
Scaleway's data centre in the catacombs, 26 metres under Paris - baud147258
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/19/underground_datacentre/
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gregmac
If you want to see more than 2 pictures (one of which is of a small drainage
channel), there's a detailed blog post about the construction:
[https://blog.scaleway.com/2016/c14-story-part-1-meet-our-
nuc...](https://blog.scaleway.com/2016/c14-story-part-1-meet-our-nuclear-
fallout-shelter/)

~~~
bradstewart
Really interesting read, thanks. But I have to wonder... why? Was all of that
effort worth it?

~~~
LinuxBender
Probably mostly marketing. This would be one place that data archives might
survive nuclear and small to medium asteroid impacts, assuming it is water
tight and really strong submarine doors. I did not see any bar (pressure)
ratings.

There are a handful of companies that have underground data-centers, but I
think it's mostly hype. Creating functional (real) bunkers at that scale is
very expensive. When I look at bunkers, the first things I look for is how
many bars of pressure they are rated for. A nuclear bunker must be rated for
at least 8 bars. Getting permits for underground generators and fuel tanks is
also very expensive.

~~~
brianwawok
The bunker was already dug though? That seems at least to make the cost a bit
less absurd.

~~~
bradstewart
The bunker was dug, but they had to go through a ton of work to reinforce it,
pour a foundation capable of holding server racks without disturbing the
existing structure, waterproof it, and more.

Maybe the seemingly advanced building techniques they described in the blog
post are also required to build an above-ground datacenter. Or the cost of
doing it (and doing it below ground) isn't drastically greater.

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rhardih
I came to Scaleway from Linode since they had very competitive pricing and
generally always thought they were pretty nice.

That is, of-course, until they decided to up the price on my tier by almost
60% with very short notice. Same box I'd been running for years, no upgrades
or nothing aside from a shiny new price tag...

~~~
latchkey
What did they say when you contacted their support?

~~~
rhardih
No info apart from confirming, that yes, that would indeed be the new price
going forward.

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metildaa
Scaleway has been hosting large scale SIP attacks for the past few years:
[https://badpackets.net/ongoing-large-scale-sip-attack-
campai...](https://badpackets.net/ongoing-large-scale-sip-attack-campaign-
coming-from-online-sas-as12876/)

------
MapleWalnut
The title is kind of clickbait. The article says this is near the catacombs,
not in them, which makes sense since the catacombs are ossuaries.

better title: "Scaleway's data centre in a bunker, 26 meters under Paris"

~~~
etiennemarcel
In Paris the word "catacombs" is used in a larger sense than ossuaries. It
also covers the huge network of old quarries, mostly on the left bank. They
pretty popular with urban explorers ("cataphiles"). The data center is built
in one of these quarries turned into a shelter.

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Lowkeyloki
If you like this sort of thing, I'll gladly dig a hole and put a Raspberry Pi
in it.

~~~
Karunamon
There's probably a market for single low-powered servers in physically hard-
to-reach locations.

~~~
0x4a42
Try Cyberbunker :)

------
djsumdog
I've wanted to use Scaleway as their prices seem way better than
DigitalOcean/Vultr for larger/bare metal servers, but they just lack ...
everything from their API. It's one of most poorly documented VM APIs I've
ever seen.

They also have no managed DNS! You've got to setup your own DNS servers!

The server setup does seem tool though. Also, how did a Register link get
through? I thought that site was banned on HN.

~~~
mfontani
> how did a Register link get through? I thought that site was banned on HN

Oh deary me, why should that be? Just because the journos are snarky and
sarcastic, or because it's pretending to be a red-top?

... or is it because it's mostly written in Perl?

~~~
na85
What's a red-top in this context?

~~~
mfontani
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabloid_journalism#Red_tops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabloid_journalism#Red_tops)

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z3t4
This is very cool, but it wont be as fun when water starts to drop on
electrical equipment. And cooling will probably be an issue too. But I guess
it's worth it if you get a central location in a major city.

