Server Colocation: Easy, Affordable, Reliable

Server colocation is one of our most popular services. Since the very beginning, we’ve strived to make colocation as much of a “set it and forget it” service as possible. Clients just have to ship their servers to one of our data centers; we take care of the rest (installation, Internet hookup, etc.). We also offer a wide range of additional services to improve connectivity, security, and more.

In this article, we’d like to share our experience and give some advice for ordering server colocation. The client’s involvement and the service itself can be broken into a few simple stages, which we’ll describe below.

Stage 1: Purchase a Server and Ship It to the Data Center

As soon as you’ve bought your equipment, you can have it delivered right to one of our data centers. The courier must have a letter authorizing them to deliver said equipment and an appropriately filled out Delivery and Acceptance Form (pdf). There is absolutely no need for our clients to be present at the time of the delivery. Once your equipment has been received, we’ll ship you all the necessary documentation by registered mail.

With this simple approach, clients from other cities and countries can benefit from our colocation service.

Stage 2: Installation

All of our clients’ equipment is hosted in our TIER III data centers in St. Petersburg. Detailed information on the technical specifications of our data centers can be found on our site.

You don’t have to worry about installing your equipment; we handle all mounting and wiring.
In terms of security, only our engineers have access to server racks; colocation racks are strictly off limits to clients.

Additional services are available for clients with energy-intensive equipment, such as added power to outlets and additional strips for connecting backup power supplies.

Stage 3: Internet Connectivity and Telecom Providers

We set up the network infrastructure ourselves; you just need to order the appropriate services from the control panel.

Server Colocation includes an unlimited 100 Mbps guaranteed channel, which is not subject to any limits or ratios whatsoever. Upon request, connection speeds can be increased up to 10 Gbps (if the appropriate network card is present). We also offer cost-effective packages for clients dealing with heavy traffic.

Additional IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are also available.

If you have your own autonomous system with a dedicated block of IP addresses, we can announce them from our equipment. You can also set up BGP sessions and announce your own prefixes.

If you need to connect equipment hosted in our data centers to external resources (such as corporate networks or traffic exchange points), you can order cross-connects to telecommunication providers in our data center.

Servers rented from or hosted with us can also be connected via a local network. This includes servers in different data centers or even different cities.

Clients requiring added information security can rent hardware firewalls. We also offer Anti DDoS services.

Stage 4: Server Setup

Once a server has been installed, it has to be set up. You do not have to come to the data center for this; you can manage your server remotely.

By submitting a request via ticket system, we can provide you with a free temporary KVM over IP connection (permanent connections are available for an additional fee).

If the server supports IPMI, iLO, or similar services from other manufacturers, you can rent an additional dedicated port to receive external access to your server.

Stage 5: Technical Support and Maintenance

So, you server has been mounted, connected to the Internet, and everything’s been set up. All additional maintenance and service work we’ll handle ourselves.
If you need to reboot your server, just send a request via ticket system.
Work not covered by the contract (additional setup, software installation, troubleshooting, etc.) can be performed through our paid administration service.
For an additional fee, we can store spare parts for your equipment at our facilities. In the event of a malfunction or breakdown, we are ready to repair and replace parts ourselves (on a case by case basis).

Conclusion

We have been working hard to develop and improve our colocation service. Today, it really is a “set it and forget it” service, and we have hundreds of clients who can attest to that.
If you have any suggestions how we can improve our service, please let us know in the comments below.