Hi,

I know a lot of RackSpace, and know they are very expensive. But are they worth the money? I know they have a fanatical support staff which responds and acts fast. I know they offer about 99.999% uptime. And I experienced myself their network is fast (is it the fastest network available, or are there faster networks?) But they do ask a lot of money for servers which you can get for almost third of the price at other hosts. So in my eyes there USP are their support, uptime guarantee and network. But are those factors worht the money? Is it truly the best solution you can get if you want reliable hosting? When I should host with them, I don't care that I get my money back when there network is lesser than 99.999% up. I just want it to be up.

So basic my questions is: Are they the best choice for someone who don't know anything about server administration and who wants to have his server up for almost 100% and just want quality and speed speed speed:D?

If you have realted WHT topics about them, or other forms of information, maybe from other sites please post it here also.

Thank you in advance!

Jacco

Rackspace is a great isp despite the fact they seem to have the illusion desktop machines are servers. But hey that's why they are so profitable their ROI on equipment is virtually nothing.
Anyway they have great lines and pretty good support. We have a secondary name server hosted with them and it normally takes 24+ hours just to get an additional IP address. I wouldn't exactly call that fanatical support, however they did call me up to let me know they were locked out of the machine so they could not "set up the ip"... a day later.

And I experienced myself their network is fast (is it the fastest network available, or are there faster networks?)

Yes it is quite fast but it is not exactly the fastest network around.

If you need a complex hosting solution there is other cost effective ISP's around that offer higher quality lines, higher quality hardware, and superior service. If you want just a basic hosting solution to host a few mission critical web sites rackspace is alright for that.

Hey Nick......... He's asking about RackSpace, not rackshack. :cool:

George

Jacco,

You answered your own question in your first post. You've seen their performance, you've seen their promises, and you've seen their pricing. It's up to you to make a personal determination as to whether or not it's worth it. You're the one paying the bill. ;)

George

Originally posted by tilted
Hey Nick......... He's asking about RackSpace, not rackshack. :cool:

George


Yes I know I didn't get the two confused.

Greetings:

As a non-facility based managed service provider, we get to work with a lot of different Internet data center providers like Rackspace.com, NTT/Verio, Rackshack, and others.

We have noticed over the years that certain companies like Rackspace.com has continued to have a track record of success in meeting their stated objectives.

Their network is among the fastest (not the fastest), they offer among the best service level agreements (and meet the SLA the majority of the time), and easy to work with and alongside.

Part of the myth of hosting is that company A offering similar hardware and data traffic as company B for way less means that company B is ripping you off or is otherwise not worth the look.

We've found over the years that most companies competing on price, being far less than industry leaders such as Rackspace.com often give you a lot less.

Some don't have any hardware repair or replacement SLA's. There have been posts in these forums about customers waiting weeks for bad hardware to be replaced.

Some don't have any up time guarantees; and those that do are far below the standards of the market leaders.

And you might be surprised how much .1% makes a difference.

===

If it is up... Then it is down... per year

Up time ===== Down time

90% =====> 876 hours
95% =====> 438 hours
99% =====> 87 hours, 36 minutes
99.5% ====> 43 hours, 48 minutes
99.9% ====> 8 hours, 45 minutes, 36 seconds
99.99% ===> 52 minutes, 33.6 seconds
99.999% ==> 5 minutes, 15.36 seconds
99.9999% => 31.68 seconds

===

So when Rackspace.com and similar industry leaders offer 99.999% up time, they are stating your equipment will not be down for more than 5 minutes, 15.36 seconds per year in terms of unscheduled maintenance.

Now, we have a play server at a company often mentioned in these forums that advertise the $99 per month dedicated servers.

We've had that server on our enterprise network monitoring system since April 21, 2002. Life to date up time on that server has been 99.198%.

This translates into 70 hours, 15 minutes, 18.72 seconds of down time per year.

The play server is a Compaq DL320... the provider uses Cogent, Verio, and others... yet look what you get for $99 and change per month.

If you where running your business on that server, could you live with over 70 hours of down time?

Or would you rather pay $200 to $500 per month so that you had
to live with only 5 minutes, 15.36 seconds of down time per year?

Thank you.

Rackspace certainly are worth every penny, with great support, uptime and hardware reliability... you just can't ask for anythng more, maybe cheaper prices, but then they wouldn't be able to provide such a first class service. I've been with them for over one year now and basically based all operations that require quality hosting with their company. As someone has already mentioned, you've (Jacco) have already mentioned all the best qualities that Rackspace provides and that all companies require to maintain a good, online appearance.

Alan

Originally posted by zerphyte
Rackspace is a great isp despite the fact they seem to have the illusion desktop machines are servers. But hey that's why they are so profitable their ROI on equipment is virtually nothing.
Anyway they have great lines and pretty good support. We have a secondary name server hosted with them and it normally takes 24+ hours just to get an additional IP address. I wouldn't exactly call that fanatical support, however they did call me up to let me know they were locked out of the machine so they could not "set up the ip"... a day later.



Yes it is quite fast but it is not exactly the fastest network around.

If you need a complex hosting solution there is other cost effective ISP's around that offer higher quality lines, higher quality hardware, and superior service. If you want just a basic hosting solution to host a few mission critical web sites rackspace is alright for that.

What do you mean with "Rackspace is a great isp despite the fact they seem to have the illusion desktop machines are servers"? Do they not use high quality servers?
And you say they are so profitable, while I read a news message of them a few months ago saying that they became profitable this year. Their formula works, but it hasn't until a few months ago.

Jacco

Originally posted by ho247
Rackspace certainly are worth every penny, with great support, uptime and hardware reliability... you just can't ask for anythng more, maybe cheaper prices, but then they wouldn't be able to provide such a first class service. I've been with them for over one year now and basically based all operations that require quality hosting with their company. As someone has already mentioned, you've (Jacco) have already mentioned all the best qualities that Rackspace provides and that all companies require to maintain a good, online appearance.

Alan

Are you using them so sell your own hosting? Just interested, aren't many of those around :D At least not here on the forums, since it is harder to compete with quality than with price (no offense to anyone!)

Yes, if you can't be down.

Yes, if you need hand holding - new admin.

Originally posted by Fish_Saver
Yes, if you can't be down.

Yes, if you need hand holding - new admin.

It is not that I really need hand holding, it is just the fact that my commercial skills are far better than my technical skills. And I don't want to use any of my time trying to learn server administation. You can call it hand holding, I call it specialisation :D

Jacco

Originally posted by Blikje


What do you mean with "Rackspace is a great isp despite the fact they seem to have the illusion desktop machines are servers"? Do they not use high quality servers?


They use good hardware its nothing special and it is in minitowers instead of rackmounts.

Originally posted by Blikje


It is not that I really need hand holding, it is just the fact that my commercial skills are far better than my technical skills. And I don't want to use any of my time trying to learn server administation. You can call it hand holding, I call it specialisation :D

Jacco

Called outsourcing and every company does it there is nothing wrong with it. We have a security system in our office we pay ADT to manage it and supply the hardware. Guess we need our hands held also.