VPS (Virtual Private Server) is very much like a dedicated server, but at a lower scale. Meaning you may be resource bound – maximum CPU speed capped and applied I/O threshold. UnixTitan.net is running under a VPS.
This post is meant to be updated from time to time. Noting my experiences with various VPS host providers. Several things to keep in mind, in order of importances to me: 1) stability 2) network speed 3) VPS speed 4) customer support 5) price. I think regardless what type of hosting you have, you will want your service to be up-and-online available to everyone. Your in-the-end goal might be different than mine, but I do not care if the VPS company is new or not. I just want my service to be online 99% of the time.
I actually started this post because CpanelHost.me enraged me! This is the second time I tried this host. First time I rented for a month (Nov 2009), and that month I had zero issues. However, second time around I wasn’t so lucky.
I am using CpanelHost.me VPS to provide a secondary passive HA server for a client. Guess what, it’s been down for about almost 40 hours. No response to my support ticket neither.
From the response I got from last ticket, it seems some kid(s) is running CpanelHost.me. See below. I merely asked why my VPS IP lookup ends up in Russian Federation and that’s the response I got.
russian federation???loll no the server is in usa, PA.
Seems like they are a BurstNet reseller. I got their 512MB/768MB plan. Everything else has been pretty decent. I do not recommend CpanelHost.me unless you got $5 to loss.
Review date: 22JAN2010
Stability: 9/10
Network speed: 8/10
VPS speed: 8/10
Customer support: 3/10
Price: 10/10
This is actually one of the best VPS companies I’ve used. However, due to some technical issues I had to leave them. They even went out of their ways to refund me the full two months.
They use Xen. It seems all their VPS is HVM-ed. Why? They used to be a VMware shop. I was told it’s easier for them to convert and track things by uniforming all VPS in HVM mode. No problems with me. It’s only few extra percent of overhead added on top between paravirtualized & HVM mode.
This is actually the second time I’ve used them. I used them earlier last year when they were still on VMware.
I’ve submitted like close to ten support tickets. All has been answered less than ten minutes. Now this is what I call customer support!
The reason I left them is because we discovered Debian was getting less than subpar I/O performance than their counterpart CentOS guests. It was in the 20MB~40MB range compared to the typical 200MB+ I/O. Their tech tries to make an exception for me by converting my VPS to be paravirtualized. However that was shot down. Because the intention for the VPS is to be gradually pick up more and more usage over time, I don’t want to take the chance maxing out I/O few months down the road. I made the tough decision of leaving them.
(I also have some lock-up issues initially, but that was resolved by adding more vCPUs.)
I strongly recommend Database by Design, LLC VPS!
Review date: 22JAN2010
Stability: 9/10
Network speed: 9/10
VPS speed: 7/10
Customer support: 10/10
Price: 8/10