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Need Opinions on New VPS Offering.
My hosting company is just beginning to offer VPS in addition to dedicated servers. They've given me the following plans. I'd like some opinions. The disk space and bandwidth on all of them is more than sufficient. All plans are using PHP 5.1.6 or higher and MySql 5.0. Their other hosting packages have Zend Optimizer, so I'm sure I can get them to include that.
I will be hosting 10-12 relatively low volume Drupal sites that are not currentlly using a multi-site set up (but I'd like to fix that).
I have serious doubts about Plan 1 with only 128MB memory. I've also seen people question if 256MB will handle it.
I am not impressed with the pricing, but keep in mind that I wouldn't have to do any moving myself.
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Plan 1
Space 15GB
Bandwidth 500GB
Guaranteed RAM 128MB
Burstable RAM 4096MB
IPs 2
Private Nameservers free
Monthly $39.99
Quarterly $38.99 X 3
Bi annual $36.99 X 6
Annually $35 X 12
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Plan 2
Space 25GB
Bandwidth 750GB
Guaranteed RAM 256MB
Burstable RAM 4096MB
IPs 2
Private Nameservers free
Monthly $59.99
Quarterly $58.99 X 3
Bi annual $56.99 X 6
Annually $55 X 12
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Plan 3
Space 35GB
Bandwidth 1500GB
Guaranteed RAM 512MB
Burstable RAM 4096MB
IPs 2
Private Nameservers free
Monthly $79.99
Quarterly $78.99 X 3
Bi annual $76.99 X 6
Annually $75 X 12
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It depends on how much you
It depends on how much you like your hosting company and if they have a team already experienced in providing VPS support. If you're confident about those two factors then what matters, I think, are the features you're getting for the price. On that front I'm not very impressed with the plans you list.
Moving a dozen sites to another webhost isn't an issue if, for example, you have the option of doing a cPanel backup and restore. If you're the type that scoffs at cPanel then moving a dozen sites is definitely a non-issue.
More...
Since I'm already hosting there, they will move the sites for me, so I'm not worried about that. All I would have to do is repoint my domains to the new server.
They are now throwing in half off the first month for plans 2 and 3.
However, VPS is something new to them and I've never been impressed with their customer service. The reason I'm considering this is just to get better reliability - my current uptime is closer to 90% than the "guaranteed" 99.9%.
And, no, I don't scoff at cPanel.
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
If...
... VPS is new to them, and their uptime is already bad, then their VPS offerings may be even worse.
90% uptime?
If switching plans requires switching the DNS for your domains, there isn't really any advantage to staying with them. You're going to have downtime one way or another while DNS propagates, whether you upgrade to their VPS plan or end up migrating to another hosting company.
Based on what you've said, I suggest switching to another hosting company. Factors like bad neighbors (or your own sites exceeding the allotted resources) can be remedied by switching to a VPS, but technical inexperience and unimpressive customer service are bigger problems.
Switching is not a problem
Only one of my sites has the capability for user-generated content, and those users don't. So leaving the old site in place while the DNS entries propagate is a non-issue.
"Technical inexperience and unimpressive customer service" -- big time!
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
90% uptime
"guaranteed" 99.9% ? with money back option?
90% = over two hours per day down !!! That's a lot (that's a lot even for shared hosts).
Notice:
Usually "guaranteed 99.9% uptime" means: uptime excluding interrupts due to hardware upgrades/migrations, kernel upgrades ...
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Drupal Theme Garden
Drupal Hosting Article
No
No, there is no penalty on them for not meeting this "guarantee" - therefore it is worthless.
I am not counting upgrades - as a matter of fact, I don't think they've done any in a long time. They haven't even updated Fantastico in almost a year.
I am counting time that I could not access my site due to server, disk, or MySql slowdowns or just being down. And there have been many days exceeding 2 hours down, that I know of. Who knows how much I'm not aware of. So yes, I can verify uptime in the last two months of less than 94%.
"You get what you pay for..."
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
switching
I'm looking into switching webhosts myself (see #197921) and would like to cross this hosting company off my list if I come across them. Would you mind letting us know who your webhost is?
Well...
The short answer is: 247-host.
The long answer is still being written and will be a post detailing my experience with this search.
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
VPS hosting options
If you are going to be using cpanel then get at least 256mb of Ram.
Here's a list of good value managed vps providers so you can compare pricing:
http://www.hostingdiary.com/2007/09/best-vps-hostin.html
Andrew
Thanks
I have decided to find a new host.
My experience: http://drupal.org/node/202401
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
Thank you
Thank you for sharing all of this.