You have your own hardware: a server you picked out, configured and fully control yourself. Then comes the question of where the thing should live. A utility closet or an office server room works, but then everything depends on one power circuit, one internet connection and one lock on the door.
Colocation solves that: your hardware, in our datacenter in Amsterdam. You keep control of the machine, we take care of power, cooling, network and physical security.
What is colocation exactly?
With colocation you rent space in a datacenter rack and put your own server in it. The split is simple:
- You provide the hardware and decide what runs on it, which operating system it has and how you manage it.
- We provide the environment: rack space, power with backup supply, cooling, network and physical access control.
The difference with a dedicated server is mainly ownership. With a dedicated server you rent our machine; with colocation the machine is yours and you only rent the spot.
Ideal for your offsite backups
The most practical use we see with customers is exactly the one that is hardest to arrange yourself: a backup destination away from your premises.
The rule of thumb for backups is 3-2-1: three copies, on two different types of media, one of which is in another location. That last one is the tricky part. A NAS sitting next to the server it backs up protects you against a failed disk, but not against fire, water damage, theft, or ransomware spreading across your whole network.
Your own backup machine in our datacenter solves that:
- Physically separated from your office. Whatever happens on site, your backups are somewhere else.
- Full control over your data. It is your hardware, with your encryption and your software. You do not have to trust anyone with the keys.
- Predictable costs. You pay for rack space, power and bandwidth, not per stored gigabyte. With a large backup set that is a significant difference compared to cloud storage.
- Fast restores. A restore over a 1 or 10 Gbit connection is a lot quicker than over a consumer upload.
That is exactly why many companies start with 1U or 2U: one backup server, away from the office, without needing a whole rack straight away.
Why Amsterdam
Our racks are in two ISO 27001 certified datacenters in Amsterdam: NorthC and Databarn. That is not a coincidental choice. Amsterdam is one of the most important internet hubs in Europe, which puts you a short hop away from virtually any network.
In practice that means low latency to your Dutch locations and users, and short routes to the rest of Europe and the world. For a backup destination the first one matters most, because throughput determines how long a restore takes.
You do not have to take our word for it. Through our Looking Glass you can test from your own location what the connection to our network in Amsterdam looks like, using a ping, traceroute or MTR.
Our network
- Redundant connections. If an uplink drops out, you do not notice a thing.
- 1 or 10 Gbit uplink, depending on your package.
- DDoS protection across all of our services.
- Your own IP space possible from a third of a rack upwards, handy if you bring your own address space.
On top of that everything runs on backup power, so a power cut in the area is not a power cut for your server.
What you can get with us
Colocation starts at €40 per month for 1U in a shared rack. Above that you scale with whatever you need:
- 1U and 2U: a single server in a shared rack, with 5 TB of traffic and a 1 Gbit uplink. The logical starting point for a backup server.
- 1/3 and 1/2 rack: more space, more power and 15 to 25 TB of traffic. At half a rack you get a 10 Gbit uplink.
- Full rack: your own rack with datacenter access, 50 TB of traffic, a 10 Gbit uplink and our highest SLA.
Current specifications and prices are on our colocation page.
Practical matters
- Remote hands. You do not have to travel to Amsterdam for a reboot, a cable, or swapping a disk. We are already there.
- Need hardware? You can lease hardware from us or acquire it through lease-to-own, so you do not have to invest all at once.
- No fixed contracts. Our colocation is cancellable monthly, so you are never tied down for years.
- An SLA that fits. You pick the support level yourself; how those levels work is explained in our article on the SLA options at Etheron.
Your server somewhere it belongs
Colocation is the sensible middle ground: you keep your own hardware and your own management, but put it somewhere with backup power, cooling, a redundant network and a lock that is taken seriously. For offsite backups it is arguably the simplest way to finally sort out that awkward "1" from the 3-2-1 rule.
Curious what your situation would need, or whether your existing server fits with us? Ask your question through our Discord or a ticket. We are happy to help!