Re: co-location and access to your server

[JC Dill <jcdill.lists () gmail com>]

 On 12/01/11 4:28 PM, Jeroen van Aart wrote:
> George Bonser wrote:
> > Awesome.  It's good to know that there are still operations like that 
> > around.  That is probably found more often in local providers and not 
> > so often in the big operations.  The more community oriented 
> > providers would be much more accepting of such a situation than a 
> > large operation.
>
> Community oriented provider, that's what I am talking about. I just 
> couldn't find the right term.
>
> > but having someone "on call" probably isn't that bad if it is 
> > infrequently needed.
>
> I'd be willing to pay extra for access after hours, either a recurring 
> fee or on a case by case basis. I am not searching for the cheapest 
> option and demanding that in addition my car be detailed weekly. But 
> just some co-locating space for one or a few servers where I don't 
> have to plan a week ahead or miss half a day of $dayjob in order to 
> work on it (which would cost me more).

Scruz is ~30-45 minutes from the heart of the internet on the west coast 
(Silicon Valley).  If your $dayjob isn't in scruz, then it's most likely 
IN Silicon Valley.  So locate your 1U server in Silicon Valley, where 
there are a plethora of colos with varying costs and access options.  I 
suggest looking at layer42 - the last time I did a RFQ for a 1U server, 
they had the best price and most robust colo (providers and peering, 
adequate cooling, backup power, etc.) over other providers (offering 1U 
services) in the SF Bay Area.  Yes, if you have an outage at night you 
have a longer drive to the colo.  But it does no you good to locate your 
server in a "closer" colo if you can't access it at night anyway!

From the colo provider's perspective, 1U clients are the least 
profitable clients.  Setting them up and servicing them involves the 
most paperwork and communication "per dollar", and 1U clients tend to 
need more hand holding, ask stupid questions, etc. on average than 
bigger clients.  To further complicate matters, 1U clients tend to be 
VERY cost conscious, so they don't want to pay what it really costs the 
colo to provide service to a 1U client (factoring in the sales time 
cost, the customer service time cost, etc.).

jc