Cheaper dedicated hosting

Berserker

Berserker

Berserker

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I've had the benefit of dedicated hosting for several years now, and I like it. Some of my stuff would be fine on shared hosting (and I know who I'd go to if I wanted that ;)) but I'd be lost without root access. :)

I'd be happy with a VDS for most of my stuff, but unfortunately I host a site that chews through 8GB data every day and is underpinned by 9 MySQL databases totalling 35GB. That's a sure way to get kicked off most VDS hosting I know of. :)

So, dedicated it is, but while I get a good deal and good service now, I'd like to cut the bill. I understand the costs involved (heat, power, onsite staff, and so on), but it's too much for what I host. I don't need fancy SLA or instant response - the only thing that would be bad is losing email access and I could live without the rest for a few hours or even a few days.

If I can't cut costs, the next option would be to close that big site down and VDS the rest.

I currently pay about £130pcm for a dual core machine with 4GB RAM and 2x250GB disks. I know I can beat that. I've been looking at 1and1 who are half the price for better spec, but while they seem acceptable for my needs, I do remember some past experience with them - admittedly a very long time ago. For example, their cancellation process used to be bizarre beyond belief.

So, anyone got any suggestions for reasonably-priced similar hardware, or any more recent experience with 1and1?

Thank you.

PS - I'm after Linux hosting. I run Windows servers for my day job, but I need PHP and that's clunky at best on Windows.
 
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We have a server from Poundhost and they've been very good. The HD died on the server and they were quick to get it replaced for us and they answer the support requests quickly as well.
 
This probably won't help and is me just talking out loud.

Are there cloud providers that would let you auto expand and contact a server through an API or something? Or you have one VDS server and turn on a second hourly billed cloud server automatically for processing when required. That way you could get the processing power you need only paying for the time you need it.

The Poundhost DS2 looks good value and would be cost effective. It would save faffing around with my above suggestion. :p
 
Just 'acquired' an R200 at work, so I'm familiar with those. Could use more disk space (managed to fill one of the disks on the current server), but it's not critical as I've just backed up the data anyway.

DS2 would do nicely. DS3 would do too if I can justify it (during high load both cores get well used, but the times when that happens are fairly brief). Another option then, for sure.

1and1 have other benefits (some free backup space and RAIDed disks as standard). Worth the extra £14 over DS2? Dunno yet.

The problem with cloud is complying with the complex infrastructure and costing it. It's not as simple as dumping an app and some data on a server as you generally don't get that level of access. We've got a fair deal of in-house experience at work, but I have none of that.
 
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I highly reccomend rapidswitch myself - great customer service, great bandwidth and reasonably priced - their co-lo packages are pretty decent too (£36/m w/ 1U 3TB Bandwidth and 100Mbit port and speaking from experience very low levels of contention on the network I never had less than fullspeed any time I've tested).
 
Berserker said:
1and1 have other benefits (some free backup space and RAIDed disks as standard). Worth the extra £14 over DS2? Dunno yet.
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I would avoid 1 and 1 personally... my brother had no end of problems with them and when he finally cancelled (all paid up) they started chasing him a year later for unpaid domains that they'd renewed themselves - threatening all sorts of legal stuff over £6.99 - which 3 times they admitted was their fault.
 
Whoever it is, they won't be going near any domains. I've had trouble reclaiming domains before, so I now keep registration and hosting separate (it's more expensive, but less prone to going pear-shaped).

But, like I said, I'm not surprised by cancellation troubles. It's just a case of whether the temptation of their server offering outweighs the risk of having to deal with their customer service issues.
 
One thing you want to check out, if the server is important to you is SLA on power, network and hardware replacements. There is a very cheap provider based in France but if something is wrong with your server don't expect them to get back to you within 24 hours...

You might also want to check out the availability of KVM/IP and also remote reboots.
 
All very good points and something I hadn't researched enough. I don't have KVM/IP on the current server but fortunately it's been rock solid save an early disk issue.

Control panel is going to add some extra cost too. I've managed without on the current server but it doesn't have email configured - something I'll need to set up in future and I don't know enough to secure it properly by hand.
 
killsta said:
Also worth considering the usual:

http://www.serverstream.com/cloud
http://www.register1.net/cloud
Click to expand...

No, it really isn't in this case. I'd seriously consider them for business hosting as I know how responsive they can be, but I've not found them particularly competitive for personal stuff. The absolute minimum would be £99pcm and I'd probably have to look at the next model up - 90 days worth of disk space is pushing it. If I did that, I'd pay less staying where I am.

Nonetheless, thanks for the suggestion. All ideas welcome. I hadn't considered that sort of cloud as I'm used to the Microsoft/Amazon type.
 
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Angelos_n, I see you've already been asked not to advertise on this forum. Friendly advice - you would do well to heed that request before your account breaks permanently.

With all due respect, I think you need to work on your website some more before I'd consider you a viable option - and yes, I do mean the new site. Good luck, but not for me.
 
OK, I'll bite - lorem ipsum aside (I bet that came from the same site I use), here's a few for starters.

It's all a bit random - drop shadows on some boxes, no shadows on others. Inconsistent layout. Silly pop up menus (I think that's what they're supposed to be) that pop up in random positions. Poor use of real estate (what's that huge black box at the top all about? It's mostly empty (or at least so poor contrast that it looks mostly empty).

I'm a code monkey, not a designer, but the site makes for easy pickings.

Anyway, back on topic please. I'll poke around the suggestions over the next few weeks and see what's what. Might pick brains of my contacts too (if they happen to be online).
 
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can you show me a screenshot of the empty black box coz i dont quite see where you are looking, in regards to the pop up menus yes they are suppose to be like that, although i am looking to get that changed, for now they shall stay. I would like to say that basing the quality of a company in its site is a bit far fetched isnt it? i know of many sites (incl) my previous employer where the site was absolutly dog, yet they were the largest supplier in their target market.
 
Two words: First impressions.

I'll accept a less-than-stellar site if I know the company already, or have other means of checking them out. If I don't, then all I have to go on is their image - and the web site is that image.

The black box has 'Poweredge R410' in the middle. I assume there's meant to be some servers there but it's really not obvious.

Anyway, back on topic please. If you want to take this further, contact me off-forum.
 
Berserker said:
.

Nonetheless, thanks for the suggestion. All ideas welcome. I hadn't considered that sort of cloud as I'm used to the Microsoft/Amazon type.
Click to expand...

I should have clarified in my post that I was referring to cloud services such as Server stream, VPS.net, rackspace VPS (heard mixed reviews but they do hourly billing). Not sure if they have api's or controls that would allow you to start a server for 1 / 2 hours to do your processing. Or whether it would be cost effective. :p

Basically they are VPS servers with higher availability, per hour billing and better expansion.

How old is the R200 you would like to co-locate? Personally co-location would be my second choice over a dedicated server once you factor in the hardware responsibility.
 
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