hey wsup, hey I was interested in starting my own business using dedicated servers when i came across rack shack's new servers but then i also came across cobalt host's linux servers! Now im curious, out of experience or anything, which one should i go with? The Linux servers from rack shack, or the linux servers from cobalt host? cobalt host has a lower setup fee but a higher monthly fee, it also has 300gb of bandwidth just like rackshack but it comes with 100gb of webspace! Rack shack has a higher setup fee but lower monthly, with about 20-80GB of web space and 300gb of bandwidth? Which one should I go with?!

I'm really glad to see some of the cobalt hosts getting away from just underpowered cobalt servers.

One thing that's interesting is that at cobalthost.com it's $119 for one domain, $149 for 30 domains and $169 for 300 domains whereas Rackshack.net is $100/month for 200 domains (of course if you add in the higher setup fee at rackshack, that price goes to $149 over the course of a year while cobalthost.com is $177 for the same year and gives you 100 extra domains at the cost of 133 mhz of cpu power...)

6 month contract, if something happens you are still locked in.
100gb hard disk, RAID is often better for reliblity

1U VS Tower, they both have plusses (Towers takes more types of hardware, and ofter stay cooler even if a fan fails. 1U's are more physicaly secured)

BTW - who is CobaltHost.com - how long have they been around. I've heard the name rackshack.net for a year or more, but I've never heard of cobalthost.com before

yea i just saw it on one of the hosting search engines so i went there and they had some stuff nice i guess...sorta like rackshack, but im still in confusion on which to pick though..sorta learnin towards rackshack....

Sup guys.
I'm not sure if it is fair for me to comment on this, I'm with CobatHost. We are just getting ramped up and getting everything in place with our new rates.

I'll be glad to answer (almost) any question you guys have. And I stand with RackShack that $99 is the place to be. We just are at $149 because the demand is there as well, and we can in turn provide premium features, like client-controlled remote reboot, for FREE.

Drew Nichols
CobaltHost.com

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i'd put my vote in for rackshack. while the setup fee is higher, the monthly fees are lower and over a long enough timeline it pays for itself. i'd be liery of any new companies just starting out, no offense.

I've personally worked with CobaltHost (a ValueTech company) for years, and know that they started in this business a few years back just like we did.

Regards,

What about the bandwidth?
I've been reading on RackShack's forums that majority of the servers are using the Cogent Bandwidth.

Apparently, that's not the case with cobalt..(from their website.)

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Originally posted by big_smooth
What about the bandwidth?
I've been reading on RackShack's forums that majority of the servers are using the Cogent Bandwidth.

Apparently, that's not the case with cobalt..(from their website.)

I can't comment on Cobalt but it sounds like you get what you pay for with Rackshack. Cheap=Cogent I've yet to hear anything good about Cogent other than price and we all know what that means. Not to say that there is not a market for companys that do not care about latency or downtime. I constantly see people complaining about server downtime and slow bandwith and here is the answer quit looking for the cheapest solution. Look for a good mix.

Originally posted by drewnick
Sup guys.
I'm not sure if it is fair for me to comment on this, I'm with CobatHost. We are just getting ramped up and getting everything in place with our new rates.

I'll be glad to answer (almost) any question you guys have. And I stand with RackShack that $99 is the place to be. We just are at $149 because the demand is there as well, and we can in turn provide premium features, like client-controlled remote reboot, for FREE.

Drew Nichols
CobaltHost.com

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hi drew,

will you be able to provide c panel with your linux server instead of plesk ?.

also i liked your remote reboot feature. very nice. ;)

Originally posted by ProjectJB


I can't comment on Cobalt but it sounds like you get what you pay for with Rackshack. Cheap=Cogent I've yet to hear anything good about Cogent other than price and we all know what that means. Not to say that there is not a market for companys that do not care about latency or downtime. I constantly see people complaining about server downtime and slow bandwith and here is the answer quit looking for the cheapest solution. Look for a good mix.

have any of you bothered to look at rackshacks network. Conget is one of their pipes not only.
http://www.rackshack.net/aboutus/networks.asp

Verio OC3 Link to Internet 155Mbps Max.
Savvis OC3 Link to Internet 155Mbps Max.
ELI DS3 Link to Internet 45Mbps Max.
Time Warner OC3 Link to Internet 155Mbps Max.
Cogent GB Link to Internet 1000Mbps Max.


that is what they have now, they are adding a XO gig-e conection in december, and I think I heard they are adding another...

I don't work for rackshack, it just seems so pointless that people say "oh they use congent then they must be bad"

I'm pondering going with cobalt host for christmas. I'm new to the dedicated server arena but hope they will help. I've asked the usual beginner questions and have gotten a reply within 5mins everytime.

I'm looking forward to it but wish I could see some user reviews!

I'm curious as to how our (CobaltHost) network performs out to the public.

http://www.cobalthost.com/testfile.zip

This is a 20MB compressed file, if anyone wants to test it. We are going to be upgrading the network in the coming weeks (looking @ options), but as it stands now it is a fully-Cogent network. Let's see how it does.

From home I get about 228 kBps, not too bad. It's a 2 Mbps line. BUT I am obviously in the same city, so there is no cross-country transit to worry about.

Testing from rackshack <-> cobaltHost was not impressive either. I've no idea if it was their network or ours or in between. (Our network is only at 40% max utilization from my understanding, so that should rule us out.)

Routes:
Our route to rackshack goes *in* via Verio:
http://www.cobalthost.com/cgi-bin/traceroute.cgi?t=texas.valuetech.net

It comes *out* (I.E. RS -> CH) via Cogent completely.

As a reference, "The Route to Mae-East" is...
http://www.cobalthost.com/cgi-bin/traceroute.cgi?t=198.32.187.223

Again, I'm curious to see your results via Cogent.

Drew Nichols

This is a 20MB compressed file
May I ask what this zip file is? I can't open it. And something really strange happened. When I downloaded it, it came in in just a couple minutes with a speed of 300-380 KBps. I tried it twice! What's strange about that? The fastest I've ever gotten, ever, on this satellite connection in the last 9 months of usage is 95 KBps, yet this file somehow came in at 300? It just got me thinking of a stunt that DirecPC did a couple years ago where they provided a "zip" file for thier customers to download and it was actually just highly compressible text.

As best I know it is compressed data, though it will not unzip itself. I've uploaded Netscape's compressed install file.

Everyone try this:

http://www.cobalthost.com/communicator477.exe

Drew

Impressive speed ! I've sent you a mail; interested in signing up on a high BW deal.

Thanks drewnick,

The Netscape test file you uploaded gives me much more realistic results. Your site is as fast as any other I've downloaded from on the net, with the NS test file at 90 KBps consistently, which is the limit of my connection.

(The first file still transferrs at 300 KBps, so I'm 99.9999% sure it is a "funny file", something that is highly compressible despite the extension.)

Hi,
It may have been rogue. I'd be curious to see other's responses.
Drew

Am I missing something? All I see is colo prices at cobalthost.com I don't see any dedicated servers!

Aww man I got all excited I saw something about Nashville TN and thought it was a data center list, turns out it is for dialup, ARGH.
:bawling:

Because we are retiring debt (profitable already) rather than adding it, we are only supporting existing leases, and taking new co-lo's.

We offer 56 kbps in Nashville, not likely enough for hosting. :)

Drew

Can't recommend rackshack :bawling: I signed up with them - no reaction from rackshack. Sent E-Mail to their sales a few days later - also no reaction.
The only thing they where fast was billing my CC without any return service :angry:

So I'll prefer staying at cobaltracks.com and pay a bit more but have a reliable service. :D

Originally posted by swissfreak
Can't recommend rackshack :bawling: I signed up with them - no reaction from rackshack. Sent E-Mail to their sales a few days later - also no reaction.
The only thing they where fast was billing my CC without any return service :angry:

So I'll prefer staying at cobaltracks.com and pay a bit more but have a reliable service. :D

Not sure this is what happened to you but worth a try. When RS sets you up, their system sometimes defaults to the automatic email account that they setup with your rack..

For instance, you sign onto the automated system, they assigign you RS-2201 as your server number, they may be sending you emails to RS-2201@ev1.net with the password that you provided on the signup system.

I find it interesting that with this trouble you had that you did not post anything on their message board. I'm sure they would have jumped all over it had they seen it.

Another possiblity would be that you signed up during the move last month and happened to catch them at a time when the system was not actually working..

Just a chance. I signed up in October and was amazed at ease and speed of the setup.

Shortness