How many rack units do you really need?
Count the U on each label, add the patch panel, then leave room to grow (sample note).
Room for your servers and your data
Fernhill Data (sample) runs a data centre in Springfield: rack space from one unit to a full rack, cloud storage priced per terabyte, and backup and archive on the same floor.
From $79 a month for 1U, $6 per TB for storage (example prices).
Reading the rack
- Customer server (colocation)
- Storage node (cloud storage)
- Network (patch panel, switch)
- Reserved for a customer moving in
- Free rack units
- Blanking panel or locked space
Rack B-14, hall 2 (sample)
- U42: Patch panel, two carriersNetwork
- U41: Switch, 48 ports
- U40: Blanking panel
- U38 to U39: Customer server, 2UColocation
- U37: Customer server, 1U
- U36: Customer server, 1U
- U32 to U35: Reserved, 4U, moving in Tuesday (sample)Moving in
- U28 to U31: Storage node, 4U, 60 drivesCloud storage
- U24 to U27: Storage node, 4U, 60 drives
- U22 to U23: Backup appliance, 2UBackup
- U14 to U21: Free, 8UFree: ask for it
- U8 to U13: Tape library, 6U, 80 cartridgesArchive
- U7: Blanking panel
- U6: Console and KVM, 1URemote hands
- U5: Blanking panel
- U1 to U4: Free, 4UFree: ask for it
Drawn to scale, U1 at the bottom. The orange and aqua lines on the rails are the A and B power feeds.
Rack space, drawn to one scale
Each rack below is drawn with the same rack unit height, so you see the space you pay for. Power is included up to the figure shown.
1U of 42
One rack unit for one server, in a shared rack.
0.3 kW, one power feed
$79 a month
10U of 42
10U behind its own locked door, for a small stack.
1 kW on A and B feeds
$290 a month
21U of 42
21U with its own door, for a growing setup.
2 kW on A and B feeds
$520 a month
42U of 42
The whole 42U rack, its doors and its key.
4 kW on A and B feeds, more on request
$890 a month
Example prices, before tax, on a 12-month contract. Network ports and cross-connects are priced on the quote.
Cloud storage, priced per terabyte
S3-compatible buckets on our own storage nodes in Springfield (sample). You pay for what you keep; uploads are free.
Standard
Files, media and app data you read every day. Two copies on drives in two separate halls.
$6
per TB a month
Back straight away, over S3
Cool
Older projects and logs you open a few times a year. Kept for at least 30 days.
$3.50
per TB a month
Back straight away; reads cost $10 per TB
Archive on tape
Records you must keep for years. Two tapes, one in a fire safe off site.
$1.20
per TB a month
Back within 12 hours of asking
Example prices, before tax. Downloads are free up to the amount you store each month.
Backup and archive
Three copies of what matters, on two kinds of media, one of them away from the building. We run the jobs and check them.
Nightly backup
Your servers in our racks or your office, copied to the backup appliance every night.
Second copy
Replicated to storage nodes in the other hall within the hour.
Archive
Written to tape each Friday; one set leaves the site for a fire safe (sample).
Restore tests
One file restore tested every month and reported to you in writing.
The data centre floor
1.2 MW of power over two halls and 340 racks, in a former print works on Quarry Lane, Springfield (sample).
Power
Two utility feeds, A and B, through separate UPS rooms; two standby generators with fuel for 48 hours (sample).
Cooling
Cold aisles closed in with doors and a roof; inlet air kept at 18 to 27 °C (sample).
Network
Two carriers in separate ducts; a meet-me room for cross-connects (sample).
Access
Card and PIN at three doors, cameras on every aisle, guards on site day and night (sample).
Fire
Smoke detection under the floor and in the ceiling, gas suppression in each hall (sample).
Moving in
Most moves take two weeks from the signed quote to your servers answering on our network (sample).
1
Quote and rack plan
You tell us the equipment and power; we send a quote and a rack elevation with your units marked.
2
Units reserved
Your units are held for you, hatched on the rack plan, from the day you sign.
3
Delivery to the loading bay
Ship it or bring it in a van; we sign for it and keep it in a locked cage.
4
Rack and stack
Our engineers fit it to the plan, or you do it yourself on a booked visit.
5
Live
Power on A and B, network patched, and a photo of your rack sent to you.
Questions before you move in
How much power do I need?
Add up the power figures on your servers’ labels and take about 60% of it for normal running. A typical 1U server uses 0.15 to 0.3 kW; we measure your rack for the first month and tell you.
Can I get to my servers at night?
Yes. Customers with a quarter rack or more get a card and PIN for day and night access. 1U customers book a visit, or ask remote hands.
Is the cloud storage S3-compatible?
Yes. Use the S3 tools and backup software you already have; point them at our endpoint with the keys from your account.
Where is my data kept?
Only in our two halls in Springfield, unless you ask for tape copies off site. We never move it to another company’s cloud (sample).
What if a drive fails in a storage node?
Each object is kept in two halls, and every node rebuilds a failed drive from the other copies. You do not notice; we swap the drive.
Notes from the operations desk
Three copies, two kinds of media, one off site
The old backup rule still works. What it means for a small company in practice (sample note).
What a cross-connect is, and when you need one
A cable from your rack to a carrier, a cloud or another customer, inside the building (sample note).
Come and walk the floor
Visits take about 45 minutes: the cold aisles, the power room and the rack you would use. Bring photo ID; we sign you in at the gate (sample).