Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register

Quick Links


Categories

In this Discussion

› › Cheap colocation for Mini PC
New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.

All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.

Cheap colocation for Mini PC

tmphuctmphuc Member
edited April 2023 in General

We need to find some cheapest colo providers for my Mini PCs: Asus PN64 with 64GB RAM and 4TB NVMe.

We need to place 2 Mini PCs per locations below:

  • East Coast US (currently colo at EndOffice for $24/mo, but looking for other options too)
  • West Coast US
  • Europe
  • Singapore / Hong Kong

No IP v4 is fine, as we can just install CloudFlare Tunnel instead.

Use case: Hosting a global eCommerce platform. To save cost, we rent VPS from Contabo (which sometimes unreliable) along with those powerful Mini PC servers.

Thanks a lot :-)

Thanked by 2greentea plumberg

Comments

  • EthanZouEthanZou Member

    What's your use case?

  • JeDaYoshiJeDaYoshi Member

    @DataIdeas-Josh might be able to offer you some cheap mini PC colo in Spring, Texas.

  • tmphuctmphuc Member

    @EthanZou said:
    What's your use case?

    Updated in the post:
    Use case: Hosting a global eCommerce platform. To save cost, we rent VPS from Contabo (which sometimes unreliable) along with those powerful Mini PC servers.

  • aquaaqua Member, Patron Provider

    For Europe, I believe that Terrahost does some sort of tower colocation.

  • tmphuctmphuc Member
    edited April 30

    Update on my Mini PC colocation hosting journey so far:

    It's been great. Saved tons of money over AWS or other cloud providers.

    Base machine: https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um690s - I purchase bulk order of 15x $270 each.

    RAM: Crucial 64GB DDR5 SODIMM on Amazon, deals at $130.
    SSD: Amazon, Gen4 NVMe at about $30/TB.

    I've been with EndOffice in Boston for more than 1.5 years, quite happy. Very reliable network. Hosted tons of k8s apps. Total is 12 nodes here. Dealed with them at $19 per node per month.

    In Singapore, I self-hosted with the M1 1Gbps plan + static IP. Singapore home network is very stable, it's actually production-ready. We have failover/backup/load balancing in case of downtime, but so far so good. Hosting 8 nodes currently.

    Thanked by 3plumberg BruhGamer12 Freek
  • remyremy Member
    edited April 30

    First things first. Replace contabo with netcup. It's a win-win situation.

    I'm also looking for offers to colocate mini PCs in Europe.

    But I find that not having IMPI access is problematic.
    I read that with intel Vpro processors it was possible to have an Out of Band remote management solution.
    But I have the impression that this is no longer maintained and is somewhat deprecated.

    So I'm still looking for a viable solution.

    Thanked by 1totally_not_banned
  • totally_not_bannedtotally_not_banned Member
    edited April 30

    @remy said:
    First things first. Replace contabo with netcup. It's a win-win situation.

    Pretty much this. In place of Netcup there's actually a whole array of options. Margins can't be that razor thin that it absolutely has to be Contabo pricing (at the very least i wouldn't wish this on OP).

  • PulsedMediaPulsedMedia Member, Patron Provider
    edited April 30

    not worth the squeeze to colocate minipcs, when our ready made offers are easier and smoother to operate and actually validated & tested for DC use; https://pulsedmedia.com/minidedi-dedicated-servers-finland.php

  • lukast__lukast__ Member

    @PulsedMedia said: not worth the squeeze to colocate minipcs

    But you have the advantage that with colocation

    • you can use any hardware you want (well, nearly any)
    • you own the hardware and can simply move the whole server when there is a problem with the company/network/location
    • you can upgrade cheaply (if you have access to the server)

    And it often is cheaper as soon as your hardware costs much, but of course it's more expensive when you don't want many servers or want servers where colo would be much more expensive than renting a dedicated, and you (mostly) don't have fast access to the server, meaning a downtime because of a hardware failure can be longer. But for example when you want a minipc with many (big) HDDs, it can be cheaper to colo it, as you can calculate the cost more on the (expected) lifetime/warranty and don't have to get fast ROI.

    (Sorry for the OT, but the OP asked for colocation, not for mini dedicated servers.)

  • SGrafSGraf Member, Patron Provider
    edited April 30

    @tmphuc said:
    We need to find some cheapest colo providers for my Mini PCs: Asus PN64 with 64GB RAM and 4TB NVMe.

    We need to place 2 Mini PCs per locations below:

    • East Coast US (currently colo at EndOffice for $24/mo, but looking for other options too)
    • West Coast US
    • Europe
    • Singapore / Hong Kong

    No IP v4 is fine, as we can just install CloudFlare Tunnel instead.

    Use case: Hosting a global eCommerce platform. To save cost, we rent VPS from Contabo (which sometimes unreliable) along with those powerful Mini PC servers.

    Thanks a lot :-)

    I'd be happy to help your source a mini pc like a nuc. So if this is something that you want for Vienna i can offer the following:

    • Space: Space for 1 intel NUC or Synology NAS (2 Disk-Bays)
    • Power: 50W
    • Traffic: 5TB@1G
    • IPv4: 1 Usable Address
    • IPv6: /64 IPv6 Subnet included

    => 25 Euro / Month excl. VAT

    These you can only get thru opening a ticket. If you want more traffic that is possible as well, I'd be happy to generate you a custom quote.

    Kind regards

  • lukast__lukast__ Member

    @SGraf said:

    @tmphuc said:
    We need to find some cheapest colo providers for my Mini PCs: Asus PN64 with 64GB RAM and 4TB NVMe.

    We need to place 2 Mini PCs per locations below:

    • East Coast US (currently colo at EndOffice for $24/mo, but looking for other options too)
    • West Coast US
    • Europe
    • Singapore / Hong Kong

    No IP v4 is fine, as we can just install CloudFlare Tunnel instead.

    Use case: Hosting a global eCommerce platform. To save cost, we rent VPS from Contabo (which sometimes unreliable) along with those powerful Mini PC servers.

    Thanks a lot :-)

    I'd be happy to help your source a mini pc like a nuc. So if this is something that you want for Vienna i can offer the following:

    • Space: Space for 1 intel NUC or Synology NAS (2 Disk-Bays)
    • Power: 50W
    • Traffic: 5TB@1G
    • IPv4: 1 Usable Address
    • IPv6: /64 IPv6 Subnet included

    These you can only get thru opening a ticket. If you want more traffic that is possible as well, I'd be happy to generate you a custom quote.

    Kind regards

    Could you share the price?

  • SGrafSGraf Member, Patron Provider

    @lukast__ said:
    Could you share the price?

    My bad, fixed my original post.

    Thanked by 1lukast__
  • PulsedMediaPulsedMedia Member, Patron Provider

    @lukast__ said:

    @PulsedMedia said: not worth the squeeze to colocate minipcs

    But you have the advantage that with colocation

    • you can use any hardware you want (well, nearly any)
    • you own the hardware and can simply move the whole server when there is a problem with the company/network/location
    • you can upgrade cheaply (if you have access to the server)

    And it often is cheaper as soon as your hardware costs much, but of course it's more expensive when you don't want many servers or want servers where colo would be much more expensive than renting a dedicated, and you (mostly) don't have fast access to the server, meaning a downtime because of a hardware failure can be longer. But for example when you want a minipc with many (big) HDDs, it can be cheaper to colo it, as you can calculate the cost more on the (expected) lifetime/warranty and don't have to get fast ROI.

    (Sorry for the OT, but the OP asked for colocation, not for mini dedicated servers.)

    You missed the whole point, it's not worth the effort for the provider. It costs less to offer the whole solution with hardware than to try and maintain random consumer hardware, built, assembled, maintained, configured whatevs.

    Human time is expensive as frig, one single call to debug some bizarro random issue for couple of hours -> You either charge through the nose from the customer (then it makes no sense) like 200€ per hour OR you take a massive hit on productivity.

    Ofc that kind of deal is excellent for the buyer, you get free work, you get to externalize your costs.

    There are other point of views than just being the buyer, and if it's not a sustainable offer ... Well involucration

  • lukast__lukast__ Member

    @PulsedMedia said:

    @lukast__ said:

    @PulsedMedia said: not worth the squeeze to colocate minipcs

    But you have the advantage that with colocation

    • you can use any hardware you want (well, nearly any)
    • you own the hardware and can simply move the whole server when there is a problem with the company/network/location
    • you can upgrade cheaply (if you have access to the server)

    And it often is cheaper as soon as your hardware costs much, but of course it's more expensive when you don't want many servers or want servers where colo would be much more expensive than renting a dedicated, and you (mostly) don't have fast access to the server, meaning a downtime because of a hardware failure can be longer. But for example when you want a minipc with many (big) HDDs, it can be cheaper to colo it, as you can calculate the cost more on the (expected) lifetime/warranty and don't have to get fast ROI.

    (Sorry for the OT, but the OP asked for colocation, not for mini dedicated servers.)

    You missed the whole point, it's not worth the effort for the provider. It costs less to offer the whole solution with hardware than to try and maintain random consumer hardware, built, assembled, maintained, configured whatevs.

    Human time is expensive as frig, one single call to debug some bizarro random issue for couple of hours -> You either charge through the nose from the customer (then it makes no sense) like 200€ per hour OR you take a massive hit on productivity.

    Ofc that kind of deal is excellent for the buyer, you get free work, you get to externalize your costs.

    There are other point of views than just being the buyer, and if it's not a sustainable offer ... Well involucration

    It's clear that for the provider it's easier to profitably offer cheap dedis than to offer cheap colo. I only said that there are cases where colo has advantages. Maybe I worded it a bit bad, my first sentence "But you have the advantage that with colocation [...]" was meant as "But the customer has the advantage that with colocation [...]".

    Human time is expensive as frig, one single call to debug some bizarro random issue for couple of hours -> You either charge through the nose from the customer (then it makes no sense) like 200€ per hour OR you take a massive hit on productivity.

    I would say that with colo that's the problem of the customer and if he needs remote hands, he can pay for it?

  • PulsedMediaPulsedMedia Member, Patron Provider

    @lukast__ said:

    @PulsedMedia said:

    @lukast__ said:

    @PulsedMedia said: not worth the squeeze to colocate minipcs

    But you have the advantage that with colocation

    • you can use any hardware you want (well, nearly any)
    • you own the hardware and can simply move the whole server when there is a problem with the company/network/location
    • you can upgrade cheaply (if you have access to the server)

    And it often is cheaper as soon as your hardware costs much, but of course it's more expensive when you don't want many servers or want servers where colo would be much more expensive than renting a dedicated, and you (mostly) don't have fast access to the server, meaning a downtime because of a hardware failure can be longer. But for example when you want a minipc with many (big) HDDs, it can be cheaper to colo it, as you can calculate the cost more on the (expected) lifetime/warranty and don't have to get fast ROI.

    (Sorry for the OT, but the OP asked for colocation, not for mini dedicated servers.)

    You missed the whole point, it's not worth the effort for the provider. It costs less to offer the whole solution with hardware than to try and maintain random consumer hardware, built, assembled, maintained, configured whatevs.

    Human time is expensive as frig, one single call to debug some bizarro random issue for couple of hours -> You either charge through the nose from the customer (then it makes no sense) like 200€ per hour OR you take a massive hit on productivity.

    Ofc that kind of deal is excellent for the buyer, you get free work, you get to externalize your costs.

    There are other point of views than just being the buyer, and if it's not a sustainable offer ... Well involucration

    It's clear that for the provider it's easier to profitably offer cheap dedis than to offer cheap colo. I only said that there are cases where colo has advantages. Maybe I worded it a bit bad, my first sentence "But you have the advantage that with colocation [...]" was meant as "But the customer has the advantage that with colocation [...]".

    Human time is expensive as frig, one single call to debug some bizarro random issue for couple of hours -> You either charge through the nose from the customer (then it makes no sense) like 200€ per hour OR you take a massive hit on productivity.

    I would say that with colo that's the problem of the customer and if he needs remote hands, he can pay for it?

    Yes, for customer a lot of benefits if they can put down the capex indeed.

    You would be surprised how much bitching there is for any fees ... or even having to pay regular month to month colo fees. Someone looking for ~20€ or lower colo cost will absolutely get infuriated if you hand them 500€ remote hands invoice.

    It's just PITA all around.

    So good luck for everyone who has that patience -- We don't have that patience.

    Thanked by 1lukast__
  • lowendtalkxdaxlowendtalkxdax Member
    edited April 30

    May I ask how you manage your colocated mini-servers?
    In case something goes wrong, how do you reset or reinstall your servers?

    I am interested in colo as well, but didn’t come up with a proper solution for consumer hardware

  • JasonhyperhostJasonhyperhost Member, Patron Provider

    @remy said:
    First things first. Replace contabo with netcup. It's a win-win situation.

    I'm also looking for offers to colocate mini PCs in Europe.

    But I find that not having IMPI access is problematic.
    I read that with intel Vpro processors it was possible to have an Out of Band remote management solution.
    But I have the impression that this is no longer maintained and is somewhat deprecated.

    So I'm still looking for a viable solution.

    have you looked at the Asus IKVM Module?

    https://servers.asus.com/products/Servers/Server-Accessories/ASMB8iKVM

Sign In or Register to comment.