VPS/Dedicated hosting options?

[Energize]

I already have a domain name and shared hosting package with Tsohost, however due to lack of features such as: SFTP, JSP, VPN, and poor security practises (aside from insecure ftp access) such as not hashing the cpanel password, displaying it in plain text and then allowing it to be overwritten without any authentication from the tsohost control panel. I've realised I'll need to change to a different type of package and preferably a different provider.

Essentially I just want something that I can do all the same web stuff I can do on my home computer as and when I need to, ie:

Host websites based on JSP/PHP.
Host forums based on JSP/PHP.
Run an email server.
Run a web proxy.
Database management.
Allow anonymous ftp.
Allow authenticated and encrypted file management through SFTP or VPN.

I don't need a CMS or control panel, and have quite low resource requirements, probably don't need more than 1GB of storage and 10GB data transfer.

 

[Energize]

Thanks, that looks great. The setup fee and £45 a month TSO were charging for their lowest end vps was outrageous!

 

[Energize]

Oh I know the managed aspect is worth a fair amount of money, I actually think a failure of their business is not offering unmanaged services as many people prefer them. But £20 to setup Apache Tomcat, really?! It's free software with an open licence for gods sake; it takes about a minute to install and configure with the wizard and they probably use an ISO with it on anyway when setting up the server, what a rip.

 

[Energize]

Yeah I have, I've got a refund for the hosting account. The level of provider involvement required with their hosting package was far too high to get simple things done, self-managed or unmanaged is definitely a better option for me.

 

[Energize]

According to their website Linode had a major security breach the other month, not confidence inspiring.

 

[Energize]

You appreciate the managed option if you manage commercial sites for clients and something goes wrong. That extra money helps you sleep at night. If you don't, then self managed is the way to go. Rackspace cloud is pretty cheap for the unmanaged service...we have the managed cloud service and its great

Yeah I bet. Luckily I am only hosting stuff for myself.

You aren't paying for the software, you're paying a fee because they obviously don't want to deal with tomcat. They've probably just have less experience with dealing with it and are charging on the assumption of spent time. I wouldn't pay it myself like, but there you go.

The installation is surely automated though? How many person-hours needs to go into installing something as simple as that?

I'll have a look at some of your guys other suggestions too, thanks.

 

[Energize]

I've used RapidSwitch for most of my dedicated server hosting (their prices don't include VAT tho). Never had any complaints.

£31.32 inc vat per month for a completely customisable dedicated server, with 2 cores, 8GB RAM, 160GB storage and 10TB bandwidth lol. Put's TSO's virtual server at £45 per month to shame!

 

[Energize]

Ok, so if I went for one of these dedicated servers from Rapidswitch. What software do you recommend for the various things I want to do and what OS should I use?

To start off with I require JSP and PHP hosting, a firewall, and SFTP or VPN (preferable) capabilities.

So maybe Apache HTTP, Apache Tomcat, Comodo Firewall. I guess I could use something like filezilla for SFTP? But what about VPN?

Backups will be done daily by synching the server data with my desktop and an off site file store. Data amount is not expected to be large.

 

[Energize]

I've been running my own home web/ftp server for years with apache tomcat/xampp, I'm just asking for people's opinions on what they would use with this type of service because I'd rather be safe than sorry given the totally different scale of the thing.

 

[Energize]

dp