Is it possible to pick where our servers go?
Based on the past days events, and how as some have pointed out that TP should have take in into account all possible eventualities and how things werent good enough, i feel like perhaps they didnt do everything possible, and that i should instead asking if i can make special requests regarding a servers positioning so i can help join the remaining dots.

I was thinking that perhaps it should go undergound, out of the way of any possible meteor or nuclear action, and safe from hurricanes. At same time, we should ensure that the DC is above the ground to make sure it is clear of flooding, earthquakes, and lava.

I think also it might be an idea if there isnt any power running to the building, thus ensuring no shorts can happen however careful you are.

Since we are talking about security in respect of connectivity, perhaps the server should ensure it isnt connected to any internet connection either, thus making sure that the server is safe from any hacker attacks.

In the event of the sun going supernova, the DC the server is in, should be fitted with a high efficiency fusion drive, in order to escape. The server at that time must also be kept far away from fuel, and in reality, not even near a flying DC due to possible risks associated with it


So erm, who else felt like some people were actually asking the above?

There are no guarantees that a given server will be available in a given datacenter, but when I got my last servers I was in fact able to request that they be located in different datacenters so all my eggs weren't in one single basket.

The main thing I saw was this:

A lot of people place a large value on their data. Which I can't blam ethem for that, as I think my data is very important to.

However, if it is so important that downtime cannot happen, then you should have multiple servers spread out.

For example.

Primary servers in 1 DC..say Houston, then a backup cluster spread out between the Dallas, DC's, and even other datacenters to maximize uptime. Some people I think learned this lesson the hard way. No matter what, no company can guarantee the uptime of your data. Not even Rackspace. Heck, even google had a small outage at one point in time. If google can have an outage, then anyone can.

Exactly. We're spreading accounts to boxes in Dallas now too. Lesson learned.

wait, you took my post seriously? haha it was a piss take

I realize you were saying 'cut them some slack' but at the same time I think a lot will be thinking long and hard about:

Normally, I believe the quick answer would be no but the long answer is that you can request and they will try and fulfill. I bet after this disaster a lot more people will be requesting secondary servers in a different datacenter than the first. Since the planet has so many different datacenters, this makes sense for redundancy. Until now it has been a theoretical, not a practical request.

This is interesting that they are taking requests more or less now for location. I had left The Planet mainly because I didn't want a server in Houston and at the time, they firmly said no to requests.

I personally think the DLLSTX facilities are better, as they are the original The Planet (not the GI Partners Planet), from the good old days.

I'd be interested to know this as well. I also think it should be up to the customer, and not TP, to provide redundancy in terms of multi server (assuming unmanaged here). So people who have 1 server that does everything who complain, its still up to them to of had their own backup plan.

I have plans to get into the hosting industry and I would like the option to spread my servers across at least two data centers so in the event of a disaster I can start moving sites over and what not.

Also these things can happen any time, at any data center/provider, so can't really blame TP and move providers, no point in doing that.

From what I see I think they're doing everything they can, such as working irregular hours and probably buying tons of new equipment that was not budgeted for, so financially this is a big hit for TP. Also I'm sure lot of customers will request refunds, which will further hurt the financial situation.

I agree, the customer should have a full range of options including where the server is located, or at least some where close that both can agree on, im not sure how it works on thier end but i dont think it would be to hard to let people pick a location??

It is possible for users to request things like that, however its not always possible for them to honor it.

For example there are many different rack sizes designed for different chassis. If the server you want has chassis X and the DC you want they only have space for chassis Y, theres nothing that can be done.

You would need to go through a sales rep though, the automated provisioning probably isnt ideal, as the automated system will send it off to the specified DC at their end