Virtual Private Servers

[★ Blocks]

Anyone have experience with truly low-end virtual private servers? I know we have some linode users here, which is about as cheap as it seems to get for reputable hosts ($20/month).

 

There seem to be VPSs available for about $5/month, but they don't seem to be as professionally run. The site "Low End Box" lists a lot of them. I'm thinking about springing for one, just wondering if anyone has any advice.

[★ Lynx]

I use Linode, and I can vouch that they're excellent. Everspace also uses Linode. Edited January 19, 2011 by Lynx

[Hakaku]

Well what exactly are your needs in terms of getting a VPS? Do you seek to run a website, use it to host files, play around with Linux, host a game server?

 

I don't know much about all the different VPS services offered around, but as you noted, I have heard good things about Linode. Personally, however, I chose to go with VPSLatch because it provides managed hosting and so far I've found their support excellent. The prices are comparable to Linode, so it's not exactly all that cheap either.

[★ SD>Big]

VPSLatch has 20% off all plans for the next 3 days!

[🜲 PoLiX]

If web, a VPS is perfectly fine. You're visiting a site on one right now.

[★ Blocks]

Well what exactly are your needs in terms of getting a VPS? Do you seek to run a website, use it to host files, play around with Linux, host a game server?

All of the above, I guess. My living room server, though very trustworthy, is a bit of a power hog and doesn't have a dedicated IP. It's so old (dual Pentium III 750 MHz, 512MB DDR RAM) that I could easily buy a netbook that outperforms it, but for that price I could buy several years of a budget VPS. I want root access and the power to break and fix things.

 

One of the better deals I've found is $4.55/month (when you sign up for 12 months) for the following specs:

Disk space: 50GB

Guaranteed/Burstable RAM: 512/2028MB

IP Addresses: 2

Bandwidth: 1000GB/month

 

Seems like an incredible deal, but I'm a little skeptical about how long these VPS providers actually stay in business.

[🜲 PoLiX]

The issue with 90% of VPS companies... they over fill servers. So before you buy ANYTHING, get a statement from them on how many virtual servers of each package they put on 1 server. Typically when their prices seem too good, it is also because they'll squeeze 20 customers on 1 server with intentions they won't use all their ram, or much of the cpu. Then some points you find it bogging down, running like crap, or having issues. It is overselling with VPS essentially.

 

Knownhost, Wiredtree, Slicehost, Future Hosting, Liquid Web, ServInt, VPSLatch, Linode, & Softlayer are all good VPS hosts to look at. May not get "OMG" deals, but they all have many reliable good reviews.

[★ Xog]

www.simplexwebs.com

and you get 2 dedicated IPs

 

(it's what I'm using currently)

Edited January 20, 2011 by Xog

[L.C.]

Yup.. that's how overselling works.. except in the more "ethical overselling" you are supposed to expand and scale up as necessary to prevent customers from bumping into each other and taking the server to the limits as a whole. If you can't meet the demands that you promise, then you aren't being very ethical as a host for what and how you are doing.

 

Webhosting is easier to oversell, as you aren't physically promising certain system resources other than diskspace (hah, well, with like 99% of overselling webhosts out there -- at least the ones advertising "unlimited diskspace" -- are full of birdpoop when they make this promise). VPS is more risky.

 

With the right schedule, with the right price (to customers), etc, overselling would work well and ethically. Unfortunately, the extreme majority of people in the business of overselling are all in it for quick/get-rich-quick/fast/cheap money.

[★ Blocks]

As an update on this, I found an offer from ChunkHost to get a free 512MB RAM VPS for a month, so that postpones this question for a little bit, to when I'll likely have forgotten all about wanting a VPS. They seem fairly legit, though I did use a Visa gift card for their location verification.

[★ D1st0rt]

I had a linode for a while, didn't end up having enough time to use it to justify the expense

[★ 1587200]

I've been using rapidxen.com for a while now. Unmanaged unmetered VPS's for $8/mo. Their performance is awesome as is their control panel (OS re-installs on the fly, automated kernal changes, stats, etc) and their staff is pretty nice, as long as you don't bog down their network with torrents or other warez.