Could somebody please recommend a company that offers maganed dedicated servers for something around $100 a month? My site doesn't require too much bandwidth (5 GB per month tops) or too much space (1GD would be plenty). The main criteria are reliability and 24x7 live technical support (over the phone or through online chat). I know that, for example, rackshack.net offers good deals, but they don't provide support to people who don't know anything about Lunix. So that is why I am looking for a managed server.

I would be surprised if you find a managed server with real 24/7 support for $100. Rackshack is a pretty good deal, most who offer managed servers charge more at the management and support cost $ to provide.

You never know, if it is there, the WHT people will find it.

you can try dedicatednow.com but there is a setup fee and the support is excellent

I heard of dedicatednow, but there is no information on their site about how their tech support is provided. I emailed them last night with this question, but up until now (17 hours later) I got no answer from them. If that is how they provide tech support, it is not that excellent.

Hello Sprogis!
How are you doing, today?

If I may ask, what type of content or sites are you going to be hosting? Have you considered virtual hosting?

$100 per month for a MANAGED DEDICATED SERVER is going to cost you a pretty penny, but if you can increase your budget, I suggest www.rackspace.com

Tranxactglobal.com or eservers.biz

Slightly more than $100 for their Duron servers, but excellent support. They don't call themselves managed, but they'll help you with just about anything and they are fast in doing so.

Originally posted by sprogis
I heard of dedicatednow, but there is no information on their site about how their tech support is provided. I emailed them last night with this question, but up until now (17 hours later) I got no answer from them. If that is how they provide tech support, it is not that excellent.

I never had that problem as I contact them using ICQ and never needed to send them an email.

Nocster.net - Managed servers, some under $100. With only 1GB disk space and 5GB transfer, what are you running that you need a dedicated server? You might also want to look into VPS/VDS options.

- Matt

Did sales get back you. Support is provide via, email and soon to be live chat. as well as 24/7 Live emergency phone support.



Originally posted by sprogis
I heard of dedicatednow, but there is no information on their site about how their tech support is provided. I emailed them last night with this question, but up until now (17 hours later) I got no answer from them. If that is how they provide tech support, it is not that excellent.

Centralized, I have a retail site. The reason I want to go dedicated is to minimize the risk of jeopardizing my MySQL data. Rackspace offers a great service, but isn't $230 per month for a minimal configuration a little bit steep?

Jayglate, no, dedicatednow hasn't replied to my inquiry. The email support is not going to be an option for me because based on my first experience the delay is over 17 hours. Any online chat (including ICQ, AOL etc) is OK, but again, it has to be a live 24x7 support.

Sales and tech are two different animals. But icq/aim is NOT live 24/7. And for $99 you are pushing you luck for what you are looking for. But email support is 24/7.




Originally posted by sprogis
Jayglate, no, dedicatednow hasn't replied to my inquiry. The email support is not going to be an option for me because based on my first experience the delay is over 17 hours. Any online chat (including ICQ, AOL etc) is OK, but again, it has to be a live 24x7 support.

I am not sure what you mean by saying that your email support is 24/7. I emailed an inquiry 18 hours ago, you created a ticket (#50452), and that was it so far. I haven't received any reply.

Everyone is right, you need to increase your budget by 2-3x over if you want anything truly good..

I'd suggest

rackspace.com first.. 220 days uptime on a box I have there and counting :)

DialTone.com is supposto be good but I've not heard much from them since interland purchased them.

With either of those I don't forsee any disapointment... anywhere else and espically a $99 a month server.. well all I can say there is best of luck :).

RackSpace.com is great, but very expensive. The only cheap managed solution is Nocster.net, or get a RackShack box and hire somebody to manage the server.

- Matt

So if I want a managed server, is it either rackspace for $230 a month or nocster (that many people are not happy about) for $99. There is no moderate solution in the mid price range?

Check out ServInt. I have a $200 a month server (not much less than $230) with them Check out my perpetual review of them here:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84697

People are happy with nocster (see recent threads), some old billing issues have been resolved, and aside from setup taking slightly more than 24 hours on their sale servers, all looks good. Their techs are great! I'd give them an A-.

- Matt

Somebody told me today that if you call sales people at rackspace, you can actually negotiate and get a better price than what they list on their site. Has anybody been able to do that?

I've heard that's true, but only if you are ordering like $1000 a month worth of servers. Not just a small one. You can try though.

RackSpace=SPAM supporter (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=716716#post716716)

Originally posted by sprogis
So if I want a managed server, . . . . . . . nocster . . . . . . for $99. There is no moderate solution in the mid price range? Nocster has quite a few server choices. You don't need to get the $99 deal. I thought $100 is what you wanted to spend anyways.

i am sure most hosts are willing to work out a deal with you if you are reasonable =) I am at servint and they are satisfactory so far. But have not tested them under crisis management yet. Hopefully I never had to =)

What about getting a $99 celeron from rackshack and use a management who do all the admin and security for your box so you dont need to know much about your box.

sprogis go for VPS.......
:D

The reason I am leaning towards rackspace is their true 24x7 technical support. Plus, of course, their guarantee for 99.999% of uptime. If I get a not managed server for $99, I don't think I will find somebody to manage it 24x7 for another $100.

Rackspace support looks good. But their definition of managed is:

The server hardware, routing equipment, and network connectivity are monitored and maintained by the service provider (in this case, Rackspace Managed Hosting) while the server software is maintained by the customer.

Isn't this the definition of "unmanaged" at some dedicated hosting companies?

Rackspace will assist with the initial setup and configuration of the web accounts, dns/ip, mail, and ftp. After that you are own your own. Prices look expensive too. $250 for a Single AMD 1.3 GHz Processor, 256MB DDR RAM, 20GB EIDE Drive, 30GB (30GB incld.) Burstable Bandwidth.

I am not knocking them, I have never used them. They may be the best host in the world for all I know. I am just going by what I see at when checking out their services and prices.

Yes, somebody has sent me the same quote from rackspace. Do they really not manage any software for you? Like if you need to install some modules or maybe SSL certificate? Or if you notice that some of the software that they installed for you is not working properly?

Yes, somebody has sent me the same quote from rackspace. Do they really not manage any software for you? Like if you need to install some modules or maybe SSL certificate? Or if you notice that some of the software that they installed for you is not working properly?I've been a customer of Rackspace's for about 1 year and 3 months now and have never had a problem with them, their network and service is the best! But at a price. They do support software issues that you may have on your server and they will update software and fix any other security issues with your server. It would be good idea for you to take a look at the Fanatical Support Overview (http://www.rackspace.com/support/support_overview.php) section, where it states what their staff will support and what you will have to pay extra. With the time that I've been with Rackspace I've never had to pay extra. If your server goes down, just give them a call and they will get it back online again... that's what is part of the service, you'll literally get higher than 99.99% uptime including the network and server. How do I know that? SpiritHosting.NET is getting these uptime rates measured using Alertra.com with 5 minute intervals. It would be even greater uptime percentage if we were using the 1 minute interval monitoring service.

Alan

Alan's opinion means a heck of a lot more than mine. Spoken by a true customer. Its nice to see it's working out for you, and you are happy with the hosting.

Rackspace is a bit pricy for some people. May be u can talk to Servint. So far i had no issue with them. And there phone support is best. Never had to hold for more then 12 seconds :)

dialtone.com has excellent managed servers.