For a startup you have 2 choices: host on some virtual hardware in the cloud (EC2) or roll your own. I spent a short time evaluating the pros and cons of each and what I came up with is that the EC2 solutions clearly have the lowest up front costs, but will become costly if your traffic takes off. Very costly. And after all that cost, you don’t own any hardware.
I decided I could afford the upfront costs of the servers and hosting and the flexibility would be a big advantage. By flexibility I mean to being able to have the exact hardware I needed. Like utilize seagate 2.5″ 10K 900GB HDD’s now that they are available, or move from 2.5″ 10K HDD’s to SSD’s as they become cheaper and better.
One thing I love is hardware. Fast, powerful and fun to fondle. In the end I could not resist, I rolled my own server/hosting solution. I spec’d out my own servers using supermicro servers chassis – which I will detail in another post. I selected the CPU’s, memory and HDD’s. I chose to skimp on CPU and HDD’s to reduce my upfront costs. I found a great local computer builder – http://www.centralcomputers.com – these guys are the best in the valley as far as I am concerned.
Did I mention I am cheap? I won’t even consider any solution from the likes of sun, oracle, ibm, hp, etc. I didn’t even look. I assume they won’t be able to provide a solution like I assembled for 2X or 4X the price. Besides, why waste time doing that when building the thing is so fun?
I chose Hurricaine Electric who I have used in the past. I searched around a bit and it seemed like everyone was selling around a MBit per second for $1000 or so with a rack. HE.net has a special of $600 for a full cabinet and 100MBit per sec. WOW!
The only problem was the power that came with that. 15 AMP. One of my servers maxed out would be bumping into that figure, and I wanted 2 servers with the headroom to add another 1-2 if I needed. Keep in mind these are 4 node servers. After some discussion I opted for a 208 volt drop that provides 20 amp. The 208 volt allows a lot less amperage draw, so I have the potential to add 2 more servers in the future if needed without incurring the cost of a new power drop. This makes it expensive – about $1000 a month. But for that I get a cabinet, 208 volt drop @ 20 amps and 100 MBit per sec. When the traffic comes I will be ready.
