Elvis Blogs - Elvis McNeely

I am happy to report that my server came in today, all 105lbs of it! I couldn't believe that thing weighed so much. In case anyone is interested in the specs of it:

Dell PE 6650 - 2x3.0/4M 4G-8 P3DC 1x73G(10K) 2x146G(10K)

If I wanted I could add two more cores, two more drives, and 28 more gigbyte of ram.

Why am I buying a server? It is pretty simple. The savings over time. The server itself plus shipping was a little under $1,900. I currently pay $167 for renting a dedicated server. $167x12 = $2004/year. But, this server package is limited, it does not have the same specs as the server I just purchased.

If I upgraded my rented dedicated server at dedicated now my monthly costs would be $667.50/month or $8010/year.

Now you can see the savings! And, on top of this, if I want to pay for an upgrade to my server I just pay a one time fee, not a monthly charge.

I haven't yet committed to where I will be hosting my server (this is called co-location). I will be taking a trip to CIHosting.com (Chicago facility) in December to check them out in person. My main concern is temperature, security, generators and staff around 24/7.

When colocating you do still need to pay for something; power drop, bandwidth etc, but in the end it is so much more cheaper. I will be paying $85/month for a 4u rack; 1 hr. Admin Time (Free remote hands & eyes), 2500GB Transfer Per Month, 32 IPs, Switched 100Mbps, 1 power plug w/ UPS.

That should hold me over for a couple of years. My goal is to get 10 clients hosting with my company, Lafayette Web, by the end of 2008.

Anyway, can you tell I am excited?!?! Not just about saving money but to have a little more beefed up server. I plan to have it all and the exiting clients migrated to it by the end of 2007.