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[EvilWhiteDragon]

Hi!

After our opinion request regarding our server because TheKOSs2 indicated that they no longer want to invest in our current server, we have come to the conclusion that we need to get ourselves a new server. A short summary:

Advantages:

• Lower physical server height, meaning lower monthly cost for rack space (but high investment costs).
• We need to go to Amsterdam anyway, as our current server has no working backup disk/backup solution with a new server we could probably suffice with a single trip, otherwise we may need two (retrieve server, reinstall at home, put it back).
• The server we found particularly interesting has a remote control card, which means we can adjust low level (BIOS) settings while not actually being in the datacenter. If we go for a new server, it will most likely have something like this. (One trip currently costs about 50 euros if we can plan it in the weekends).
• Warranty for at least one year or more is likely and very nice to have. With our current server we have virtually no warranty left, and thus if it breaks we need to pay for the replacement parts.

Estimated costs:
A quick estimate learns us that we will need 550 euro for the physical server, 50 euro to visit the datacenter to place the new server and remove the old server. That brings us to a grand total of 600 euro.

Planning:
We are planning to order the new server this weekend and we will probably place it in the data center late June. This is yet unsure because we are not sure when our current contract ends and when we will buy the new server. The date will be chosen so that we can avoid paying for both servers in the same month as much as possible.

Donations:
While we do currently have enough money at our disposal to finance this alone, donations would be greatly appreciated (again, yes ). The more money we get from donations, the more money we will have to buy a better server ensuring better game-play and allowing for more rentals to reduce the monthly costs.

Possible upgrades:
This will depend on which brand and server type we'll buy, but here are some estimates:

• Somewhat more hard disk space (think 500GB terabyte or more, which we could use as backup space and member storage) - 50 euro
• Buy good backup software - 50 euro
• More memory, probably 8 GB - 70 euro
• a lot more hard disk space (think 1 terabyte or more, which we could use as backup space and member storage) - 100 euro
• better remote configuration/console card - 100 euro
• Plenty more hard disk space, think 2-3 terabyte or half of that in RAID1 so we would be protected against hard disk failure. - 160 euro
• More memory, probably 12GB - 160 euro
• A Solid State Disk to ensure low latency disk access, game servers could benefit from this immensely - 170 euro
• A valid Windows server 2008 license which would allow us to better control remote desktop connections to the server, meaning we could give users (rental for ex.) access to their own account on the box with only their account to screw up.
• More memory, probably 16GB - 250 euro
• Larger/more Solid State Disks to ensure low latency disk access, game servers could benefit from this immensely and be protected against disk failure. - 350 euros

However, these costs are mainly an indication and depend on the server brand and model, which are currently undecided. Some are slightly more expensive in base or upgrade price. These numbers are estimates.

Why buy a new server?

[Gwynzer]

DONATION PAGE

[Gwynzer]

Just a reminder that every little helps.  If every member of BI donated (say) 5 euro, that would drastically reduce the "out-of-pocket" cost, and go a long way towards being able to afford upgrades from the start.

Regardless of how much you have, the Staff appreciate anything you can spare. 

[EvilWhiteDragon]

Exactly. We've said it before and will continue to say it: Every penny you donate is useful. It helps us buying and potentially upgrading the server and if we can't use all for the server right now it helps us out in the monthly costs. An additional note on this: we are willing to rent out _very_ cheap gameservers to members when we have our new box.

[Blind3001]

I might be able to donate in a little while, somewhere around 30-40 euros.

[EvilWhiteDragon]

That'd be very nice. Oh another heads up: we'll sell our old server, so if anyone is interested he/she should contact me .

[Blind3001]

Just donated 40 euros.
Now I expect everyone else to donate as well!

[EvilWhiteDragon]

_{Note: StealthEye and me are not entirely correct, we haven't noted all money we spend on BI}

@Blind3001:
Quite some people have actually

[EvilWhiteDragon]

While later than intended, today I ordered the new server. Eventually we ended up upgrading the RAM to 8 GB, and paying 60 euros more because Dell suddenly changed the discounts, while not noted on their site. In fact, it said the discount would be valid till the 16th of June.
Anyway, in the end we just spend about 690 euros.

[EvilWhiteDragon]

Another update:
Just got a confirmation, the server will be delivered on or before the 2nd of July Which is good news since our current colo contract ends the 12th of July

[EvilWhiteDragon]

Bump:
Server move/swamp will be Sunday. Will post more details on Saturday.

[EvilWhiteDragon]

Bump:
Server move/swamp will be Sunday. Will post more details on Saturday.

As you may have noticed, it got delayed. It has been postphoned till tomorrow, Wednesday. We'll place the new server around 10 AM in the morning in the EvoSwitch Datacenter, co-located by Leaseweb. We'll place our new EPIC Dell poweredge R210 server (2,4 Ghz Nehalem Xeon, 8GB ram, 2x750GB disks in RAID1) there.
Then we'll drive to Easynet Datacenter (also a Leaseweb facility, but we're not directly renting with Leaseweb there) and remove the old server from it's rack.
Should not be too much work, but probably problems will occur, for whatever reason. Since my dad will be assisting me instead of StealthEye, it will be harder for me to get everything running properly instantly. Most things should however work without too much trouble and shouldn't experience too much downtime.
Something that will take some time is the DNS update, which is required to be albe to use *.blackintel.org to connect to the service. If the service is down, then you can try to connect to the following IP adress: 95.211.124.215. For TS it's important to know we'll now be using port 9987 instead of 9988.

Our "old"/current server will be sold to whomever is interested and makes a good offer. So if you're looking for a decent 19" rackmount server, send me an email/PM.

I've probably missed something(s) in the text above, so if you have questions, just ask.

[EvilWhiteDragon]

And we're off to Haarlem. Hopefully there wont be much more problems like a few moments ago, we couldn't log in to the access request panel.

Edit:
I attached some pictures of our new server

Edit 2:
A youtube vid as well: BlackIntel Dell R210: Bring tha noise!

[EvilWhiteDragon]

New server placed, DNS updated. Copying over data now.

[EvilWhiteDragon]

Old server removed from rack Fixing last bits of new server now