access/picking and dropping off servers to sort out. We don't anticipate this happening very often if at all but we need to have a contingency available which isnt going to cost us £60 or £120 an hour.

At the moment we are wanted to colocate a single ATX server, mainly as a trial with a new partner and are looking for colocation with 100-400GB bandwidth for £40-£50.

Thanks

[dazmanultra]

We use www.2host.co.uk, give them a call/email.

[astutiumRob]

inflexibility about access/picking and dropping off servers to sort out. We don't anticipate this happening very often if at all but we need to have a contingency available which isnt going to cost us £60 or £120 an hour.

As a general rule in the UK with co-location you dont get any access to the datacentre - you'd be in a shared or open rack in someone else's facilities, and irrepective of how good your or your tech's are, for client system security you simply owouldnt be allowed access, or would need to pay to be accompanied.

The way around this is to take your own rack with a supplier in the datacentre who will provide you with access.

At the moment we are wanted to colocate a single ATX server, mainly as a trial with a new partner and are looking for colocation with 100-400GB bandwidth for £40-£50.

100Gb with a decent supplier for that budget you'll probably get, but supervised access is likely to cost you circa £100/hour

*why* do you feel you need to physically visit the kit and how often does it happen ?

[JonaY]

I would reccomend poundhost they have a data centre in maidenhead and because they are a slightly smaller company they tend to be more flexiable about access to equipment, they also meet your price range.

Jona

[TheGreat1]

If its gaming then I wouldnt touch PoundHost with a barge poll. Last time i was there (3 months ago they still had there ping spikes problems and other posts are still saying they still do).

I am with Infinity Hosting and currently own a half rack. I dont get access to the rack unless I purchase a full one from them. If you needed to go into the data centre to ie perform maintaince on your server they charge you £15 an hour which is quite understandable as for example we pay for a half rack but in our rack theres other users equipment. So basically you have a technicain looking over your back every so often. Im hosted in RedBus 2

Poundhost from what I can remember free hands to there data centre so if your doing site hosting this maybe the route to go.

[Kepplar]

Originally posted by othellotech
As a general rule in the UK with co-location you dont get any access to the datacentre - you'd be in a shared or open rack in someone else's facilities, and irrepective of how good your or your tech's are, for client system security you simply owouldnt be allowed access, or would need to pay to be accompanied.

The way around this is to take your own rack with a supplier in the datacentre who will provide you with access.



100Gb with a decent supplier for that budget you'll probably get, but supervised access is likely to cost you circa £100/hour

*why* do you feel you need to physically visit the kit and how often does it happen ?

Oh I'm not anticipating it ever happening, my concerns are IF things go wrong. I'm sure you can appreicate the fact I have to plan the esculation procedures should things go wrong. I'm not worried at this stage about having access in the shared rack, and yes I do not expect to have access to a shared rack.

For example we went with 49pence with ATX colocation. At this point I assumed they were using tower shelves but it now apparent that they are placing these horizontally within 19" racks. We were then told that our case was too big (by 20mm), yet they never provided us with any measurements, and this case is just a normal atx. Needless to say I was annoyed to having to outlay for another case.

I now run into the problem in swapping the cases, since I'm generally unavailable in the 9-5 bracket asides for very bad emergencies, yet I can't get a clear picture from them on how this is possible without having obscene charges.

[astutiumRob]

Oh I'm not anticipating it ever happening, my concerns are IF things go wrong. I'm sure you can appreicate the fact I have to plan the esculation procedures

I understand, and contingency planning is very important The wording of your OP was that it seemed more frequent - we get requests daily for colo, and many really do not understand why we simply wont grant them access to the data-centre

ATX colocation. At this point I assumed they were using tower shelves but it now apparent that they are placing these horizontally within 19" racks. We were then told that our case was too big (by 20mm), yet they never provided us with any measurements, and this case is just a normal atx

Vertically placed more often, having seen their suite (and a number of other suppliers) "standard" if ever there was such a thing in the world cases certainly should fit - they have quite a few in there.

My personal preference is for proper rackmount kit rather than housing desktops in racks, but that stems from seeing too many hardware failures on kit not designed for 24/7 operation.

I now run into the problem in swapping the cases, since I'm generally unavailable in the 9-5 bracket asides for very bad emergencies, yet I can't get a clear picture from them on how this is possible without having obscene charges

49p have staff on-site in the datacentre (they have an office/workshop in there) - i would guess the most cost-effective solution might actually be to pay them to do the case-swap

Solution 2 would be to collect, rebuild and return it - although leaves you with more off-the-internet time

Or there's the supervised access - I'm fairly sure if its booked a day-or-2 in advance they'll make staff available out of hours for you.

Finally theres the option of 3rd part maintenance/support companies that could do it for you - PM me for details

[Kepplar]

Originally posted by othellotech
I understand, and contingency planning is very important The wording of your OP was that it seemed more frequent - we get requests daily for colo, and many really do not understand why we simply wont grant them access to the data-centre

Vertically placed more often, having seen their suite (and a number of other suppliers) "standard" if ever there was such a thing in the world cases certainly should fit - they have quite a few in there.

My personal preference is for proper rackmount kit rather than housing desktops in racks, but that stems from seeing too many hardware failures on kit not designed for 24/7 operation.

49p have staff on-site in the datacentre (they have an office/workshop in there) - i would guess the most cost-effective solution might actually be to pay them to do the case-swap

That would mean actually getting the case sent up there so I might as well do it myself.

Solution 2 would be to collect, rebuild and return it - although leaves you with more off-the-internet time

Or there's the supervised access - I'm fairly sure if its booked a day-or-2 in advance they'll make staff available out of hours for you.

Finally theres the option of 3rd part maintenance/support companies that could do it for you - PM me for details

I've been running desktops for 24/7 for years and I've rarely had problems . This actually using your average desktop hardware anyway .

Yea. All I would really need is 20 minutes and a bit of floorspace, but with them it seems I have to jump through hoops to get anything done and wordy answers to questions to which appears to try and catch me under clauses of the TOC. There was no real indication that getting the server in or out or to that effect would be so limited including their online policies.

[garrence]

We use Gyron for premium colocation. Their charges are higher than most, but they have one of the best networks around and include nice things like APC power sockets and decent switching equipment. I believe their 1/4 racks and above include some hands-on installation and support from their staff, and you can get PAC tags to access your own rack space.