London Data Centres (your recommendations, please!) :)

[Adam McGreggor]

On Fri, Jan 04, 2008 at 01:06:10PM +0000, LinuxLearner wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I want to buy my first rack server, and place it, once I've configured 
> and built on it in the home-office, into a data centre in London.
> 
> Of course it will be running Ubuntu! :)
> 
> Could people please provide some suggestions of who it would be possible 
> to contract with to get (initially) one of the following:
> 
> 1.  1u (the smallest rack size, if that is incorrect!);
> 2.  2u (double the smallest size)
> 3.  The smallest size of lockable part of a full rack.  {I understand
>      this is 4u, but on little research:  help!!}.

Racks come in all sizes. You should look into power-supplies: to the
rack, and within, and backups.

> I have very few funds, as I am in start-up, and need the most reliable, 
> lowest cost provider, giving me the space, power & bandwidth only.

Why not go for a Virtual Box, then? UML and Xen are the two main ways of
doing this: I'm a bit of a UML fan, but can see why others like Xen.

That ought to reduce your costs, assuming it's done by a competent ISP.

Whatever, make sure you've got console access: you *will* need it.

> It would be great if any suggested providers could also provide on-site 
> hardware support, if needed, on a pay-per-case basis (so I can go on 
> holidays, and business trips, sometimes, without worry of major downtime!).

Ridiculously over-priced, and not always the best. Get a trusted mate to do 
these things/offer to do his.

> Please, guys 'n' girls:  who are the major players in this sector of the 
> market; who is trying to sell 1u, 2u and quarter racks, and doing so 
> most cheaply/reliably?!?!
> 
> FWIW, I access London via Waterloo, so if there is any much 
> geographic/transport issues of physically me getting to the site of the 
> server, please provide that detail, too, as I would like of course to 
> work out how long it would take me to get door to door, hardware in 
> hand, if things went down.

Depends entirely on who's on the desk, and how well your paperwork's
done, what kit you've got, how busy they are, verification procedures,
and so on.

> Finally, and part of the reason for posting here.  To differentiate 
> between the different suggestions; do any of these companies support in 
> any way FOSS/Ubuntu?  I would like to give what little cash I have to a 
> company that in some way contributes to Ubuntu, or failing that, FOSS 
> more generally.

I'd say stick with the smaller outfits, you'll prob get a better
service, in the long-term.

You'd prob want to use a server distro, and there is a ubuntu-server
list: if you're going to use ubuntu-server.

If you don't understand all the terms i've used, you prob ought to have
a re-think, and step-down a bit: at least until you're ready/understand, imo.