Choosing a dedicated server company.......

tetris · 12-23-2003, 08:31 PM

I know there are a lot of people here who like Server Beach and that is fine and I am considering them. But what about ipowerweb? They looks solid enough and the prices on dedicated servers are pretty darn good. Check them out here : http://www.ipowerweb.com/products/de...r/servers.html

Anyone have some experiences they can share?

:

**John Scott** · 12-23-2003, 10:19 PM

iPowerWeb is very unreliable.

DaveyBoy · 12-23-2003, 10:51 PM

you could perform sexual favours like i did and get a free dedicated host from a friend.

Or you could pay cash (like i REALLY did)

Cat out of bag ALERT.

QT_ · 12-24-2003, 12:07 PM

Quoted from another forum: (spaces inserted because apparently the original poster didn't have a spacebar on his keyboard. So I offered him a gift for Christmas.)

"I found this dedicated special offer too with IPowerWeb.
So, after searching around, I though it was a good deal.

I first e-mailed their tech support on Monday night the 16th and their reply e-mail said they would respond back to be in 24 hours. I did not receive anything. So I called them on Tuesday afternoon. Talked with tech support, and nobody was able to help me because "it was a new offering". I gave them my number and they said someone who knew more would call me back.

A few hours later I got a phone called from "Warren", he was very nice, and understood the whole dedicated server offering. He told me that IPowerWeb started this dedicated server special on Monday, and they are all new, in a new multimillion dollar datacenter located in Hawthorne, CA.

He answered some questions I had about the server, and I said I would think about it. Well after searching the internet, I thought it was a good deal and I ordered a server on Wednesday evening the 17th. I orderd the 1.3Ghz Celeron special for $49 a month, with a $49 setup charge.

I called them on Friday the 19th to find out when it would be ready, and they said give it a few more hours. I called them back at 6pm Friday and they said your server is ready, and gave me the IP address.

I logged into the new server, and did some ping tests, I got under 7ms ping times to my home DSL (I live in Los Angeles), I was impressed.

But what I didn't know is that it was missing a lot of packages that I would like to get installed. Tried downloading RPM packages for the server, and got over 3Mbps-5Mbps transfers from a Red Hat mirror. For testing, I basically downloaded the whole Red Hat 9 RPM packages (1.7GB) in under 15 minutes.

I talked with a Tech support person on Saturday night, and they told me that it's after hours and he only does web pages, not dedicated servers. I would have to talk with a "level 2" technican who are available from 6am to 11pm. I spent the rest of the weekend setting up the server, installing DNS, Apache....etc..

I called Tech support on Sunday and they told me that they can not give me any technical support over the phone for the dedicated servers. I asked them what if it locks up? they said to open a trouble ticket.

Anyway, after spending the weekend with the server, and reading comments on here, I might cancel the server (IPowerweb offers a 30 day money back guarantee) and I might go with Managed.com instead. I will just need to fnd out if my setup fee is refundable, if not, then I'll keep it until the end of my billing cycle.

Otherwise it's a good deal in a new data center if you know what you are doing."

It looks like (by searching around and reading) that ipowerweb just recently started up their dedicated side, support response is slow, and the network isn't quite as reliable as you'd like to have for a dedicated server. You may want to do a little more research on them before making a decision to go with them...especially if their new in offering dedicated services.

tetris · 12-24-2003, 12:18 PM

Good Info guys. Thanks QT for posting that experience, it is helpful. Probably the thing to do is give ipowerweb a few months to work out thier kinks prior to signing up.

In the meantime, what do you guys know about www.managed.com or have suggestions for any other solid companies at good prices?

QT_ · 12-24-2003, 12:26 PM

I guess one question that should be asked is: Do you need manged services or can you go with an unmanaged provider and do well managing your own server?

Managed.com is far from being a managed provider, so their name is quite deceiving. When you require support, they're only available business hours. Anything outside of business hours then you'll have to wait. Judging by what people have said, their network is stable, the pings are excellent if you're in Australia...not to great from anyplace else, and last but not least, they are also a "new" company. So the network is going to be great until it gets saturated with customers.

For suggestions on good solid companies, again the suggestions you receive would rely on your answer to the question above. Managed or unmanaged? Not to mention, do you have a price range that you're wanting to remain in?

tetris · 12-24-2003, 12:35 PM

If I had to say managed or not. I would say managed I suppose. I am very computer literate, but have never managed my own server myself. Previously I have owned my own server and had it colocated in Canada. If I needed anything technical done, I could just call or email the guys that took care of it for me. That was nice, but ran me about $400 per month. I had a high traffic/high income website at the time, so I could justify it. I have since sold all of it and am now starting over with a new series of website, and wish to start out on the cheaper side of things until I work my income levels up.

However, if, managing a server is not to tough, I could do it myself. I just do not know what is involved with it.

As far as budget, I would prefer to be at $120 per month or less if possible, and $75 per month would be awesome.

QT_ · 12-24-2003, 01:00 PM

You may want to look at ServerMatrix. They have a pretty good reputation in the Managed Dedicated Market. Reasonable prices, reliable network, and good support.

If you've never had a dedicated server before, I highly recommend going with managed and learning the ropes. Meaning, before you rely on "support", play around and see if you can fix it yourself. That way if you succeed, you've learned something new. If you don't succeed, then you have support to rely on.

I'd also recommend reading. There are many good resources around that help you take baby steps in system administration. The learning never ends..

Coming from Managed and/or Shared Hosting....unmanaged is a whole new ballgame. I'm not saying that to detour you away from it, but it's definitely not a walk in the park and there is much to learn.

Good luck in your search!

tetris · 12-24-2003, 10:46 PM

Thanks for the advise QT, your an absolute asset to these forums. Any thoughts on the processor speed of the server, amount of ram and operating system I should utilize? Any other optional software that is considered "a must

I will primarily be hosting multiple ecommerce sites, content related sites, and some forums.

QT_ · 12-25-2003, 12:03 PM

My first recommendation would be Linux *cough*

Processor and Ram: It's good to start out small. As your business grows and your needs increase, you can always upgrade. Many people make the mistake of purchasing huge machines with a lot of out of pocket expense, and end up not using them.

Software: Nothing really special to mention with the information you've provided.

If you plan on reselling, you may want to consider getting a Control Panel (cPanel, Plesk, Ensim). A Control Panel makes it easier to delegate control to your resellers so that you won't end up having to do everything for them.

david · 02-04-2004, 07:37 PM

there is an interesting development over at elkhost at its forum.
evidently elkhost hosted a spammer ebaylogin.com which involved the fbi because of its seriousness. a managed.com server was used, and even when the offender was removed by elkhost, the whole server was taken offline by managed.com including the other subscribers sites (and their own businesses). businesses were evidently ruined by the closing of the server because there was no service for three days and elkhost had no access to the other compliant sites.

QT_ · 02-04-2004, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david

there is an interesting development over at elkhost at its forum.
evidently elkhost hosted a spammer ebaylogin.com which involved the fbi because of its seriousness. a managed.com server was used, and even when the offender was removed by elkhost, the whole server was taken offline by managed.com including the other subscribers sites (and their own businesses). businesses were evidently ruined by the closing of the server because there was no service for three days and elkhost had no access to the other compliant sites.

You wouldn't happen to be going around different forums doing drive-bys and spamming this off topic information, would you?

Found the following here: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hreadid=233388

Quote:

Originally posted by seniorfog
there is an interesting development over at elkhost at its forum.
evidently elkhost hosted a spammer ebaylogin.com which involved the fbi because of its seriousness. a managed.com server was used, and even when the offender was removed by elkhost, the whole server was taken offline by managed.com including the other subscribers sites (and their own businesses). businesses were evidently ruined by the closing of the server because there was no service for three days and elkhost had no access to the other compliant sites.