A Compromise Or An Opportunity? In House Hosting Using Refurbished Servers

A tech operation benefits greatly from in-house hosting as it isn’t beholden to often volatile cloud bills as well as no ability to resolve issues when downtime occurs.

Hosting in-house is something that can be done without breaking the bank. But to keep margins even higher, there can be even more cost-savings in going for refurbished servers.

For some businesses, especially tech SMEs that handle large amounts of often sensitive data, the idea of going for something that is ‘second hand’ is a non-negotiable no.

However, the quality of refurbishment continues to improve, and the quality of security assurances that come alongside properly refurbed servers are improving as well.

This guide will outline the reasons why you may be able to save on your server budget while also highlighting the pros and cons, as well as specific use cases.

Benefits Of Shopping Refurbished

The big and obvious benefit is cost savings. A refurbished server is unlikely to cost as much as its new equivalent.

That is of course because the server is used, however that does not necessarily mean its performance is any worse than a new equivalent.

This is thanks to quality refurbishment certification processes that have been rolled out by leading retailers such as Dell and HPE. A quality refurbished Dell Tower server from a retailer that can carry out the multi-point diagnostics testing to achieve these certifications, for example, will give you a guaranteed level of quality.

These servers come with warranties, in some cases handled by the manufacturer that will give you an assurance of a certain level of performance.

They are also unlikely to have the same teething issues as new models as they have been actively run for their testing, meaning you can get hosting live sooner.

Potential Drawbacks

The main and obvious drawback of getting an in-house server for your business is that you will be using older technology.

For a tech business that can be tricky as workloads will naturally be higher than your standard SME and could be a deal-breaker.

You’ll also want to factor in the “milage” of your servers, and if they have had much downtime in their previous operation.

Again, much of this can be addressed through going for a quality refurbished server. Large retailers also get almost new servers from the biggest data centres that are always looking to be on the cutting edge.

You’d be surprised how many previous year, or even same year, server models that you’re able to get your hands on.

How To Ensure Safety When Shopping Used Server

While you can never guarantee hardware safety, it may feel like a particularly daunting item to tick off when shopping for a refurbished server.

Older systems won’t have the latest security features, and while that may be a concern to any small business owner, it is worth pointing out that much of your cybersecurity is software related and when it comes to hardware, good maintenance and best practice are the main ways to keep safe.

When buying refurbished, a certified option will meet the required security and quality standards to withstand any malicious attacks on hardware.

Futureproofing For Modern Workloads

AI is everywhere, and its processing and data storage requirements are still significant.

If you’re going to shop refurbished, here are the musts for your server

• Support for multiple GPUs
• PCIe 4.0/5.0 connectivity
• 1100W bare minimum power delivery
• Powerful CPU with enough PCIe lanes for GPUs
• NVMe storage

Shop Smarter

While you may want to get the latest tech, you can get not-very-far-off of that for a fraction of new retail price with the assurance of a significant retailer warranty and a certified refurbishment.

So long as your data isn’t on the cutting edge, your data storage and management doesn’t have to be either, so refurbished is a great avenue to shop smarter.