It looks like Denis (dabystru) of 99servers.com/saburovo.com is about to make a buy of another set of servers to offer without setup fees. (in case you're not familiar with Denis, he's a very highly rated guy around here -- I often recommend that if you want a Rackshack box, you go through him, and not RS directly -- just for the additional support and configuration help alone) Which server or servers (poll is multiple choice) would you most like him to offer?

Frankly, out of the new RS boxes, my vote goes to the 1Ghz Pentium III Compaq DL320s. They may not be the fastest machines, but they're very well designed, and stable. I think offering these machines was a very smart move on Rackshack's part.

For beefier machines, I'm not sure I like the current Rackshack offerings. Their XP1700, for instance, is a little suspicious to me. It has a fast processor, but a slow (5400 rpm) hard drive, which is backwards -- servers need the fastest hard drive they can get. Additionally, their chipset or motherboard is incompatible with RedHat 7.2, and presumably, all future editions of RedHat, unless RedHat themselves takes the time to fix these issues. That just disturbs me. I think RS needs to redesign their XP offer.

For beefier machines, I think it would be really interesting if Denis picked up some boxes from Tranxactglobal. Perhaps just a few at first on trial. Although some other companies are trying, I honestly view Tranxactglobal as the first company to be truly competitive with Rackshack. Meeting or exceeding their standard of hardware, data center, bandwidth, service, and, perhaps most importantly -- price. The only trouble they seem to have so far is keeping up with their huge order volume. lol. But that's not so troubling. Success is a good thing, and gives you the capital to grow. Although they got overloaded there for awhile, they seem to be doing better now. "coping" with success. hehe

They offer the full gamut of machines... Single P3, Dual P3, Single XP, Dual XP or MP. They were the first to offer the XP1700 here (I believe), and all machines come with 7200rpm drives and other quality hardware. RedHat 7.2 works perfectly, and even Windows 2000 server will be available soon. A unique benefit over RS is that no matter how beefy the machine is, the monthly rate stays the same. Presumably Denis would be able to offer a killer deal on very pumped up boxes -- fast processor(s), lots of memory, and ample hard drive space. Even multiple hard drives with software RAID should be relatively cheap.

Additionally, I think they give a discount to resellers like Denis for bulk buys. At their current rates, I don't know how they do it... but hey... that's for them to deal with. I know a lot of people around here wonder how Rackshack and Tranxactglobal make money, but they apparently they both do. Otherwise they wouldn't be in this business! A lot of people are happily hosted by both companies. (4000+ with Rackshack, 600+ with Tranxact)

So ... how would YOU vote and why?

There were also lots of questions I couldn't fit within the poll, such as... how much memory and hard drive space would you like offered? Which operating system? And as far as storage goes, would you like any kind of software or hardware RAID (I know Tranxact offers affordable RAID, and I *think* RS does)?

Anyone want plain Redhat boxes, or are control panels a must?

Control panel wise -- I only had room to list the Rackshack's Duron boxes, with a choice between Plesk and Ensim. Their DL320 gives you Ensim. Tranxact offers Plesk and Cpanel/WHM. What kind of control panel preferences do you guys have? I know lots of people like Cpanel/WHM, but be aware this adds a good deal of money to the monthly fee as you must pay monthly for Cpanel. Is that ok? (The big benefit of Cpanel that I see, btw, is that it's closest to giving you a 'web hosting company in a box' -- it's cheap when you look at it like that!)

(Remember... this poll is multiple choice. A lot of us here often take on more than one server, or have different needs at the different times -- and we like to be given options)

If server specification is among your top consideration, I think dv2/tranxactglobal beats rackshack totally almost in every package.

My P3 server I just got from dv2 uses WD400BB (Western Digital 40 GB 7200rpm) drive, one of the best 7200rpm drives and I notice it's already tuned to use the udma5 mode (ATA100 if I'm not mistaken). I don't know what motherboard they're using for the P3 server, but for the XP, if I'm not mistaken, they use AOPEN boards. That's another bonus point for dv2 over rackshack.

I'm not sure though if Denis would be interested to resell dv2 servers, but if this is the case, I guess he may eventually make more profits with dv2 servers :)

Originally posted by twrs
If server specification is among your top consideration, I think dv2/tranxactglobal beats rackshack totally almost in every package. That's very true.

But some people are married to brands... such as Compaq or Rackshack. I think the pairing of Compaq and Rackshack together handles that nicely. :)

For me, personally, I prefer cheaper and faster name brand components (mb, memory, hd, etc.). That's one of many reasons reasons I love the offerings from Tranxactglobal.

My P3 server I just got from dv2 uses WD400BB (Western Digital 40 GB 7200rpm) drive, one of the best 7200rpm drives

That's a fantastic drive. Of course, with companies like IBM out of the IDE reliability race, there's not much choice, is there? :) Heh. At this time, personally, for IDEs I'd prefer to see Quantum designed Maxtor D740X series drives first, Western Digital second, and almost nothing third... except for the really large WD drives, and the models with 8mb cache. Then WD first. That's just me, though, and that hinges largely upon the new Maxtor drives actually be Quantum drives in disguise. If they're more Maxtor than Quantum, then I don't like 'em as much, certainly, and would be more likely to consider the entire WD line over all others.

and I notice it's already tuned to use the udma5 mode (ATA100 if I'm not mistaken). Really? Already has hparm entries? Quite cool.

I don't know what motherboard they're using for the P3 server, but for the XP, if I'm not mistaken, they use AOPEN boards. That's another bonus point for dv2 over rackshack.Well, I think they use complete (or base?) Aopen systems, which would be more than the motherboard. Those are usually decent machines. Aopen is competitive in a variety of markets.
I'm not sure though if Denis would be interested to resell dv2 servers, but if this is the case, I guess he may eventually make more profits with dv2 servers :) Exactly. I don't know if he's married to Rackshack or anything. My guess is that he's married to Rackshack-like deals and pricing, of which Tranxact is the first real alternate provider. And if Denis carries XP1700s, I certainly hope he gets the Tranxact variety, and not the Rackshack ones -- for reasons I mentioned earlier. And he can definitely make either far more profit off of Tranxact systems and/or offer them at a lower price.

This is especially true on systems with any form of hard drive or memory upgrades. A dual hard drive, 1 gig memory, RedHat 7.1 XP1700+ system from RS runs $177, or $191-$192 after Texas sales taxes per month. The same thing from Tranxact, but with Redhat 7.2, can run $99 a month, with only a reasonable increase in one time install fees. (these are before his markups of course) He could offer almost 2 upgraded Tranxact machines for the what it'll cost him for 1 upgraded RS machine in monthlies.

And when it comes to dual processors... it's a whole nother ballgame. Dual P3s cost about the same as a single XP1700. It's something like a one time $175 upgrade fromt he single P3. That'd be $29 per month spread out over 6 months, or $14.50 over a year. Not such a bad thing to amortize out.

It just seems like offering some Tranxact machine with no install makes sense... both for saburovo's ultimate customers (allowing them to get not just good but AMAZING machines, with no install, 5 day trial, and excellent value added support), and saburovo himself (larger margins for profit, and free os/package updates every quarter to reduce his maintenance costs). A good, if not great, win-win situation.

If server specification is among your top consideration, I think dv2/tranxactglobal beats rackshack totally almost in every package.
Rackshack may have a faster/better network which might be a big thing. On the other hand, I have no evidence either way - but I do like the look of Rackshack's Verio and TW 1000 MB connections and their greater redundancy with all their big pipes rather than just 2. Maybe Tranxactglobal tunes their Aleron and local peering better though so they are equally as fast - just don't know.

One of the big advantages to paying more per month to buy a RS server from a third party was no setup fee, but since you can already get a server with no setup fee from Tranxactglobal.com, maybe it would be better to go direct to the source so you're dealing with the people who really have their hands on your server.

Originally posted by panopticon
One of the big advantages to paying more per month to buy a RS server from a third party was no setup fee, but since you can already get a server with no setup fee from Tranxactglobal.com, maybe it would be better to go direct to the source so you're dealing with the people who really have their hands on your server.

Saburovo adds value, though. It's not just an issue of free setup.

From experiences you've read on this and other forums, can you honestly say that it's better to go directly with Rackshack than Saburovo, for instance? Customers of each usually have two distinctly different experiences. Saburovo supports issues Rackshack doesn't. He adds a layer of value over Rackshack -- earning his keep, you could say. I'm not saying it's the -same- exact situation with Tranxact global, but indeed, if you want anything above basic 'fix it' support for your hardware or base RedHat install, you're going to need to shell out the extra support bucks going direct. From what I've read here, Saburovo will support issues non grata that the source company won't, or won't do for free. For complex issues where he has to charge, his rates may be lower. For these reasons, Tranxact encourages resellers like cabalstudious. With resellers picking up some support issues, it lets them focus more on their core business functions.

Saburovo also gives free 5 day trials. You can't get any such thing from Tranxactglobal right now. No setup may be nice, but 5 day trial -- boy, that's something powerful. It's something that everyone can use, regardless of their financial standing. It's nice to be able to back out of something you find to be inappropriate for you. It's like Saburovo has the industry's only 'you can take big deep sigh of relief before you order' guarantee.

And as far as the no setup fees go... with Tranxact, there's is only one machine with free setup. A decent one, but one I and perhaps other folks wouldn't order personally. It'd be nice to see some of the powerful servers with no setup.

I think saburovo has his place, adding multiple layers of value over the offers of Rackshack, Tranxact and other similar competitors.