With colocation, your hardware lives in our rack and runs on our power and our network. This page covers your side of that from start to finish: what to have ready before you come, what happens on the day and how to run the machine afterward without making the trip again.
Before you bring the server
- The server must be 19-inch rack-mountable with its rail kit. A desktop case, or a rackmount chassis that arrives without rails, can't go in the rack, and we won't be able to install it.
- Know the rack units and power you ordered. You'll find both on your order and under Colocation in the portal. If you're bringing a 2U server into a 1U allocation, or an 800 W power supply pair onto a 1-amp allocation, change the order before the visit. The day itself is too late.
- Bring the network details you were sent. We send the IP addresses, gateway and VLAN for your space ahead of the visit, and they're also listed under IP Addresses in the portal. Set up the operating system before you arrive, or bring a console cable and do it on site. Our on-site help doesn't include configuring the operating system.
- Everyone who enters needs a government-issued ID that's valid in the facility's country: a passport, or a local ID card or driver's license. Without ID nobody gets in, and we can't make exceptions at the door.
- Book the installation. We install by appointment during business hours, so someone is on hand to escort you and help. Request the visit under Datacenter Access in the portal, or open a ticket with the date, who's coming and what you're bringing.
On the day
- Someone meets you at reception, checks your ID and walks you to your space. If the facility uses biometric access, you're enrolled on this first visit, which makes every later visit quicker.
- One of our team stays with you for the whole installation. We provide the rack screws, the power cables and the network cables.
- We patch your server into its assigned port and confirm the link. At that point it's on our network, using the addresses you were given.
- If the server has a management controller, write down its address before you leave. The next section explains why.
Until you're on your permanent access list, you're escorted on every visit. The facility requires it for security, and it says nothing about you.
Running it without coming back
Most colocation customers see their server once a year, if that. This is what lets them stay away:
- Management controller (IPMI, iDRAC, iLO). Ask us once for an internal address for your server's controller. You then reach it through the portal's management interface access, which opens the controller to the public IP you're browsing from, for a limited time. That gives you console, power control and virtual media, just as you'd have on a rented server.
- Courtesy remote hands. Some jobs need a person in the room (swapping a drive, reseating a cable, pressing a button, connecting a crash cart). For those, our courtesy remote hands service is included, within its fair-use limits. Ask for it in a ticket.
- Monitoring. Use the portal's Monitoring page to run uptime checks on your addresses and services, and get alerts on your phone through the Notifications tab. If you want to watch your own hardware more closely, run whatever you like (Zabbix, LibreNMS, Prometheus) on the server itself.
- Power and network usage. Check Colocation in the portal for your allocation and the state of your service. Colocation bandwidth is sold metered or unmetered, the same as for a rented server. See bandwidth explained.
- Shipping equipment in or out. Announce courier deliveries and collections in a ticket, with the tracking number and the number of packages. That way reception is expecting the box, and it stays safe until you or our engineers install it. If you're bringing it yourself, tick loading bay access on the visit.
Later visits
You book later visits under Datacenter Access. People on your permanent access list can come at any hour, and a visit made up only of them is confirmed on the spot, with the access codes on the page. A one-off visitor is authorized by our team first and can only come during staffed hours. Our help on site outside those hours is charged at after-hours rates. The rest doesn't change: ID at the door and only your own equipment. See schedule a datacenter visit for the details.
Questions we get
- Can I send the server by courier instead of coming? Yes. Announce the shipment in a ticket and, in the same ticket, ask our engineers to install it. That counts as a professional-services job, not courtesy remote hands.
- Can you install the operating system? Not as part of the installation. Once you have management-controller access, you can do it yourself from anywhere over virtual media. If you want us to do a full install, that's a custom install, and we'll quote it in a ticket.
- I need more power or another rack unit. Open a ticket. Either one is a change to the order, and it can usually happen in the same rack. If the rack can't take it, we'll tell you.
- Can I bring a switch or a firewall? Yes. For installation purposes, any single physical device counts as a server. Mention it when you book so we have the right number of ports ready.
Still stuck?
Open a support ticket and choose the colocation service in the related-service field, or email support@netrouting.com. If something comes up on the day itself, reception has our engineers' numbers.