Ask HN: renting colo space?

4 points by throwaway1979 ↗ HN
Hi HNers,

I bought some datacenter servers to learn more about virtualization and cloud computing. Sadly, I live in an apartment and it is unreasonable to host the servers here (noise, lack of static IPs, limited amps). I'm not making any money with the servers so paying for colo space is hard (the cheapest 1/4 rack rental I found costs $400 a month). Any suggestions for a cheaper solution?

Thanks!

5 comments

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Sell off the servers and get some apartment-appropriate machines. You can get a generic tower that hold multiple drives and runs your OS of choice.

Since you are building out a lab then commodity hardware should be fine. That is what I did years ago.

You might also consider posting this to webhostingtalk.com

They have an great community of data-center folks over there who are in this space specifically.

Good luck!

$400 for 1/4th rack seems close to what I see at the bottom end of the scale here as well. How many RUs do you have? I have seen DCs doing it per RU for roughly $100 for 1 RU. What is your location? If you happen to be in the same state as me, I can tell you where to go.
I'm in the NY/CT/NJ area. My server is 2U and I have a small cisco switch.
you can get a full rack for 400 a month from hurricane electric.