Well, my site's traffic has gone through the roof recently, and my box just isn't cutting it any more. I currently share a server with a friend of mine, but my site is just getting too big for it now. so, it's time to branch out on my own.

I'm currently on a dedicated dual xeon 2.0ghz with 2gb ram, not sure on the drives off the top of my head... i think they are 10k scsi though...
approx 10 sites are on there, 2 of which get traffic to talk about.

i'm getting high server loads and occasionally php can't talk to mysql for brief moments.


I'm looking for:
- dedicated box
- managed (I am not as up on networking and server installs as my friend who currently manages everything and runs the upgrades for php, etc)
- fast, sercure, 100% uptime, tier 1 network
- gobs of space
- gobs of bandwidth
- at least 5 IP's
- cpanel
- linux of some variety
- US based


Budget- As always, as cheap as possible... but i'm willing to spend around 400 a month.


I'm currently on theplanet, but i keep hearing others having horror stories with them.
I've used EV1 in the past, but moved to theplanet due to better cost/server ratio that theplanet offered.
A couple clients of mine have used liquid web (shared servers) and seem to like them, but never had any experience with their dedicated line.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

softlayer.com - Also, if you buy through server4sale.com you can get some pretty awesome discounts. It wont be any cheaper than direct through softlayer but they give you more bandwidth and such for the same price.

If you need a server right NOW this isnt the place. Softlayer is in big demand and it will take a few days to get you up and running. The support is awesome, though.

Umm you can get set-up in a day or two with softlayer just tell them company Stop and Host referred you

so that's 2 for soft layer..... anyone else?

i'm not in a huge rush... i'd like to do this before the end of august though

Softlayer is great.

I'd recommend getting Dual Opterons from Softlayer! Should be amazing. http://www.softlayer.com/dual_proces...ngle_core.html

You can get a badass Dual Opteron for right at 300 a month.

I haven't had experience in dedicated servers, but I say go for softlayer, they look most impressive.

ayksolutions.com has the best support in my opinion, there are not well know but very good.

Just got off a convo with a sales person...

Amanda: the hardware we offer (the dual opterons) still have some problems with RAID - we *just* started offering SCSI..
Amanda: So you will need to go with a dual xeon if that is a possibility.

so much for softlayer... they don't offer raid on opterons. WTF?

and i'm on a xeon now, and it's not enough...

well, it doesn't look like anyone offfers raid on an opteron. wtf?

i'm scared to not be on raid... if i lose a drive, i'm screwed

No one offers raid with Opterons :P

SoftLayer also offers unmanaged boxes... you said you wanted a managed server.

I looked around at hosting and here's what I did (call me crazy)

Since I'm lucky enough to be in Verizon's fiber optic area, I had them run a line out to my house and signed up for business service ($105/month for 2mpbs upstream and 5 down). Then I bought a Dell Poweredge server for new for under $700. After adding some UPS' and various a sundry networking switches and routers hardware totaled about $1000. Total operating costs this year will be $2260 or $188.33 a month plus electricity.

I've had more consistent uptime and connectivity with this setup than any hosting service so far as well as complete and total control over the box. I can turn it off and on, get terminal access and do whatever I want. Not to mention I earned a great education in the process.

What kind of traffic does the sites on it recieve? 2MBPS up isnt that much

I'd prefer being in a professional datacenter with UPS battery backups, backup diesel generators, fire supression systems, remote reboot, 24/7 webcam access, etc. not to even mention network hardware and connections.

And what about attacks? Most major datacenters have switch and router level firewalls and advanced DDOS detection systems to deter hackers.

I looked at just putting a server in a local datacenter here. Heck, I've helped a company here build a datacenter. But it's just not the same.

Plus, what if your internet goes down? What redundancy do you have? What if there is a natural disaster?

I'm at EV1 and there was a major fire on their block that knocked out the entire grid they are on. The UPSs kicked in instantly and held until the diesel generators were up and running. They ran for hours off generator power and we (customers) never even knew anything until they posted info and pictures the next day.

Originally Posted by beley

I'd prefer being in a professional datacenter with UPS battery backups, backup diesel generators, fire supression systems, remote reboot, 24/7 webcam access, etc. not to even mention network hardware and connections.

Like I said, call me crazy. I've been doing this for two years+ and my sites have been very reliable. Managing just my own stuff by myself seems to be as effective as 20-200 employees managing 1,000 systems.

Originally Posted by beley

And what about attacks? Most major datacenters have switch and router level firewalls and advanced DDOS detection systems to deter hackers.

My router has a firewall too.

Originally Posted by beley

Plus, what if your internet goes down? What redundancy do you have? What if there is a natural disaster?

It's never come up. My redundancy includes a failover server, 12 hours worth of battery power for the internet connection, the server, and its networking components. If there's a disaster bigger than that I have other things to worry about.

Originally Posted by beley

I'm at EV1 and there was a major fire on their block that knocked out the entire grid they are on. The UPSs kicked in instantly and held until the diesel generators were up and running. They ran for hours off generator power and we (customers) never even knew anything until they posted info and pictures the next day.

Sounds like a good recommendation. I'll probably do something like that when I move. Since I own the server, I can just pick it up and plug it in anywhere.

Originally Posted by BamaStangGuy

What kind of traffic does the sites on it recieve? 2MBPS up isnt that much

I mistyped - it's 15/2 from Verizon and I can always upgrade.

Again, no problems so far. ScrapLove is one of the bigger draws with 128,000 pageviews last month and an active image gallery, but no negative reports so far.

well, i found one on
Layered Technologies
http://www.layeredtech.com


L4-AMD-OPTERON-2x246-C:
1-Month @ $249.00 + Setup: $99.00
Memory:
2048MB
Primary Storage:
73GB SCSI Hard Drive
Secondary Storage:
73GB SCSI Hard Drive
Tier 1 Bandwidth:
2000GB
Drive Controller:
IDE/SCSI - RAID 1 (requires secondary drive) $25.00
Control Panel:
CPanel /WHM with Fantastico $25.00
Plesk Language Pack:
None
Database:
None
Operating System:
Redhat Enterprise Server 3 **License Fee** $27.00
Virtuozzo Licenses for Linux and Windows:
None
AntiVirus:
None
Firewall:
None
IP Addresses:
8 (5 Usable)
Private Switch:
None
Tier 1 Bandwidth:
2000GB
Uplink Port Speed:
100Mbps Uplink $10.00
CD-ROM:
None
Graphics Card:
None
Package(s) Total $336.00
Package(s) Setup $99.00

Ordered from SoftLayer tonight. Sales was excellent, we'll see how it goes.

i have a solution for you. How does 39.95/mounth sound. I use it for 6 months now and it does the job like no other. Check out host4profit on my homepage.

kind regards,

Tom Raes