Input re Onsmart

[MrManager]

I've seen this company advertised EVERYWHERE but I would love to know if ahyone has ever had any experiences- good or bad.

Thoughts anyone?

Website I'm inquiring about is:
OnSmart
http://www.onsmart.com

[Robert]

My friend has a VPS with them and he says that despite them being good, their tech support is sort of on the "i dunno anything" side.

[interactive]

Robert, I'm looking for a cheap VDS. Overall (don't really need support) does your friend think they're ok?

[Robert]

I'll send him here and see if he will respond

[CharlestonJosh]

Hi,

I'm Robert's friend with the onsmart VDS account.

I've had my OnSmart VDS account since February. Overall, I really love the service they provide.

My use for the server is for personal dumb stuff that really doesn't even matter. It's like my hobby. The server is paid by a couple of hosting accounts that I have on the server. So, no professional hosting company (or anything of that nature) exists on my partition. I have no control panel, or management tools. I manage it all using SSH, text files, vi, and the /etc dir.

I decided to go with a Virtuozzo based server instead of a dedicated account because it was much cheaper. I was really skeptical about going VDS because I like to compile some of my servers, and I like to admin the machine using console/SSH (versus cpanel/confixx/webmin/etc). I figured that I would run into some problems doing that, and I did.

When my account was originally setup, I was on some type of production server in which they allocate a certain amount of CPU/mem that cannot be changed. After I started compiling, removing the RH7.3 RPMs, and messing around, I ended up having some memory problems (servers wouldn't start, memory allocation errors, etc). I went to their online chat support, told them, and they offered (without any hesitation) to move me to another server in which they could monitor my kernel/mem/cpu usage and allocate different amounts based on my need. The downfall was that they would have to give me new IPs (I believe the servers were in different physical locations). I had already registered my DNS servers, and it was a pain in the rear to switch over, but I did.

Since then, I've had small memory problems (I believe 2). I just speak with them, and they up my amount without any problems or additional charges. It's instant, and has caused me no problems (ie: my servers don't just stop working. it usually happens when i compile a new server and try to start it).

Overall, I love them. I don't think I could get a better VDS to fit my personal need. Being very demanding as far as linux needs versus "I need my cpanel fixed" causes me a TON of problems with their support. I don't believe they keep any type of support log, and each time I have a problem, I have to go through the whole speel about how I don't have a control panel on my server, and confixx is not installed, etc/etc. It's annoying, but they're very friendly about being not knowledgeable.

I really believe that if you just want to admin the server using confixx or cpanel (or whatever panels are out there), you would have NO problem with OnSmart. If you're in my situation with backend needs, you might have to jump through a couple hoops, but after you're setup - it's an awesome service for the price.

So, after all my ranting - I'd say go for it. They're not bad at all. My compaints are over petty stuff that really does not matter in the long run. They really work hard to keep me appeased and happy. It's just that a lot of times they don't really understand what I'm doing, lol.

If you email me, or IM me (CharlestonJosh / AOL), I can give you a user account on my server so that you can compile something, or play around to see what it's like. (I know I wish I could have done that while I was deciding.) I can also give you suggestions on watching your bandwidth without a cpanel and some suggestions for their VDS setup.

I really hope this helps,
-Josh

josh[(at)]joshskidmore.com
http://www.joshskidmore.com

[Robert]

That isn't my friend *looks around*

[rusko]

no experience with their service, but they are on an excellent network.

paul