# OpticServers LTD goes live with owned Datacenter! Uk Based



## OpticServers (Dec 5, 2014)

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up we are here! for the last 6 or so months we have been planning and building a datacenter based in United Kingdom, London and we have just opened, we have enough space to put up to 10 - 15 full sized 42u racks in our datacenter (It is not a lot but more then enough since we do not be huge just focus on the quality of the overall experience) we are currently Peering with Virgin Media using 2 x 1Gbps Uplinks (Dedicated) to our Premise they are on larger bearers so we can upgrade as soon as we need to. we currently only sell Virtual Private Servers openly but we are more then happy to sell Dedicated Servers or even Colocation in OpticServers. once we grow we will openly sell both these services on our website. if you guys have any questions or just want to say hey then i am more then happy to answer any questions.

Just some of bigger features we have at OpticServers:

Our Connections? : 2 x 1Gbps Direct Fibre Optic Connections (Dedicated)

Our Room Size? : 270 Square Feet

Our Average Rack Capacity: 10 - 15 full sized 42u racks

Do we Provide DDoS Mitigation? : Yes! we offer 40Gbps DDoS Mitigation on all of our IP's as a standard (We have Arbor Hardware at our Providers end that Filters any traffic before it reach's our edge)

Thanks and Regards,

Joe C & Toby B.


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## Kayaba Akihiko (Dec 6, 2014)

Mtwiscool style "for immediate release"


On topic would be great if you could post a few pictures.


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Oh Sorry! i totally forgot about Pictures...

http://trooce.pw/i/images/png/kq2xW.png

http://trooce.pw/i/images/png/Uq0rr.png

http://trooce.pw/i/images/png/RmCl6.png


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## HalfEatenPie (Dec 6, 2014)

Haha well that really is just a room!  

Best of luck in your own room and hopefully you guys could grow into a full blown facility!


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Well Yes its a Room but then again Datacenters are just big rooms? we are just on a lot smaller scale due to this is from our own pocket however we do have enough to run this so we are not going anywhere.. and this room was built just for this 4 months ago it was not there xD and we have ventilation will high powered fans and filtration system to filter the air coming into the room we have a fingerprint biometric door lock + fire door we have IP CCTV and Dedicated Internet Connections so it has most if not all of the things a normal Datacenter has just on a smaller scale!


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## Wintereise (Dec 6, 2014)

As someone generally involved with service provider networking, I would recommend that you not disclose upstream capacity publicly.

Upstream filtering is usually dubious at best, and someone determined enough usually has no problem getting around it to flood you offline.


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## HalfEatenPie (Dec 6, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Oh Sorry! i totally forgot about Pictures...
> 
> http://trooce.pw/i/images/png/kq2xW.png
> 
> ...


Did you take a screenshot within a photo?

Or do you actually do have those magnifying glasses in your room?


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

LOL no i took them with my phone then sent them to myself though email then just took a screenshot using sharex  if anyone wants any information about OpticServers LTD just PM me or contact us though our Skype or Emails!


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## AshleyUK (Dec 6, 2014)

Well done on doing it all yourself, however is that a NetGear switch as your "core" switch?

If so just be ready to upgrade it in the future, once you start adding more servers/racks!


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## RTGHM (Dec 6, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Oh Sorry! i totally forgot about Pictures...
> 
> http://trooce.pw/i/images/png/kq2xW.png
> 
> ...


So you rented a basement and then put a uplink in it....

I have a shovenose feeling...


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## jhadley (Dec 6, 2014)

I'm sure this is an exciting milestone for you, however:

Where is the HVAC, backup power supply etc.?

Also, Netgear switches and 2Gbps total connectivity?


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## Ishaq (Dec 6, 2014)

jhadley said:


> I'm sure this is an exciting milestone for you, however:
> 
> Where is the HVAC, backup power supply etc.?
> 
> Also, Netgear switches and 2Gbps total connectivity?


He mentioned in the sales thread they have their own UPS backup system.

And regarding HVAC/connectivity (combined quote):



OpticServers said:


> We have ventilation will high powered fans and filtration system to filter the air coming into the room we have a fingerprint biometric door lock + fire door we have IP CCTV and Dedicated Internet Connections so it has most if not all of the things a normal Datacenter has just on a smaller scale!
> 
> We are currently Peering with Virgin Media using 2 x 1Gbps Uplinks (Dedicated) to our Premise they are on larger bearers so we can upgrade as soon as we need to.


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## Ishaq (Dec 6, 2014)

Joe/Toby, it looks like a great startup.

Since you peer with VM do you mind PMing me a test IP? I'd like to see the latency since I'm on VM myself.


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## splitice (Dec 6, 2014)

Well I approve, regardless of size a new venture is a new venture and should be given appropriate consideration. There is no need to be negative guys (constructive criticism is much nicer), we all need to start somewhere. Starting a Datacenter involves significant capital, so well done.

Constructive Criticism though - definitely get a good core switch when you can justify it - that's a 100% outage to replace, no one likes that. Secondly, I hope you have configure appropriate traffic control measures to keep fair use on a 2gbps peak line, while do-able (and not entirely unexpected given the pricing) its certainly a weak point that needs to be appropriately considered. I would advertise it as a pro either as to many people 2gbps is a liability (saturation, ddos, etc).

Anyway, Best of Luck. Long way to go but if you work hard you may make it.


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## MannDude (Dec 6, 2014)

Not the fanciest looking setup in the world, but hey, you've gotta start somewhere!


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Alright i am going to clear a couple things up!



RTGHM said:


> So you rented a basement and then put a uplink in it....
> 
> I have a shovenose feeling...


No... This was a room built just for this, we got contractors in to build this room just for OpticServers it has soundproofing in the walls and we have extraction and air filtration system in place + a Dedicated 100 AMP Curcuit


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## notFound (Dec 6, 2014)

Interesting, curious where exactly in London you're located and a test IP. Drop me a PM.


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Wintereise said:


> As someone generally involved with service provider networking, I would recommend that you not disclose upstream capacity publicly.
> 
> Upstream filtering is usually dubious at best, and someone determined enough usually has no problem getting around it to flood you offline.


Our upstream Filtering is a Dedicated Arbor System that can filter up to 60Gbps.



AshleyUK said:


> Well done on doing it all yourself, however is that a NetGear switch as your "core" switch?
> 
> If so just be ready to upgrade it in the future, once you start adding more servers/racks!


Thank you AshleyUK, And Yes however it is one of the higher end NetGear Switch's but yes of course we will never allow any of our gear to become saturated or not be able to perform at its best so as soon as we start to get hardware bottle necking other hardware / networking gear we will change it out for better hardware.



jhadley said:


> I'm sure this is an exciting milestone for you, however:
> 
> Where is the HVAC, backup power supply etc.?
> 
> Also, Netgear switches and 2Gbps total connectivity?


We have high power extraction and air filtration on air coming into the room, We have a backup generator + we have 4 x 1200W UPS's and our Netgear switch is just to start off but it is one of the higher end Netgear Switch's and it has more then enough capacity for our current network and 2Gbps is more then enough for our current client base we are on MUCH larger fibre bearers so we can upgrade from 2Gbps to 10Gbps with in 10 Minutes.



Ishaq said:


> Joe/Toby, it looks like a great startup.
> 
> Since you peer with VM do you mind PMing me a test IP? I'd like to see the latency since I'm on VM myself.


IP Sent.



splitice said:


> Well I approve, regardless of size a new venture is a new venture and should be given appropriate consideration. There is no need to be negative guys (constructive criticism is much nicer), we all need to start somewhere. Starting a Datacenter involves significant capital, so well done.
> 
> Constructive Criticism though - definitely get a good core switch when you can justify it - that's a 100% outage to replace, no one likes that. Secondly, I hope you have configure appropriate traffic control measures to keep fair use on a 2gbps peak line, while do-able (and not entirely unexpected given the pricing) its certainly a weak point that needs to be appropriately considered. I would advertise it as a pro either as to many people 2gbps is a liability (saturation, ddos, etc).
> 
> Anyway, Best of Luck. Long way to go but if you work hard you may make it.


Thank you very much, i appreciate constructive criticism.. we are limiting Dedicated Ports (1Gbps) and VPS Ports (100Mbps) Yes but as i said to other guys is that we are on MUCH larger bearers so we can go from 2Gbps to 10Gbps with in 10 minutes. and yes once we start to sell our current switch reach its limit we will be purchasing a new switch that will last us



MannDude said:


> Not the fanciest looking setup in the world, but hey, you've gotta start somewhere!


Yes we do have to start somewhere  thank you.

Again if anyone has any questions at all just email me or add me on skype i will be more then glad to answer!


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

notFound said:


> Interesting, curious where exactly in London you're located and a test IP. Drop me a PM.


Sent Test IP


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## drmike (Dec 6, 2014)

Glad to see this went over better than usual 

Small starting DC / server rooms indeed have to start somewhere.

I for one rather enjoy builds like this / wish to see more of them.

The McMega datacenter thing folks get their rocks off about here and on other hosting sites is just blah.   It's tired and it's for big business.  Nice that some hosts have widdled down the cost to even be in some of those places, but they aren't the solution to the world's problems - just makes in theory things an easier sale to customers. Plenty of those DC's after you peel back the veneer aren't really that great.  Sure they might have a big gen set and some racks with batteries... Sure they might have whatever for air handling...  But stuff is the same / does the same / can be done at smaller scale and do so just fine in a boutique model.


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

drmike said:


> Glad to see this went over better than usual
> 
> Small starting DC / server rooms indeed have to start somewhere.
> 
> ...


Thanks and yea it was not that cheap when it is coming from our own pockets no investors  but we are not so much in it for the big business and that is really true, for now we just want focus on offering a extremely good service for the lowest possible price we can afford. 

Just a Heads up! we do not officially sell Dedicated Servers or Colocation YET but if you are wanting these Services then please contact us though Email or Skype and we can arrange something.


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## DomainBop (Dec 6, 2014)

> Our Connections? : 2 x 1Gbps Direct Fibre Optic Connections (Dedicated)





> ..and 2Gbps total connectivity?


FirstHeberg's DC in France also had a capacity of  2 x 1Gbps from the time they opened it in 2012 until they upgraded to 2 x 10Gbps this August.



> we are limiting Dedicated Ports (1Gbps) and VPS Ports (100Mbps)


You could limit it some more (or lower the guaranteed bandwidth)  and still sell servers.  When FirstHeberg had the 2 x1Gbps setup they offered 100 Mbps ports with a 10 Mbps guarantee on their cheaper dedicateds and 1Gbps port/100Mbps guarantee on the more expensive ones.


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

DomainBop said:


> FirstHeberg's DC in France also had a capacity of  2 x 1Gbps from the time they opened it in 2012 until they upgraded to 2 x 10Gbps this August.
> 
> You could limit it some more (or lower the guaranteed bandwidth)  and still sell servers.  When FirstHeberg had the 2 x1Gbps setup they offered 100 Mbps ports with a 10 Mbps guarantee on their cheaper dedicateds.and 1Gbps port/100 Mbps guarantee on the more expensive ones.


Thanks for that, right now our network has more then enough capacity why we will have quite a lot of traffic going though it. if we need to do some more limits we may we will probably just end up upgrading our uplinks once we get even slightly saturated


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## Steven F (Dec 6, 2014)

What Arbor hardware are you using?

Also, another thing is even if you can filter 60 Gbps, what does it matter if your uplink is 2 Gbps?


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Steven F said:


> What Arbor hardware are you using?
> 
> Also, another thing is even if you can filter 60 Gbps, what does it matter if your uplink is 2 Gbps?


As i have mentioned before our upstream provider utilizes the Arbor Hardware and they filter the DDoS Attack before it even reach's our edge and i do not understand about the 2Gbps Uplink Question?


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Currently working on getting a automatic rDNS System working for OpticServers VPS Control Panel and also natively allowing IPv6!


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## Steven F (Dec 6, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> As i have mentioned before our upstream provider utilizes the Arbor Hardware and they filter the DDoS Attack before it even reach's our edge and i do not understand about the 2Gbps Uplink Question?


I misunderstood. I thought you had a 60 Gbps filter for 2 Gbps of bandwidth.


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## OpticServers (Dec 6, 2014)

Ah! No we have 2 x 1 Gbps Direct Fibre Connections and we have 40Gbps Dedicated Arbor Hardware before our edge with a 60Gbps Burst if it has the network capacity at that moment in time.


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## budi1413 (Dec 7, 2014)

Good luck on your adventure.


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## MartinD (Dec 7, 2014)

I'd change that switch before you start piling on the clients - as others have said, you don't want a full on network outage (100%) later on when you've grown too big for it just because you have to replace the core switch.

I know you've said that it's fine for now, but when "for now" runs out, you'll get the aforementioned 100% outage and your customers wont thank you for it regardless of how quick the replacement is and, anyone will tell you here, that it wont be a 30 second job. Something *always* goes wrong.


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## OpticServers (Dec 7, 2014)

MartinD said:


> I'd change that switch before you start piling on the clients - as others have said, you don't want a full on network outage (100%) later on when you've grown too big for it just because you have to replace the core switch.
> 
> 
> I know you've said that it's fine for now, but when "for now" runs out, you'll get the aforementioned 100% outage and your customers wont thank you for it regardless of how quick the replacement is and, anyone will tell you here, that it wont be a 30 second job. Something *always* goes wrong.


Yes i know we currently only have 2 servers under it and they are both limited to 1Gbps and each VPS is limited to 100Mbps this is a 1 Gbps Port and it is actually one of the higher end netgear models we will change it to a very high end router as soon as we can justify it for now it is under no load at all and handling the traffic very well but yes i fully understand that we do eventually need to change our core switch.


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## AshleyUK (Dec 7, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Yes i know we currently only have 2 servers under it and they are both limited to 1Gbps and each VPS is limited to 100Mbps this is a 1 Gbps Port and it is actually one of the higher end netgear models we will change it to a very high end router as soon as we can justify it for now it is under no load at all and handling the traffic very well but yes i fully understand that we do eventually need to change our core switch.


We understand it is fine now, what I and others are trying to get at, it is a large task which requires a fair bit of downtime (possibly more if does not go as intended) to replace a core switch which is not in a redundant setup, so better to do ASAP to minimise the amount of client's your be effecting doing a rather large change.

Edit: also going by the model number in the photo attached, I would not call it higher end switch, with a current purchase price of £99 from PCWorld, again we are just trying to advise you to minimise further issues in the future.


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## OpticServers (Dec 7, 2014)

AshleyUK said:


> We understand it is fine now, what I and others are trying to get at, it is a large task which requires a fair bit of downtime (possibly more if does not go as intended) to replace a core switch which is not in a redundant setup, so better to do ASAP to minimise the amount of client's your be effecting doing a rather large change.
> 
> Edit: also going by the model number in the photo attached, I would not call it higher end switch, with a current purchase price of £99 from PCWorld, again we are just trying to advise you to minimise further issues in the future.


Yes i fully understand and i was not saying the price is high end we actually got it for a little more then that but the specifications for our Uplinks and current Traffic is fine but when i mean we can justify it i mean with in a week or so since we are growing at quite a stable pace, and it should not take more then 30 seconds to switch out the Switch of course cable management and such but the actual just moving out ethernet cables should not take more then 30 - 60 seconds but yes i do fully understand what you are saying.


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## OpticServers (Dec 8, 2014)

Fixed some back end issues with Extra IP Assignment and Made a lot of the backend code a lot more efficient. Currently working on Snapshot System  then we will be working on natively allowing IPv6 on VPS's!


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## QuadraNet_Adam (Dec 8, 2014)

Why not just rent a private cage or suite from an actual datacenter instead?

Is this just office space that you're using, what is the address/name of the building?


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## OpticServers (Dec 8, 2014)

QuadraNet_Adam said:


> Why not just rent a private cage or suite from an actual datacenter instead?
> 
> 
> Is this just office space that you're using, what is the address/name of the building?


Because this is what everyone else does. we have the privileged access to a 2000 square feet building and we decided we should build a room and we can make our own datacenter.. why not? this way we can manage everything ourselves.

And all Contact and Support Information is on our website: https://opticservers.com/support/


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## trewq (Dec 9, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Because this is what everyone else does. we have the privileged access to a 2000 square feet building and we decided we should build a room and we can make our own datacenter.. why not? this way we can manage everything ourselves.
> 
> 
> And all Contact and Support Information is on our website: https://opticservers.com/support/


While I enjoy your optimism and very much hope you succeed with this venture, there's a reason everyone else rents space in a purpose built datacenter.


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## OpticServers (Dec 9, 2014)

trewq said:


> While I enjoy your optimism and very much hope you succeed with this venture, there's a reason everyone else rents space in a purpose built datacenter.


Yup.. and i totally understand there reasoning but for us we have direct access to this building and in the long run it worked out better for us in terms of price, quality of service and management of our service. and its a lot of fun


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## MartinD (Dec 9, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Yup.. and i totally understand there reasoning but for us we have direct access to this building and in the long run it worked out better for us in terms of price, quality of service and management of our service. and its a lot of fun


See, I genuinely don't think you do. Looking at the kit you have already in your single rack, none of that constitutes anything near being worthy of 'DC' status or even capable. If you're saying it works out better for you in terms of price then I can't see how you hope to expand to any degree when you're starting off with poor kit that 'fits' your 'price'. I see no large power feeds or commando sockets (which is the norm). No proper HVAC, just some fans and sound proofing.

I don't think you fully understand the concept of a 'datacenter' or indeed what's actually involved in setting one up and running it. The whole "we'll upgrade when it's needed" line is seriously cringe worthy.

I get the fact you're excited about doing this and the fact you have the premises is great. Passion is good when it comes to new ventures but ignorance isn't bliss. If you're not going to do it properly from the outset then you're only creating more work for yourselves in the long run and setting yourselves up for a very steep fall as well as letting any customers you somehow get down quite badly. I don't want to cause too much offence here but I genuinely believe you don't know what you're doing here.


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## mprice (Dec 9, 2014)

Nice site and panel, is that Virtkick?


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## iWF-Jacob (Dec 9, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Yes i know we currently only have 2 servers under it and they are both limited to 1Gbps and each VPS is limited to 100Mbps this is a 1 Gbps Port and it is actually one of the higher end netgear models we will change it to a very high end router as soon as we can justify it for now it is under no load at all and handling the traffic very well but yes i fully understand that we do eventually need to change our core switch.


Seriously though, I'm all for you starting this and I think that's great but using that Netgear gs724t is not starting out on the right foot. In my other job in our "datacenter" which really is NOT a datacenter, just a room with a keypad, two UPS sets, two gen sets, and servers/networking equipment has a better core infrastructure then that, here's our 4500-X stack during a maintenance (hence not everything is plugged in).


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## OpticServers (Dec 9, 2014)

MartinD said:


> See, I genuinely don't think you do. Looking at the kit you have already in your single rack, none of that constitutes anything near being worthy of 'DC' status or even capable. If you're saying it works out better for you in terms of price then I can't see how you hope to expand to any degree when you're starting off with poor kit that 'fits' your 'price'. I see no large power feeds or commando sockets (which is the norm). No proper HVAC, just some fans and sound proofing.
> 
> 
> I don't think you fully understand the concept of a 'datacenter' or indeed what's actually involved in setting one up and running it. The whole "we'll upgrade when it's needed" line is seriously cringe worthy.
> ...


Hey MartinD,

As i have said many times before we are starting this from our own pockets. so clearly we are not going to buy 15 full sized racks just because we want to make it look more like a datacenter and as i said before our networking gear is currently handling our network load fine once we need to upgrade hardware of course we will but we need to be able to justify putting a large amount of money on a switch or other networking gear. and the price part of it i did not mean just pricing of course this is not a cheaper option but in the long long in terms of comparing price to quality and control this was a much better option. and about the commando sockets, they are just 3 phase sockets.. what kind of server do you use that runs 3 phase ? we have a dedicated 100 AMP Single phase curcuit in our room and that is MORE then enough to supply 2+ full racks depending on how we share the load and there can be another 4 100 AMP Curcuits run into the room when we need them. and yes we do not have a "proper" HVAC but we have 2 intakes into the room that have large filters in between the walls of the intake vents that filters the air very well and then we have 2 top high powered fans that can do up to 10 full air changes an hour. and also the last part about setting up and making more work for our selfs? once we grow to a big enough client base we will be moving to our own warehouse and getting actual air conditioning units and doing it "proper" but for what we are doing right now we have more then enough capacity.



mprice said:


> Nice site and panel, is that Virtkick?


No its fully custom coded 



iWF-Jacob said:


> Seriously though, I'm all for you starting this and I think that's great but using that Netgear gs724t is not starting out on the right foot. In my other job in our "datacenter" which really is NOT a datacenter, just a room with a keypad, two UPS sets, two gen sets, and servers/networking equipment has a better core infrastructure then that, here's our 4500-X stack during a maintenance (hence not everything is plugged in).


as i have said many times before this is just to start up with a couple of our servers once we grow were the switch is even getting close to 80% of its capacity we will change it over to a much larger capacity switch. but i do understand your point fully.


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## MartinD (Dec 10, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> Hey MartinD,
> 
> As i have said many times before we are starting this from our own pockets. so clearly we are not going to buy 15 full sized racks just because we want to make it look more like a datacenter and as i said before our networking gear is currently handling our network load fine once we need to upgrade hardware of course we will but we need to be able to justify putting a large amount of money on a switch or other networking gear.


I'll go back to the bit where I mentioned you not understanding or knowing what you're doing here. You cannot say "it's fine for now and we'll upgrade it later if needs be" when you're talking about your CORE NETWORK SWITCH. If it was some crap OOB switch or similar then sure, I can get with that but when you're talking about CORE NETWORK COMPONENTS you cannot be so blase. You will need to schedule a 100% outage for this - why is this so difficult to understand and why do you feel that it's acceptable to have a 100% outage just because you can't be bothered doing it properly from the outset? A few extra hundred quid and you'd have something a LOT more capable in place there that would last you a LOT longer than the desktop PoS you have just now.

It's also worth noting that when people search for OpticServers in future when deciding if you're suitable for their needs, threads like this will pop up.. and they will see that you thought a cheap-ass switch was perfectly fine as a CORE DC SWITCH because you paid for it "out of our own pockets" and that you can "upgrade when you need to" and you're perfectly happy for your lack of understanding to result in 100% outages for all your customers.

Edit: Also, just to add. A lot of us have passed similar comments about the switch. We can't all be wrong here. We are trying to give you the best advice and help you resolve a big problem before you get too deep. We've been there before, it's the collective voice of experience. I would urge you to listen and take action instead of throwing excuses out. We know what we're talking about - allow us to HELP you!


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## splitice (Dec 10, 2014)

@iWF-Jacob That image doesnt load here, I was curious to see that.

One thing I missed when I was making my post, be careful about advertising DDoS protection as one of your key features. You will for sure attract those who get regular attacks, regular attacks that will likely cause instability due to either slow mitigation activation (network level filters in industry are often 30-90s for activation) or attacks that miss the filters and saturate a 2Gbps pipe. Sure its good to have, just be careful is what I am saying. I for one hope you continue to work on this area, you could be pretty viable when you reach a more realistic scale... and replace that core switch... I think everyone agrees regarding the core switch.

All in all I remain positive, just be careful.


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## OpticServers (Dec 10, 2014)

MartinD said:


> I'll go back to the bit where I mentioned you not understanding or knowing what you're doing here. You cannot say "it's fine for now and we'll upgrade it later if needs be" when you're talking about your CORE NETWORK SWITCH. If it was some crap OOB switch or similar then sure, I can get with that but when you're talking about CORE NETWORK COMPONENTS you cannot be so blase. You will need to schedule a 100% outage for this - why is this so difficult to understand and why do you feel that it's acceptable to have a 100% outage just because you can't be bothered doing it properly from the outset? A few extra hundred quid and you'd have something a LOT more capable in place there that would last you a LOT longer than the desktop PoS you have just now.
> 
> 
> It's also worth noting that when people search for OpticServers in future when deciding if you're suitable for their needs, threads like this will pop up.. and they will see that you thought a cheap-ass switch was perfectly fine as a CORE DC SWITCH because you paid for it "out of our own pockets" and that you can "upgrade when you need to" and you're perfectly happy for your lack of understanding to result in 100% outages for all your customers.
> ...


i never said it was not an issue to have a switch like this for a whole network on maybe 1 full rack or even two full racks but when i mean justify getting a better switch i mean as in once we get a nice amount of orders and we currently are meeting our targets we will start to upgrade hardware as ALL datacenters do datacenters constantly are switching our switch's and some even switch out core switch's yes we will have to schedule and alert everyone about the downtime but it will be around 30 - 60 seconds of outage of the network but again as i said before i do totally understand were you are coming from but for now this is capable for our network and will be for at least another couple of dedicated servers. and i clearly know what i am doing or i would not have gotten this way surely?



splitice said:


> @iWF-Jacob That image doesnt load here, I was curious to see that.
> 
> 
> One thing I missed when I was making my post, be careful about advertising DDoS protection as one of your key features. You will for sure attract those who get regular attacks, regular attacks that will likely cause instability due to either slow mitigation activation (network level filters in industry are often 30-90s for activation) or attacks that miss the filters and saturate a 2Gbps pipe. Sure its good to have, just be careful is what I am saying. I for one hope you continue to work on this area, you could be pretty viable when you reach a more realistic scale... and replace that core switch... I think everyone agrees regarding the core switch.
> ...


Thank you for your advice and yea i understand but we have done some testing and there edge is actually constantly monitoring the network and normally starts to filter attacks with in 10 - 15 seconds longest we have seen is around 45 seconds and actually its good you brought this up because in around an hour or two we are going down to the datacenter to rack a dedicated server and i will be setting it up as a perimeter firewall  to filter some of the more complex based attacks that some times get past the upstream's edge filtering system and auto a auto nullroute system so if a IP is going over a certain limit we will set and it is causing packet loss for other IP's it will get nullrouted temporarily and then every minute check if the attack has subsided and if not it will be re nullrouted so no other clients are effected by other clients IP's being flooded that exceeds our Limits


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## iWF-Jacob (Dec 10, 2014)

splitice said:


> @iWF-Jacob That image doesnt load here, I was curious to see that.


Strange, here you go: http://i.imgur.com/TP4daWx.jpg


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## Kenshin (Dec 10, 2014)

OpticServers said:


> and i clearly know what i am doing or i would not have gotten this way surely?


If you really know what you're doing, you would have avoided showing off your datacentre or network uplinks as your advantages here, they aren't.

With the kind of setup you have, your target audience should be local small businesses that don't need high bandwidth but need either near physical access to the servers or managed support which you can provide since the facility is in-house for you. 2x 1G backbone isn't exactly huge to most people here who are used to having servers from OVH, Online, Leaseweb with Nx10G backbones. 2x 1G can be easily flooded with legit traffic and your "core switch" isn't going to be able to help you properly manage the bandwidth.

I stress, setting up your own datacentre and all is a good thing, there's definitely potential there, but the way you're trying to market yourself here is just making yourself a huge target for criticism. Even companies like Colocrossing were taken to task when photos of their network infrastructure was leaked. There are quite a number of people here who are network/server veterans who've worked on enterprise/carrier networks, you're not going to impress them with a setup like this.

And for the record, I was managing 10 racks in Singapore on just 300M capacity just 2 years ago spread across multiple datacentres (the agony), so I fully understand how proud you are of your network and having your own datacentre, but again, target audience vs marketing techniques.


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## OpticServers (Dec 10, 2014)

Kenshin said:


> If you really know what you're doing, you would have avoided showing off your datacentre or network uplinks as your advantages here, they aren't.
> 
> With the kind of setup you have, your target audience should be local small businesses that don't need high bandwidth but need either near physical access to the servers or managed support which you can provide since the facility is in-house for you. 2x 1G backbone isn't exactly huge to most people here who are used to having servers from OVH, Online, Leaseweb with Nx10G backbones. 2x 1G can be easily flooded with legit traffic and your "core switch" isn't going to be able to help you properly manage the bandwidth.
> 
> ...


Thank you for that.. i am defiantly taking on your advice. and the pictures and bandwidth capacity was not so much showing off more just showing people what we have and our 2 x 1Gbps Uplinks have 10Gbps Bearers so we can upgrade as soon as we need to.


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## gordonrp (Dec 15, 2014)

Gotta start somewhere. Good luck.


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## gordonrp (Dec 15, 2014)

Also, is the building your dad's or something? If so, you're lucky to have your own facility. It will remove a ton of the BS that you may have to deal with regarding large corporate colos (scheduling power installs, arguing over cab to cab crossconnect rates, etc). 

I foresee a couple of issues with your plan;


you will always be tied to virginmedia or whomever for IP transport (when you want to mix in other IP transit providers). Transporting SUCKS because it really adds to your costs, vs being in a well connected DC.
No generator or UPS backup it seems
Dont fret, focus on selling based on CUSTOMER SERVICE, grow your business, and then upgrade the infra as cash flow allows. I agree with those above that your "core" sucks, but you should see if you can get any customers first. I would focus on small biz/webdesign type customers, or hosted email, etc, the low bandwidth type of clients, or local clients that you can sell to based on a handshake and a smile.

Good luck


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## OpticServers (Dec 16, 2014)

gordonrp said:


> Also, is the building your dad's or something? If so, you're lucky to have your own facility. It will remove a ton of the BS that you may have to deal with regarding large corporate colos (scheduling power installs, arguing over cab to cab crossconnect rates, etc).
> 
> I foresee a couple of issues with your plan;
> 
> ...


We do not own the building however Toby has a 8 year lease on this building so yes it is basically ours for the foreseeable future, We do have a UPS Backup system hooked into our main 300 AMP Curcuit on the building we will get some smaller backup UPS's for the room for extra backup time but we should get at least 4 - 6 hours of back up time under a full rack load depending on servers load's and other variables. and yes our core is not the best and can certainly be upgraded a lot and we defiantly will.. we are currently putting a edge filtering IDS System in play so we can filter some of the more complex Attacks that Virgin's Edge does not catch, but thank you for your advice and opinion i totally understand.

EDIT: we are also currently working out a long term deal with a hardware seller to get bulk hardware for selling Dedicated Servers and we are also working on offering Colocation!


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## HalfEatenPie (Dec 16, 2014)

gordonrp said:


> Also, is the building your dad's or something? If so, you're lucky to have your own facility. It will remove a ton of the BS that you may have to deal with regarding large corporate colos (scheduling power installs, arguing over cab to cab crossconnect rates, etc).
> 
> I foresee a couple of issues with your plan;
> 
> ...


I love this.

So spot on.


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## RTGHM (Jan 5, 2015)

I was doing some digging, and you're a spawn of a hackforums host.

Sorry, but ads on hackforums lose my trust pretty quickly.

Just my two cents.


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## DomainBop (Jan 5, 2015)

RTGHM said:


> I was doing some digging, and you're a spawn of a hackforums host.
> 
> Sorry, but ads on hackforums lose my trust pretty quickly.
> 
> Just my two cents.


Does this mean you don't want a copy of Cheesebus 's "How to Infect Your Neighbor" ebook?

cheesebus:

(November 2012): _"This ebook will learn you how to infect your neighbors around you"_  <--offering an ebook

(October 2012) _"I weared this signature for 1 week now and i made more then 50 posts I would like to get my free boot time please "_ <--responding to an offer for 2 free hours use of TruBoot booter

(April 2014) _"Right now the best thing is to get your own Linux bots to attack. Booters on HF are barely 1 Gbps and some good ones are like 3-4 Gbps. PM me If you want some Linux bots."_ <--offering booter services

(March 2014) "1 am the owner of OpticServers."

OpticServers is currently being advertised and represented on HF by user HDPixel so I'm not sure if "Cheesebus" still owns it or is still involved in it, but either way I would never buy from a HF advertiser, especially one with such a sketchy history


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## trewq (Jan 5, 2015)

DomainBop said:


> Does this mean you don't want a copy of Cheesebus 's "How to Infect Your Neighbor" ebook?
> 
> 
> cheesebus:
> ...


I can't believe people on HF talk about booters as if they are just a normal thing. It's like yelling out the window you want to buy crack and dealers lining up at your door.

How these people have not been arrested yet I have no idea...


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## RTGHM (Jan 5, 2015)

trewq said:


> I can't believe people on HF talk about boosters as I'd they are just a normal thing. It's like yelling out the window you want to buy crack and dealers lining up at your door.
> 
> 
> How these people have not been arrested yet I have no idea...


See: Brian Krebs Blackhat

See: NPT (Noob persistent threat)

Summary: Hackforums kids are not important to law enforcement. law enforcement goes after child peddlers, people who hack financial institutions, etc. not some folks who can pay $5 to hit off a website via paypal.


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## OpticServers (Jan 7, 2015)

RTGHM said:


> I was doing some digging, and you're a spawn of a hackforums host.
> 
> Sorry, but ads on hackforums lose my trust pretty quickly.
> 
> Just my two cents.


We are not a "hackforums host" it is just another advertising forum as we are concerned. you can see our Registered Company Documents here: http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/09200562



DomainBop said:


> Does this mean you don't want a copy of Cheesebus 's "How to Infect Your Neighbor" ebook?
> 
> cheesebus:
> 
> ...


i am not quite sure who cheesebus is. i own the account HDPixel and i have just under 300 + Reputation with no Negatives or neutrals.

EDIT: just to clarity the username on hackforums "HDPixel" IS me and i have never heard of chessebus nor is he affiliated with OpticServers LTD in anyway.


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## RTGHM (Jan 7, 2015)

OpticServers said:


> We are not a "hackforums host" it is just another advertising forum as we are concerned. you can see our Registered Company Documents here: http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/09200562
> 
> i am not quite sure who cheesebus is. i own the account HDPixel and i have just under 300 + Reputation with no Negatives or neutrals.
> 
> EDIT: just to clarity the username on hackforums "HDPixel" IS me and i have never heard of chessebus nor is he affiliated with OpticServers LTD in anyway.


Regardless if you think it's a "advertising forum" - I'm just saying *a lot of people refuse to host with a company affiliated with hackforums* whom is *advertising on their website*

Also, stating that you have 300+ reputation, really isn't helping you case. It just is making you look like an even bigger startup-and-fail operation like 99.9% of hackforums.


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## OpticServers (Jan 7, 2015)

RTGHM said:


> Regardless if you think it's a "advertising forum" - I'm just saying *a lot of people refuse to host with a company affiliated with hackforums* whom is *advertising on their website*
> 
> Also, stating that you have 300+ reputation, really isn't helping you case. It just is making you look like an even bigger startup-and-fail operation like 99.9% of hackforums.


that is understandable about the affiliation with HackForums, if it is really such a big issue then we may think about removing our thread from Hackforums. it was just another forums we could advertise on.


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## VPN.SH (Jan 7, 2015)

OpticServers said:


> that is understandable about the affiliation with HackForums, if it is really such a big issue then we may think about removing our thread from Hackforums. it was just another forums we could advertise on.


Just had a look at that HF thread. I imagine that a fair amount of people around here will avoid using your services if they know that you're advertising there. It generally presents a risk that people don't want to take on board, and also some people morally disagree with hosts posting there in the first place. Just a heads up .

Also, in that thread you mentioned moving your website to OpticServers, and somebody was complaining about it being hosted at OVH. It's fairly standard practice to host your website _outside_ of your own infrastructure, as otherwise if you have issues with your DC, then a client is going to be wondering "Why is my server down? I'll go check out the OpticServers website" only to find out that your site is also down. If your billing/support panel is on the same system then clients won't even be able to shout up to find out what's happening.

Basically, it's less hassle to host your website and support outside of your own infrastructure.


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## OpticServers (Jan 7, 2015)

liamwithers said:


> Just had a look at that HF thread. I imagine that a fair amount of people around here will avoid using your services if they know that you're advertising there. It generally presents a risk that people don't want to take on board, and also some people morally disagree with hosts posting there in the first place. Just a heads up .
> 
> Also, in that thread you mentioned moving your website to OpticServers, and somebody was complaining about it being hosted at OVH. It's fairly standard practice to host your website _outside_ of your own infrastructure, as otherwise if you have issues with your DC, then a client is going to be wondering "Why is my server down? I'll go check out the OpticServers website" only to find out that your site is also down. If your billing/support panel is on the same system then clients won't even be able to shout up to find out what's happening.
> 
> Basically, it's less hassle to host your website and support outside of your own infrastructure.


Thanks for that and yes i am starting to realize that might of not been the best idea to post on there, i will probably end up removing the thread. and also about the moving it over to our own infrastructure. the Website is on its own dedicated server with its own UPS Backup + we have 13 IP's in DNS Failover for the website so we made it as secure as we would why still allowing people to see our network.


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## VPN.SH (Jan 7, 2015)

OpticServers said:


> Thanks for that and yes i am starting to realize that might of not been the best idea to post on there, i will probably end up removing the thread. and also about the moving it over to our own infrastructure. the Website is on its own dedicated server with its own UPS Backup + we have 13 IP's in DNS Failover for the website so we made it as secure as we would why still allowing people to see our network.


Guessing those 13 IP's are outside of your network? Just want to be careful, it's not ideal if your network goes down and your customers can't contact you about it.


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## HalfEatenPie (Jan 7, 2015)

OpticServers said:


> Thanks for that and yes i am starting to realize that might of not been the best idea to post on there, i will probably end up removing the thread. and also about the moving it over to our own infrastructure. the Website is on its own dedicated server with its own UPS Backup + we have 13 IP's in DNS Failover for the website so we made it as secure as we would why still allowing people to see our network.


Haha I understand @liamwithers already probably filled you in on it.  But the general idea is if you advertise on hackforums then you're probably going to get not-so-nice neighbors.  And who wants to share the same server/room with neighbors who may have ill intentions?  That's why when I do purchase a service I usually avoid Hackforums advertising providers.

I totally understand the position you're coming from and you're more than welcome to go with your own ways, it's just a personal preference I always go by.  Some will feel very strongly about this.  Others probably won't care.  (tldr: this is more of a social issue).

Anyways, regardless of those conditions I've always really enjoyed your post and updates on your projects!  It's actually kinda exciting seeing someone start from a room and (hopefully) grow bigger and invest in proper hardware!


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## RTGHM (Jan 7, 2015)

I'll add my two cents, I don't care if you have a hackforums account, I care if you advertise there, because it just begs for abuse.


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## OpticServers (Jan 8, 2015)

RTGHM said:


> I'll add my two cents, I don't care if you have a hackforums account, I care if you advertise there, because it just begs for abuse.


Yea i have realized that was not the best move to advertise on there, i am going to go ahead and remove my thread from there. thanks for the advise you guys  !

EDIT: Removed from HackFroums..  B)

Also here is a pretty big update for our VPS Control Panel:

I am just about to release our Snapshot backup System for our VPS Hosting! you will be able to create 1 Snapshot you will be able to Delete or Restore from that Created Snapshot and once you Delete your Snapshot you will instantly be able to create another..


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## gharo (Jan 8, 2015)

Is it KVM/Xen/OpenVZ? Does the control panel allow rDNS set up? Do you have a test IP?


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## OpticServers (Jan 9, 2015)

OpenVZ however we do enable all Modules that are allowed on OpenVZ, We currently do not have automatic rDNS Setup however you can open a ticket and we can Change PTR Records, All Test Information is on our Support page: https://opticservers.com/support


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## Jack (Jan 10, 2015)

OpticServers said:


> We currently do not have automatic rDNS Setup


Why not?


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## DJFE2Z (Jan 10, 2015)

Jack said:


> Why not?


that's hardly a deal breaker.


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## OpticServers (Jan 11, 2015)

Jack said:


> Why not?


Because my upstream does not correctly have an API to change rDNS directly so i have to email them for PTR Record changes we are currently working out an API.


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## trewq (Jan 11, 2015)

OpticServers said:


> Because my upstream does not correctly have an API to change rDNS directly so i have to email them for PTR Record changes we are currently working out an API.


Just setup a script that emails them automatically


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## RTGHM (Jan 12, 2015)

I think I'll give 'ya a shot soon.


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## OpticServers (Jan 12, 2015)

trewq said:


> Just setup a script that emails them automatically


i thought of that as i was replying with the API response  i'm going to go ahead and do that... should be ready sometime this week when i get some free time.. also finishing off the last part of the Snapshot System should be ready tonight!


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## mprice (Mar 27, 2015)

Well, I guess Opticservers took the advice of some people in this thread and are moving out of their basement datacenter.  they sent out this announcement.  Rather short notice for changing your customer's IP addresses.



> Tomorrow *(28/03/2015)* we will be moving out of our current location to a new location in docklands, london. here we will be able to provide an extremely stable network with no downtime (99.98% uptime guarantee) allowing us to grow and be able to provide you with a stable service, we will also be lowering our pricing for Cloud VPS Hosting as well as starting to sell Dedicated Servers and allowing us to offer a much wider range of features such as IPv6 Support and Dedicated DDoS Protection
> 
> We will have to change our IP Address Allocation as we are moving networks everyone will have there new IP(s) assigned tomorrow once we have fully moved over to our new location, we will NOT be moving or changing our IP Allocations again.


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