Dear Lazyweb, what’s best dedicated server/virtual private server offering?
My basic requirements are:
- web hosting (apache/php/mysql)
- mail host, including smtp and imap servers
- root shell (ideally running Debian)
- some small amount of backup space (say 3GB or so)
- reasonably cheap (roughly $70/mo, ideally less)
Right now I have Dreamhost, which has been reasonable for what I pay, which is $16/mo. They run Debian and, aside from root, give me everything else that I want. However, I’m starting to get really annoyed at being on shared hosting. Also, they’re moving everyone over to new servers, and when they do, I won’t be able to use procmail filtering anymore. So I’m looking for alternatives.
One of my friends had used ServerPronto, which meets all my requirements. However, his experience convinced me that I don’t want to be using ServerPronto.
So, what should I use?
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Linode.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I run some stuff off of a vpsland server. It’s cheap, and I could use kernel modules, but I never do.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
redwoodvirtual.com
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I’ve used linode and slicehost to varying degrees with much satisfaction.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I am using a service started by a friend called tilenetworks.com. The whole thing runs on KVM and you get 120GB of hard disk, 512MB of RAM, and a HE.net pipe to the internet. The setup is redundant, but there is no backup space per se. The whole package is $40/mo and there’s actually a guy you get to talk to. Because it’s still starting up, there are a couple growing pains sometimes involving reliability, but overall I really like it. The web site isn’t all prepared yet so you should send him an email at nolan à sigbus point net if you’re interested. I would spend the extra money on amazon s3 and a backup program like Brackup.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I really like Slicehost, they’d meet all your needs and then some, from the looks of it. I’ve heard good things about Linode, too, but I’ve only used Slicehost.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I highly recommend Gandi Hosting.
Technical arguments: Highly competent. Really inexpensive, particularly with a FOSS developer discount: $7.50/month/share. 5Mbit/s of *unmetered* bandwidth per share, scaling linearly with the number of shares. 256MB of RAM per share, also scaling linearly. Scalable up to 32 shares. Some really nice EC2-style provisioning and APIs. Virtual server with full root and no oversold resources. They supply mail and DNS servers for use either as primary or as a backup to your own. Great management interface. Great domain name provider as well.
Non-technical arguments: Supporters of Debian. Domain name provider of kernel.org. Supporters of various other alternative projects. Very transparent in their operation. Huge privacy advocates, particularly compared to other providers.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I’ve been with aktiom.net for a while now — they’re pretty good, and they’ve stuck by their SLA without even needing any prodding. Not the cheapest out there though. They did a free upgrade (iirc) for the server hosting the darcs repository, so they might be amenable to offering discounts to free software folks.
November 4th, 2008 at 3:22 am
http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/05/28/xen-hosting/
The above post and the comments may be of use to you.
I still haven’t actually rented a new virtual machine, I’ve got some of my stuff running on a friend’s machine at no charge and am still working out what to do next.
November 4th, 2008 at 4:58 am
If you don’t mind being confronted with a little German now and again, I’d suggest Hetzner (http://www.hetzner.de/hosting/produktmatrix/en-rootserver-produktmatrix/). Dedicated servers and good monthly bandwidth for quite cheap. And you can basically order it with Debian on top, but I usually reinstall/repartition from scratch. Service wise, I never hear them, which is as it should be. The only time I wanted to deal with them is when I had a disk failure, and it was promptly replaced when I called them. The German sometimes gets a bit in the way (I don’t speak it, but I do understand it more or less), but usually you can deal with them in English.
November 4th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I’ve been using vpsvillage (http://www.vpsvillage.com/) for the last year. They’re quite a pro-active bunch (they emailled all their customers about the Debian openssh key problem earlier this year) and I can’t remember having any downtime since starting with them.
Xen virtual hosts with full root SSH access, preinstalled operating systems including debian. $6 to $20 a month.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
http://vollmar.net/ – happy customer there with 2 virtual machines and 3 virtual domains (lonien.de, thedebianuser.org, and zareason.de). Debian root access from about 10 Euro/month for the v2-10 at vlinux.de.
Best,
Wolfgang
November 5th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Linode, seconded. Server provisioned in no time, decent set of web management tools and still (relatively) cheap. I have never ever used any other VPS provider, but I am positively impressed with the experience I have had so far with Linode.
Now, let me trash any credibility I might have and whorily suggest you register with my referral code:
89d4968d3bda071f68c05be87c57581fcd9f0574