I've been browsing around the Web Hosting Talk forums for a while now and learned a lot more than I already knew about hosting. I run a fairly popular website getting more than 20 million page views a month with a fairly active vBulletin community usually with 80-200 people on at any given time.

Just some background info: I only run this website on my web server.

I've been with many hosts in the past going back to 1998.

I first entered the dedicated server market with Pair's Quickserve. They don't give you root access to your server and their pricing is a bit high for bandwidth but as a managed host they are good. They handle everything for you and Pair's network is one of the best I have come across.

I moved onto Verio after I received better pricing from them. I moved to Verio as they just bought out DigitalNation and their datacenter. I had friends at Digital Nation and heard good stuff about them and their network so I switch over to them. I got a dual P3 / 1 GB server with them.

I then heard about DellHost. They offered me an even better deal than Verio so I switched to them. Let me tell you something about DellHost. Their techs are morons and the way they handle problems makes you wonder if the company is really run by Dell, who has won so many awards for their support. I usually spoke to 4-5 different people before actually finding out they didn't know what the answer or problem was.

Frustrated, I returned to Verio and stuck with them for over a year. Things started going downhill after Verio was bought out by NTT, a Japanese telephone conglomerate. My account manager was layed off and I got some new account manager who tried every day like a used car salesman to sell me new NTT/Verio products. Their support started to suck too so I thought it was time for a change.

Next came Rackspace. We all know about Rackspace... good network, good servers, good support and all that jazz, but you pay what you get :). I moved to Rackspace getting a Dual P3 Server / 1 GB server slowly upgrading my way to a Dual AthlonMP / 3 GB RAM / SCSI RAID 10 server. Their support generally knows the answers to most questions and my account manager knew what he was talking about and only wanted to recommend me what I needed. One month while running the Gamingforce Audio section of my site, I transferred about 6 terrabytes of bandwidth. Rackspace bandwidth isn't cheap running me somewhere between 2-3 dollars per gig. I ended up selling a good chunk of my personal portfolio to pay for it. I shut down the Gamingforce Audio part of my site and still stuck with Rackspace looking for a new host. If you want to pay or have the budget of General Electric, Rackshack is probably the best host you can spend money on. I only experienced down time once but that was scheduled downtime to upgrade their routers. Rackshack's network is one of the best, their support is the best I have seen, their dedicated server components are quality, their team is professional and everyone there seems to know what they are doing.

Now this brings me to my current host Rackshack. I've heard the stories, the horrors and cries. I really didn't feel like spending thousands per month on a server I was making nothing from. I checked out other hosts too like Unitedcolo and Nocster but they seemed to be having problems of their own. I was thinking of going with Ventures Online but for the hardware I needed, they were selling it pretty high. After doing some research, two problems seemed to plague their service: lack of support and problems with hardware (mainly the Athlons). Alright, I thought. I'm only going to transfer my site from Rackshack after I do stability tests so hardware problems weren't really a huge issue for me. Also over the years I have learned a ton about Linux, server management and built a network of contacts I could refer to if I was ever stuck. If I ever called support it would be for the rare occassions my server crashes. So far I'm in day 10 with Rackshack and I'm pretty happy with everything. I can't believe I'm only paying about 200 each month for this. I got the HP P4 2.0 GHz / 1.5 GB RAM / Dual 80 GB HDs now in software raid. Their network seems to be pretty solid not using any shoddy Cognet bandwidth and my server is going pretty fast despite the downgrade in hardware from my server at Rackspace. I also get 400 GB of bandwidth a month too with very low overage charges. If you know your way around Linux pretty well I would recommend Rackshack because of their ridiculously low pricing and solid network. If you don't know your way around Linux, your probably doing yourself more trouble than saving money with em. I never tried Ensim or Plesk so I'm not sure how good Rackshack is for that stuff. Rackshack also seems to have been around for a while so unlike some other small dedicated companies I have tested out, they won't shut down on you overnight.

Why did I post this? Just to give my experience with dedicated hosting and to let all you crazy users at WebHostingTalk know that Rackshack compared with all the other cheap hosts aren't so bad. If I knew performance and quality of the service people are getting by visting my site was comparable to Rackspace I would have transferred a while ago and probably saved tens of thousands of dollars.

Good read. Thanks for sharing.

Gary

Interesting, thanks for sharing


Yes Rackshack is definitely good in my books I had 4 servers with them which I cancelled after some time just to get even cheaper bandwidth.

My experience with rackshack was that reboots were done within a few minutes, and when I cancelled the servers they gave me NO headaches at all and let me gracefully go. This is absolutely NOT common from my experience.

So I will get Rackshack again at some point in the future ...

I am a rackshack customer as well and this is my first dedicated server (not counting the ones I have run from home). I have never had so much fun hosting websites and the performance is awesome for the price. Support, well not everyone over there has a brain, but what do you expect for such cheap servers. I have contacted them once about a network issue they were having with traceroutes and since they couldn't ping my server they rebooted it. Long story short, I was telling them about their network just like the other few hundred customers were doing and I block IMCP packets on my server. It had nothing to do with my box, yet they rebooted it. Anyways, still a great place, just be able to provide your own support for the little stuff, there is nothing you can't find on their forum as well.

I noticed in your post that you got rackshack confused with rackspace, you may want to edit it to clear the confusion.

Below you are actually talking about rackspace and there is another sentence below this paragraph where you say you moved from rackshack. I know I get the names tied up together as well :).
Rackshack is probably the best host you can spend money on. I only experienced down time once but that was scheduled downtime to upgrade their routers. Rackshack's network is one of the best, their support is the best I have seen, their dedicated server components are quality, their team is professional and everyone there seems to know what they are doing

thanks for this expericence :)


but i want to know what problem you had with nocster

coz i just move to them from rackshack ........

I like the instant activation.

realy the instant activation is great great great :)

even rack space didnt give me my serve before 24 hours

Interesting story!

We also didn't had any problems with RS (well small ones fixed fast), only thing they should do IMHO is to provide other Control Panels as ensim...

And not forgetting December's overages are $0.33 per gig and 600gigs of bandwidth for this month.
Headsurfer is great :)

whoa... whats that now? I must have not gotten the memo.

Always check the forums,Headsurfer always posts about offers and such in the forums..
http://forums.rackshack.net/forumdisplay.php?forumid=41