Robdav said:
Is anyone here using a hosted dedicated server? Something like the servers supanames or fasthosts offers?
I'm thinking of getting one shortly so I would like to find out what experiences people have had with them.
thanks
I don't rent a dedicated server at the moment but I have considered it on numerous occasions, read up on the subject and probably will invest in one at some point. Excuse me and my sweeping statements (it's hard to put things down as fact on this olde internet, so there's always an edge of uncertainty to what I say on such matters), but here goes:
First of all, what do you need the dedicated server for? If you're hoping to run a few game servers off it, or use it for similar activites which rely heavily on low ping times, you're going to want one based in the UK. That's about the only reason I can think of for purchasing a dedicated server in the UK, to be honest. From what I've heard fasthosts have an appaling reputation when it comes to dedicated servers (I seem to recall a number of people saying the whole "unlimited bandwidth" thing came unravelled when they found their servers were limited to 1Mbps or thereabouts - a maximum possible (ignoring overheads and the fact that you won't have your server hammered 24/7) throughput of 320GB/month). Again, word on the street was (atleast a couple of years ago) that Supanames ran a rather dodgy operation too. If I remember correctly, they used to (and may well still do) shove thousands of shared hosting customers on a single server which would fall over every couple of days. Granted, that's shared hosting, but I'd think twice before buying anything from a company with that kind of history.
If latency isn't an issue (and no matter how many people try to tell you otherwise, for a run-of-the-mill http server it won't be), you'll get a much better deal over in the states.
LayeredTech,
EV1Servers and
The Planet are all incredibly reputable companies, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Have a look over at the
Dedicated Server Forum at WebHostingForums and you'll find a wealth of information on the matter. Have a glance through the
Dedicated and Colo Hosting Offers section, but don't get bowled over by prices and specifications; keep your wise consumer cap on and do a search for reviews, remember that the cheapest option isn't always the best one etc.
av.
