[ctype_alnum]

Trapper,

Yeah I know about the server configurator they have. My point was that OVH's basic servers come with this whereas RS doesn't for roughly the same price.

[DigitalDaz]

And simarly from my other provider:

EMERGENCY CORE NETWORK MAINTENANCE - 05.06.2013 01:30 - 04:30

Following on from the outage report sent on the 30th of May, we have received an incident report from our switch vendor after analysing the logs captured by our network team during the incident.

Investigation by senior engineers has revealed the outage was caused by a bug present in the current version of firmware running on the two primary switches in Turing House.

Following advice from our vendor, we are opening an emergency maintenance window on Wednesday the 5th of June, between the hours of 1:30am and 4:30am in order to perform a rolling update of the firmware on both of the primary switches in Turing House.

As our network is designed with multiple points of redundancy, we will be updating the secondary (failover) device first, followed by failing all customers over to the secondary device and updating the primary, before failing all customers back to the primary device at the end of the maintenance window.

We do not expect this work to be service affecting, however, as we are working on our core network, customers should consider all network connectivity to be "at-risk" across all datacenters for the duration of the maintenance window. Following successful completion, a follow-up "all-clear" email will be sent and MelbourneStatus.co.uk will be updated throughout.

What does a simple blanket email cost? I wasn't even aware of the earlier outage, in fact, it didn't affect me at all but nevertheless you feel much better about a company that is keeping you in the loop.

[Trapper]

RS need to keep their customers as they charge a premium. OVH charge virtually nothing when you compare it to RS ie specs etc...

Yes - the costs are more than OVH, but there are two things about that:

1. The "Scrap Yard Car Door". - Explained in this forum.

2. Paid Costs and Non-Paid Costs:
RapidSwitch: £80 PCM
OVH: £20 PCM + 4 hours PCM @ £50/hour, spent banging head against a wall, because Oles put Alpha-VAC in the system, and only told people on Twitter (in French) about it = £220 PCM.

= False Economy!

...so if you leave where else are you going to go to :P....

Well next I am trying LeaseWeb, my next project needed something minimal, and I wanted to spend less than "RapidSwitch".

RS should take note providing an extra drive for even software raid would be nice I am sure that puts people off.

Did you do know that you can configure your server at RapidSwitch...?

You get to choose between adding to the Setup Fee, or Monthly Fee if you want an Larger Drive/Extra Drive(s)/Extra Ram/Other upgrade.

...Yes it costs more, but that scrapyard (RS) actually has a door...

~Trap

[ctype_alnum]

RS need to keep their customers as they charge a premium. OVH charge virtually nothing when you compare it to RS ie specs etc so if you leave where else are you going to go to :P hence why not a single **** is given about customers. RS should take note providing an extra drive for even software raid would be nice I am sure that puts people off.

[wii89]

Very informative, only if OVH do this kind of emails....

[Trapper]

One of my other servers is with Rapid Switch. Today they notified me about upcoming works to the Power Supply. I think something like this should have been sent to us all when Oles decided to implement VAC on the network.

OVH, please take this as a "how to" on communicating with your customers, especially in operations which could stop services from working.

If on that Sunday my server at Rapid Switch goes down, I won't even call them. I know that they will be aware, and doing everything possible to get it back on. Without the following (OVH's style) I be panicking, and calling...

Dear "Trapper",

We have received a notification from Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) regarding a need to proactively replace components within the Metering Circuit Breaker, housed within the Substation Enclosure that is on-site at our Maidenhead Data Centre.

Please note that this equipment is owned and maintained by SSE and is not housed directly within our buildings.

Will I experience downtime?

There is no expected downtime from these works and there is no requirement for any action on the part of customers. This is a courtesy notice as the work is being performed by third parties, and is not part of our day to day running of the facility.

Why is this needed?

The components to be replaced are Voltage Transfer (VT) switches. An investigation has shown specific problems with swing type VT switches where partial discharge and/or corrosion has resulted in the transfer switch activating on an earth fault thus disconnecting the power to the supplied facilities. Whilst this type of event is low risk for RapidSwitch due to our UPS and Generator systems being able to sustain operating load, significant remedial work would be required in the event of a VT switch failure. The manufacturer has therefore recommended a visual inspection and replacement of the components.

The works will be carried out with the supply of power disconnected and for the duration of the inspection and upgrade, the Maidenhead facility will be run from generator power.

What will happen?

Prior to works commencing, we will bring primary incoming mains supply down and switch to generator power. This is a tried and tested process which is carried out by us regularly with our Black Building test programme.

The failover of power is a non-disruptive one where load is transferred from the mains switching equipment to our UPS systems and then onto generator services.

Once the facility is running correctly from generator, work will then commence on the SSE equipment. On completion of any works required, we will complete the process for failing back to mains power.

When will the work be carried out?

The work is scheduled for 8AM on Sunday 27th October 2013 and will be completed by 5PM on the same day at the latest.

Who will be completing the work?

All works to the SSE equipment will be carried out by SSE staff and representatives of the switch gear manufacturers. We will also have on-site our Maintenance and Engineering Contractors and our Facilities Manager.

We hope you appreciate this notice.

Kind regards

The RapidSwitch team

~Trap