February 11, 2004 | View Comments (28) | Category: Web Mastering
Summary: What do you look for when purchasing a dedicated server?
Next month will be dedicated server buying time for me. I have a few options with regards to partnering with some people, but thought I would throw out this subject for everyone to discuss. Since I am not very familiar with dedicated hosting what I want to know is what things should I look for from a host? Also if you have a dedicated server who do you host it with?
To broaden the topic please also let me know what webhosts you use if you are on a shared hosting account. If you own a hosting company, at least pretend you are not trying to market it in the entries ;) Don't worry, tomorrow you will get an entry with content.
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I've been through some bad hosting, and I haven't quite formed a complete opinion on my new host yet. So far, I'm happy.
I'm currently hosted at imhosted.com. They have amazing deals, really. I've got the Gold Plan 1 which is 3 GB of data storage, 100 GB monthly transfer, $30/month -- less, since I paid for 6 months at once. Pretty good deal and really easy to use cpanel and FAQs and such. I'd say they are worth looking into.
The email will occasionally go inaccessible a couple of times a week. Usually not for long, maybe 30 minutes. The FTP may also occasionally become inaccessbile for a couple of minutes. But rarely will the site itself go down. A marked improvement from my previous host, which had my site, email, FTP, et al, going down 1-2 days every week.
I'm pretty happy with the great deal I got, the many intuitive features and add ons, and the reasonable stability.
Alanna (http://www.virginmoistness.com)
A dedicated server is exactly what it sounds like - dedicated. Most outsourced webservers will put several domains / websites on one server. However, in a dedicated server solution, the entire server is dedicated to you and you only.
With this priveledge comes responsibility - as you are now more responsible for the software related installs, maintenance and support.
Typically, dedicated servers are more expensive than a regular hosted solution - but an advantage is that you can expand out more by having several sub-domains under your domain on the server. In other words, you can have 9rules.com cssvault.com, theroe.com...all under the same server, so you save money - in the long run.
Mark Fusco (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Just a clarification...
outsourced webservers (Hosting companies) will put several different / unrelated websites on one server...
Mark Fusco (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
I have over 120 domains hosted on my $35 a month plan right now. It's a reseller account so I have unlimited domains and unlimited subdomains. The support is fast and helpful all the time. I put in a helpdesk ticket with a low priority to have them upgrade my account, and had a response in less than 10 minutes, plus they had already upgraded my account. If you put in an emergency ticket, beepers go off and people get out of bed to check things out. Best support of any host I've used. Including Dreamhost.com, one of the big ones.
Derek Rose (http://www.twotallsocks.com/)
I'm hosting my site over at MediaTemple and am pretty happy overall. Being Canadian, I haven't found a lot of good quality hosting providers that are within my price range and that offer the services I need, so I'm stuck with mainly US-based ones to choose from.
None of this is a problem since I'm happy to never actually have to see the server my site is running on or have to worry about maintenance. I have enough of that to deal with already.
But MediaTemple has been really good so far. No complaints at all. They had everything setup for me very quickly and everything has worked. They're really good about notifying users if there will be any downtime and their plans look like they've improved some since I first signed up.
I've seen a lot of high-bandwidth and popular sites use them so there's got to be something to it.
Scott Boms (http://www.wishingline.com/blog/)
3 Gb of storage and 60 Gb of bandwidth spread out over 120 sites? Isn't that kinda spreadin' it thin?
If a couple of those sites get ultra-popular you'll be dead in the water.
Mark Fusco (http://www.lightpierce.com/ltshdw)
Most of them are very small local business sites. I actually use less than 10/60gb...
MediaTemple is popular because they give referral fees, so all of their clients promote the hell out of them. They also donate free hosting to most of the major design portals like K10K, which gives them a lot of free publicity. And a "cool" image. :)
Derek Rose (http://www.twotallsocks.com/)
Paul -
You might want to consider a *virtual* dedicated server rather than a true dedicated server. virtual private/dedicated servers are considerably less expensive than true dedicated servers, but still offer you root access and all the goodies. The only functional difference is you usually have less storage space on a VPS, but even that is usually a good number.
There was a good thread on /. about it earlier today. I'd be a little iffy about at least one of the initial hosts listed because it's a one man shop, but there are lots of others listed. But most of those didn't have all that much support, /. being the geek community it is. I use OLM/WebAxxs (two sister companies, OLM is higher performance, WebAxxs is lower price... still excellent performance, just no RAID), which offers 24/7 phone support with a very quick turnaround time. I pay 80 bucks a month for 3 gigs of storage (not including the OS and related files), I think 60 gigs of bandwidth, and a good amount of cpu and memory usage which I've only once pegged. It'd be 60 but I wanted to manage my DNS, too, which they charge extra for (you can either pay $20 a month for DNS stuff or they charge you $x per modification and do it for you)
I have 20 domains hosted on mine right now, about half of them are just development things or sites that don't get much traffic, and a couple get quite a lot of traffic. The only time I've ever had any problem with response that wasn't a network issue (they've had a couple of them, but then, all hosts do) was the other night when I hosed a MySQL query (cartesian join on two tables with 150K+ rows each === BAD idea), and all I had to do was ssh into the server and kill it.
One very important thing to look for is the SMTP port. Make sure whoever you choose is willing to have something in addition to port 25 open. This is because some ISPs (AOL in particular) hijack that port, so if you are logged into AOL and try to send mail through mail.9rules.com or whatever, it gets zapped to one of the AOL SMTP servers, which are shoddy and overloaded and don't work all the time, and to add insult to injury tag your email as having come through AOL, if it DOES make it through. (x-apparently-from header added by server). Not an issue for you, but if you have a client using AOL, you'll get CONSTANT complaints from them about how awful your server is and how they can't send mail... unless you have an alternate port for them.
Another thing to watch for is log files. On a dedicated or virtual dedicated server, log files count against your storage quota. By default, logrotate doesn't compress log files. Log files get big, fast. If you go in and edit logrotate.conf, you can set them to tarball when they're done (and switch them from weekly to nightly) and save a lot of storage space.
Oh, and I *used* to host through invite.net who were wonderful at first and then rapidly sank downhill and eventually sold us out to hugehosting.com, which sucked so much I dumped them within a few weeks. Bad support, bad attitudes, and they were planning to seriously hike our hosting fees.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
I have been doing business with (mt) Media Temple for quite some time, and have all of my sites (both professional and personal) hosted by them. I was previously with Hurricane Electric but while found their service and support to be excellent, I felt that their interests were more in the Enterprise market, since they stressed their Dedicated and Co-location services more. HE's lack of a control panel and other features (no sub-domains, POP3 e-mail only, etc...) strayed me to Media Temple. I have not looked back sense.
You have no doubt seen their (mt) Media Temple "hosted by" logo on a number of high-caliber web sites including Sony, Universal, Velocity Studios, k10k, and many more, including one of my own sites: MacZealots.com.
They started out as a "new media web design" firm and matured into a full-featured web host. They are privately held, and have a serious infastructure, being based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Media Temple is one of only a handful of hosting companies that offers Macromedia Flashcom services. Much of their success can be contributed to their personalized service.�Yes, you can actually pick up the phone and talk to them! I have done this before, and often correspond with their technicians on a first name basis.
Their support staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and have always responded to my requests in a timely fashion. Even on situations where I am asking the world of them, they have always been prompt it getting my problems solved and my questions answered - even in times when they have had to research and test what was causing the problems.
Media Temple is a top notch company, providing top notch service and employs a top notch staff. They continuously go above and beyond the call of duty.
While they cost a little more than the average hosting company, you ultimately get what you pay for. The best example I could give about Media Temple is that they are the "Apple Computer of Web hosting". Everything (mt) Media Temple does is quality, and their customer service is bar-none the best. From a customer's point of view, it shows.
If you want great service, at a competitive price, give a good look at (mt) Media Temple - you won't be disappointed. There network has been extremely reliable and has never let me down. There has only been one scheduled downtime in the 2 years or so that I have been with them, and it was a necessary security update that had to be addressed.
For a testament to their commitment of providing excellent customer support, there's a good interview / article over at Were-Here.com which underlines my outstanding experiences with them, and hundreds of customer testimonials on Media Temple's own website.
I trust all of my business to (mt) Media Temple and no one else. (and no I don't work for them, I am just one of a few thousand happy customers.)
Ryan J. Bonnell (http://ryanjbonnell.com/)
I have a dedicated machine from Ev1 Servers (formerly RackShack). There are many plans but they start around $100 and even the smallest plans have 700gb of bandwidth.
I am able to host a few friends/clients and cover cost (I offer low-key full-service hosting) and in return I get incredible freedom.
There are costs involved. Education is a big one. Particularly if you plan on reselling. With a full dedicated server you are responsible for everything! Including keeping everything up to date and secure. If anything originating from your server and causes any problems. You are required to fix it.
You are also the support team. If something goes wrong. You are the first person you get to call.
Having a hosting management/control panel system such as Cpanel helps a lot. But you still need to know what is going on.
That said I knew almost nothing when I started, but I gave myself a pre-paid month before I switched my domain over and started taking clients. It was a a lot of work during that month. But I learn a whole lot. And it has been quite successful.
Xian (http://xian.mintchaos.com)
I run three dedicated servers now, and at some point in the past I've had one with most of the major dedicated providers. Honestly I can't recommend doing it unless you have a fairly high degree of familiarity with Linux, even if (or especially if) you use a host automation package. Find a good host and stick with it. If you decide to go the dedicated route set up a box at home first from scratch, I recommend with Debian or Gentoo. Learn about locking it down, grsecurity, chroot. I'm starting to sound like one of those jaded unix guys with a long beard now. It can be rewarding but it's not a casual endeavor, so weigh all the options before getting into it.
Matt (http://photomatt.net/)
I host with MediaTemple as well, and am very satisfied with the service I've received.
I'm sure they hate me over there because I call them up at like 4am, talking about stuff like XSLT support within their PHP installation :) I've gotta give it to them though, they actually do know what they're talking about!
Mike (http://phark.net)
I'm not sure what puts me off more... media temple's price, or the way some people talk about them like they're reading out of a sales brochure. I think there were two nearly identical post to Ryan's on that slashdot thread I linked above, despite MT's focus being on shared hosting and their dedicated servers being less of a focus. It's cool that they offer flashcom, but anyone getting a dedicated server can RUN flashcom, as long as the host will open the port or they don't mind tunnelling or using an alternate port (When I was beta testing kaiwa --linux flashcom-- for MM, I disabled telnet and used port 23, for example. I only use SSH anyway.) But Derek noted above that they give a referral fee, which explains much.
As for control panels, most places offering dedicated servers have them either standard or as a free or inexpensive option, or you can install one yourself, ranging from free to moderately expensive. I like Ensim, but any of them work (though I've hated plesk every time I've tried it)
JC (http://http;//www.thelionsweb.com/weblog)
I am currently using 1and1.com for my hosting needs. I have a dedicated server that works fast, efficiently and most importantly the uptime is fantastic.
kartooner (http://www.kartooner.com)
Kartooner, does the control panel for the dedicated server at 1and1 have the same sort of issues that their shared hosting accounts have? My experience has been that even over broadband they're ridiculously slow and after you spend 15 minutes of waiting for pages to load while setting up, for example, an email account, the system then tells you that the email will be available for use in a few hours.
In looking at their stuff, it seems that wouldn't be the case since they give you a commercial control panel to use on the server, but I'm not 100% sure and was hoping to find someone like you who's already taken the plunge as it were.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
I haven't read all the comments so maybe this was already mentioned, but have you considered 'Virtual Dedicated Servers' or 'Virtual Private Servers'? Basicly you share the same hardware but are using a seperate instance if the web server. That way if another website cuases a server to crash it only causes that server to crash, not yours. And you usualy get all the same privileges and freedoms of a true dedicated server for less money. Here is a nice explaination and here is a list of some hosts that provide such a service. I provide these only to show the options available. I can not testify to the reliability of any of these services.
Note: I don't actualy use this at present. Although I am considering it and if anyone has any imput I would like to know what you think. Does anyone know any reliable hosts that offer such a service?
waylman
JC,
To be honest, through another affiliation I also take care of a website that uses shared hosting (courtesy of 1and1). My experience has been (as noted for the dedicated server) an excellent one. I haven't run into any problems using the control panel, be it slow bandwidth issues or what not.
Not only that, but I find their tech support to be informative and efficient. A welcome change to what I had with my previous hosting company who were inefficient not to mention slow as a turtle stuck in molasses.
kartooner (http://www.kartooner.com)
Then again, there is always Dynamic DNS.
http://dynamicdns.constanttime.com/
kartooner (http://www.kartooner.com)
Thanks, Kartooner. You must be the exception on the performance issue. It's good to hear their tech support is good. Do they offer phone support or just web-based? I've been debating moving from my current system to their second level root server.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
Admins that know what they are doing when you submit a request should be the # one thing to check before signing on with a dedicated server host. I personally recommend prohosters. Seriously though, if your admin doesn't know what they're doing, you end up suffering.
Super Genius (http://markshields.com/)
Yikes! I didn't realize the amount of negativity for 1and1. I suppose, however, this attributes itself to individual experience. A hosting service to Joe Blow could be the greatest gift to mankind (he'd be the one to praise it's features, etc.) while for Jack Blow it could be an atrosity. Again, individual experience.
The only issue I'm having as of late is transferring the domain. 1and1 has been extremely helpful, but really 100% of the issue is out of their hands. My previous host, XO is giving me the round-a-bout and it's become a headache to say the least. They are a "Global End User Partner" of Register.com and neither XO or Register.com are willing to help me.
I could probably refer this experience to a chap of mine and he might have a different opinion of Register.com. All I know is it has to be bad when XO (a partner) tells a customer (in this case me);
Sir, to be honest and I don't want to seem unprofessional -- I don't speak highly of Register.com. For the moment anyways their customer service is horrible.
JC, all I can say is there is no perfect hosting service out there. Not even one in which you host yourself, sadly.
kartooner (http://www.kartooner.com)
Oh, almost forgot -- they provide both phone and email support.
kartooner (http://www.kartooner.com)
I'd suggest taking a look at 1and1.com , which is actually part of the German United Internet. They are hugely successful in Germany. The nice thing that they are offering is your own dedicated server, full root, everything yours, do what you want, for $49 per month including 500 gb of traffic, 40gb harddisk, ... You can also have it managed by them if you want which ads $10 per month.
If you have a problem with the server, you go into the management interface and it reboots. You can also click a button and it will reinstall the server as it were at the start. If you do your backups right and your configuration right then you might be able to get it back up in a matter of hours if you brake it totally.
All in all a nice setup and they just started in the US and will likely have some nice special deals
Oliver Thylmann (http://oliver.thylmann.com)
Before you decide, check out the webhostingtalk.com forums for advice,suggestions, or reviews on a host.
Eric
If you have a problem with the server, you go into the management interface and it reboots. You can also click a button and it will reinstall the server as it were at the start. If you do your backups right and your configuration right then you might be able to get it back up in a matter of hours if you brake it totally.
That's not entirely correct. Yes you can reboot from the control panel even if the system is hard-locked (which is a very nice feature), but you can not re-install at the click of a button. They will re-initialize your server for free, but you have to send them a signed statement for security reasons. However, you can reboot the system into a rescue mode which loads a working system similar to Knoppix into memory and will allow you to mount the server's hard drives. This allows you to go in and make changes to the server in the event of a misconfiguration that is preventing you from gettign in normally. Another nice thing about the "rescue" mode, is that you can use that mode to bootstrap another linux distribution onto the system to replace their Red Hat-based distro. I'm actually in the process of compiling the Gentoo distro on my 1&1 server right now.
KillAllDash9 (http://www.pulpblog.com)
I think reseller hosting sucks personally. Just my opinion. Most webhosts just don't give you what you pay for, they impose this CRAP called "Hard limits" Which means if they give you a gig of space, you can only ASSIGN a gig of space, it's not actually what you use. That's why I like dedicated servers, you get what you pay for, you know exactly what your getting hardware wise.. Support can be an issue alot of the time. I'm with a place called www.burstband.net - they've been great. Been with em about 6 months. I would recommend em to anyone who cares. I wouldnt know about there reseller hosting though, i'm never doing that again after my experiences with two other hosting companys. BLAH! :/
Jake
"Which means if they give you a gig of space, you can only ASSIGN a gig of space, it's not actually what you use"
That only really matters if scrivs is planning to have people besides himself reselling his hosting. My server has a reseller thing, but I only use it to track the people who pay me for hosting... and oddly, there's no limit on storage space that I've noticed, just on bandwidth.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
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#1
I've told you about them before, but I'm currently using www.Insiderhosting.com. Right now I have 3gb of storage and 60gb of bandwidth for only $35 a month. They have semi-dedicated plans as well that are quite affordable.
But other than that I don't know anything about dedicated hosting. :)
Derek Rose (http://www.twotallsocks.com/)