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  1. #1

    Can you help me choose between vCloudExpress, CloudSigma, OpSource?

    We are currently host on a IaaS that recently suffered serious problems (entire platform down not for minutes, not for hours but for days!) therefore I'm looking to move our server somewhere else.

    Our needs are:
    - the possibility to install our own Win Server 2008 R2 image
    - price range: 2GB ram, 1 VPU at about $0,10 / $0,12 per hour

    I have evaluated EC2 and Azure (vm role) but none of these worked for us (no own image or no web edition/beta/MSDN license restrictions). Then I looked into "smaller" players and come up with this shortlist, any suggestion, comments and impressions from current users would be very appreciated.

    vCloud Express: PLUS can import ISO, MINUS support is limited to Mon-Fri

    OpSource: PLUS they look quite big, high-end, enterprise, MINUS it looks like you can import OVF only and I'm not sure to be able to create it (we are now on a Xen based IaaS)

    CloudSigma: PLUS can import ISO, MINUS they are quite young and smaller than the other two, I cannot find much info about they support

    These are just my impressions looking at their web site so I could be wrong. It would be great if anyone could share his direct experience with any of these.

  2. #2
    wow, they're expensive in my opinion

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by cAPTAIN^k View Post
    they're expensive in my opinion
    Any different suggestion? Looking around $0,12 per 2GB ram sounded good to me.

  4. #4
    Actually given your specific requirements they could be alright

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    544
    I really do not understand your statement about why EC2 and Azure are a problem. The "bigger" players will give you the ability to use multiple regions / data centers within the same vendor.

    It seems that any of the "smaller" vendors can handle your requirements. Multi-vendor redundancy may even be better than multiple data centers from the same vendor.

    Sorry that your platform vendor's issues caused you problems. It seems that redundancy lessons are being taught to several developers these days.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by srfreeman View Post
    I really do not understand your statement about why EC2 and Azure are a problem.
    The size I need in EC2 is Standard Small which is 32bit and I need 64 bit while Azure (VM role) do not accept Web version of Windows Server 2008 R2 plus there's some restrictions on using MSDN license.

    Quote Originally Posted by srfreeman View Post
    It seems that any of the "smaller" vendors can handle your requirements.
    Yes I know and I shortlisted three of them. I hope to get some comments/suggestions/opinions on their pros and contros. Maybe from current users.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    7
    Hi pmonte,

    unfortunately I don't have experiences with vCloud Express and OpSource, but I can tell you a little bit about CS. We recently started using CloudSigma for several projects as we met those guys in person here in Germany and they sounded pretty confident. It is possible to install your own image through ISO but they also have a clean Windows 2008 Server R2 Image ready to use. Did you check this comparision table http://goo.gl/umO2j ?

    I would just go for CS's 7 day free trial and play around with the interface, which is really great. Give their support a try, in our case they respond pretty quick.

    Just my personal opinion, hope it helps. If you got more questions let me know

    Kind Regards
    MarieJane

  8. #8
    Ciao MarieJane,

    thanks for your opinion. I have never met them in person but I had the same good impression reading their blog and through email.

    I would go with CS the only thing that make me cautious is that we had probs with a very "good looking but small" IaaS thus now I'm attracted by bigger name (both OpSource and Terramark looks much bigger to me).

    I think that if I do not get any particular negative feedback fabout CS here I would go with them.

    Thanks again!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    544
    Ok, you want to run WS 2008 R2 64bit on just one processor and 2GB ram?

    Experience tells me that running any Windows OS at anywhere close to the minimum requirements is an exercise in futility.

    I think you need to look at why you are seeing the restrictions from EC2 and Azure - they are protecting you from yourself.

    Be skeptical of any host that tells you that this is reasonable.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    955
    For clarification, vCloud Express is a product, not a company. Terremark, Virtacore, Bluelock and 800hosting all have offerings. VMware makes the product.
    I <3 Linux Clusters

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    123
    I have used vCloud Express from Terremark and had a very good experience with it. There prices are a bit on the expensive side but its nice to know when you pay for a cpu core you get exactly one core on the real machine. Terremark's service can get a little expensive because they route everything through a hardware load balancer that they charge you for (which is nice when you have a lot of servers but very expensive to use for just one).

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by kmonchamp View Post
    Terremark's service can get a little expensive because they route everything through a hardware load balancer that they charge you for (which is nice when you have a lot of servers but very expensive to use for just one).
    From what I can read from their price page the extra cost to have a public IP is $0.02/h ($0.01 per the IP plus $0.01 for the internet service), so an additioanl $15 per month, am I correct?
    I hadn't notice this and yes, it's a little expensive for just one server, thanks!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    123
    Quote Originally Posted by pmonte View Post
    From what I can read from their price page the extra cost to have a public IP is $0.02/h ($0.01 per the IP plus $0.01 for the internet service), so an additioanl $15 per month, am I correct?
    I hadn't notice this and yes, it's a little expensive for just one server, thanks!
    That is correct, however they do offer one free external IP so its only $7/month if you can manage with one IP. I really only recommend them in performance cases as their virtual machines are basically just as powerful as dedicated boxes.

  14. #14
    Happy to hear that their performance are good as I'm a bit worried about their support. Premium is way too much expensive and if you try to contact them via chat when noone is online the email bounces back:
    SGMAILPFSalesGroupForwarding@terremark.com
    #550 5.7.1 RESOLVER.RST.AuthRequired; authentication required ##rfc822;salesgroup@terremark.com

    Not a very good start...

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    123
    Quote Originally Posted by pmonte View Post
    Happy to hear that their performance are good as I'm a bit worried about their support. Premium is way too much expensive and if you try to contact them via chat when noone is online the email bounces back:
    SGMAILPFSalesGroupForwarding@terremark.com
    #550 5.7.1 RESOLVER.RST.AuthRequired; authentication required ##rfc822;salesgroup@terremark.com

    Not a very good start...
    They have a forum system for most support and pre-sales questions (it is their primary support system monitored by staff). Their ticketing system is available after you sign-up.

  16. #16
    First, full disclosure, I work for OpSource as a Director in our Client Services team and ran across this thread. Below are a few thoughts in response to your questions.

    OpSource: PLUS they look quite big, high-end, enterprise, MINUS it looks like you can import OVF only and I'm not sure to be able to create it (we are now on a Xen based IaaS)
    Have you looked into VMWare's Converter tools that let you convert Xen based images to VMWare? This might be a place to start so that you can attempt to do the import into the OpSource Cloud using ovf.

    Other thoughts... if support an important consideration, it's worth noting that we include both phone-based support and ticketing/forum support in the base price, so there will be someone available to help you with questions about the setup process if you need to.

    Does this mean you'll get a senior engineer on the phone the first time you call? Definitely not. But it does mean that after looking at your ticket and deciding who can best answer it, we will get it assigned to someone who can help you with any Cloud-specific questions. We won't promise to fix your application for you or deep dive into things not specific to our Cloud, but for what it's worth (realizing that I'm biased), our no-extra-cost support is something we believe sets us apart.

    Other notes: Several public IPs are included with the pricing, no extra charge. Load balancing & firewalls are included. Servers that you use for testing can be turned off and on, and while off, they are 100% persistent, and only accrue storage charges (on the order of ~$10 / month / server on average).

    I'll leave it at that for now as basic info. If you're interested in trying out our Cloud, let me know. We have a couple of different free trial options that I can set you up with to try it on your own at no cost. Either respond here or PM me and I'll get you set up.

    -- Jason

  17. #17
    Thanks for the info Jason and I definitely give a try to VMWare's Converter tools to see if I can create a OVF.

    It's a pity that the platform doesn't offer VNC from boot time.

    Gary Ramsay has already set up a trial for me, thanks a lot.

    Pietro

  18. #18
    Good deal, glad to hear you're already set up.

  19. #19
    I have experience working with OpSource and I would recommend OpSource because of their included support, ease of use, the ability to import VMDKs, and their networking technology (unlimited public IPs at no additional costs and included os licensing). They also have customer referral programs available which offers people a trial credit of $200 and allows me to get savings on my account. use JBRC01 to take advantage of the trial credit.

    The solution has worked great and the costing is very inexpensive...

  20. #20

    CloudSigma Slow Support

    It's been 14 hours and there's still no response from them. Here's the screen capture proof of their support sloppiness.
    http://goo.gl/9Mkxy

    Here the screen capture showing their control panel prevent me from installing a harddisk repeating with the same error message no matter how I install it.
    http://goo.gl/pN5z9

    CloudSigma's sales pitch was good. I was sold. But the trial run of their support turnaround is ruining my hope.

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