Moving to CoLo

[lovethecoast]

We're paying about $12k (each) per year right now for 12 dedicated servers. The company we're with has served us well over the last 5+ years, but we're starting to outgrow them and are looking to move to CoLo.

Picking out servers isn't a big deal, but that's as far as my technical abilities take me. I don't mind paying someone for help, but I don't even know where to begin.

What type of hardware do we need in addition to servers? What type of switch or router do we need? What type of hardware firewall do we need (and will a single firewall handle multiple servers?)

We also have about 2,000 domain names (and growing to 5,000 within a year) are are looking at how best to manage them. We have custom nameservers with our current provider, but the nameservers just resolve to *their* nameservers -- how do we go about setting up our own?

Do we assign ip addresses to the routers or to the servers themselves? We need high availability, but Dell's four hour response time just isn't enough. Our plan is to have a couple of extra servers on hand, keep the code backed up to them, and if a site goes down, move the ip address(es) to the backup server -- is this doable?

Thanks for any insight.

S

[LifeinAsia]

If the dedicated servers have been serving you well (no pun intended), find out what kind they are and but the same type(s). If you have a good relationship with your existing company, they may be willing to give you the specs for your current configuration, especially if you decide to colo with them.