Signed up for a rackshack server with 512MB ram, 2 x 20GB drives, with 300 GB transfer for only $129, which is cheap!

But the quality is great, at least so far.

The CPU is 450MHZ AMD, it's enough to handle common applicationa and the bundled management software from Cobalt is good, you manage everything(servers, virtual sites, dns, users, email, web logs, etc) from the web, with a lot of functionality. Perfect for thos without much UNIX sysadmin experience (but somewhat inflexible for those who have). The colbalt server has some nice things, such as automtic email notification on server problems. This made us feel good, as we know the company will use quality software to perform server admin work. The worst thing can happen to you is a bunch of stupid and under-trained guys trying to perform what they are incapable of, and end up wiping out your entire hard drive in no time.


The 300GB transfer is significant, you may say that the average server does not use that much. But, saying 300GB is to say they will not rip you off by providing fraudulent traffic usages. In our experience with some provider, they count a big overage over your 65GB limit, and charge $3 for every GB extra, which amounted for hundreds of dollars of overbilling every month. ( see this (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12092) )

The setup fee is $299, but that's OK too. Some providers charge setup fee plus last month payment + a 12 month contract, so you will end up losing a lot when things go bad.

The server setup is automated, after you put in your credit card number, the whole dedicated server is setup, in minutes.

Support is also responsive, when called, someone picked up the phone immediately, when we requested additional IPs, we got it promptly.

I've been looking through various Rackshack threads for over an hour now, and I've come to realize that the negative threads get to reach 20-50 replies, but the positive reviews are virtually ignored. This thread was made over a week ago and I'm the first to reply?

Ah well, from what I've read in other threads, RackShack has been doing a very poor job. It's nice to hear some good news. Keep us updated on your satisfaction with them..

Heh well, when there isn't a problem or concern, there are less comments on the posts. To be honest, I've seen some people comment on the RS threads, but overall it didn't strike me as if there was a terrible trend there, but then again I don't have a server there.

rackshack.net is a very good provider,

anybody flaming it is just jealous that they can offer services so cheap and BLOWING cmopetition away

yes they are blowing your prices away and everybody including me knows it

But its cool, good job for them if they can handle it.
No sore loser here.

i didn't mean competition. i was talking about their customers, and not just of rackshack...but ever host. when things are running smoothly on a host, you rarely see a huge thread about it. that's understandable though. it just gets disappointing when searching for good service...it feels like this whole industry is setting you up for a failure.

Originally posted by Justice
it feels like this whole industry is setting you up for a failure.

That's part of the job. People who are happy with your service tend to be very quiet, while as soon as someone has a serious issue they'll tell as many people as they can. Personally I don't see this as a bad thing. Then again no-one's ever come out against us, and I do tend to think some of the bad feeling against some hosts is a little unwarranted. But if they have a genuine complaint most people will see it for what it is, rather than the ones that just have an axe to grind.

While some of the hosts here get a shining review by most people it's often a case of 'No news is good news' as well.

Greg Moore

Originally posted by CLEARVERT
rackshack.net is a very good provider,

anybody flaming it is just jealous that they can offer services so cheap and BLOWING cmopetition away

yes they are blowing your prices away and everybody including me knows it

But its cool, good job for them if they can handle it.
No sore loser here.

I think this is going a little far into the cheerleading sections. I am a reasonably satisfied customer of Rackshack.net. What I like: The price, the speed and reliability of the network, the number of channels to support, the ability to get answers to basic questions when needed. All this is great, but there is one place that Rackshack fails and that is on managing the server handware issues. What do I mean: I have sat in their support chat room and watched as people waited upwards of 3 hours for a manual reboot on a server that was completely down and offline, simply because there was nobody at the NOC at the time. I, personally, waited an hour once, because the guy in the NOC went to lunch and he was the only one that could push that little button on the front of the Raq. If your server will not reboot, things really get dicey. The server is removed from the rack (when someone is available) and brought back to the offices where the support guys are to be worked on. If the system's administrator on site at the time is unable to resolve it, you will wait for the next shift (This happened to a friend of mine).

So, all in all, rackshack is good. But saying that anybody that says anything negative is jealous, is a bit much. I am not a competitor. I am a customer. It must be said, that rackshack is aware of the problems that I am describing, and have started working toward resolutions. 1) They will soon be offering remote reboot ports, and 2) As of Nov 1, the NOC should be staffed 24/7 so that reboots can be done almost instantaneously.

Originally posted by akashik
While some of the hosts here get a shining review by most people it's often a case of 'No news is good news' as well.

Greg Moore

I think this is very true. Also note that with things like web hosting, there *will* be problems. This is nearly guaranteed! One of the differences in web hosts, as I see it, is the manner in which these problems are addressed, the time it takes, etc.