Been away for a bit.

What's the view on Raxkshack now their 99USD has been around for a while?

Anyone else got such a good deal?

Kubrick's Buddy

RackShack is one of the best hosts in my opinion. I've had a RaQ with them for about a month now, and everything has been great. http://www.4webspace.com is probably the closest alternative.

4webspace is still out of $99 servers or at least they say so on the web site.

About Rackshack I can say that you have to be patient with support people. Looks like Rackshack is growing and hiring new people who are not very technically advanced. Fresh example today -- I asked them to add PTR records to their DNS but they added A records. But in general if you tell them what to do they are OK ;)

While you were out I compiled a list of $99 hosting providers - 99servers.com. Before signing up search this board for feedback of course.

There are some differences, or plusses and minusses, I am considering, between these two companies.

1. Tera-Byte/4webspace offers dns co-branding, ie. ns.yourdomain.com, at 10$ per month, on their dns servers.

Raqshack does not offer such services.

2. Raqshack is cheaper, with more bandwidth, while 4webspace has one time upgrade fees (ram) and much cheaper ip addresses.

3. Raqshack are pretty new, they can run into problems in the future. Tera-Byte have been the best hosting experience I have ever had (shared hosting), although they have recieved alot of complaints lately, I can only praise them for what they have done for me.

So, in other words, I am having a hard time deciding.

Now a couple of questions to you guys:

1. Do you think it`s best to give a dedicated ip addresse to each customer, or go with shared ip`s?
Dedicated ip`s would make me choose 4webspace.

2. Although I won`t be hiding the fact that I don`t have my own NOC I don`t want it to be completely obvoius either. Do you think it is extremely important to be able to offer ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com?

3. A bit off topic, though, what do you guys feel about running your own dns servers on Raqs? I have heard that this might become a security problem.

Ok, look forward to your comments.

Oh, P.S., who would you choose???

Wazup

Originally posted by wazup
1. Tera-Byte/4webspace offers dns co-branding, ie. ns.yourdomain.com, at 10$ per month, on their dns servers. Raqshack does not offer such services.With Rackshack you can run your own DNS server on your RaQ for free.2. Raqshack is cheaper, with more bandwidth, while 4webspace has one time upgrade fees (ram) and much cheaper ip addresses.Right, also 4webspace's additional traffic is cheaper ($3/GB vs. $3.5/GB with Rackshack)1. Do you think it`s best to give a dedicated ip addresse to each customer, or go with shared ip`s?Give it only to those customers who have a need to run SSL, anonymous FTP or anything else with own IP requirement. Charge extra for this ;)3. A bit off topic, though, what do you guys feel about running your own dns servers on Raqs? I have heard that this might become a security problem.Only if you don't update your DNS software to Bind 8.2.3 -- http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/bind-security.html

About the DNS servers.. I _really_ use ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com :stickout
Mydomain.com works great for me and it doesn't show I'm using a dedicated server at rackshack.

Originally posted by eriky
About the DNS servers.. I _really_ use ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com :stickout
Mydomain.com works great for me and it doesn't show I'm using a dedicated server at rackshack.

Just out of interest, what is the POP mail address at rackshack if you're using mydomain.com

Sounds pretty stupid.. but eh.. I alway use their mail forwarding. I never used the pop mail of my server.
So, I never tried setting up email while using mydomain.com, but i'm sure it's possible.

Ok, just got my first dedicated server, and my choice fell on Raqshack.net, simply because of their prices.

Now, I was able to get a confirmation from them that the version of Bind installed is 8.2.3. which is good news. But, I am having trouble finding info about how to setup ns1 and ns2 on the Raq.

Anyone know of a good source, or maybe you would like to explain?

Wazup

wazup,

don't forget... 4webspace $99/mo deal is for Raq3 whereas rackshack is for Raq4. Rackshack Raq4 comes with more memory and HD space. Raq4 comes with some additional softwares not installed on Raq3. If you calculated them all and work out the montly fees, you will see that for the same deal 4webspace charge at least twice what rackshack charges. So, you are not actually comparing the same thing.

Having said this, I also don't know how good Rackshack will be in the future since they are a new company (though actually they are sub division of everyone.net, www.ev1.net which has been around for a while). But 4webspace too is having its own problems (for quite a while, surprisingly) as you probably are aware of.

Anyway.... good luck deciding...

cheers,
:beer:

Originally posted by wazup
Ok, just got my first dedicated server, and my choice fell on Raqshack.net, simply because of their prices.Congratulations!But, I am having trouble finding info about how to setup ns1 and ns2 on the Raq.I am going through this process right now. You need to: Request 2 additional IP addresses from Rackshack for your nameservers. You get IP addresses on Monday I guess;
Configure your DNS correctly via control panel. Add only A (address) entries for the sites you want to serve, and do not add PTR (reverse lookup) entries. Ask Rackshack to add PTR entries to their DNS (this again may take couple of days) - you do not have control over IP addresses they provide you;
Rackshack also suggests (http://www.rackshack.net/faq/dns.asp) to add virtual sites ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com;
Register ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com as nameservers with NSI registry (http://www.nsiregistry.com/) via your registrar. They should appear in the registry in couple of days after the registrar submits them;
Change nameserver's names for domains you entered during step 2 with corresponding registrars;
Delete A records for domains which are now covered by your nameservers from Rackshack's DNS (if they were there). You can do it in a month time - just to make sure everyone uses your nameservers now.No.2,3,4 depends on no.1, but they do not depend on each other. So you can do 2,3,4 simultaneously. No.5 depends on no.4.
I started this process (requested IPs) before Easter and now I am on final stage. My nameservers' names appeared today in NSI database associated with 3 domain names I registered. I am waiting now when they propagate through DNS caches in the world, which should take 2 more days.

Dabystru, how are you finding the access speeds to your Rackshack server? They're 22 hops away from Ireland On Line (nothing to do with AOL, thank you), but still seem responsive. So I'm almost 100% that I will get a Rackshack server. The DNS instructions will sure come in handy.

Actually, I have one question about DNS:

I've registered all of my domain names with Register.com. Apart from the price they charge ($35), I'm very happy with them. I plan to transfer domains to Dotster soon, because they are much more affordable.

Anyway, when I add a domain name server to Register.com via my control panel that does not exist, it tells me that "In Order to create the nameserver you must supply us the IP address". Below this it gives me some fields to enter IP addresses. Does this mean they will be submitted to VeriSign or whoever is in charge?

I was able to find some info about how to setup nameservers, and it was about the same as you outlined. This is what I did:

1. Added the two ip adresses to Network -> General Settings.

2. Created a virtual site for ns2.mydomain.com

3. Created Reverse Address (PTR) Records for admin.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com

4. Then I created an A NAME record that points ns1.mydomain.com to the same IP as admin.mydomain.com

I was really unsure about the admin.mydomain.com, but this was what the tutotial told me to do. You can read it at:

http://www.4webspace.com/dns.html

OR

http://teamcobalt.interliant.com/pg_faq_setupdns.shtml


Oh, and yes, I registered the nameservers with my registrar.

Wazup

Originally posted by avara
Actually, I have one question about DNS:

I've registered all of my domain names with Register.com. Apart from the price they charge ($35), I'm very happy with them. I plan to transfer domains to Dotster soon, because they are much more affordable.

Anyway, when I add a domain name server to Register.com via my control panel that does not exist, it tells me that "In Order to create the nameserver you must supply us the IP address". Below this it gives me some fields to enter IP addresses. Does this mean they will be submitted to VeriSign or whoever is in charge?


Yes.