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How do you guys manage servers at foreign DC?
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How do you guys manage servers at foreign DC?

RelipRelip Member

I'm just wondering how VPS providers offering foreign VPS like Linode's Japan region fix servers when HW fails or something.

Unless it is rent server with H/W replacement support from DC or you are local and living in nearby DC, it is hard to fix your own, isn't it?

Just fly to where servers are located? :D

Comments

  • Host4GeeksHost4Geeks Member, Host Rep

    Remote hands. Stocking extra HW at the DC. It's not that difficult.

  • RelipRelip Member

    @Host4Geeks said:
    Remote hands. Stocking extra HW at the DC. It's not that difficult.

    Where do you buy it? And don't they charge you extra for replacing it?

  • Like @Host4Geeks said, remote hands and extra hardware. But yeah there is a charge for hardware replacements unless you have a direct deal with the datacenter where you pay for X amount of remote hands a month in the package.

  • PaulPaul Member

    @Host4Geeks said:
    Remote hands. Stocking extra HW at the DC. It's not that difficult.

    Considering some of those HW are probably made cheaply in Japan, Korea, Singapore or China, I'd say it's not that difficult to get the parts actually. On-site tech rather may be a problem to get in contact with due to the timezone difference, but otherwise they're available on-call.

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    @Paul said:
    Considering some of those HW are probably made cheaply in Japan, Korea, Singapore or China, I'd say it's not that difficult to get the parts actually. On-site tech rather may be a problem to get in contact with due to the timezone difference, but otherwise they're available on-call.

    Japanese parts are not that cheap.

    As for on-site techs being hard to get in contact with due to timezone differences, what has TZ to do with anything ? They are supposed to be there 24/7, no real datacenter will have 9-5 types of working hours.

  • Some smaller datacenters may even have X hours of remote hands service per month free of charge included in each contract.

  • bcrlsnbcrlsn Member

    Remote hands and IPMI. I'm lucky cause I got a great deal with my current host/DC provider and he does a really good job handling any issues that come up.

  • RelipRelip Member

    How about parts? Order directly from local stores like Amazon Japan, Yahoo auction or call on-site tech to buy them?

  • SplitIceSplitIce Member, Host Rep
    edited July 2013

    Really interesting thread. I know people who have shipped servers overseas for situations like this, Its just so risky in my opinion.

  • Remote Hands is always a plus. I've never owned a server overseas, but I have rented one overseas. Since it was rented, Remote Hands was free if there was a hardware failure, etc..

    Thanked by 1Relip
  • I colocated about 6 servers in the US once, had servers directly shipped from sellers to datacenter guys. Great service. At the end, I left the DC though and the DC could keep the servers as the servers were mostly idling and for backup reasons. I didn't have to pay for remote hands. All I needed occasionally was a remote KVM as these servers didn't have remote IPMI/BMC. I run a couple of HA clusters there.

    Sometimes there was a split brain in DRDB setup and during reboot it failed to bring the DRDB volume up and just waited there if the
    private network (over a cheap gigabit switch) was down. That wasn't really HA as DRDB had issues years ago:)

    This was some years ago. Would I do it again? You can actually rent servers at the same price in US as I colocated the servers (I paid about 49-59-65$ per server as far as I remember), but I think renting is easier these days. Unless
    you want some specific rock-solid setup or high end setup or a cluster of specific servers, then the only option might be to buy the servers and colo it.

    But in some countries like Finland, it's cheaper to colocate your own dedicated servers as there really aren't many budget providers providing rented hardware
    or then you have to really pay a lot to get latest hardware on expensive setups.

    Nowadays I'm more picky what hardware and what features a server must have.
    Remote IPMI / BMC is required as you can remotely reinstall OS from a remote ISO image without having to attach any USB sticks or CD-ROM drives to servers and without having to bother the smart hands. It saves money.

    Thanked by 1Relip
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