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I colo at a local ISP. I've been with them for about a year and I'm happy. Selection was easy: I wanted a local shop and there's only one in town. I had worked

I colo at a local ISP. I've been with them for about a year and I'm happy. Selection was easy: I wanted a local shop and there's only one in town. I had worked with them before on other projects and figured we would get along well. I manage the hardware myself, mostly remotely. Occasionally I'll go onsite to upgrade or repair something. I buy used servers and parts from a little over five years ago or so. A lot of folks buy new and replace every five years, so this is a sweet-spot for performance per dollar. Kinda like buying a car just off-lease. Working a cycle behind has its own benefits. If you pick a very common model you'll get cheap and easy-to-find parts. I was able to get a full set of spares for far less than what a typical hardware maintenance contract would cost per year (and I have them on hand rather than in 2-4 hours). Drivers (especially open source drivers) will be better developed and less buggy and you can probably find someone else's notes about anything that usually goes wrong. Of course if you need cutting-edge gear, this won't be a good option. But I don't, so I take advantage! I think whether you'll save money depends a lot on how you do things. There are efficiencies of scale that big providers benefit from, but there are also efficiencies you can leverage if you're small and flexible (like tailoring hardware to your use-cases and not doing/supporting stuff you don't personally use). I didn't make the move to save money, but to get more power and flexibility. So far, so good! Good luck! If you decide to dive in, I hope you'll come back and let us know how it goes!

ghostly_s 5y ago
Where do you buy used hardware?
- aparks517 5y ago
  eBay has a good selection. I prefer to buy from sellers that specialize in server gear -- the descriptions are usually more complete/accurate and they'll (hopefully) know how to pack things so they arrive in good shape. If you have a good surplus store or recyclers in your town it might be worth checking with them to save shipping (servers are heavy!). If you plan to buy a lot of gear regularly, it may pay you back to do some networking and make friends with folks who buy new and replace after five years -- become their recycler ;)
- ComputerGuru 5y ago
  Not OP. Off-lease equipment is readily available online. For one-offs, just use ebay. Beyond that, just reach out to the ebay sellers directly (their username is often the company name).
  - somehnguy 5y ago
    Do you have any tips on search terms you've had success with? I've seen a number of good listing from defunct startups that fire sale their remaining hardware on Ebay - but always through a direct link shared elsewhere. I don't know where to begin with finding stuff like that myself.
    - vgeek 5y ago
      For eBay, I just search "1u server" or a specific make/model ("dell r720") then filter down from there. Once you find a combo that works, then search by that specific model or view the seller's other listings. Many times they'll have pallets full of each type of server and may be willing to offer volume discounts.
    - aparks517 5y ago
      The suggestion below to search for "1u server" is probably good to get a feel for what the overall used market is like and what relative availability is. It helps to keep up a little with the product line of whoever moves a lot of equipment in your area (Dell around here) so you'll know what the popular/good models are to watch out for when they hit the used market. It also helps to know what options are available and/or common for the model you're looking at so you know if you're seeing something that's specced up or bare-bones or in between. Server manufacturers usually have someplace on their websites for hardware or technical guides or spec-sheets. They're often available for 10+ years after they quit selling a model, so you can research a system before you buy a truckload of them.
mattbee 5y ago
This is a great answer. If any of the details bore you, don't do it ;) Renting from hetzner and other low cost dedicated suppliers will get you almost all the cost savings, and none of the heart stopping horror of having to drive to the DC at 3am and diagnose some knotty RAID failure.
- james_in_the_uk 5y ago
  Ah but if you've never done that, you've never lived!

ghostly_s 5y ago

Where do you buy used hardware?

aparks517 5y ago
eBay has a good selection. I prefer to buy from sellers that specialize in server gear -- the descriptions are usually more complete/accurate and they'll (hopefully) know how to pack things so they arrive in good shape. If you have a good surplus store or recyclers in your town it might be worth checking with them to save shipping (servers are heavy!). If you plan to buy a lot of gear regularly, it may pay you back to do some networking and make friends with folks who buy new and replace after five years -- become their recycler ;)
ComputerGuru 5y ago
Not OP. Off-lease equipment is readily available online. For one-offs, just use ebay. Beyond that, just reach out to the ebay sellers directly (their username is often the company name).
- somehnguy 5y ago
  Do you have any tips on search terms you've had success with? I've seen a number of good listing from defunct startups that fire sale their remaining hardware on Ebay - but always through a direct link shared elsewhere. I don't know where to begin with finding stuff like that myself.
  - vgeek 5y ago
    For eBay, I just search "1u server" or a specific make/model ("dell r720") then filter down from there. Once you find a combo that works, then search by that specific model or view the seller's other listings. Many times they'll have pallets full of each type of server and may be willing to offer volume discounts.
  - aparks517 5y ago
    The suggestion below to search for "1u server" is probably good to get a feel for what the overall used market is like and what relative availability is. It helps to keep up a little with the product line of whoever moves a lot of equipment in your area (Dell around here) so you'll know what the popular/good models are to watch out for when they hit the used market. It also helps to know what options are available and/or common for the model you're looking at so you know if you're seeing something that's specced up or bare-bones or in between. Server manufacturers usually have someplace on their websites for hardware or technical guides or spec-sheets. They're often available for 10+ years after they quit selling a model, so you can research a system before you buy a truckload of them.

mattbee 5y ago

This is a great answer. If any of the details bore you, don't do it ;) Renting from hetzner and other low cost dedicated suppliers will get you almost all the cost savings, and none of the heart stopping horror of having to drive to the DC at 3am and diagnose some knotty RAID failure.

james_in_the_uk 5y ago
Ah but if you've never done that, you've never lived!