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Choosing a data center in St. Petersburg, practical experience of choice



Good day friends!

A bit of rhetoric: In the life of not only every IT specialist, head of IT department, but also a business owner, there is a QUESTION - where to place servers, computing equipment, storage? Use a “homemade” data center, allocate a corner for several standing servers or transport everything to the data center. In the current narration, I will not at all deal with the need to choose whether to place in a commercial data center, but only a little help with a choice to open the curtain with pitfalls (marketing works well, and believe me in the first stage, any of the following will only wave he is the best).
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IMPORTANT: There is no advertising here, here is exclusively my subjective opinion, based on a long analysis of existing offers, communication experience, examination of the data center itself and analysis of the information received in order to prepare to move to a commercial data center of your own organization.

By the nature of my work, I often participate in a large number of various projects - from infrastructure projects in the field of information technologies to projects for the implementation of new information systems. A little background: It was like this, one summer day, they call me and my colleague in the division into the negotiation room. Goosebumps, what happened, what's the problem? !!! No, there were no such questions in my head) The news was dumbfounded - mentally and physically preparing for the move from the comfortable business center. WTF , I think !! ?? Considering that a couple of weeks have not passed since the half of the optical cable connected with the complete modernization of the network infrastructure was “buried” around the business center. What does moving mean? For most ordinary people, this is associated with the transportation of boxes, tables and chairs. But in IT, I was thinking about moving an already equipped data center, with 2 power inputs, with redundancy for cooling, moving server cabinets and subsequent transfer of inputs from providers (for this moment I have not in vain indicated, because one of the following data centers owned the communication service provider decided to be a monopolist in its own right and not to allow alternative providers :-)). But if it is necessary, it means it is necessary.

Actually, about the study of one of the areas of potential relocation, I want to tell you - the placement of server hardware in a commercial data center. (Again, I will move away from the story and voice the territorial affiliation - St. Petersburg. Although this material can help not only with the primary location in the data center, but also when choosing a backup data center from SPB, as well as from another, for example, backup data center for Moscow digging ).

St. Petersburg data centers were selected as candidates for consideration from the first ten in size and spaced racks.

The list includes:

- SDN "Xelent" (Vyborg highway, d.503, k.12)
- LinksTelecom (Repishchev str., 20A)
- Selectel (Flower 21)
- OBIT (Zastavskaya St., d.33)
- IMAQLIQ (11B Sedov St.)
- WestCall (Galerny passage, 3)
- Miran (Pirogovskaya Embankment, 17, v.7)

When considering candidates, the following requirements were made:


Part of the data centers dropped out at the initial stage:

1. Selectel (Extremely non-customer-oriented data center, didn’t want to communicate to any “live” one, indicated the price in XXX tr. For the required parameters (provided that the average offer on the market was 30-40% lower) , ask other questions by letter)
Running a little ahead, this data center nevertheless got into the list of potential bidders, but only because of the persistence of one of the main telecoms operators providing telecommunications services.

2. OBIT st. Zastavskaya, d.33. (refused to let other providers to his data center)
If you want to move to the data center without changing your carrier .... You are clearly on the other side.

Let's go

IMAQLIQ data center (Sedov st., 11B)


The IMAQLIQ data center has a TIER III reliability level located in an industrial area, on Sedova Street. It has an area of ​​360 square meters. m. for 150 racks. Transport accessibility at the data center is good, convenient entry, ample parking. The room is owned, the data center is implemented on the territory of the former warehouse. In the server room 42U racks are installed, there are rooms for working with equipment, racks for spare parts and accessories.

As a plus, I can include good transport accessibility, free provision of an Internet channel, comfortable accommodation in a data center.
Of the minuses: 42U racks, in each rack, 3U is occupied by default on the counter and power supply, no PDU (network pilots are installed). So I can say that this is such a “home or family” data center, it is pleasant, comfortable, but only for its level.

The main characteristics of the IMAQLIQ Data Center:


Server cabinets



Supply system



Holy of holies, management and monitoring, but modestly. Highly.



Data Center WestCall (Galerny passage, 3)


WestCall data center is located on the territory of the Nevskoye Design Bureau. In the same room is located the head office of WestCall. The data center consists of 3 distributed across the territory and floors of machine rooms. The new machine room is modern, with raised floors, branded racks. Access to the computer room is through the territory of the courtyard, which is not very convenient because he is dressed from the administrative building (imagine how it is in winter, went to the manager, said hello, undressed, went to his stand = again the cycle of dressing and undressing). Private parking is not available, which creates additional difficulties. Elementary amenities like a coffee zone, a wardrobe and a room for commissioning with server equipment also did not come into view. From the positive, I can note the price - slightly lower than the market and customer-centricity (tout with all the possibilities). Of the minuses - the territory is not owned, the configuration of the building and its premises do not meet modern requirements for data centers, in terms of comfortable working comfort - the presence of equipped areas for working with equipment, cabinets for spare parts and just a wardrobe - are absent.

Main characteristics of the WestCall Data Center


New machine room



Without fire extinguishing anywhere, only these cylinders must be placed outside the perimeter of the machine room.



Data Center Linksx Telecom (Repishchev str., 20A)


The data center Linxdatacenter room is rented in the business center. The data center is located in the industrial zone, but to get is quite simple, there is a large parking lot for visitors to the shopping center. The data center Linxdatacenter has Dutch roots. Of the interesting decisions - its own gas piston substation and complete independence from urban electricity. At the same time there is a separate input from the city, batteries on the pickup and diesel in case of gas interruptions. Great emphasis is placed on security. Certain positioning is certified according to the PCI DSS standard (Internationally recognized standard for the security of the payment card industry. It guarantees the reliability of the physical security of the data center), although this certificate is also present in other data centers - here it is particularly emphasized. From verification by fingerprint, to the continuous recording of surveillance cameras and the backup of these recordings on different DVRs.

In Linxdatacenter, it is immediately obvious that the approach to organizing the business process of placing server racks is serious, the mouse will not slip through. I especially liked the room for working with the equipment before it was installed or for technological work, it’s a big one, there is a necessary tool, the scaled-down items will allow switching from the equipment in the cabinets. Nicely. Comfortable work and rest area. There are major major providers.

Main characteristics of the Linxdatacenter data center:


In Linxdatacenter you can take ONLY 2 photos.

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And they allowed a photograph of the technical room for working with the equipment at the time of preparing it for installation or maintenance. This workplace stands out against the background of competitive offers. Here it is possible to cross-connect not only the copper from its stand, but also the optics. In the presence of the full range of the necessary tools, so that excuse “I forgot the swage or screwdriver” for the work does not roll.



Miran (Pirogovskaya Embankment, d.17, k.7)


Miran data processing center is located near the city center, in the industrial zone and it consists of 2 independent parts with independent management, monitoring and maintenance. The first part is a classic data center, in a building on the first floors of which metalworkers and service centers are equipped !!! Access to the data center is quite difficult, but even harder to leave the data center. Parking space is also not a strong point, but an even weaker side is to leave this data center if you use personal or corporate transport. Believe me, of all the data centers surveyed, the most sad situation here. The number of telecom operators is impressive - almost all possible. In the classic data center rack 42U, in the modular 48U, but the modular data center imposes significant restrictions on free space, the hot corridor is small. Modules are specially welded double-decker containers. On the first floor there are racks, air conditioning units and a fire extinguishing system, on the second floor - a power unit, a UPS. From the point of view of the economic component and the price-quality ratio, the option is quite acceptable, but the location, appearance and usability of the equipment and the availability of comfortable conditions are not the strength of this data center. This is probably the only data center in which I met a real “zoo” as in infrastructure - each machine has its own rules) Somewhere there is a fully implemented hot-cold
corridors, somewhere there is a raised floor, somewhere the same server cabinets ... well, and somewhere not (

The main characteristics of the Miran data center:


A few photos:







SDN "Xelent" (Vyborg highway, 503, k.12)


Xelent (formerly SDN), the largest data center in the North-West region of Russia, provides DC-outsourcing services: from equipment rental and IT system transportation to cloud infrastructure development solutions. Xelent is a data center with 1476 racks with a rated load of up to 20 kW per rack with an average capacity of 14 mW and a design area of ​​technological rooms of 6,500 m2. The project was completed taking into account the requirements for Tier III. The data center is located at St. Petersburg, Vyborg highway, 503, bld. 12, has its own parking, fenced area and convenient access. Yes, it is in the north of the city, but the proximity to the congress with the Ring Road it levels off. Of all the above data centers - this is the only (not counting modular) that was designed and built just under the data center with all the attendant features. Land and building are owned. The data center contains 9 modules, 8 DIBPs with direct diesel support of 1.6 MW each. Uninterruptible Power System N + 2 (7.6 MW), cooling system N + 2 (7.8 MW). In my opinion, this data center is one of the most reserved of the above. The data center is equipped with all the necessary tools for comfortable work and maintenance of computing equipment. And this is the only data center where I was immediately shown portable sources of respiration in case of fire extinguishing, located along the entire perimeter of the data center.

The number of uninterrupted power supply cells is impressive / Take a closer look, each module is one cell.



Your servers are always well guarded.



Selectel Flower 21


About getting this data center in the list for potential choice, I wrote a little higher.
Selectel is a Russian hosting provider, owner of a network of six data centers, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the village of Nevskaya Dubrovka, Leningrad Region. The company was founded by former VKontakte investors, and as I was told during the tour, this is the first data center built for VKontakte. In 2010, Selectel launched the first cloud service - dedicated servers. Today rent racks - not the main type of business of the company, the main - rent of resources. The complex "Flower 2" includes two buildings: the main, four-story and adjacent one-story. Its area is 12 thousand m2. The company provides the ability to place equipment, rent server 47U racks or allocated space in the server room. Services are provided at the Tier III data center site. Selectel Flower 2 data center (Flower 1 is not considered, because it is morally obsolete and does not meet current reliability criteria) is located near Moskovsky Prospect, at Tsvetochkaya 21.

Uninterruptible power supplies, 3 diesel generator N + 1, chillers, automatic gas fire extinguishing system, PCI DSS certification, compliance with TIER III certificate

The organization of placement of server racks is similar to other data centers. In the 3 machine rooms, where he inspected in case of fire suppression, he found only 1 gas mask. (In one room, they were looking for a similar gas mask together with a representative of the data center, but they did not find it). Space for the preparation of server hardware was just in the hallway, a table with equipment to connect to the servers, to put it mildly, falling apart. Of the minuses: 47U racks, in each rack by default, 3U is occupied by the meter and power supply, the lack of PDU (network pilots are installed). Minus is quite significant. In addition, when asked about the indexation of the electricity tariff, I was informed that according to the contract it can be changed at least every month, and the upper limit is about 15%. Considering that competing providers have a rate at the level of inflation or established by the Sales Company, this is also a negative point. Well, as a cherry I was told directly, the colocation service is not a priority, so you should not expect significant concessions. That's the way it is.


In the comparative table, I will leave open only the price parameter. (since the remaining parameters for can be interpreted subjectively, and are only important in a particular situation). In doing so, I will indicate the relative price and percentage change relative to other offers. Minimum offer will be considered at 100%.


What I want to say in conclusion

Based on the above, I personally suggested, in my own situation, given the input from the business, to consider options for deploying server equipment in the data center in St. Petersburg at Linksx Telecom or Xelent. These are the largest data centers of St. Petersburg, they have the best redundancy in power and cooling. When viewed from the point of view of convenience, Xelent provides a greater number of additional options (for example, free placement of passive equipment above the rack), and from the point of view of reliability, the Xelent is designed specifically for the data center, the territory is owned, but located a little further than the rest of the data center, It has convenient access. Moreover, the data center offers the conclusion of a long-term contract for 3-5 years, which will make it possible to predict costs and fix a monthly fee for the rental of racks (price changes are allowed only for electricity, the amount changed by the St. Petersburg Sales Company). The LinkTelecom data center is simply “obsessed” with security. The input is via a fingerprint scanner + magnetic card), although both he and Xelent comply with PCI DSS standards.

The main thing is that there is a choice. If the stars come together and in my organization the move to the data center is carried out, then this is the subject of separate separate articles.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/346190/

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