ServerBeach BIND. ETC

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 07:39 PM

I'm probably going to go with the ServerBeach POWER2100 Debian server, I have a few questions:

1. Does anyone here run BIND on there server? How does it preform? I always thought running a nameserver behind a firewall is a bad idea?
2. What are the bad things about your server?
3. Can you upgrade banwdith and not for a haftey price?
4. What do you think of it?

Thanks in advance.

kwvarga · 01-18-2004, 07:44 PM

Welcome to the forum Karrot

John Scott · 01-18-2004, 07:47 PM

I have two servers at SB, and they perform great. This forum is on one of the SB servers, as well as a few hundred other sites we host.

We don't run Debian, so I wouldn't know the specifics on that.

I'm not much of a server guy - just the marketing guy - but I believe we run BIND on all our servers. BIND being DNS, how would you run a server without DNS?

(I'm obviously not the server admin here.)

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 07:54 PM

Hehe, what I meant was, does SB do any special blocking on ports? Nat you *bad for DNS* or anything? I've never used a dedicated server before, have been running it from home machines and now it's time to grow up and play with the big toys. I have all the debian things under control, just wanted to know how you liked there servers and if you think that being a 10mbps switch is powerful enough when you're given a OC3 :/.

EDIT: Oh ya, how do you do your backups? Just setup rysnc and flow them through to your home connection? If so, doesn't that kill your bandwidth?

John Scott · 01-18-2004, 07:58 PM

10 mbps or 100? I was thinking 100 mbps.. Not sure.

I can't answer technical questions. But I can say I'd never use RackShack / EV1 again. I've looked into a lot of dedicated hosts, and ServerBeach has the best connections and features and support. The rapid reboot feature is awesome.

The speed is awesome, too.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 08:06 PM

http://www.serverbeach.com/catalog/faq.php#4
=======================================
4. What are your network connections?
ServerBeach is multi-homed network (using Cisco Networking Gear) with connections that range from DS3 to OC3 through Allegiance and SBC. The servers will be on a 10 MBPS connection by default and each Server comes with 450 GB of Transfer.
=======================================

It's a 10mb line which is kind of shakey to me, but if you say the speed is awsome I'll believe it. Although when I hit the amount of customers that needs 450gigs a second I won't be using ServerBeaches hosting, I'll have my own data center somewhere

. Thanks for the welcome.

What is the rapid reboot? Just a button to reboot your server? I can do this with 'shutdown -r now'

. But if ssh fails I guess that will be nice, unless of course ssh still fails when it reboots.

John Scott · 01-18-2004, 08:12 PM

Rapid Reboot is in "myserverbeach". If the server becomes inaccessible, instead of calling and asking for a reboot, you can just login to serverbeach and hit the Rapid Reboot. For emergencies only, but it's great to have.

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 08:13 PM

Oh, ok cool. Thanks for the help.

QT_ · 01-18-2004, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

I'm probably going to go with the ServerBeach POWER2100 Debian server, I have a few questions:

1. Does anyone here run BIND on there server? How does it preform? I always thought running a nameserver behind a firewall is a bad idea?

All the Linux servers run BIND by default .. you may need to install it yourself on Debian though (apt-get install bind), and it performs pretty well even with more than 10,000 zones configured. The DNS root servers run BIND and they handle all of the .com, .net, and .org domains, so I'm sure it can handle anything you can throw at it.

Re: running a nameserver behind a firewall:
its actually a good idea, as long as you're not blocking DNS ports. ServerBeach doesnt have any firewall in place though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

2. What are the bad things about your server?

Nothing for me. I have a Debian server and I love it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

3. Can you upgrade banwdith and not for a haftey price?

There is no way to upgrade your bandwidth or purchase more at this time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

http://www.serverbeach.com/catalog/faq.php#4
=======================================
4. What are your network connections?
ServerBeach is multi-homed network (using Cisco Networking Gear) with connections that range from DS3 to OC3 through Allegiance and SBC. The servers will be on a 10 MBPS connection by default and each Server comes with 450 GB of Transfer.
=======================================

It's a 10mb line which is kind of shakey to me, but if you say the speed is awsome I'll believe it. Although when I hit the amount of customers that needs 450gigs a second I won't be using ServerBeaches hosting, I'll have my own data center somewhere

. Thanks for the welcome.

A 10Mbps port is enough for most people to get themselves in trouble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

What is the rapid reboot? Just a button to reboot your server? I can do this with 'shutdown -r now'

. But if ssh fails I guess that will be nice, unless of course ssh still fails when it reboots.

The Rapid Reboot is a hardware reset, similar to flipping the power switch off then on with your computer at home. Doing this can result in data loss or corrupted filesystems. Most operating systems cache a lot of information to memory instead of writing them directly to disk (to enhance performance) .. if you reset a system that has not yet commited the cache to disk, any recent changes will be lost.

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 09:04 PM

Thanks for the BIND information, and I'm glad to hear you like it

. I can't wait until I get it.

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 09:05 PM

I think I saw you on the SB servers, do you work for them?

QT_ · 01-18-2004, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

Thanks for the BIND information, and I'm glad to hear you like it

. I can't wait until I get it.

ServerBeach is a great provider to turn to if you know your way around systems administration and you don't require support (they hold the true definition of unmanaged servers

). Great speeds, reliable network and hardware. If you ever get in a bind, their forums are a great place to turn to.

John Scott · 01-18-2004, 09:08 PM

I just thought I'd add this: 500 GB Bandwidth is a lot. Last month, one of our servers did just 49GB. That's with 100+ websites on it.

This server that IMR is on did 73GB last month. One other server did about the same. I've never had a single server do over 200GB a month.

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 09:10 PM

Really? How dependant are your customers? Most of mine are music fan sites *loads of graphics* and videos. Others are flash designers, and I have never calculated my bandwidth so I'm guessing if I lend 25 gigs per user unless paid for more I will be safe.

EDIT: I don't think I'll need their tech support. I like unmanaged hosting, that means I don't have to follow any rules on certain things.

QT_ · 01-18-2004, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

I think I saw you on the SB servers

You probably did if you've browsed their forums.

On another note, welcome to the IMR Forums.

John Scott · 01-18-2004, 09:40 PM

About bandwidth...

www.wroughtironforge.com only did 100MB last month.

www.thedreamride.com only did 4MB last month.

www.rockyforkinn.com did under 100MB last month.

www.handcrafted-art.com did 700MB last month.

www.suzuki-bikes.com has tons of pictures and even allows forum members to upload pictures, and on top of that it does an outstanding amount of traffic - 2,300+ unique visitors per day - and did only 11GB last month.

That's why we can oversell bandwidth so much. Each account could have 100GB per month allotment, but they'd never use it. You gotta remember, most websites never do even 10GB per month.

karrot-x · 01-18-2004, 09:50 PM

Ya, I know, I'm just a cautious person

. Thanks for the info.

EDIT: One more thing, does Serverbeach give you a tool to calculate bandwidth? Or do they leave that to you?

John Scott · 01-18-2004, 09:59 PM

I use WebHost Manager and cpanel - both of which track bandwidth usage. I highly recommend WHM.

QT_ · 01-18-2004, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrot-x

Ya, I know, I'm just a cautious person

. Thanks for the info.

EDIT: One more thing, does Serverbeach give you a tool to calculate bandwidth? Or do they leave that to you?

At the moment, bandwidth tracking is the responsibility of the customer. There has been talk of ServerBeach providing this sometime in the future.

fishfreek · 01-19-2004, 08:39 AM

I help manage a guys server and he did approx 400GB last month. He offers video's and such for download. If you think 10mb/sec connection is to small then your really going to find yourself in trouble with only 700GB bandwidth per month as at least with a 10mb/sec connection it will take you a few weeks at max bandwidth to blow past your limit. At $5/gig over going over can be fairly costly.

My biggest forum takes about 35-40gig a month. And thats with a couple thousand visitors per day.

To reach the max bandwidth limit on the 10mb/sec connection you would need to have alot of folks on some serious high speed connections getting some very large files.

You can also contact sales at any time to get an update on what they say your bandwidth has been for a given billing period.