How we created a hosting provider with our own data center (continued)

Links to previously published materials - once and twice

Hello! Finally, there was a minute to write a continuation of our story about how we created our hosting company. I want to draw attention to the fact that the events described took place in the past and do not mean that it is now at the moment. This applies to those readers who commented that we have an unprofessional approach and they would not trust us. I agree, everything was done with our own hands, by trial and error, but I repeat, now it’s a completely different level and we will definitely reach it. As they say, learn how to live a century ... And the purpose of publications is to reveal the seemingly invisible difficulties that we encountered, plus to show how we started, having very, very modest resources and what we have achieved at present.

So, we settled on how we moved to a room of 8 sq.m.

Some growth was already felt, the number of customers was increasing. And for this we somehow at the beginning did nothing. Placed on one of the specialized sites and participated in the discussion on some forum. That's all. Information diverged due to word of mouth. Our customers shared with their friends and partners. It seems to me that a careful and responsive attitude and quick reaction to incoming calls of any nature played a big role.

From the start of the project until moving to a room of 8 sq.m. two months have passed. In this room we worked for exactly a year. Server equipment was bought, this year the financial turnover grew four times. Let me remind you that already in the first month, revenues began to prevail over expenses. During this year there were no significant interruptions in work, except with air conditioning. There was a leak of Freon, looking ahead, I will say that it was not possible to eliminate it. Very expensive installation-dismantling procedure and delivery to a service center. This fell on our shoulders and was not included in the warranty services. It was necessary to attract special equipment. Nevertheless, we repeatedly took him to the organization that sold it to us for repair, unfortunately, without success. And there was nowhere to place new ones, since these 8 squares were already stuffed with equipment. So they lived

In a good way, of course, everything is done in a completely different way, but this requires a huge budget. But I didn’t have one. Therefore, everything was done along the way. Due to the increase in sales of our services, we needed additional capacity. There was practically no space left, all racks were full, it became more and more difficult to cool.

And the power supply of the building left much to be desired, frequent blackouts, transformer substations were very old. I began to think about choosing a separate building for a larger data center. In general, in our experience over the entire period of work, most of the problems and outages were related to energy supply. In the future, we did not save already in this direction. We needed a room with a greater power for electricity, a larger area and quite remote from residential and office premises, so as not to disturb anyone when the generator starts up. Calling ads for the rental of suitable premises. Most interested in areas with facilities in factories. About two weeks I spent on selecting a place for our already larger data center. Found a room of 70 sq.m. in the territory of one of the former giant plants of the Soviet era with a capacity of 100 kW. The most interesting thing is that the rental price was only 6,000 rubles for the entire area. For comparison, I remind you that for 8 sq.m. I paid 5000 rubles. The room, of course, required specific repairs. It was located so that the entrance was from the territory of the plant, it was necessary to go through and pass through the entrance, and part of the building with windows went out of the territory. When we imported building materials and other property, it was necessary to file an application for import, which was very difficult and time-consuming. This application had to be submitted in advance, so that the signature of the security guard, who was very difficult to find at the workplace, was mandatory. When you make repairs and wander back and forth, you’ll bring one, then another, then you need to take out the garbage, for all this, applications were compiled. Having suffered so for some time, I offered the landlord an option from the window, which goes beyond the factory, to make a door and then no applications were needed. This window overlooked the closed parking of commercial vehicles for 50-60. It’s a very convenient entrance, you can bring material and equipment. It was quite comfortable to drive up a length meter. The building itself was the letter G, on the third side a high fence adjoined closely and through the passage the fourth facet was another structure. It turned out such a reliable staircase, closed on all sides, plus convenient parking. We, and probably, like everywhere else, have a problem with parking lots. But this problem is especially acute for us, since the city is very large. It was necessary to plan the room and make repairs, almost overhaul. You can bring material and equipment. It was quite comfortable to drive up a length meter. The building itself was the letter G, on the third side a high fence adjoined closely and through the passage the fourth facet was another structure. It turned out such a reliable staircase, closed on all sides, plus convenient parking. We, and probably, like everywhere else, have a problem with parking lots. But this problem is especially acute for us, since the city is very large. It was necessary to plan the room and make repairs, almost overhaul. You can bring material and equipment. It was quite comfortable to drive up a length meter. The building itself was the letter G, on the third side a high fence adjoined closely and through the passage the fourth facet was another structure. It turned out such a reliable staircase, closed on all sides, plus convenient parking. We, and probably, like everywhere else, have a problem with parking lots. But this problem is especially acute for us, since the city is very large. It was necessary to plan the room and make repairs, almost overhaul. But this problem is especially acute for us, since the city is very large. It was necessary to plan the room and make repairs, almost overhaul. But this problem is especially acute for us, since the city is very large. It was necessary to plan the room and make repairs, almost overhaul.


And again, on my own. Of course, sometimes I invited my relatives to help, one wasn’t able to do anything, for which I thank them separately. Without advice and parting words as older and more experienced builders, I would not have succeeded. About 100,000 rubles were spent on the material plus work on their own. If he hired a brigade, this number would triple. Hollowed windows, made a doorway out of a window, put fire doors.


Everything new was already bought on this site. The UPS (uninterruptible power supply) now held not for 20 minutes, like the previous one, but for an hour and a half, it cost us 550,000 rubles with the installation. The air conditioner, which I wrote above, was repaired temporarily, it was enough for a year of work in total. As a result, we bought two used conditioners from one of the most famous banks. Such new ones cost 500,000 each, and we got two for 120,000 rubles, plus we spent 100,000 on new indoor units, which were not enough and 150,000 installation. Energy consumption of 15 kW. The maximum power of each 36 kW. Six more racks were purchased, each of which housed approximately 30 vehicles. In total there were already 10 racks, in four of them 120 cars. Four racks were also made, each of which housed 20 desktop servers. Now it was necessary to purchase a second generator. In our, one of the largest cities in Russia, there was and still is an organization engaged in the assembly of diesel generator sets (diesel generator set). We did not go there, because using the search engine we found half the price, although it’s 2000 km from us, this is delivery.


I don’t remember exactly, in my opinion the whole thing cost us 840,000 rubles. By the way, I immediately clarified whether there is an instruction in Russian, since we already faced a similar problem. The diesel itself was domestic.



A generator and controller made in France.


The kit also included a container, such as "north" insulated.



Delivery was to a place that could not but rejoice, and we did the installation ourselves. Antifreeze and oil were included. I especially remembered how I drove a 20 liter diesel fuel canister to fill a 400 liter tank. We made some changes in the design, but more on that in the next publication, as well as details on the layout of the room. See you. To be continued….