Battle for Dedicated Server

[Dustin Verley]

Alright, now I am looking to purchase a dedicated server later in 2004. I was looking at 2 and need some help and recommendations, people, please help me out here.

The 2 I have been looking at are VoxRox Communications and FastServers. Now I know Fastservers is known I believe for hosting phpBB, which is a good factor to hold such a large community.

The thing is, I need some people's input for which one I should go with. I am going to be using it for my Online Clothing Store, and the thing is that the site will possibly alone be 5MB of space. Now, here is the next thing, I will have lots of photos (betwen 100-1000) for displaying of the clothing purposes.

Can somebody help me out here, thanks.

[tranz]

FastServer will be highly recomended here as this forum is hosted by them.

I tell most people when asking this question is to go with your gut feeling. You are your only best source for advice.

[Dustin Verley]

True True, 'eh, FastServers is more advanced and how about their response time/customer support, any recommendations on that?

[tranz]

I wouldnt know. Chicken should be able to let you know more about that.

[Chicken]

I have no experience with VoxRox Communications (and thus can't really compare the two), however as Tranz mentioned, HostHideout is on a FastServers server. Although we've had few problems, when I've needed support, they've always been fast with email response. I originally chose them due to their phone support though, and the couple times I've called I've gotten right through and the issue has been resolved (server down, etc.) and that's been great.

I wouldn't recommend anyone I wouldn't use myself, and likewise I wouldn't use anyone I wouldn't recommend.

[Dustin Verley]

Alright, what about their uptime, in a percentage rating, what would you give it Chicken, anything good or bad?

Also, what else could you tell me, that may help me in the future, like what is their Control Panels that FastServers use?

[Samuel]

I have several servers with fastservers, and have been with them going on 3 years. Their network uptime is not only good enough for most people, it is of a high enough level that I consider it very nice to be on their network.

The support is stellar, dealing with real people there, wouldnt dream of going anywhere else for the foreseable future.

[Chicken]

Originally posted by Dustin Verley:

Alright, what about their uptime, in a percentage rating, what would you give it Chicken, anything good or bad?
When the forum moved (recently) it moved from one server to another, but also from the HE datacenter to their new Iowa datacenter. I'm fairly certain that all new servers will be at the Iowa datacenter, but you'd have to ask them to be sure. HE was excellent (aside form that slammer worm deal which took us down for two days). That was really ever the only issue there that I can recall. Been early but the Iowa dc seems fast and we've had zero problems so far there as well.
Also, what else could you tell me, that may help me in the future, like what is their Control Panels that FastServers use?
We use cPanel, though I'm not sure what else they offer. Contact them if you're looking for something else.

[Dustin Verley]

Well I think Plesk has a nice smooth interface but CPanel is nice too, so I am deciding between them 2.

Do they offer Cross Server connections. Also, can you buy like 100Mbps ports, like 'eh VoxRox does, I am also looking for one with a datacenter nearby my homestate (Delaware) and VoxRox is located in New York. VoxRox has some good things but I don't want to shoot for somebody who will probably not be as good as the other, but with your recommendations I am leaning towards FastServers right now. Where are their datacenters anyway?

[Ross]

I've used fastservers and would reccomend them %100. Their support and network quality is awesome.

[Chicken]

Originally posted by Dustin Verley:

Do they offer Cross Server connections.
You'd have to ask them.
Where are their datacenters anyway?
http://fastservers.net/network/datacenters.html

[sonixi]

Originally posted by Chicken:
HE was excellent (aside form that slammer worm deal which took us down for two days). .

Eeek! 2 days of downtime?

[Chicken]

Every datacenter or provider seems to have one momma disaster, heh. Wasn't the highpoint. You may recall it took out a sizable portion of the internet, though I'll admit they were slow at recovering from it. Luckily (as not to dwell on really the only major issue and ignore all the good stuff), it was a lesson learned and their attitude and communication about the issue was reassuring. Things have been A++ since.

Years ago I was in the same position. Pick a provider out of many that seemed good, try to steer away from those who seemed flakey. You research, get recommendations, research some more, and go with your gut.

[Dustin Verley]

A very well said statement Chicken, :D

[FastServers]

Since the SQL Slammer we have since offered free server updates on all servers and do regular scans of our network. Bottom line is we don't allow you to operate a server that is a security threat and have in fact disabled a number of server for not staying up to date. Kernel Upgrades, Security Updates, MS Patches and Service Packs --> Free All the Time, because your security is our security :)


Aaron Phillips
FastServers.Net
www.fastservers.net

[Dustin Verley]

Hey hey, like your enthusiasm there FastServers, do you allow cross-connect servers, which I think is where you can run 2 or more servers at one time? Alsol, have you installed the new Service Pack (SP2) 2 from Microsoft yet or would the person who runs the server have to do it? Also, do you use servers that are used over and over again? If so, what do you do to clear them out and how do you restore them for the next user?

[Imago]

Originally posted by Dustin Verley:
the site will possibly alone be 5MB of space. Now, here is the next thing, I will have lots of photos (betwen 100-1000)
I do sincerely wonder why do you need a dedicated server with the above requirements. Get a small VPS on SCSI drives and be happy.

[Dustin Verley]

I don't know, there is a future and who know's I may have more stuff that will out-limit a standard VPS, why not get something that will savvy up my site play skills, plus dedicated servers mostly have good uptime and maybe I can add on a managed server option, :)

[FastServers]

Yes we do cross connects and setup Virtual networks, depending on the server you have $50 one time fee per server if it needs a 2nd NIC.

Service Pack 2 will come pre-installed and we install all hotfixes and patches for you. Depending on your service level this is either per request or automated if you have a paid service level.

Also, do you use servers that are used over and over again?

All of our servers are new, from time to time we have a server auction and sell some of our older equipment or overstocked equipment that hasn't sold, but we really don't have that many used servers.

If so, what do you do to clear them out and how do you restore them for the next user?

Yes, they go through a hardware certification, low level format, fan replacement, and then re-installed before handing them over to customers.

[Dustin Verley]

Alright, not a bad piece of company. Let's see, I still have a few more questions to ask.

1) Has the servers been equipped with the newest PHP5 software?

2) Is the Microsoft servers equipped with the new Plesk 7?

3) Are your servers SSL Compliant and have SSI?

4) What version of MySQL does your servers run?

5) What the average uptime your servers usually have?

6) Do you allow merchant accounts to be used on your servers?

7) Are there any other benefits members can get?

8) What day of the month are payments to be made on?

9) Do you allow MP3's (I may be adding just a few, possibly 4-10 at a time)?

10) Can I have 2 seperate servers that don't cross connect?

Now, as you may of read, I am planning to purchase a server for my online clothing business and was just
wondering a few more bit slight detail things.

-- Do you offer more backup space then 500MB (for like an additional charge of some sort?)
-- What forms of payment acceptance do you offer?
-- Do you offer GameServers?

That should be it for now.

[FastServers]

1) Has the servers been equipped with the newest PHP5 software? Not by default, but if you choose not have a control panel on it PHP5 is not a problem, otherwise Plesk 7 does not have support for PHP5 yet.

2) Is the Microsoft servers equipped with the new Plesk 7?
Yes, the 30 domain license is free of charge.

3) Are your servers SSL Compliant and have SSI?
Yes, they are SSL compliant and Plesk comes pre-installed with SSI support.

4) What version of MySQL does your servers run? For windows, its mySQL 3.23

5) What the average uptime your servers usually have? network at our new DC has been 100% uptime since January, overall uptime per server depends on a lot of factors such as the applications used, server load, and actual hardware configuration choosen for the specific use.

6) Do you allow merchant accounts to be used on your servers?
Yes.

7) Are there any other benefits members can get?
Great Service and a multi-tiered service support plan, http://www.fastservers.net/manage.html

8) What day of the month are payments to be made on?
The day you sign up, its anniversary billing.

9) Do you allow MP3's (I may be adding just a few, possibly 4-10 at a time)?

Yes, as long as they are legal.

10) Can I have 2 seperate servers that don't cross connect?
Yes.

Now, as you may of read, I am planning to purchase a server for my online clothing business and was just
wondering a few more bit slight detail things.

-- Do you offer more backup space then 500MB (for like an additional charge of some sort?)

Yes, pricing is about $5 per 1GB of space with discounts based on provisioning more space.

-- What forms of payment acceptance do you offer? Visa, Master Card, AMEX, Discover, PayPal, Wire Transfer, Western Union, Company Check.

-- Do you offer GameServers? We don't offer them as gameservers, but any of our servers can be used as a gameserver.

[Dustin Verley]

Hmmmmmmm, sounds like a great community. Here is what I was really looking for:

Microsoft Server 2003
Plesk 7 Control Panel
Unlimited Domains License
MySQL 3 or Higher
PHP4 or Higher
Perl
Cron Jobs
SSL & SSI Support
CGI-Bin
WHM (I need the server for 2 sites really, :-))

And a few other things that aren't really important, if you can offer them things listed above, your talking to a future customer. So can you?

[FastServers]

Dustin:

All of the items + more can be offered by our company. I am assuming you are looking for WHM/cPanel on the 2nd server? If you want to get some pricing from us on the server please e-mail us at sales@fastservers.net with your hardware requirements and you will get a quote from either myself or one of our Sales Engineers.

[Dustin Verley]

No, I was originally thinking of using one server. Use half for my clothing site, which I know will not take the whole server and use the other half for a teen hangout site, with Digichat hopefully. May take longer for that because of the server license for unlimited users, you know.

[Chicken]

If you have specific sales questions, please try to email those directly to them and discuss it off-board. It seems you two are pretty much at that point. Best of luck to both.

[Dustin Verley]

Truley, alright, will do later on thanks.