Isaac.Eiland-Hall
08-24-2007, 05:22 PM
I recently determined that I could use an extra hand in administering my dedicated server, primarily because I am now scheduled to actually leave my house three days per week now, and I've been fighting a server crash that happens about once every two weeks or so... I'm a Windows geek, not a Linux Server geek, so while I've learned a hell of a lot in the last three years; there are so many tasks that I find difficult...
After searching WHT, these guys sounded about as good as iWeb, my dedicated server provider; that is, they sounded pretty awesome.
I believe it was around 10:30pm last night (Thursday 23 August 2007) when I signed up - which was a painless process. I received my login info at 11:52pm.
During the signup, a recommendation was made to open a ticket for hardening the server; I thought this was an excellent idea, because whereas I looked at tutorials here on WHT and on the cPanel forums, and did some hardening; no harm in getting another look-see by Linux geeks. :)
I opened that ticket at 1:30am, got a reply at 3:42a saying they would look at it shortly; then at 5:15a, they advised me that the root password I supplied was incorrect (which it was. D'oh!). I believe I supplied the correct password around 8:45am; at 8:52am, they replied and said they'd start working on my server. At 10:05am, I received a huge list of everything they did.
So, to summarize:
- Non-emergency ticket in the middle of the night had actual work on it within four hours (and acknowledged by a human in just over two hours). Of course, they couldn't continue...
- Updated info got a reply (and probably work started) within ten minutes, again, on a non-emergency ticket.
- Friendly staff (when I updated the password, I said something like "D'oh! Well, I was an idiot :)", and the reply was basically "You're not an idiot, we all do that :)", along with a very professional note that they'd start work on it)
- This deserves a special mention: Staff that apparently have at least a high school education. One email had "your" where "you're" was appropriate, but none of this "can u b patient plz?" stuff that drives me nuts. I know, a small thing; but I feel better when I'm dealing with someone who appears literate. :)
- Signup was a breeze
- The customer website where you can open tickets and enter your server information is well-thought out and nicely functional. It's not 'ZOMG WEB 2.0!1!1 LOLLERS' pretty, but it's simple and not bloated. It works, and it's quick, which is *precisely* what I need.
So. Colour me highly impressed. So far, I absolutely feel I made the right, and lucky choice to go with these guys.
After searching WHT, these guys sounded about as good as iWeb, my dedicated server provider; that is, they sounded pretty awesome.
I believe it was around 10:30pm last night (Thursday 23 August 2007) when I signed up - which was a painless process. I received my login info at 11:52pm.
During the signup, a recommendation was made to open a ticket for hardening the server; I thought this was an excellent idea, because whereas I looked at tutorials here on WHT and on the cPanel forums, and did some hardening; no harm in getting another look-see by Linux geeks. :)
I opened that ticket at 1:30am, got a reply at 3:42a saying they would look at it shortly; then at 5:15a, they advised me that the root password I supplied was incorrect (which it was. D'oh!). I believe I supplied the correct password around 8:45am; at 8:52am, they replied and said they'd start working on my server. At 10:05am, I received a huge list of everything they did.
So, to summarize:
- Non-emergency ticket in the middle of the night had actual work on it within four hours (and acknowledged by a human in just over two hours). Of course, they couldn't continue...
- Updated info got a reply (and probably work started) within ten minutes, again, on a non-emergency ticket.
- Friendly staff (when I updated the password, I said something like "D'oh! Well, I was an idiot :)", and the reply was basically "You're not an idiot, we all do that :)", along with a very professional note that they'd start work on it)
- This deserves a special mention: Staff that apparently have at least a high school education. One email had "your" where "you're" was appropriate, but none of this "can u b patient plz?" stuff that drives me nuts. I know, a small thing; but I feel better when I'm dealing with someone who appears literate. :)
- Signup was a breeze
- The customer website where you can open tickets and enter your server information is well-thought out and nicely functional. It's not 'ZOMG WEB 2.0!1!1 LOLLERS' pretty, but it's simple and not bloated. It works, and it's quick, which is *precisely* what I need.
So. Colour me highly impressed. So far, I absolutely feel I made the right, and lucky choice to go with these guys.