Hello. I am looking to purchase a dedicated server for a new venture I am starting. I am not sure if I should purchase a Cobalt Raq or a Linux box. The venture is basically a hosting company (deep down), and obviously, I will be reselling space on the server. I will need PHP4, and MySQL installed on whatever box I get. The buyers of the space on the server will be not technological literate so the control panel they get should be extremely easy to use.

Should I purchase a Cobalt Raq? For $99-149 a month, its extremely enticing! I am currently debating this, please help me out


If you would like to know more about the venture, or possibly partnering, please email info@icomputerservices.com with your email address and phone number.

Thanks,
Darreninfo@icomputerservices.com

I would advise against the rack, you can get a real linux.unix based server with control panel for 149.00 and youll get twice the hardware in something of that nature.

I have had 4 raqs over a space of the last 3 years and whilst they have been very reliable I think there a alot of excellent alternatives these days.

With a Linux box and a good control panel you will get more bang for your buck for sure.

Raqs have a Niche
I work in a small web site development company. Many of our clients require dedicated machines due to security reasons or special software requirements. They don't require huge amount of processing power -- just a good database backend and a place to serve their web sites and extranets. The Raqs suit this need. They are one-time capital investments and come ready to go. We currently have about nine Raqs in service and they work great -- we've never had a crash in the past two years. The best thing about a Raq is that I can tell my client their server will be up in a few days and it is. Also, the user control panel prevents the end user from really doing anything to dangerous... ;)

Reselling and Virtual Hosting
Virtual hosting is very different application than the one above. With our development clients, there are only two or three accounts on a box depending on software requirements. With virtual hosting, you may have 200 accounts on a box and then is when management becomes a nightmare on a Raq. The Raq's control panel is highly limited and pain to configure if you have a lot of sites.
Equipment
An associate of mine recently spent a lot of money on some nice linux boxes. Dual procs, SCSI RAID 1, Tape backup, dual power supply, etc and had them colocated. The boxes ran about $4000 each and he can easily get 200 virtual accounts with no noticeable performance drops. However, I also know people that by the bare minimum and simply replace it often as the machines come in under a $1000. I think either strategy works.

RAM
Don't skimp on RAM. Linux loves RAM in a good way (unlike some other server software). Linux almost always finds a way to use your RAM. If you ever run the top comman, you will see that your box is using almost all of its memory even if the machine is not doing much. Linux uses RAM for file and proccess caches and other functions -- and it does a great job at it.


Parting thoughs (for what their worth)
Unless you are planning on reselling-Raqs themselves, I would not use them for virtual hosting. Get yourself a good linux box (with a tape drive :)) and find a good place to colocate it ...

If dealing with a Linux server it's not a problem for you, then you would benefit of something different than a RaQ.

RaQs (as far as I am concerned) are sturdy and reliable platforms and are good for newbie sysadmins.

The RaQ 4 control panel (I never used a RaQ3) is not state of the art but it's still a good solution if you're not familiar with other available tools (like Webmin for example).

Also (as far as I know) tech illiterate users do not dislike the control panel at all.

Finally, the number of sites you plan to host on a single server, the type of sites (some sites tend to be more bandwidth consuming than others) and similar issues, may recommend the choice of a RaQ or not.

Just some considerations... I hope you will get some help from them :)

I am looking to put 200-300 small family oriented sites on the server, about 60% of them will be using MySQL databases. They aren't too processor intensive but I don't know for sure yet. What would your recommend?

Well, a RaQ 4i could fit your needs. My only concern is about the control panel. With all of that sites it may be somewhat difficult to sort out configurations when you have to add/change things.

Not a major issue, if you ask me. However, RaQs (if I got the philosophy) were designed to make life easy for people without specific knowledge about Linux systems.

I myself I was used to Windows servers and it did not take much to me to get acquainted with my RaQ 4i.

Anyway, if "you know your stuff" like they say, you may go with a custom built Linux server.

If you don't or if you don't have much time to devote to server management, you may want to go with a RaQ.

Regards.

How are the interfaces with the Raq4i? Can a client add a MySQL database or would I have to do it? Can I do it from my interface, or would i have to use SSH? Am I limited in software on a RAQ or would anything work?

From your users point of view, they'll be able to add/configure mailing lists, FTP/Mail/Telnet accounts (it depends on your setup) and "users" site.

Each hosted site can have a number of users (within the number of users you assigned to that site), each with his own site, with a disk quota assigned by the host site (and within the limit set by you for that site).

Also they can check some stats on their site usage.

This is what I can remind now, it's late here where I am :)

No MySQL configuration from your control panel, you have to use Telnet and/or third party web based interfaces for that, and the ones I know can be used only by the sysadmin (or anyone authorized to manage the server).

RaQs are loaded with a "Cobalt Linux" based on Redhat, so what's designed to work on Redhat would usually work on a RaQ.

Beware, though. Some things are NOT compatible with RaQs, things like Webin (check http://www.webmin.com if you don't know it) and technically speaking, everything you install on your server will void the warranty for your server. Anyway as long as you install the usual things (I only needed to install MySQL) all should be fine.

At this point everything depends on you. If you think to be a good/average Linux sysadmin go for a custom built Linux server. Otherwise pick a RaQ.

Just my 2 cents :)

What programs, if any, would be available for the RAQ that would allow me easily to add MySQL databases? I am a "newbie" in dedicated hosting, and would want the easiest one possible. I like the CPANEL3 but you have to be on VDI network or else pay an extremely hefty amount of money for it. So if I load MySQL, does it void the warranty?

Well, as I said whatever you install that wasn't in the original config, voids your warranty.

Anyway if you're careful enough you won't do any damage to your RaQ and if ever something fails that fries your server beyond any reasonable limit, I do not think that Cobalt will loose much time investigating.

I heard some people tell that Cobalt applied the warranty even on servers fried by the sysadmin. Cobalt was not fully aware of that, anyway.

Well, enough arguing. If I was you I would install MySQL right away on a RaQ.

Cobalt provides package files (.pkg) that can be installed from the control panel.

You can find them at:

http://pkg.nl.cobalt.com along with helpful instructions. There is even a recent MySQL version, the 3.23.36 one.

To manage my databases I use a mix of Telnet/phpMyAdmin (phpMyAdmin is a set of PHP scripts that allow you to manage almost all aspects of your databases) and it's not hard to do, even for a newbie sysadmin.

You may want to check out the RaQ 4 manual, it will clear some dark areas you may have about it:

http://www.cobalt.com/support/pdf/raq4manual.pdf

Best regards.

Im really interested to hear the responses too ..

Very interesting. So you are saying to go with the Cobalt?

Originally posted by cbaker17
I would advise against the rack, you can get a real linux.unix based server with control panel for 149.00 and youll get twice the hardware in something of that nature.

I'd really be interested in knowing which companies offer a dedicated solution for 149.00... I haven't found any for less than 200.00, and that is higher than a cobalt server from 4webspace or rackshack.

I currently own a RAQ... it doesn't have a lot of processing power but normal websites load pretty good. The control panel is enough for the basic services but if you want full control maybe you'd be installing webmin and some other utilities by yourself :)

I know escaladenet.com has a 99 linux server thats pretty high spec, but im hesistant because ive never heard anyone talk about it :(.

http://www.escaladenet.com/services/dedicated/linux.htm

Thanks for the typo headup :D

allending, your link had a "1" typo on the end... the correct link is http://www.escaladenet.com/services/dedicated/linux.htm

Although a custom built Linux box would give much benefits over a RaQ, for YOUR situation the RaQ seems to fit very well.

When you'll be more confident with the issues involved in running a server, you can always switch.

Well I've had my Raq4 for about 6months now, and I'm more than happy with it. As my knowledge of Linux etc. if very basic (still learning) it has allowed me to do everything I've wanted to so far. I know that others say that you can get a linux box and install control panels and everything, but I wouldn't of had a clue how to do it! I think they are more than adequate and run my websites with no problems :)