I am looking for a colocation facility and have a few questions.
Background and requirements:
1. This will be my first time colocating.
2. I need a rack of around 10 kW, which I will fill with 4u 1 kW inference servers (hardware discussion here: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/choosing-a-server-chassis-for-gpu-workload.28360/).
3. Price is very important.
4. I have pinged a few data centers about prices but have not tried to negotiate.
5. I live in Budapest but also spend significant time in Prague and Warsaw.
6. I don't expect to need much physical access to my servers. My plan is to set them up, have them run for 5 years, and then replace them, while adding new servers maybe once per year.
Pricing observations:
In the discussion below I have converted all prices to Euros, excluded VAT, excluded internet costs, excluded any "loyalty" discounts, and assumed 24/7 operation.
From among the minority of data centers which offer 10 kW racks, the pricing schemes vary wildly but the total price seems to always work out to about the same amount, ie. ~€160 per kW per month. For example:
atw.hu (Budapest): €196.90/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.192 per kWh used, which works out to €157.80/kW/month.
servergarden.hu (Budapest): €478.59/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.163 per kWh used, which works out to €165.50/kW/month.
ttc-teleport.cz (Prague): €1070.11/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.096 per kWh used, which works out to €176.09/kW/month.
verneglobal.com (Iceland): €1100.90/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.046 per kWh used, which works out to €142.49/kW/month.
Verne Global also offers a "direct power" service for a much lower price. This service basically excludes UPS's and a few other amenities, which sounds ok. I would not mind a few hours of downtime every quarter or whatever. I'm not sure they'd be ok with me writing the price here as it took several emails for them to reveal it, but the main problem is that to get that price you need a minimum of 90 kW and that is way beyond my current needs.
Questions:
1. How negotiable are these prices and is there some trick for approaching that (other than telling them, truthfully, that I am very price sensitive)?
2. Are there any other ways to reduce colocation costs?
3. How important is it to be close to one's data center? Is it realistic to only show up at the data center when installing new servers?
4. How reasonable is it to run inference servers on a "direct power" service?
5. Does it make any sense to hit the Verne Global 90 kW "direct power" minimum by sharing a contract with someone else (ie. I take 10-20 kW and find someone who needs 70-80 kW)? Is that common?
Background and requirements:
1. This will be my first time colocating.
2. I need a rack of around 10 kW, which I will fill with 4u 1 kW inference servers (hardware discussion here: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/choosing-a-server-chassis-for-gpu-workload.28360/).
3. Price is very important.
4. I have pinged a few data centers about prices but have not tried to negotiate.
5. I live in Budapest but also spend significant time in Prague and Warsaw.
6. I don't expect to need much physical access to my servers. My plan is to set them up, have them run for 5 years, and then replace them, while adding new servers maybe once per year.
Pricing observations:
In the discussion below I have converted all prices to Euros, excluded VAT, excluded internet costs, excluded any "loyalty" discounts, and assumed 24/7 operation.
From among the minority of data centers which offer 10 kW racks, the pricing schemes vary wildly but the total price seems to always work out to about the same amount, ie. ~€160 per kW per month. For example:
atw.hu (Budapest): €196.90/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.192 per kWh used, which works out to €157.80/kW/month.
servergarden.hu (Budapest): €478.59/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.163 per kWh used, which works out to €165.50/kW/month.
ttc-teleport.cz (Prague): €1070.11/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.096 per kWh used, which works out to €176.09/kW/month.
verneglobal.com (Iceland): €1100.90/month for a 10kW rack and then €0.046 per kWh used, which works out to €142.49/kW/month.
Verne Global also offers a "direct power" service for a much lower price. This service basically excludes UPS's and a few other amenities, which sounds ok. I would not mind a few hours of downtime every quarter or whatever. I'm not sure they'd be ok with me writing the price here as it took several emails for them to reveal it, but the main problem is that to get that price you need a minimum of 90 kW and that is way beyond my current needs.
Questions:
1. How negotiable are these prices and is there some trick for approaching that (other than telling them, truthfully, that I am very price sensitive)?
2. Are there any other ways to reduce colocation costs?
3. How important is it to be close to one's data center? Is it realistic to only show up at the data center when installing new servers?
4. How reasonable is it to run inference servers on a "direct power" service?
5. Does it make any sense to hit the Verne Global 90 kW "direct power" minimum by sharing a contract with someone else (ie. I take 10-20 kW and find someone who needs 70-80 kW)? Is that common?
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