In the Fastmail Advent 2024 series, the focus is on why Fastmail prefers using its own hardware rather than relying on the cloud. With over two decades of experience, they have optimized their systems to efficiently use bare metal servers for cost optimization. Fastmail has transitioned to NVMe SSDs, enabling better performance and higher density. By moving all large data storage needs to ZFS, they have seen significant space and power savings. Despite potential drawbacks, Fastmail’s experience and knowledge of future scaling enable them to harness the cost benefits of running their hardware effectively. The detailed analysis of hardware upgrades and storage cost calculations provides valuable insights into their decision-making process.
https://www.fastmail.com/blog/why-we-use-our-own-hardware/