Hosting and servers - We're getting there

Discussion about the Geocaching Australia web site
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Team Piggy
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Post by Team Piggy » 02 March 09 9:46 pm

AirRoad direct.

Remember - when you book on-line, you're instantly saving $20 per delivery.


Pick Up Postcode 3000
Delivery Postcode 7250
Pick Up Date 09/03/2009
Delivery Date Guaranteed to be delivered by 5:30pm, on or before 13/03/2009
Costs for this consignment

Minimum Delivery Charge: $59.00 + GST

Weight: 30kg $ 117.20
Customer Discount - 10% $ 11.72

$ 105.48
GST 10% $ 10.55

Consignment Total $ 116.03 (Both cartons)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.smartsend.com.au

Quote
From 3000 to 7250
Estimated Transit time: 3-5 business days
Service: Road Freight

Item No Description Weight (kgs) Dimensions (Centimetres)
1 Carton 15 80cm x 45cm x 10cm

Total Freight Price: AUD$46.13 (Inclusive of Receipted Delivery Charge, GST & Fuel Levy)

(This is for one carton only, so double it basically.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aust post.


Parcels Within Australia Delivery Charges



Lodgement Postcode: 3000
Destination Postcode: 7250
Parcel Weight: Up to 16 kg




Select Service Regular Parcel
Express Post Parcel

Postal Charge Regular $9.05 Express $10.80
Cost Per Kilogram $1.05 Express $2.90
Delivery Time Expected delivery time: 3 Business days
Guaranteed Next Business Day (If posted on any business day Monday to Friday in accordance with the conditions set out on the item).
Total Charge Normal $25.85 Express $57.20

Again one carton only, so double it.

There is another 1/2 decent courier, I just cant remember them!

Airroad is onlune and you dont need an account, same with smart send.
I have log ins and can book with any if need be.
Last edited by Team Piggy on 03 March 09 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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caughtatwork
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Post by caughtatwork » 02 March 09 10:13 pm

Awesome. Thanks you little porker, you.

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caughtatwork
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Post by caughtatwork » 03 March 09 8:00 am

I ordered two additional disks for the machines last week and I am just waiting delivery. I want to be able to install them in the machines before we ship them off.

Then we ship the servers for physical deployment, set up, test and we're away. I know this seems to never get closer, but really, it is. Thanks for your (neverending) patience.

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caughtatwork
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Post by caughtatwork » 10 March 09 5:23 pm

After a week of backwards and forwards where first my CC was put through as AMEX rather than VISA, then they got the expirey date back to front, I'm happy to say we have the two new disks -:) Cheaper than the first place too.

I need to get hostnames and IP addresses to set up here, then the'll be off to NSW for installerating.

CraigRat has the script to migrate the data from the old to the new.

We're edging closer peeps.

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Post by Damo. » 12 March 09 5:39 am

Thanks for the update! :D

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caughtatwork
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Post by caughtatwork » 22 April 09 6:26 pm

Update. The colo agreement we hoped to have will not be available in the short term and will be at least 12 months (if it actually comes to fruition).

So, we need to go commercial colo (colocation). If some people have the time and energy to help find a decent colo, we would really appreciate your help. Please post back with what you can find and we'll do some comparisons as they come it. The developers will also be looking, but we're few hands and you are many.

At the moment we have around $6,500 or so to play with. If we can keep the costs reasonable we should get a couple of years out of what we have. The two servers we have are donated, so they came at no cost. We have expended around $500 on additional disks for redundancy and backup. They are at my place, so I know for a fact we have those :-)

We're probably looking at around $100 per month per machine which over a year is $2,400. We could burn up to $200 per month per machine for $4,800 and that would put us in the donation cycle sooner rather than later. Reliability is more beneficial that cot, but $500 per machine per month is over our limit.

So, get your Google-fu up and running and see what you can find. Based on the types of variables that come with colo, these are things you may need to know.

We have two 1 RU servers with redundant power (i.e 4 power supplies). We can get away with 2 power points if additional power costs more but obviously we lose any redundant power.

We need 2 IP addresses with GE* or at least FE* connectivity. If we can get 2 additional IP addresses for the iLO at FE speeds, this would be advantageous otherwise I'll need to go in and kick the machine if someone brings it down or it lock up. We would connect each machine to the world and using the 2nd NIC connect the machines to each other so DB traffic didn't have to traverse the switch to get to the Webserver. The 2nd NIC's can have any old internal IP address.

I think from memory our bandwith is around 25GB per month OUTBOUND, no idea what it is INBOUND. Remember that 25GB* = approximately 200Gb*

Terminology is VERY important when investigating bandwidth, so just make sure you quote GB or Gb accordingly.

We are NOT a gaming server (colo's don't like those).

If they say how many UNESCORTED visits that allow per year that would be handy. Some do not allow ANY. They must ALL be ESCORTED at prices like $75 per hour. This is important.

Proximity to the Melbourne CBD would be nice. I live near -37 45.000 144 45.000 ( http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&sour ... 16&iwloc=A ). We could use Sydney (somewhere near riblit) or Launceston (somewhere near CraigRat), but if we go to Brisbane we can't kick the server should someone do a shutdown without a reboot.

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Richary
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Post by Richary » 22 April 09 7:57 pm

My company have a half height rack in the Macquarie Telecom colo in Sydney that has space in it. I can easily ask the boss if we have 2RU we can spare.

I will need to check what our data arrangements are with Macquarie as to whether we get charged per GB or not and the availability/cost of extra IPs.

The site does allow unescorted access, not sure what is involved in adding people to the list (but I could always go and kick it if needed).

Will let you know what they say.

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caughtatwork
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Post by caughtatwork » 22 April 09 8:06 pm

Ooooh, yes please.

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Richary
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Post by Richary » 22 April 09 11:10 pm

Will see what I can swing though may not be in the office tomorrow long enough tomorrow due to other things I have to fix.

Downside for GCA - reliant on a small private company that in these economic times is a gamble (though I see no signs we are in any danger of going broke or needing to cut back).

Upside for GCA - free or cheap rackspace and a high quality colo if we can do it.

Anyway will check the terms of our usage and see if we can host the GCA site as well and pass it on at cost whatever that may be.

As for kicking it, that is figurative as we have the top half of the rack and it would be a good swing to get the foot there. Might have to revert to the on/off button!

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SG-3
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Post by SG-3 » 23 April 09 9:39 am

richary wrote:As for kicking it, that is figurative as we have the top half of the rack and it would be a good swing to get the foot there. Might have to revert to the on/off button!
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Richary
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Post by Richary » 25 April 09 12:47 am

Bugger it sounds like they might have almost filled our rack in the colo. Had plenty of space last time I visited. Will keep trying but if anyone else has options please keep researching them.

I do have a contact with another company that has a colo presence so will chase them as well.

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Post by caughtatwork » 26 April 09 10:50 pm

http://ultimahosts.net.au/colocation/melbourne/
$99.00 per RU (we have two) PLUS $1.10 per GB (we use 25 to 50)
This would be $250 per month or $3,000 per year

http://www.micron21.com/services/colocation/
$100 per month per machine plus $80 for 50GB
$280 per month or $3,360 per year

http://burstnetworks.com.au/colo.html
$120 per month per machine including 100GB traffic
$240 per month or $2,880 per year

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Post by CraigRat » 27 April 09 8:05 am

Perhaps we look initially at just the one box?

Given it will be 100% for GCA with no shared services it MAY produce acceptable results?

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Post by Damo. » 27 April 09 8:13 am

Burst looks good with the data allowance for future growth in traffic. Only one power point but they do offer "free physical reboots".
Unless anyone has had a horrible experience with them I say go for it! :)

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Post by caughtatwork » 27 April 09 9:00 am

CraigRat wrote:Perhaps we look initially at just the one box?

Given it will be 100% for GCA with no shared services it MAY produce acceptable results?
Good question.
When I get home tonight I'll get the EXACT specs and post back.

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