I’m looking for a Virtual Private Server host. The server I’m currently on is woefully underpowered for the handful of sites I running (on the plus side, it’s been free), and it’s high time that I moved my stuff to a box that’s up to the task.
Ideally, I’d like the following features:
- Virtual Private Server with at least 1GB of RAM (preferably with root access within my instance).
- SSH shell access.
- Decent monthly bandwidth allotment (at least 250GB/month).
- Plenty of disk space (25GB would be be plenty, but I can live with less).
- Hosting of multiple web/email domains.
- PHP5 and MySQL 5.
- Ability to configure many email alias fowards within each domain.
- Procmail for mail filtering.
- DNS hosting, preferably with the ability to directly edit my own zone files, but I’ll live with a web interface if I have to.
Those are listed roughly in order of importance. I don’t think any of these requirements are out-of-line, as I’ve seen shared hosting accounts with much nicer stats going pretty cheaply. But I’d really rather be on a VPS than on a normal shared host.
I’m interested in any recommendations. But please don’t comment with “I heard that so-and-so is good.” I need to hear from those with actual direct experience with particular hosts (the good and the bad).
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23 Comments
I like http://slicehost.com. They’re disk space/plan ratio is a little skimpy, however.
I’ll be another person to recommend Slicehost. I’d go no where else for VPS.
I’ve been a happy customer of http://www.bytemark.co.uk/ for quite a while, they’ve offered excellent service.
They also offer a 10% discount for authors of free sofware.
I’d go with Future Hosting http://www.futurehosting.biz
I’ve been with them for quite a while. I’ve been with other VPS providers, but Future Hosting has been nothing but good for me.
I heard Automattic have some very good hosting
Ok, as an alternatic you might like the idea of imountain who are running hsphere on the backend. If standard packages don’t suit I am sure they can come up with something.
You are not running a virtual server on a single box, but on a cluster, with a central database server.
Check out http://www.bluevoda.com.
I feel sure they can meet and exceed your requirements. I use a shared server and the service and resources are the best I have found. They have a great forum as well.
Joe
I have been using PowerVPS for about 3 years. The support is great. You can get cheaper VPS’s, but I think the price is worth getting the managed server + uptime.
I run a fairly high traffic website that occasionally gets on the top of Digg or similar sites and my VPS (cheapest cpanel package with them) holds up every time. And when I got a crazy huge surge in traffic and emailed PowerVPS about it, they temporarily increased my burst and such to keep my sites up and running smooth.
I host a dozen or so smaller sites on the same server. I have some blogs that use Wordpress, but nothing with serious traffic — so I can’t vouch for how well their servers do with large db driven sites. I haven’t heard anything negative about that though…
And I think the features you listed are all there, if not — ask sales. I have found them to be accommodating. I heard about them from positive reviews on webmaster forums, the company has a good reputation.
http://www.powervps.com
linode.com – they host 2 servers for me and they’re great. Totally unmanaged so I get to be root and sort of everything myself
MediaTemple.net is what I use. Complete virtual server…and FAST. say goodbye to the slashdot effect. a few jumps to get complete developer access to install your own distro, but pretty smooth otherwise. plus upgrades are easy. SSH, root, little tricky to get postgreSQL/lighttpd to run, but php and mySQL run outta the box.
I’m setting up a virtual dedicated server on linux with godaddy.com. Will update in a few weeks.
I personally use VPSLink (http://vpslink.com) – I find their service is good and the server is nice and fast.
I have been very happy with Godaddy’s VPS servers. I had been using TekTonic.net, but I wasn’t happy with their network reliability.
http://knownhost.com/
http://steadfast.net/
I use http://www.servage.net been with them for 3 years now. Great service, good price, lots of storage, good feature mix.
Rackforce.com
dds400-L
Dual Quad-Core Xeon hardware node
1GB DDR2 ECC 667 RAM allocated to your virtual environment
30GB on SAS/SCSI RAID 5 config
10Mbps Unmetered BW – dedicated to your virtual environment (so ~4000 to 5000GB transfer per month)
root access to your environment
SSH
private DNS
Plesk or cPanel CP included (and if you just want a shell with no CP let them know when ordering)
full control over mail and databases – no limits other than the natural limits of the hardware, software and network connection.
Thanks for the recommendations, everybody. I’m looking them over and comparing the price/feature points. It looks like the features I want will cost me roughly $60-$75/month, which isn’t too bad (my Text-Link-Ads will easily pay for that).
I could easily reduce my requirements by offloading my email needs. I’m just hesitant to do that because I’ve got so much personal investment (time & effort) into my current setup. It might be time to let go of that, though.
Hi Dougal, for what it’s worth I recently (this month) also switched to MediaTemple. I am still very amazed by the speed and ease of use.
Hi, Dougal,
Have you checked with http://www.BlueHost.com?
I recommend slicehost, too..
One of my friends hooked me up with Slicehost so thats what I’m using now. He uses MediaTemple (there was a waiting list on Slicehost, and he got impatient) and he’s very happy with it. I just went through the hosts people here have suggested which fit your criteria for RAM, Bandwidth, and Storage and compiled them into a spreadsheet table on Google Docs.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pT-5tIsX5hxXxe2LyxBzBOA
It looks like as far as straight stats/price ratios, Futurehosting.biz has the best deal.
Of course this table does not take into account amenities and extras which are hard to quantify.
For instance, a few of these have CPanel or Plesk.
Slicehost does not have either, but it has very simple custom software and an AJAX console terminal (which is awesome).
The others I’m sure have their own quirks and niceties, I’d invite anyone who knows to post them here.
The major problem with VPS solutions is someone on the VPS may run away with the resources and force your VPS to run slower. Dedicated managed servers are always the best way to go. No fear of someone else slowing your server/resources down. Plus VPS normally don’t offer Managed support. Some companies like Server Intellect do offer VPS Manged support, but most don’t. If you have the money get a dedicated server over a VPS.
Check our VPS hosting service at http://www.totoidc.com/en/vps.php
If you want VPS hosting in the UK check us out:
http://www.zxvps.co.uk
99.9% uptime
high CPU power
24/7 support