Hi people,

I am new to this board and since I am interested in getting myself a dedicated server at RackShack, I have some questions:

RackShack offers (for example) the 1.3GHz Celeron box in three configs:

- one with RedHad 7.1
- one with EnSim
- one with Plesk

Now can someone tell me what the difference is between these three products and what the advantages and disadvantages are please?

Here is the deal I am talking about: http://www.rackshack.net/flagshipmain.asp

Thanks a lot!!

I'm no Linux expert, but it looks like they are offering the same server just loaded with different software. They all appear to be running a version of Linux, called Red Hat, which seems to be one of the most popular Linux distributions.

Ensim and Plesk are control panels that enable you and the website owners on your server to control all aspects of the server, such as email accounts, statistics, DNS, etc.

From reading WHT, Plesk is the more popular control panel, but is more expensive than Ensim. Rackshack is offering Ensim for unlimited domains on your server while the license for Plesk is limited to 200 domains for that price.

If you do a search here on WHT, you'll find many referfences to the two control panels and what the differences are.

Thanks for the prompt reply :) I just did that but I still don't know what to do ...

I would use the server to run my website and the forum that goes with the website :)

both use MySQL and PHP ... I have no intrest in reselling webspace or something alike, I just want to host my website on it.

So what is best for my situation? Plesk or Ensim :) ?

Personally, I do not like Plesk layout and prefer Ensim, but it's not everyone's opinion here. I would say, you have to see what you prefer. You can find demo of both there:

Ensim: http://www.ensim.com/solutions/ras-demo/index.htm

Plesk : http://www.plesk.com/html/products/psa/demo.htm

You really don't need a control panel such as plesk or ensim if you are not using the server for mass virtual shared hosting. You won't have any customers so don't need to configure losts of accounts or give your customers access to a control panel to manage their site (because you won't have any customers) :)

You could get buy just fine getting a plain old install of RedHat Linux OS and then installing a great free server managment control panel called webmin. It allows you to do most of your management and configuring of the server through a web-infterface. There is also some great documentation that has been writen for it which you can find at the webmin site www.webmin.com

Ok so Ensim would be the most interesting option for me, or plain RedHat with that freebie ... problem: I am not a linux guru so I think plain RedHat might be too hard ??

Absolutely right. Anyway, if I refer to your offer link, there are only Ensim ones left for the moment

True ... now what do I do? Go with this box or wait for AMD boxes??? HELP!! =p

Well, this is your choice ;) I think that for this price, it is a really good price, and as it is a special offer, it might not last long. And AMDs might not be cheaper (I doubt)...

Why dont you e-mail their sales department and ask? Thats what they are for.

Well the Duron 1GHz goes for the same price but only has 40G storage room whereas the Intel one features 60GB.

Do you reckon there is a big performance difference between the 1.3 Celeron and the 1.0 Duron and are there other things I have to look at when comparing both cpu's? For example won't the intel be the better choice for uptime (with AMD having heat problems maybe?)

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
Why dont you e-mail their sales department and ask? Thats what they are for.

Ask what?

between Intel and AMDs, it's a big and hot debate. Search the forum to see what people think of it. I think they're pretty the same, but well...

The AMD processors only have heat problems if they *let* them have heat problems. Heat of an AMD 1GHZ Duron processor should not be a worry when buying a server. I'd say either server is fine for you. Does your single site need over 40GB space?

Originally posted by Wismie
Well, this is your choice ;) I think that for this price, it is a really good price, and as it is a special offer, it might not last long. And AMDs might not be cheaper (I doubt)...

Here's a free piece of general advice, given out to anyone who might care.

There is no such thing as a deal too good to pass up.

IOW, RS has great deals today. They will have great deals tomorrow. Unless your project is time sensitive and you just have to have a server today, I would suggest you decide exactly what you want, and then wait until a good deal is offered on that server.

Sure, there are always great offers here.

I was no saying "go on", I was just suggesting it was an interesting offer. There might me other ones in the Web hosting offers forum, I didn't look at them.

But another piece of advice:

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

I don't NEED to upgrade to a dedicated server at this moment, but I my plan was to get one now and learn how to use it so we can move over to the dedicated server in a month or so.

Right now the site is hosted on a RAQ4 along with some other websites, but I reckon a dedicated would certainly increase the speed of the website. Another reason why I would opt for a dedicated server is because my site has been offline a few times because of other sites on the same server taking the server down ... and I am sick of it.

Now I just found out about another interesting company "Eservers.Biz" they also offer a good product and from what I have been reading they offer good support as well.

yep, I ordered a server with them last week ;)

But for the moment, I think they have closed for a while any new order are they were a little bit (too?) successful with this offer :)

Yes but they'll have new ones soon :)

I'll wait for those then :) thanks people!