5 ms·

The most difficult step I find is just barely mentioned, finding colocation space at reasonable price is difficult these days.

c0l0 2y ago
I faced the same problem, until I found a non-profit community-operated housing provider (a registered computer club/society that has been operating since at least the early 2000 who is also a LIR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Internet_registry#Local_Internet_registry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Internet_registry#Loc...), and they give shelter, bandwidth and IP address space to anyone who participates in covering their operational costs. I gladly do, and it's the best hosting experience I've had so far, and I used to have rented dedicated iron from Server4You, Hetzner, Webtropia and the like from 2005 on. Maybe there's a similar hidden gem in the area you live in, and you just do not know about it? :) Mine flew under my radar for nearly 20 years, and even though I knew they existed, I was not aware they'd colo other peoples' boxen at very fair rates.
- hiatus 2y ago
  How did you find your local non-profit? Is there a resource you can share?
  - c0l0 2y ago
    There is, unfortunately, no directory of services like this that I am aware of. If you have a local hackerspace, asking specific questions there would probably give you answers quickly, I imagine :)
- oarsinsync 2y ago
  Is this provider for local people only, or can people from afar also participate in contributing towards costs in exchange for services? If so, can you share their details? I need someone to house some RIPE objects for me.
acatton 2y ago
> finding colocation space at reasonable price is difficult these days. The author of the post seems to be living in the bay area. It's easy when the number of nerds per km² is high, disposable income is even higher, and driving a car for 2 hours is considered "next door". I think for losers like myself, living in the middle of nowhere with low disposable income, the best solution is just to rent out a dedicated Kimsufi box (from OVH), or a server off the Heztner auctions. (Or whatever is the equivalent in North America) It's much much more cost effective than collocating.
linsomniac 2y ago
In the last year or two there was some HN post about some guys in, IIRC, Minneapolis, that got a rack in a data center and were doing something like this. ISTR their website for the colo was in ASCII art. A few months ago I went looking for it again and couldn't find it. I was tempted to put a machine I have at home over there, but I also have a local place I could see about going into, but just haven't yet. What I really need to do is just buckle down and get my home networking set up so I can run it here using my gigabit fiber, maybe upgrade to 10gig.
speckx 2y ago
Check out https://www.webhostingtalk.com https://www.webhostingtalk.com, specifically the colocation hosting offers at https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131 https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131

c0l0 2y ago

I faced the same problem, until I found a non-profit community-operated housing provider (a registered computer club/society that has been operating since at least the early 2000 who is also a LIR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Internet_registry#Local_Internet_registry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Internet_registry#Loc...), and they give shelter, bandwidth and IP address space to anyone who participates in covering their operational costs. I gladly do, and it's the best hosting experience I've had so far, and I used to have rented dedicated iron from Server4You, Hetzner, Webtropia and the like from 2005 on. Maybe there's a similar hidden gem in the area you live in, and you just do not know about it? :) Mine flew under my radar for nearly 20 years, and even though I knew they existed, I was not aware they'd colo other peoples' boxen at very fair rates.

hiatus 2y ago
How did you find your local non-profit? Is there a resource you can share?
- c0l0 2y ago
  There is, unfortunately, no directory of services like this that I am aware of. If you have a local hackerspace, asking specific questions there would probably give you answers quickly, I imagine :)
oarsinsync 2y ago
Is this provider for local people only, or can people from afar also participate in contributing towards costs in exchange for services? If so, can you share their details? I need someone to house some RIPE objects for me.

acatton 2y ago

> finding colocation space at reasonable price is difficult these days. The author of the post seems to be living in the bay area. It's easy when the number of nerds per km² is high, disposable income is even higher, and driving a car for 2 hours is considered "next door". I think for losers like myself, living in the middle of nowhere with low disposable income, the best solution is just to rent out a dedicated Kimsufi box (from OVH), or a server off the Heztner auctions. (Or whatever is the equivalent in North America) It's much much more cost effective than collocating.

linsomniac 2y ago

In the last year or two there was some HN post about some guys in, IIRC, Minneapolis, that got a rack in a data center and were doing something like this. ISTR their website for the colo was in ASCII art. A few months ago I went looking for it again and couldn't find it. I was tempted to put a machine I have at home over there, but I also have a local place I could see about going into, but just haven't yet. What I really need to do is just buckle down and get my home networking set up so I can run it here using my gigabit fiber, maybe upgrade to 10gig.

speckx 2y ago

Check out https://www.webhostingtalk.com https://www.webhostingtalk.com, specifically the colocation hosting offers at https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131 https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131