Slashdot Mirror
How Much Do You Pay to Host Your Website?
DosGusanos asks: "I was curious how much people around the U.S. and around the world pay for hosting. Obviously size in cabinets/rack units/square feet, included features such as bandwidth, UPS/generator, management, etc. factor in. The configuration I am particularly interested in is three machines, one www, one search, and one database. The machines would be hooked up to a T1 and networked to one another over Ethernet. Anyone paying for colo or hosting in this same ballpark? How happy/upset are you with your provider?"
but, Webhostingtalk's website is basically a forum with user reviews, recommendations, and gripes dedicated to exactly the questions you seek answers too ;)
At $3.50/Gig, I ended up paying almost 50% over my base fee for a month of popularity.
As a result, I moved the more bandwidth intensive part of the site off to a cheaper server with beefier specs, and felt the pain right away. These guys have no monitoring included, ignore email requests for support, and charged me a consulting fee when I needed my server backed up and wiped because of a Slapper infection.
Not that I blame them, since it's not really managed hosting they are selling, but the difference in service is tremendous.
If you can afford Rackspace - go for it. I think they even have an option to give you a private net work -- link your servers directly one to the other so intra-server communitation doesn't count towards your total bandwidth cap.
Are you on drug(s)?!! Why not?
I like them a lot. $100 / month for a dedicated server that's a 1ghz duron with 512 meg of ram and 60 gig hard drive. That's more than enough power for the sites I host. For $1000/month with them, I could get a site that can't be slashdotted.
The downside is support. They only have a mail ticketing system, and you're pretty much left to handle your own problems, but that's okay. I pretty much considered it a learning experience installing / configuring my own BIND, Apache, Mysql, and GD.
The best part of this is that they include 400gig/month in bandwidth to use. It would take some serious bandwidth to suck all that up. It's burstable too.
FYI they're based in Texas. If you're looking for discounted hosting, go for it!
Of course, don't cry to me if you run a commerce site with them. It's my belief that any site that's a breadwinner for a company should run at a place that has 24/7 support. A ticketing system is fine, just make sure there's always someone there to answer it.
Overall, I like them. Cheap enough to keep me happy, and it's my own machine with root so I can install/config and run whatever I want.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
Eryxma Networks really has done a great job for me. They use GNU/Linux servers and are dirt cheap (right now 1GB of storage and 50GB of transfer for 3 bucks/month).
the service has been great. the ceo even gave me his AIM screenname. I recommend them highly.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
We pay roughly 6,000 per year. This includes the software, the hardware, the bandwidth and the service. (This is through http://www.ezboard.com) We have been very happy with the service, receiving assistance from the company CEO when need be. Their software/hardware is also capable of handling very long threads, (our longest being over 12,000 posts and 130mb for the text only before becoming corrupted.)
I do security
Isn't Rackspace blacklisted for being host to a bunch of spamhausen?
Politech got blacklisted several times.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Also, the WebHostingTalk forums have a dedicated forum subsection for having companies compete over you... it was somewhat amusing when I did so. I got like 5 responses within an hour, plus 5 or so e-mails. But then I realized that the bandwidth I'd require was much greater than I anticipated (or could afford), so I edited my post saying something like that. And they're still e-mailing me. Like once a week...
well - speakeasy isnt so great for some customers. I had my DSL through them (covad/northpoint) and when PacBell put a CO in across the street from my house that offered full DSL speeds I wanted to switch (or at least upgrade).
Speakeasy could only offer me sdsl at 128k - for $60/month... PacBell wanted $49 for 1.5/384 adsl.
I wrote them a bunch to find out the terms of my contract - and was told different things by different people. So I decided to leave.
Since I told speakeasy that I was going to leave they were trying to charge me $350 for terminating the contract. I told them no way I was going to pay that. I told them of all the conflicting info I got from all their service reps, and told them that since they couldnt even clearly show me the terms of my service, their claim that there was a termination fee of that size was BS. They said they'd have to bill me for it. I said go ahead and bill me - but there is no way in hell you're ever getting any money from me. I have a better service here - you cant/wont match it, and you want more money for me. We can go to court if you like - but I doubt you would win. They billed me once. I mailed them all the email correspndence I had with them - and they dropped it.
The same guys who host php.net and mysql.com mirrors have an absolutely amazing deal for website hosting. Ten bucks a month for full Unix development environment (with javac, gcc, crontab, and all that stuff), a real shell account, and a sweet webserver setup: PHP, MySQL, cgi-bin (with Perl and Tcl), anonymous FTP, SSL, and a whole mess of POP features. Plus, they have onsite UPS/generator, a gigabit backbone, and lots of other hardware goodies.
Running your own server loads of fun, don't get me wrong, but $10 a month for all this stuff seems worth it. Unless you really have money to burn, it's impossible to the same kind of performance out of your own server... Do you think Verizon will run a gigabit backone and Hubble power connector to my house for $10?
Hurricane Electric http://www.he.net/
You've just advised people to engage in a behavior which can justify their termination. Did you know that?
Just curious.
C//
I don't usually post but I'm very satisfied with my Johncompanies FreeBSD Box
I pay $65 / Month
- root on your own server
- Full FreeBSD Filesystem
- 2 gigabytes disk space
- 40 Gigs transfer / Month
- Firewall access
- Unlimited tech support
- We supply the hardware
I'm currently running a very kickass apache box with an incredible uptime (they've been down once and they weren't really down, just a network problem, 90% of my customers were able to still reach the sites)
I'm hosting over 30 domains on there, not low bandwidth either. And I'm probably going to be buying more boxes to setup a web serving cluster as the number of users increases
The support is fast fast fast. I get replies in less than 5 minutes in some cases.
http://www.johncompanies.com/
Geez, if you feel that strongly, maybe you shouldn't post under AC.
/. readers where the best deal is?
Also, did you ever think that it's the editors who are too lazy to do their own research?
CmdrTaco: Did you see the latest bill for our website - aack! We've got to stop posting such big stories, or else we're going to have to find another provider.
michael: Why don't we ask the
timothy: They've been pretty pissed at us lately - have you seen the comments?
michael & CmdrTaco: No.
timothy: Why don't we pretend it's from another person, then...
CmdrTaco: Great! It's so crazy, it just might work!
ask the sales team a few questions:
;)
Ask how many internet connections they have and what speed with each one.
Ask how many NIC cards will be in your machine.
Ask what your max Mbps is
(This always gets you put on hold) Ask what the machines bus speed is
Ask if RAM upgrades/HD additions are priced per month or if there is a one time fee.
Ask if they will search your box for illegal materials. (you be surprised how many said yes) That means you are not the only one with root. so throw them out of the list.
Ask if you get unlimited users accounts. (dell host caps you at 100 pops) thats not full service!
Ask what the minimum billing is for support. some have 30 min some have 1 hr.
Ask if they use a in house linux distribution.
Ask if they offer security bullitens and offer links to patches.
call there tech support before you sign up and tell them you are a customer. (play the dumb blonde) see how they treat you.
Ask your salesman for their cellphone. (that gets some laughs)
Look up the server companies IP block then hit em on ARIN and see if they own a substantial block or if they own one at all!!
Ask if you are your own dns or if you have to use theirs.
Ask if your on a virtual dedicated.
Ask what the levels of discount are per GIG over allocation.
Ask who owns them
Ask about offsite back ups storage., how far away is it?
Ask if you are allowed on their property
Ask the price of additional IPS
Ask if you can tour the facility
Ask if you can ethernet multiple boxes to bypass bandwidth fees.
Ask if you can host adult sites
Ask if your machine has a control panel that support insists you use. (cobalt!!! ahhhh!!!)
ask how long they have had a business license.
and last, ask about the spam policies and what they consider spam and what the fine is per message.
that should help with the fodder
pretzel_logic
I have three servers at Rackspace with the Private Net between them. They really are amazing. Service is actually *service* and they truly care about customers. It's amazing, and I'm more cynical than most people, but Rackspace truly impresses me.
My web pages are not just static HTML, either. This site serves an hour-long interactive training course that certifies over 3000 people a day. And the servers have been working perfectly. In fact, one of my three machines there has an uptime of 355 days (tomorrow is a whole year!!!). They're all running Linux, of course.
--- witty signature
Find one that looks adequate for your needs, then ask about it on webhostingtalk.com, to make sure it's reputable.
Free unix account: freeshell.org
There's one little thing about Rackspace that they, of course, neglect to tell you; They're a spammer nest.
Rackspace has a long history of being apathetic at best to spamvertized sites, despite their anti-spam Terms of Service. As of 3-Dec-02, they're still hosting at least 20 or so spammers, and chunks of their netspace may still be listed on SPEWS.
Cheap or not, good customer service or not, I would be very wary about selecting Rackspace for any sort of hosting.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
CmdrTaco: Did you see the latest bill for our website - aack! We've got to stop posting such big stories, or else we're going to have to find another provider.
michael: or maybe if we just stopped posting the same stories twice...
------
"And may your days be long upon the earth."
** This is a plug, I admit it, I love Rackspace **
Rackspace rules them all. We've been with them for over two years now and I don't believe we will ever leave them. We've done our shopping, but compare Rackspace to any of the others and you'll realize something - these guys REALLY know what they're doing.
We will be at 9 servers with them in a couple of days (just added 3 more). We use just under 1.5TB of bandwidth every month. At this level of usage, we get it for $2/GB. That is certainly not bad. Given that their network has never had an unexpected outage (not that I can remember at least) I feel it's very justified.
The folks there _really_ know what they're doing. The sales guys don't try to be technical guys, the sales engineers are on the ball. The tech support folks can solve a lot of the problems right there but when the shit hits the fan they'll send you straight to the guy in the data-center. I've spoken to one of the founders (something technical, don't remember what) and I didn't even ask for him, they just conferenced him in.
We've been in some pretty bad spots before (lost most of a RAID 5 array once) and they've pulled us out of the gutters.
I've had security folks tell me the Rackspace network is very secure. But I cannot personally confirm this.
We're not a big customer of theirs by no means. We're TINY. I know they've got some very large contracts but they really do care about us. The
little guys.
I could easily go on for hours here so I will stop now. If you can afford it, get Rackspace. You will not be sorry.
Did you read the link you posted? On the first page there were several horror stories similar to what I described: overcharged, underprovisioned, horrible speeds and/or latency, rude/lying/unresponsive customer service, etc. etc. Their advertising promulgates an image of them as being a place that caters to geeks by providing a low-fluff connection and great service for a premium, which is 100% A-OK, but as I and other people have observed, they're not very good about living up to their advertising. Sure, there are a bunch of 5 star reviews, but there are also a bunch of 1 star reviews. If i had the time to flame them good, believe me, I'd be typing in pages there and giving them a ZERO star rating if the form allowed it... Maybe, being *very* charitable, it's a case of growing too fast on their part... Honestly I as a paying customer shouldn't have to care about that though. I was paying for 1500/768, getting more like 300/200, and that with 300-500 msec pings to grace.speakeasy.net (their shell server) or any of the servers where I work (an ad firm/programming shop here in Austin).
If speakeasy.net is the cream of the crop, the others must shoot your dog or something. I honestly don't see how an ISP could be any worse.
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
Okay, so my website is hosted by the university that I attend, so I suppose the package deal (including room and board) isn't that bad...I mean, I get a BA out of it in the end as well! -tcp
I'm glad you mentioned this. I've been using Verio for the last couple years. Everything has been really good, except for little skirmishs with the blacklists.
When I first signed up, just about two years ago, there were just a couple of the minor blacklists listing a netblock that had my IP number. The listings were for a spammer that Verio had kicked off months ago. I contacted the blacklist maintainers (only one of those lists was could be be called "maintained"). It's remarkably difficult to contact these people. Eventually the better list dropped the block, and that gave me enough leverage to convince the other two to do the same (the spammer had long since moved on for greener pastures).
But in the last year or so, there's been a whole new crop of spammer acusations. I can't verify them... it reads like a whole lot of conspiracy theory. But a couple weeks ago it even got posted as a slashdot story (so it must be true, right?)
I called Verio. Before the slashdot story, they would just deny everything. They didn't admit they were catering to any spammers, but they didn't flat out deny that no spammers were operating on their network.
Verio claims that their hosting business is very separate from their network provision services (T1, T3, OC-something lines.... more bandwidth than I can envision). So far, the more reputable blacklists haven't waged netblocks on Verio's hosting side, or at least the few IP numbers allocated to my little server.
So because of these escalating wars between the spammers and blacklists, if you intend to host a mail server, the ISPs record about hosting spammers should be your top concern. Saddly, there are a lot of mixed messages and it's hard to tell if any particular provider is any good. Two years ago, for example, Verio was listed at the top of SpamCop's page of providers with exemplary anti-abuse policies.
Recently I've been making some tenative plans for jumping ship from Verio. Other than this spammer/blacklist issue, and one little incident where they didn't notify me in advance of (supposedly) scheduled maintainance (they claim they did), the decicated hosting service from Verio has been great.
But hitting blacklists, even occasionally, is a real show-stopper. For my little site, we do a light amount of e-commerce. When a confirmation email to a customer bounces (they placed the order over the web), we look like a little fly-by-night company out to steal their credit card info. Of course, emails bounce for a variety of other reasons, so we've gotten into the practive of picking up the phone and calling them with the tracking number.
The sad news is that there doesn't seem to be any really good way of determining if a provider is hosting or provisioning bandwidth to spammers. Even if everything looks good in advance (as it did 2 years ago with Verio), things change.... and they change more rapidly that you'd want to move providers when everything else is running so smoothly.
I wish I could recommend Verio, as the service, performance and reliability has been excellent. But this spammer problem and the reaction from the blacklisting community is definately something you don't want to get caught in the middle of.
I'm taking Rackspace off my short list of "plan B" options if the Verio/blacklist situation gets worse. Rackspace was actually at the top of my list.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools