I just saw this on their website...

"In preparation for our announcement March 13th, no new servers will be sold between Feb.28th through March 4th.

Thank You for your continued support of Rackshack."


Anyone know anything about this announcement???

Nope, HeadSurfer of Rackshack.net won't let on about it. He's keeping EVERYONE in the dark... god, I wish I could see him face to face and I'll beat it out of him (:D). I don't know about other people, but I can't wait to hear/see what this big announcement is!

Alan

Oh, they are so good at generating buzz. :-)

They've taken down the front page link now, but the page that has the AMD details mentions new Dell and Compaq servers. Should be interesting!

Anyone know anything about this announcement???

Let me guess.... RS is now going to start offering hgh end dedicated servers too. Then put some spin on it to compete with a Rackspace type customer?

Either that or Headsurfer is getting married. :)

I dont think his wife would like the last post's idea. :)

Oooo - if they start offering Dell servers at great prices, now that will be interesting :)

They are always differentiating themselves from the pack.. good biz model. I think they see that the market for "plain vanilla" dedicated servers is going to Hell (from a supplier perspective).

Drew

I'm betting that RS signed that deal with Compaq

that's my guess on what the announcement is going to be...

Originally posted by Patrick-EV1
I dont think his wife would like the last post's idea. :)

I have seen crazier things in Texas. The best episodes of "Cops" come from TX! :D

Originally posted by UmBillyCord


I have seen crazier things in Texas. The best episodes of "Cops" come from TX! :D
Thank you, thank you very much :D

I'm betting that RS signed that deal with Compaq
God I hope not! Well as long as they continue to offer non-compaq computers I guess that would be ok.

--compaq=junk

Originally posted by panopticon

God I hope not! Well as long as they continue to offer non-compaq computers I guess that would be ok.

--compaq=junk

Agreed.. I will be staying far away from any proprietary boxes from the big guys myself.

And that would explain why they are the #1 selling server...

Clearly we part ways here.

Drew

both compaq and dell are located in texas...interesting...

Dell is good, but i gotta agree with the others, compaq is garbage IMHO, had too many problems with them.

SERVERS or PC's? The servers, so say many industrial IT guys, are unstoppable. We are a Cobalt shop for the most part so I can't say for sure, so I better shut up.

And that would explain why they are the #1 selling server...I just don't understand why Compaq is the #1 selling computer as every one I've ever seen has been a terrible piece of junk without a single redeeming feature. I have no experience with their servers, but I find it hard to believe that a company that does such a horrible job of building desktops would be capable of building a good server.

On the other hand, I also don't understand how ***** can have "125,000 happy clients worldwide" since I had a horrible time there on a flakey server with trouble tickets which weren't answered or were closed without resolution and their support seemed 100% clueless :confused:

It's like Toyota trying to build trucks... (getting quasi-pollitical here hi hi)

Just because the build good cars (servers) doesn't mean they build good trucks (desktop computers).

Drew

I remember my girlfriends old compaq desktop, they had a hdd problem, and her older brother had taken it apart, i came over to fix it, and hooked it all back up, and turned it on, and it didn't start. I noticed it was making a wierd noise (the harddrive), and held it up to my girlfriends ear, as i did that, the harddrive caught fire (some chips on the board more specifically). It turns out with that desktop, if you don't plug in the cdrom (which i hadn't at that point) you kill the server, they used the cdrom to regulate the voltage, this was a stock compaq, p2-300 i believe. Any manufacturer whose computer catches fire in my hand won't ever get my vote ^_^ hehe.

I sense mental trauma... sorry I stepped on anyone's toes.

LOL, funny story porcupine. A bit like my athlon processor that started smoking for no apparent reason last month. It wasn't the cooling believe me. I had one badass CPU cooler on it. Probably a faulty chip or something, but they wouldn't refund it as I couldn't proove it was not my fault. That CPU was black as black can get. I still don't know whether to :D or :bawling:

*whimper* hehe, it didn't do that much to me, left me a few nasty burns across one hand, and my girlfriend lost a bit of hair, but it was more of a laughing matter, well, aside from the fact the pc was fried. The other thing i don't like about compaq, i haven't worked too much with their servers, but i find the cases to be cumbersome and inconvinient, and the pc ones didn't dissipate heat very well.

ROTFL ... I think we have a new Compaq ad here :D

Maybe i should try to find out what model that was.... Probably could recreate it with my gf having hair spray in, get 3rd degree scalp burns, and one heck of a lawsuit.... Hehehe, it probably doesen't help that this box was also cooped up in a cuboard, her brother kept it in a cuboard which was a tad small and closed the door, it got pretty toasty in there (might have dried the plastics to do this, i'm not sure if this is common for them), he would close the door 99% of the time (this was a 24/7 box) and next to no air would circulate. Someone should investigate this with the old minitower compaq p2-300's with cdrom and see if this is a common occurance, even if it's just for the know and fun, if you know what i mean :).

Wasn't RS talking about brining in 10 mbit dedicated lines a few months ago? Maybe that is the big announcement?

For anyone that hasn't used the server line from Compaq yet, you will be suprised for what is in store for you. Being an ex-employee, I can probably answer whatever questions you have about their product line. The servers are stable and rock solid. Do not compare their desktop/notebook line to their servers.. For desktops/notebooks that are name brand, go with Dell.. For Servers, go with Compaq all the way.

Sorry, but I just had to stand up for Compaq servers here..
The Server market, they are #1.. not the desktop market..

Laterz..
palmtree

Wasn't RS talking about brining in 10 mbit dedicated lines a few months ago? Maybe that is the big announcement?

Hopefully it is more then that. RS missed the boat on that one. I know some places are ready doing it.

Well it's good to hear that I may be wrong, but after being burned with horrible desktops (though not literally like some people :D) I'll have to wait til someone gives me a compaq server to change my opinion, because I sure as heck wouldn't buy one.

I take it they don't use cardboard pieces in the servers like they do in the desktop's and the network cards are better than those $6.00 winmodems compaq seems to really love :rolleyes:

--I thought they were #1 in the desktop market too - if not, that does make me really happy. There is some sanity in the world.

I have this odd feeling of being completely off-topic and yet absolutely non-apologetic?

-had to work with Compaq raid cards; those were a real piece of crap. Hooking up several of these in dual-proc (2x Pentium 200 Mhz) Compaq, that, BTW, were wayyy slower than a single-proc 400 Mhz, the whole array configuration was hellish and would work on *some* pcs and not others.

-other peculiarity: a bios stored on a dedicated partition of the HD, so of course I had to rescue many Linux guys who had trashed the whole thing with fdisk.

Originally posted by panopticon
I thought they were #1 in the desktop market too - if not, that does make me really happy.

Nope.. Last time I heard they were was back around '98.. now they are like #3 in the desktop market (behind IBM and Dell)..
Course, stuff like that changes every other day anyway.. ;)

laterz..

Do not judge on the basis of their desktop or home machines.

Compaq servers are excellent, as are Dell. I use both about equally and, frankly, have had fewer conflicts with Compaq, particularly on server appliances where Dell's customization does sometimes create issues. However, overall, if I were buying today, I would simply choose based on my specific requirements and current pricing.

Both make excellent products, as does HP.

I have had not so pleasant experiences with Compaq in the past on their desktop machines. However, the servers are a totally different animal.

The models that we have tested, the DL320 IDE and DL360 SCSI and just smokin machines but they are expensive.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

What'cha doin' testin' Compaqs?

Originally posted by adland
What'cha doin' testin' Compaqs?

I think anyone that owns a data center or host test's web servers.... sorta like a test-drive in a new car...

Chris

Keep in mind that a few years back Compaq bought out Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) who previously made the industry's top of the line servers. It is conceivable that the same development team from the original Digital still works on the new "Compaq-branded" servers which would explain why they are a superior product to the desktop models.

Robert -- as long as you still continue to offer generic "do-it-yourself" unmanaged machines for a low cost, you can add as many Compaq/Dell high end servers as you want. But by all means don't make the more expensive machines your only option -- any noticable increase in reliability is certainly not worth the price.

I'm all for rackshack hiking their prices. I think they should charge what the huge datacenters do, at least 5x their current rates!! :D:D:D

OK ...... one thing that you won;t find in the announcements is across the board price increases. And while we certainly can;t lower the $99 deal any lower, I wouldn;t be surprised to see a more agressive price/performance ratio on the upper end deals that we do in the future.


Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Sorry to disappoint, porcupine.

Heh, dang! Headsurfr you must be sitting pretty with such a large share of the market, but someday, someday i inspire to catch up to you :D

Come on. There is enough for all of us with the way that the really big guys are doing. Verio is in the can. Just look at the SEC filings for the publicly traded hosting companies. They are loosing megga money.

One by one. Then ten by ten. Then by the hundreds.

We have only scratched the surface of the comoditized hosting market.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Headsurfr: heh, that was a compliment in case somehow you managed to miss it :)

So what was the big news with rackshack.net don't see any thing really new on there site.. Not sure if they just uped bandwidth on ded. servers or not but they seem to have 300GB but i think they have all ways been that on there intels and AMD's..

So whats the big news for not selling servers?

Maybe just trying to create a little advance interest. But, they had a non-functioning link on their site to Dell and Compaq servers and a mention of the Announcement to be forthcoming. Now, all mention has disappeared and the AMD's are back on sale. Don't know if it means anything fell through or just means they have decided to keep quiet until the day.

Maybe they're going out of business and passing on all of their customers to smaller providers as a late christmas present! :D hehehe we could only wish (actually, that could quickly turn to a nightmare)

A post in the RS forums: http://forums.rackshack.net/showthread.php?threadid=4048 stated that the announcement has been canceled for the 13th and it will be announced today. I, like many others, are very interested in what the new offerings will be. I am hoping for dedicated 10mbit port and colo but who knows what that crazy HeadSurfer will think of. :)

EDIT: Ok...so they teased us, new offerings will hit the site at 10am Tues. or so they say. ;)

http://forum.rackshack.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4058

I did an Overture search for "dedicated server" and found Rackshack in the number one position with:


RackShack servers feature AMD 1 GHZ processors, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drives, and now 400 GB transfer. Order today.


I wonder if that's a typo :confused:

Apparently if you look at their job offers area, they will soon offer CPanel...

Heck, why am I not excited?

http://www.rackshack.net/13/

Originally posted by dominet
http://www.rackshack.net/13/

How did ya find that?:confused:

Rackshack's owner pasted the link on irc

See guys I was right about the 10 mbps dedicated lines...

Obviously they are very good at marketing :)

Originally posted by JG
... 400 GB transfer.

I wonder if that's a typo :confused:
The 400 GB transfer is not a typo ;) They've raised the 300 GB allocation to 400 for all new servers (and there will be some unmetered connections on offer as well) ...

Sweet, just sweet.

Can someone tell me what the bandwidth overage charge is at Rackshack? At Tranxactglobal I know it's $1... If RackShack can beat that, I'll eat my hat :)

Originally posted by jam spoon
Can someone tell me what the bandwidth overage charge is at Rackshack? At Tranxactglobal I know it's $1... If RackShack can beat that, I'll eat my hat :)
Your hat is safe for now - they charge $1-50 ...
http://forum.rackshack.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1417&highlight=bandwidth+charges
But that figure might have changed - this was posted in Nov 2001 ...

You can more or less forget about the overage of bandwidth, I doubt you'll use the 400GB in one month, but even if you do... usually Rackshack won't even charge you for it :).

Alan

Originally posted by ho247
You can more or less forget about the overage of bandwidth, I doubt you'll use the 400GB in one month, but even if you do... usually Rackshack won't even charge you for it :).

ho247, if only I *could* forget about bandwidth charges! Given half a chance (and going by past experience), I'd be pushing a good deal more than 400GB/mo :D I have to restrain myself in order to keep bandwidth costs down and profits high :)

This is why I like the sound of tranxactglobal - by setting overages at $1/GB, it's like they're saying "We expect you to use lots of bandwidth, and when you do, it won't be a problem"

All things being equal, if someone offered me a 400GB/mo deal with $1.50 overages, or a 300GB deal with $1 overages, I'd most likely pick the latter. In fact, I'm just about to! I'll wait a few more days for the dust to settle, before I make my final decision between tranxactglobal and rackshack...

Hats off to rackshack though on the possible upcoming 10mbps unmetered connection for $400/mo. Sounds like a great deal if you've got the cash :)

Originally posted by jam spoon
Hats off to rackshack though on the possible upcoming 10mbps unlimited connection for $400/mo. Sounds like a great deal if you've got the cash :)

The unlimited connection is no longer a mere possibility - it's fact!
http://rackshack.net

The unlimited connection is no longer a mere possibility - it's fact!

It's not an unlimited connection, it's limited to 10Mbps. You have unlimited usage of your connection, but the connection itself is not unlimited.

jam spoon, true... but how much over 400GB would you be using? You could always get another server at Rackshack and then use another 400GB.

Alan

About the 10 mb/s unmetered bandwidth...

Other companies may offer it but only rackshack uses bgp4... Others usually provide only cogent connection.

Originally posted by web_res
About the 10 mb/s unmetered bandwidth...

Other companies may offer it but only rackshack uses bgp4... Others usually provide only cogent connection.

*only* rackshack uses bgp4? thats news to me :laugh:

Originally posted by web_res
About the 10 mb/s unmetered bandwidth...

Other companies may offer it but only rackshack uses bgp4... Others usually provide only cogent connection.

And I am sure there is a very good chance RS will pump all this bw out cogent only.

Originally posted by ho247
jam spoon, true... but how much over 400GB would you be using?

In the short-term, I'll probably stay under. It's mostly the concept of $1 overages that I like. I feel assured to know that, however much bandwidth I use, and however much my site grows, I'll always be getting a great deal, and will be able to afford that deal.

Am I dreaming that my site could possibly use more than 400GB? No, I've done twice as much in the past. I have a better appreciation of the cost of bandwidth these days, and design my sites accordingly ;)


You could always get another server at Rackshack and then use another 400GB.

I was told (by 4webspace) that if two servers were used for one site, sharing the bandwidth round-robin style, it was considered foul play. I'm betting that, at 25 cents a gig, it would also be foul play in the eyes of rackshack.

And I am sure there is a very good chance RS will pump all this bw out cogent only.
I heard this said before, and thought it was probably true, but when you look at their Network graphs at http://rackshack.net/aboutus/networks.asp it appears as much bandwidth flows out thier Time Warner and Verio links as their Cogent link.

Question - do they pay per GB transferred on their 1000 Mbps links? Just curious since they have twice as much capacity through TW and Verio why you think they'll start pushing a higher proportion through Cogent than they are now.

The thing I'd actually like to see most from RackShack right now, is RedHat 7.2 with ext3 pre-installed.

Given that Plesk 2.5 is now out and officially supporting 7.2, I don't see anything to stop them from offering this setup. Let's hope it crops up sooner rather than later.

Better safe (with ext3) than sorry (with ext2) :)

Our pipes are fixed. I have never liked the idea of paying higher prices for "bursting". I buy the biggest fixed pipes and therefore get the lowest possible cost. I have another FULL gig-e that should go up later this month from another known provider. That will add to three Gig-es, one OC-3, and one DS-3.

The 10 Mb deals will route exclusively through Cogent but will fail over when necessary to any AVAILABLE capacity on our other links. Our goal is to always have a "spare Gig-e" in total bandwidth in case one of our pipes fails/ (No matter which pipe that is)

Hope that helps to clear up any questions.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Headsurfer can I clean that ferarri of yours :D

okies, this spare pipe, you want me to test it in a daily basis for you ;) just to make sure its still working.

Originally posted by jam spoon


ho247, if only I *could* forget about bandwidth charges! Given half a chance (and going by past experience), I'd be pushing a good deal more than 400GB/mo :D I have to restrain myself in order to keep bandwidth costs down and profits high :)



I'm not sure how much your site uses how much more GB than 400GB, but Rackshack offers you an extra 100GB which saves you $100 if you are on tranxactglobal.

Lets say you did 500GB.

For RS - $150 Tranxact - $200

Lets say you did 600GB

For RS - $300 Tranxact - $300

At 600GB you will still break even, unless you site do much more than 600GB a month. I would love to have an URL to your site as an eye opener ;)

Between, headsurfer has posted in WHT before that if a site uses more than 300GB, there is a chance he dont get charged for the excess. I think you can find that by digging up old posts.

I cannot say if we have or if we have not ever charged a customer for going over. Hundreds of servers go over each month.

I think the only customer we ever threatened to charge or collect a deposit on his cc was a guy pushing a 75 Mbps stream out constantly during peak hours. I think he removed the content that was causing that rather than pay the extra.

This policy, however, officially changed earlier this year when we wnnounced a lowering of our per mb price from $3 to $1.50. We are looking at out cost basis in billing and tracking and are seriously considering cutting that in half again.

We have been quite successful in averaging down our cost per mb of bandwidth. As we do, we pass it along to our customers.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

headsurfer was that 1.50 per meg over? Or per gig over?

iamdave, i know that you asked headsurfer. But im bored..so let me tell you its $1.50 per gig

I thought so...
Thanks...
I don't think I'll do more than 400 gigs anyway...but its always good to know..

Originally posted by headsurfer
Our pipes are fixed. I have never liked the idea of paying higher prices for "bursting". I buy the biggest fixed pipes and therefore get the lowest possible cost. I have another FULL gig-e that should go up later this month from another known provider. That will add to three Gig-es, one OC-3, and one DS-3.

The 10 Mb deals will route exclusively through Cogent but will fail over when necessary to any AVAILABLE capacity on our other links. Our goal is to always have a "spare Gig-e" in total bandwidth in case one of our pipes fails/ (No matter which pipe that is)

Hope that helps to clear up any questions.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Time for a WHT Lan Party at Rackshack's Data Center! :-)

Quake on 1000Mbit Ethernet anyone?

Brian

Originally posted by jam spoon


I was told (by 4webspace) that if two servers were used for one site, sharing the bandwidth round-robin style, it was considered foul play. I'm betting that, at 25 cents a gig, it would also be foul play in the eyes of rackshack.

Why? You pay for two servers at 400GB each? What would they care how many sites you host on them? 1, 100, 1000, 10000 - it shouldn't matter.

Comments?

Thanks - Brian

Tera-byte and rackshack have two totally different policies. TB doesn't really like it when you use all the bandwidth they provide. Rackshack on the other hand doesn't even care if you use a little more then you are supposed too and they don't bill you for it.

Tera-byte and rackshack have two totally different policies. TB doesn't really like it when you use all the bandwidth they provide. Rackshack on the other hand doesn't even care
Interesting... maybe Tera-Byte shoulld just list how much of the included bandwidth they will allow you to really use :D