I was considering leasing from Alabanza and just wanted to hear some comments about the web interface for the provider. I've seen the client side interface on many webhosting sites. I was more concerned with getting feedback about the interface used for adding accounts, billing, etc. This seems to be what sets them apart from other dedicated server hosting companies. And since their offering a special right now, I thought it would be nice to understand what other users think.

Thanks.

It's great, especially as you grow. It does lack in some areas, mostly in reporting - such as renewal rates, most popular packages..but for adding sites and billing it's easy and very intuitive. I highly recommend using Cybercash for automatically charging and set-up. We never touch set-ups, people sign-up, 5 minutes later they get their welcome letter (sent automatically) and they are off. Billing, set-up, etc are all automated.

Chris Marks

http://www.netfronts.com

[This message has been edited by marksy (edited 06-16-2000).]

I have to agree with Chris with regard to the ease of use. Alabanza does have limited reporting, but I would expect that given that different hosts would have so many different needs that it would not be practical for them to implement it. The only thing that I don't like is the inability to customize the "thanks for ordering" page that appears if you use their order form (although when I contacted support, they were pleasant about it, and indicated I should direct that request to another address where apparently they, unlike some companies, actually pay attention to customer comments). There's been some talk on another forum about the limiting factor of the tight integration on the management tools Alabanza offers; we have not had any problems customizing the things we want (with the exception above), such as the control panel icons, etc. I think we'll be with Alabanza for some time to come.

------------------
Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.
http://www.hostmatters.com

Annette and Marksy,

The only thing that made me jump out of my socks re:Alabanza, was the monthly price of a server. I am aware that they had a special (1/2 off for a year).

Just wondering how you guys swing it, and/or how many clients you had before you took that step into Alabanza land. If I did it now, I would go broke in a month, ad end up like Ultrawhatever. That one that just went under.

I am guessing the monthly fee got them and they couldn't go on, but it could have been due to any number of reasons of course (there I go jumping to conclusions - a chicken has to get his exercise somehow *wink* )

Total number of clients we had when we started: 2 (Hosting Matters, of course, and my technogirl.net site). Now - well, I can't tell you that, of course. :)

We manage it by being geeks. Fortunately, both of us were working in the IT world and the nice paychecks that are associated with it. I was perfectly ready to lose money the first couple of months, and I think that is what sinks a lot of people. Either they think the business will take off more than it does, or they are not really prepared for the financial burden a new business entails.

------------------
Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.
http://www.hostmatters.com

I have a different tale than Annette...We had a steady flow of customers, 1500 before we moved. We filled our first server in 2 months..Dual PIII with 1 GB RAM option with 600 customers...We have never even been close to tapping its power or bandwidth allocation. Sure we had a proven customer base and inflow, but that should tell you we have been with pure colocated services and found them unsuited for our growth needs. As we grew we needed a system to manage billing and info and Alabanza was it. Just starting with no firm inflow of customers....yeah, I might balk at the prices...but in the long run you'd thank yourself. I coded a customer management system for us and it worked well, but the automated billing and monitoring saved us alot of time. Time is money and is has more than paid for itself. Just my 2 cents - I wish we had started with Alabanza, but I say that only because of our size now (2500+ clients).

Annette raised a good point about ordering, you have to do your own ordering interface to make it not suck - we coded our own ordering system using php3 to get around the lame screens..pretty easy if you know php or even perl.

Chris Marks
http://www.netfronts.com

Well, thankx for the insight. I, a underpaid teacher, might not have the resources quite yet. That, and my love of Porsches, which as you might guess, aren't all that cheap. Hard to do both, sniff.

I just picked up a RaQ3 and will be doing a small amount of hosting, and for my own domains. I think Alabanza would be much better, but I am not sure I could swing it just yet. Gimme another month, and some raising of funds.

Again, appreciate the insight. :)

Hey Chicken

I picked up an raq3 server too :)
By tomorrow it should be setup.
I got it from www.rackspace.com (http://www.rackspace.com)
They seem to be very big at this time.

Easy to admin is attractive. :) I only wish they made a tank version of the RaQ, but maybe they will for version 4.

I was thinking of one myself. I still have not ventured into the hosting business, but more into the webdesign business. However, I have a bunch of sites I would like to host, so a RaQ3 is possible. I agree w/ you Chicken on the Easy to Admin part.

I dunno what to get...

PS: ICQ or IM me Chicken.

------------------
Adam "fibroptikl" Lysne
adam@motion5.com
Questions?
fibroptikl
73218345

The one problem I've discovered with Alabanza is that they have entered into agreements with various service providers. For example, to use their billing features you need to have a CyberCash enabled merchant account. Probably not a problem for many, but for me it is as my merchant account provider does not currently support Cybercash.

Billy

That is a downside for sure. We had a hacked way of working it through Total Merchant Services and Authorize, but it was a really bastardized way and some ugly coding. We had considered cleaning it up and reselling it, but it's a real pain.
Still, new people should be aware that if you don't use Cybercash the automated set-up doesn't work.

Chris Marks
http://www.netfronts.com

Thankx Marksy, I was actually thinking of getting a merch account with Authorize, but maybe I should look into cybercash, just so if I do switch over I can use the system.

Adam, if you only have a few sites, you might consider virtual accounts for a bit. I think it would be ok, until you are sure of what you are doing. If you want to eventually get a RaQ, then it might be better to host with a co. that uses RaQ's so you cold switch over covertly once you get yours :)

Hey Chris,

out of most of these sites

yours actually came up So I am impressed

so give me your top 5 picks for dedicated

servers

Chicken:

Yeah, that's why I said "I dunno". I will probably use Virtual Accounts for a long time to come.

------------------
Adam "fibroptikl" Lysne
adam@motion5.com
Questions?
fibroptikl
73218345

Dedicated server providers vary based on what you need..If you need an interface, I'd recommend Alabanza, who we use. Definitely higher priced but worth it. RaQs are an option (although we don't like them - underpowered and Cobalt support kinda sucks) but good for low cgi use sites and starting out (that's how we started). I recommend netinfra.com for RaQs..great prices and very responsive staff. Aside from that I could only speak from what I've read and heard and I'm not big on anything but first hand experience.

netinfra.com also offers Plesk, another server interface I reviewed but never seriously used. It looks like it needs some work, but may be a good alternative (anybody with experience?) Tom Keller and John Miller own netinfra and I've spoken with them numerous times, great guys. We still have 5 RaQs there (we're migrating clients to our Alabanza servers).

------------------
Chris Marks
KBS Web Hosting (http://www.netfronts.com) http://www.netfronts.com

Sorry forgot: Plesk url is http://www.plesk.com/

[This message has been edited by marksy (edited 06-28-2000).]

Adam, by the time you are ready, there will be better choices out there (RaQ6???). Maybe by then they'll have the buggies worked out, heh heh.

If you ever need anything on a Cobalt, lemme know and I will hook you up :)

Hey Chicken, what's your website address?


------------------
Mike Astin
WebAuthorities
http://www.webauthorities.com

Chicken:

No, at my pace it will be around RaQ7.

Your hosted at Tera-Byte right?

------------------
Adam "fibroptikl" Lysne
adam@motion5.com
Questions?
fibroptikl
73218345

MikeA, right now the only site up is woobster.com (don't ask if you see it, I don't know either)... SpaceChicken.com is the next one coming. I may sneak another one in there in between, but not sure yet.. depends on how this week goes.

Adam, the server is located there, correct. I am not sure if that is hosted there exactly, but colo'd there. I think I knew what you meant...

Chicken - Yes, hosted or its located there. Anyway, are they pretty good?



------------------
Adam "fibroptikl" Lysne
adam@motion5.com
Questions?
fibroptikl
73218345

Well, there is a difference. When you ask, "Are they any good?", I can only tell you from what I use them for, which is a connection.

To answer your question, yes they are very good. I just want you to understand the distinction, and that I am not hosted there, so I don't interact with support (sometimes with the owner) like you would is you got a hosting account there.

I really shouldn't post about anything other than my experiences with colo'ing a server with them, since that is all I do. Get me?

Sorry to get off topic:

Chicken, I have to ask, what made you get your own dedicated server.

Ok, I won't ask about your site, but I did like the snowflakes... =)



------------------
Mike Astin
WebAuthorities
http://www.webauthorities.com

Glad you like the snow... you can probably guess the last time I updated the site eh? It *is* still winter, isn't it? Bahhh, fall is just around the corner again, so it'll be current soon enough.

What made me get a dedicated server? Well, I actually needed a place to put my sites & projects, and sites that I design. I also wanted to do some limited hosting (reseller program would have worked for this too).

This made me look at reseller programs (I actually picked one, and designed a site for it ready to go, until I felt that the network problems my provider was having wasn't good enough for my sites, let alone reselling).

I then went back and looked at resellers again, carefully thinking about OLM (was the other choice between the one I had originally picked), and like the suport provided for my resold clients, but thought it would be too costly for my own sites.

I looked at a bunch more, but thought this was the best way to go. Basically I wanted more control. Years ago I thought it was neato to have my domain registered. This is just another step.

I wanted more freedom to do what I want when I want to. Whether this was a mistake or not, I don't know. So far, I don't regret it.