Hello,

First let me say that this forum is a tremendous blessing to all the millions of innocent hosting customers that spend half their lives trying to find a descent host (and the other of your life pissed off because you made the wrong choice again).

I was looking through the forums and found knownhost.com and I was very impressed with their VPS service offerings. I'm a reseller and would not really consider a VPS option primarily due to money constraints but also because I lack the technical aptitude to manage the servers. However the benefits of a VPS seem very attractive especially at $20 per month.

My questions are:

1) How does the VPS offering at knownhost or anywhere else compare with a reseller plan?

2) How much more technical knowledge is required to manage a VPS compared to a reseller account with WHM and Cpanel?

3) How much autonomy does one have on a VPS? Can you send out as many emails as you want, put funky scripts that protect every file or run a peculiar script that eats more resources?

4) How many VPS's do they run on server as opposed to reseller accounts per server? Do you get a lot more resource availability on a VPS?

5) Private DNS's - I didnt notice them saying that Private DNS's are provided with VPS's. Would you have to create and manage DNS's yourself?

thank you for your time and input

regards,

Richard

How much more technical knowledge is required to manage a VPS compared to a reseller account with WHM and Cpanel?

A LOT. With a reseller account, whenever something breaks down your host is responsible for quickly and effectively fixing it. When you're on a VPS, you are entirely on your own (unless you have secured some sort of managed VPS plan). If you're not capable of resolving most server breakdowns on your own or if you don't have much experience on the console of a server, it would be best to go for a resesller account.

Knownhost is superb. It is now fully managed so they will help you along the way. But you MUST be willing to learn. It is a learning curve.

When I started I didn't know a thing but I did submit tickets for clarification on a lot of things and they as always respond quickly, politely and with detail.

Do you actually need a VPS? Don't let price be your decider..

Ask yourself, is everything working fine as it is? Do you need any upgrades now or the immediate future?

If something is working well now, then leave it as it is.

If however you genuinely do need a VPS, the KH would be a good choice based on reviews I have seen.

I don't know about others, but I still don't think a VPS, and especially an entry level VPS, should be used as a replacement for a (proper) reseller account.

I agree entirely, the entry level vps's you see with alot of companys won't compete with reseller accounts at the same pricing.

Being that they bring their whole set of problems with them, If you want to focus on selling hosting or managing your websites, get a reseller account. If you want root access and to offer reseller accounts yourself get a mid or high end vps or prefferably a dedicated server.

If you go for the vps let us know how you get on.

Thank you for all your valuable feedback. From reading the responses it seems that i'm not ready to take the jump to a VPS solution. I do prefer that my host take care of all the background work and let me get on with selling reseller accounts. I dont have time for such a learning curve and it seems that the entry level VPS package is not what will really do the job for me although I'm very impressed with KH and how they present their company and packages.

So on the topic of reseller accounts, I have been through so many hosts and paid a varying degree of money for services. My conclusion: Higher hosting fees does not equate to excellent service and hosting infrastructure.

I want to move hosts again as I'm dissatisfied with the guys who say they can do the world for you but really cant (usual story). I, unlike most resellers prefer the relatively small companies that rent excellent infrastructure and actually can take a personal interest in your hosting needs instead of a team that knows you simply by your account number. I had an excellent host that was relatively expensive but their service was top notch until they outsourced more than half their support team to the Asian subcontinent! Although the English level was perfect comprehending my problem was an almost impossible feat for them.

My question: I need 5-10gbs of space, 100 reseller accounts and top notch service with support for international domains and on a super fast back bone. My price range: $15-30 per month.

All you seasoned host movers, please share your valuable hosting experience.

THANK YOU!

regards,

Richard

My question: I need 5-10gbs of space, 100 reseller accounts and top notch service with support for international domains and on a super fast back bone. My price range: $15-30 per month.

You will get trouble then. $30/month is just for vps with 128-256MB RAM. Unless you are putting all html-only sites, I doubt it can serve for 100 reseller accounts with dynamic content

I think the OP is referring to a reseller account with those specs, but much the same logic applies - $15 to $30 only buys you so much in the way of resources.

So on the topic of reseller accounts, I have been through so many hosts and paid a varying degree of money for services. My conclusion: Higher hosting fees does not equate to excellent service and hosting infrastructure.
Perhaps not, but the converse is almost inevitable: low hosting fees do result in a lesser quality of service and infrastructure, simply because the host has less money available to spend on manpower and hardware. I'd say $30 is too low for top notch service on 100 accounts but perhaps you'll get lucky.

from the things you have noted here, it looks like knownhost's reseller plans would be a safe bet for you.

i used them for the better part of a year (8-9) months and was extremely happy with the servers, network, uptime and especially the support. they definitely do a great job!

I think I've narrowed the choice to 2 companies for the reseller package:

Innohosting or JaguarPC. They both seem quite impressive as far as service offering but I have never hosted with them so I'm hoping to get some feedback from people that have hosted at either place before. I did a quick comparison as far as my requirements go (not a comprehensive list of all features offered by both):

Jaguar PC

FreeDomain reseller account
Free ssl(shared)
Free client exec
3 ips
unlimited accounts

18gb space

$16.95 per month


Innohosting

Free client exec
Free dedicated ssl
Free end user support
Free domain reseller
25 accounts

5gb

$16.95

As far as features are concerned it seems that Innohosting wins, handsdown. As far as resources (diskspace, ip addresses and amount of accounts) Jaguar wins.

Its a tough choice...:confused:

richard,

you can check out my innohosting review here (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=670154)

Paying for Service is just as important at least if not more important than what you get.

We are with JaguarPC now and are highly disappointed. When you are scouting them for sales, everything is glitz and glitter. When you become a customer, it is totally different. I am speaking from being on a shared server and on a VPS.

Their tech support is in Pakistan. I don't know if you are a U.S. customer. This may or may not matter to you.

You can never get anyone on the phone.

When you put in a ticket, they miss details. So it is as if you have to explain yourself again to them and wait for yet another reply via email. This could be because English is not their first language.

When something goes horribly wrong...where will they be? No where.

If you do decide to go with JaguarPC do not pay for a full year in advance. I would pay monthly. Make them earn your business monthly. When people know you could pack up your stuff at any time, no loss, they may treat you better.

mallumama your post would make a good standalone review thread :)

You offer some good advice :)

Amazing stuff mallumama! thanks for your insight into JaguarPC. I was about to go with them but after trusting my instincts and of course this forum :) I went with innohosting. Something told me that JaguarPC were just offering too much and could do everything according to sales but when I contacted innohosting they were much more realistic about my requirements and didn't over promise. Innohosting is not as quick to reply to support tickets(under 24 hours though) but when they do reply its backed by solid knowledge and a real understanding of your requirements. The other thing that made me go with Inno is that fact that you don't find their banners appearing everywhere. Its rather within search threads on hosting forums which I find a real indication of their dedication to customer service. Lets face it, your customers are your harshest critics!

Well lets keep our fingers crossed and hope that Inno keep delivering - I'm confident they will.

Hi Richard :)

Thanks for your post, you also offer some valid points :)

We look forward to your InnoHosting review after some time :)