Hello there everyone. I have been reading these forums for the past 6 hours in an effort to find SOMETHING useful regarding purchasing a dedicated server.


Let me explain my situation. For the past 4 years I have been using Virtual hosting with numerous companies and had to move. In the past year, I have been hosted with siteturn.com and 2mhost.com. That probably means nothing to you guys, but it does to me.
Last night, my site on siteturn went down. 44 requests to the support team and all I got was a "Please contact this department".

'That' department after 12 emails replied "Last night your site was ddos attacked and we shut your site down because it caused a network wide outage" After sending them another 11 requests for more info, they are ignoring me. They just shut me down without alerting me or giving me ANY info.

My other host saw that I was using up too much disk space and deleted random data on my account without alerting me to the fact. I awoke this morning to find my business in tatters. Needless to say, I am looking to MOVE now!



Anyway, enough rambling, basically what I have decided to do is go with a dedicated server. I do not know if this is a wise decision based on the fact that my main site was apparently ddosed twice last night....but suggestions welcome.

My question is, after reading about 300 forum posts in detail:

What dedicated server company do you recommend based on having had one....found the service poor....and moved to another. Where was your final stop? I am not asking what is the best Dedicated Server provider, just where you moved from and TO where. I don't want to start another flaming post, I just want to make the RIGHT choice this time.


Basically, I am looking for something as cheap as possible because I am only a web developer that needs hosting for about 40 websites. I will not be selling hosting, but want one central place to manage all my domains/sites. The only requirement I will need will be webhosting, no game servers etc.

I know a lot of you may say I am crazy for wanting a dedicated server, but I am just sick of the service of every other host and want more control.



I have a team of about 30 people working for me, and a few sysadmins that can do all the maintenance and installation of whatever applications I will need (I do not know if PHP, MySQL, BIND etc come as standard on a Linux installation). The rest are webdevelopers (PHP programmers) and this would be great for them to work properly. My requirements are not really much.


I was considering nocster.com/BlastNET and sent them a mail yesterday, but my server got taken offline by my host so I may never get a reply to that. (I know I can send another mail!). I saw a lot of bad reviews of them, but I was just wondering if I could get some feedback from you other guys.

Sorry this was so long, I just really want to make the right decision.

Thanks

Dave

PS: Thanks for reading this far if you did

I recently signed up with Nocster and they have been below average communicating, but once you get their attention they seem pretty reasonable.

I have heard others say their network is not all that reliable. I understand they only have one uplink fibre and it was down for a few hours last month (I haven't verified this).

I also heard that their tech support is really good, although I haven't hand a chance to use them.

I'll know more once they complete my server installation.

Thanks for the reply.

Personally, I would consider 7 hours downtime a week excellent. I am a little worried about security and should really seek advice about that (Assuming someone really does have a vendetta toward me and my company)

My main concern, being the manager of my company is communication. Fast communication and action is my top priority. I really want to have a server setup by the weekend, but from what you are saying, that does not sound likely.

Thanks for the info though.


Dave

Actually, I think if you sign up now you'd have one by the weekend. My understanding is that they have ordered several of them and have promised to get all the dual Xeons in by then... assuming you're going for dual Xeons.

Also, there have been recent reports that other P4 systems have been set up in something like 30 hours.

I'm with you on the communication. I think the only problem there is sales (or at least that is what I am hoping).

rkuris:

well, server config really is not an issue for me. I was thinking of going with their Intel Celeron™ Plan #0D as its not really going to be heavily used. I just need control.

Thanks for pointing out their sales problems. I hope to hear from them soon.


You dont have any affiliation with nocster do you?

I paid for my server on Friday of last week, so I suppose I'm a customer of theirs, but as of yet my server is not set up.

Otherwise, no affiliation. Just a mollified customer.

Hmmm thanks for making that clear. Did you have any special server requirements that caused the delay?

Dave

Nocster resellers may be the way to go too, you may find a deal.

Anyone else have any FROM-TO scenarios for me?

I suggest that you take care not to move from the frying pan into the fire. You say you need a server right away, that tells me you won't have the time to do a proper bit of research for the provider you are considering. Even if you got a temporary shared account to run things from while you did the proper research on the provider you are considering you would be much better off IMO.

There are other options for you besides a full blown dedicated server. A VPS will give you root access and control over your environment for much less than a dedicated server. Since they are less expensive you could get yourself located into a top level Datacenter for less than what you are considering paying right now. Check out ServInt VPS (http://www.servint.com/specials).

Thanks Watcher_TVI
I already know your opinions on nocster and you have been very helpful with some of your comments (although some were somewhat rough). People need to challenge what "everyone else" is saying for people like me to get an accurate idea.

I took note of what you said, but to be honest, I really have been doing my best to research. I am not an idiot (I don'y think!)


Thanks for the reply.

Dave

My advice on the move wasn't directed at Nocster or anyone in particular, that's why I didn't mention them. I also didn't mean to insinuate that you were making an unintelligent decision. My post would have been the same regardless of who you were moving to or from.

When I see some folks in a position where they need to move fast, it's a good bet I'll see them again in the same position in the not so distant future. It takes time to check out support requests, sales responses, read over forums, ask for opinions and in general do the research it takes to really discover the qualities of a provider. Then after the decision is made and the server purchased, the server should be tested for several weeks before you place live sites on it.

At the least that is what I would suggest...

Oh, I was not complaining about your post at all. And I know you didnt mention nocster at all.

I really appreciate your comments. Its tough for someone only entering this field. Its all well and good with managed vhosts, but when it comes to dedicated....its a whole different ballgame.

I didnt realise that there were so many things to consider. But thanks for helping me find the right direction to go in.

I have at this stage realised that this is not going to be done fast. Its just when you loose about $2000 for every few days your host is down, its not an easy thing to just "wait around".

Anyway, thanks again.

Dave

That's why I had suggested a temporary site set up where you could get back up and running quickly so you could take your time in getting your permanent solution online and secured...

Best of luck with your move....

cianuro: No special requirements. What I didn't know is that they just started a special on Xeons and couldn't deliver as quickly as they told me during the sales call.

And I agree -- take a look at all your options. I'm an experienced sysadmin and developer and sometimes I wonder why I run my own server.

The search button is your friend...

Well, I'd eventually like to get into sysadmin and I am only a c programmer, learning PHP (I guess thats why I hire others to do it all!)

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

Dave

sightz: Its not! Its only confusing me more! ;o)

Thanks for the reply.

Dave

I really haven't read through the entire post, hopefully this is on topic.

For my main servers I use three companies

Cyberwurx.com - Great Uptime, Great Support

ev1servers.net - Great Uptime, Great Support

dedicatednow.com - Decent uptime, there has been a lot of maintenance upgrades on the network which has greatly improved things there. In the past two months I probably have been down six or so hours, Great Support

I am now researching a lower end dedicated server (basically a server with a lower CPU, but on a good network). I really haven't found any companies that meet this requirement, but found some with some decent pricing and what appears to be an impressive networks.

1and1.com
fastservers.net (They have a P3 special right now, http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=251894)
15minuteservers.com owned by NAC

Some people have recommended managed.com, In the past couple weeks they have had a lot of downtime, but it has been said that should be over with now that the Level3 upgrade is in place.

i moved to ServerMatrix a couple weeks ago, a few hours after signing up they called me to confirm the order (i live in Mexico), and that night the server was already setup.