Re: [cobalt-users] Need advice on Colocating or Self Location

["E.B. Dreger" <eddy+public+spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 10:14:21 -0800
> From: Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

(snipping and elaborating throughout)


> You need everything you need to make the dedicated line work.  It should
> NOT be a DSL line; when they go down (and they do that often) they don't

And ADSL, the most common flavor, is often no faster than ISDN
outbound.


> get repaired quickly enough, as the telco's involved don't consider them
> to be mission-critical solutions.  So you'll need either frame-relay or
> T-1 to your office.

Even getting T1s repaired can take awhile.  Unless you have a
lovely LEC, multihoming is prudent.


> You'll need at the minimum a good UPS, set up through software to be
> able to shut down the Raq if the battery gets too low before the power
> goes back on.

Of course, anyone who mounts an ext2 fs async is just begging for
trouble, anyway.


> You'll need air-conditioning to ambient temperature 24/7 of about 70
> degrees F.  Don't foget backup power for the airconditioning if the
> power might go off during warmer days.

I prefer 65 grad Fahrenheit.  Humidity control is also a good
idea, although nowhere near as critical as temperature.


> You'll need a good consultant who understands routing issues, as
> otherwise you won't get any respect with the line-provider's helpdesk
> when the line goes down.  Because eventually it will.

*whistles innocently*

Even then, clueless upstreams sometimes require a little beating
up on -- not to mention LECs.

Consider the odd cases, too... one of our upstream's downstreams
was spewing some bad BGP that could have caused problems.  Said
upstream had the proper route filters in place, but it turned out
that their router vendor's code had some odd bugs.

Although more of an issue when doing things in-house, I'd say
it's important to know a consultant or two that groks routing and
network infrastructure _no matter what_.  But then, I am biased.
*grin*


> You'll also need to put the RaQ in a room where no one will ever get
> close to the power switch, or the power cord.  Or any of the buttons.
> 
> And you still won't be able to advertise the benefits of good
> colocation: security, redundant OC-3 lines, 5 to 10 megabit per second
> peak speeds, 24/7 on-site line monitoring, bgp routing, etc.

One won't notice any speed improvement between DS3 and above.  In
fact, rarely is there much speed difference between DS1 and DS3.
Latency and IP stack play a much larger role than most people
realize.

An OC3 provides more _capacity_, not more speed.  And, when one
has 10 Mbps bandwidth, one does not have even single-DS3
capacity.  Furthermore, modern DDoS attacks frequently peak at
500+ Mbps -- OC3s don't provide much extra survivability over
smaller links in these situations.

A good colo also separates its customers via VLANs to eliminate
sniffing, and runs anti-spoofing on each virtual interface.  All
it takes is one cracked machine (not all colo "rackmates" run
secure machines) with a sniffer to play some serious hell with a
network.

Recall also the poster who inadvertently bound his/her colo
provider's DNS server IP addresses and brought everything down.
Another classic case of a clueless colo that didn't understand
how to segment their network.

Run a sniffer such as tcpdump to check up on _your_ colo.  If you
see traffic that is neither from nor to your machines, it's time
for a little network fixing. :-)  [Yes, that's a shameless plug.
Send comments, flames, dead fish, or money as you please.]


> Call or write me for other advantages of colocation and perhaps
> even a quote <smile>.

I'd say it really depends on what scale you want to play.  Small
scale, colo is often better.  Large scale, go it on your own.

Another thing to consider:  There are many competent, yet
unemployed, network gurus looking for jobs.  (No, I am not one of
the unlucky unemployed.)  You might be able to strike some
balance between hourly, retainer, salary, et cetera, and get
excellent service -- without hiring full-time people.


--
Eddy

Brotsman & Dreger, Inc. - EverQuick Internet Division
Phone: +1 (316) 794-8922 Wichita/(Inter)national
Phone: +1 (785) 865-5885 Lawrence

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Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 11:23:58 +0000 (GMT)
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