Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : Need Top Quality VPS/Cloud Solution

[cspence]

I am looking for a replacement VPS/Cloud solution for my websites. I am not reselling hosting, and only run about 8 websites with 2-5 more maybe in the near future. Performance is very critical, but I only see currently 100-2,000 visitors a day throughout all the sites, but response time is very critical to me. I run everything off CDN to assist in providing the fastest response time.

I am currently using StormOnDemand Cloud Services, but I need a different provider. I am not looking for budget cheap hosting, and will only use the top rated hosts. I am not interested in dedicated, I have an extremely fast data center I have collocation space locally but I do not want to manage the OS and control panel software. Fully managed is a must for me, that being said support is as important as performance. I also don't want to spend a fortune since the sites are not that demanding, $50-$100/m is my budget before it is easier to just drop a server in my local data center.

I have used KnownHost, WiredTree, and LiquidWeb in the past, and only looking for providers at that level or better. I need to act rather quickly as I have a new site I want to launch but I cannot reliably do so without finding a new provider.

I am interested in (tested, reliable, stable, and quick) cloud services if I can get more resources and response time, but open to VPS as well.

[jerrychenme]

RackSpaceCloud
Amazon EC2

What else?

[ThisOldMan]

The fastest vps I am using is hosted by Whynotavps. You can check the page load (under 1 second for me) and ping times yourself from my website www.areesportal.com.

[Cape Dave]

I like ServInt alot.

[cspence]

Originally Posted by jerrychenme

RackSpaceCloud
Amazon EC2

What else?

I didn't know Racespace was into cloud (I knew they had files, but didn't know about their hosting). I'll check that out.

Amazon EC2 I believe requires programing and everything to get it to work properly and would require self management and license purchases (CPanel and so on) which is not part of my requirements.

[cspence]

Originally Posted by cspence

I didn't know Racespace was into cloud (I knew they had files, but didn't know about their hosting). I'll check that out.

Amazon EC2 I believe requires programing and everything to get it to work properly and would require self management and license purchases (CPanel and so on) which is not part of my requirements.

UPDATE: Rackspace Cloud is not fully managed, and I am not quite sure CloudSites is an option. It is 50% over the budget I am looking to spend, and it does not seem like it is completely compatible with everything.

[jerrychenme]

Originally Posted by cspence

UPDATE: Rackspace Cloud is not fully managed, and I am not quite sure CloudSites is an option. It is 50% over the budget I am looking to spend, and it does not seem like it is completely compatible with everything.

CloudSites is an option. You could purchase Cloud Server without buying Cloud Sites.

But you need fully managed, I would suggest you go for Servint.

[cspence]

ServINT is currently on my short list I am starting. I would prefer a cloud solution, but am considering quality VPS solutions.

Amazon EC2
RackSpace

Are not options for various reasons, I will not try something like VPSLatch, WhyNotAVPS, and other companies I am not familiar with or considered "Best of the Best".

[jerrychenme]

You have a high expectation, man. Cloud, Fully Managed, Hosting Panel Included, relatively cheap, well, I really can't find a "perfect" option for you.

[cspence]

Originally Posted by jerrychenme

You have a high expectation, man. Cloud, Fully Managed, Hosting Panel Included, relatively cheap, well, I really can't find a "perfect" option for you.

$100 isn't relatively cheap. A majority of the cloud solutions out there are $100 or less, even top tier hosts.

Yes, I have high expectations, I do not want to do this again in 6-12 months.

Another solution I have on my list is VPS.NET as I have heard a lot of good things about them.

[cartika-andrew]

Originally Posted by jerrychenme

You have a high expectation, man. Cloud, Fully Managed, Hosting Panel Included, relatively cheap, well, I really can't find a "perfect" option for you.

I have to agree - a FULLY managed environment would likely reach the max of your budget just for management services - especially from a good, established company.. then you need to factor in the costs of the resources you are looking for. A GOOD cloud provider will then include things like enterprise grade SANs, fiber/10G/Heavily Bonded GIG connections, etc...

for the budget and resources you require - you could do the following:

1) go for a premium managed VPS provider (though, this still may be a little outside your budget)
2) go for a budget cloud provider (though performance and reliability may suffer here)

based on your posts, if your budget cap is $100, you may be better off dropping a colo box into your existing colo space - though, I guess you need to factor in what the hardware and time will cost you as well as what management is worth to you, etc..

sorry, not the most positive post, but, I think its pretty realistic...

[cspence]

Originally Posted by cartika-andrew

I have to agree - a FULLY managed environment would likely reach the max of your budget just for management services - especially from a good, established company.. then you need to factor in the costs of the resources you are looking for. A GOOD cloud provider will then include things like enterprise grade SANs, fiber/10G/Heavily Bonded GIG connections, etc...

for the budget and resources you require - you could do the following:

1) go for a premium managed VPS provider (though, this still may be a little outside your budget)
2) go for a budget cloud provider (though performance and reliability may suffer here)

based on your posts, if your budget cap is $100, you may be better off dropping a colo box into your existing colo space - though, I guess you need to factor in what the hardware and time will cost you as well as what management is worth to you, etc..

sorry, not the most positive post, but, I think its pretty realistic...

$100 Under Cloud Solutions

RackSpace
StormOnDemand
VPS.NET
Amazon EC2
MediaTemple

Almost all the major players, I am not looking for 10 CPU 20GB Ram cloud solution, I am looking for a fairly entry level solution with a few nodes.

As for VPS, this list would be huge and it would be the Who's Who in billion dollar hosting, all under $100 as well.

I've used KnownHost, WiredTree, and LiquidWeb, all top players in VPS market and all $40-$60 and all include fully managed VPS.

Where are you talking about that VPS's would be above $100 (without picking their largest VPS plans), and what cloud providers are that much higher than $100 for base packages.

As I said, my sites don't need lots of resources, response time and support is what is critical. I am not looking for distributed computing for 10M visitors an hour, right now I have 100-2,000 a day, and will grow that significant into the tens of thousands but nothing outrageous.

I may be missing something, but as I understand it $100 is a healthy budget for even the best players in the industry if you are not looking for large resource solutions.

I can drop a box in my data center for free, I have lots of hardware and plenty of rackspace/bandwidth to space, but I refuse to manage it myself.

[cspence]

Forgot, VPS.NET is $100/m just for management, so they are not likely an option for me right now.

[cartika-andrew]

Originally Posted by cspence

$100 Under Cloud Solutions

you said managed correct? and not just managed - but, top shelf, fully managed correct?

RackSpace

dont offer managed cloud servers

StormOnDemand

didnt you mention you were already with this provider?

VPS.NET

add $100 just for management

Amazon EC2

dont offer managed

MediaTemple

no idea what they offer - give them a try?

Almost all the major players, I am not looking for 10 CPU 20GB Ram cloud solution, I am looking for a fairly entry level solution with a few nodes.

how much CPU and RAM do you need exactly?

As for VPS, this list would be huge and it would be the Who's Who in billion dollar hosting, all under $100 as well.

I've used KnownHost, WiredTree, and LiquidWeb, all top players in VPS market and all $40-$60 and all include fully managed VPS.

Well, I think you (or me) may be mixing up some terms here - but, these providers are offering up software level VPS solutions (virtuozzo, openvz, etc) - and this is completely different then solutions based on xen or vmware for example.

Heck, many "cloud" providers are selling xen or vmware vps solutions with a utility billing portal as a cloud.. I guess you need to figure out exactly what it is you want to get. If you want a managed vps based on virtuozzo or openvz, and you want an established company to manage this - then sure, you can fit that within your budget. If you want a real, hardware based virtual solution or the upgrade to this - ie a cloud based solution - then you are looking at a much higher budget.. especially considering you want this fully managed

Where are you talking about that VPS's would be above $100 (without picking their largest VPS plans), and what cloud providers are that much higher than $100 for base packages.

want to see some comparisons?

ok - slicehost for example - which rackspace purchased and rebranded (with some modifications) to rackspacecloud

slicehost - 2 GB RAM - $130 a month - unmanaged
rackspacecloud - which is slicehost technology with a really fancy portal - 2GB - $116.80 per month - self managed

again - buying hard resources in xen/vmware environments like this is simply more expensive then things like virtuozzo or openvz - different solutions, different price points..

I may be missing something, but as I understand it $100 is a healthy budget for even the best players in the industry if you are not looking for large resource solutions.

then go for a vps provider offering virtuozzo or openvz - your budget is certainly more then adequate for this... a cloud provider - no - a top shelf cloud provider actually offering redundancy, sans, etc - absolutely not - especially not fully managed...

dont shoot the messenger, I am trying to help..

[cspence]

Originally Posted by cartika-andrew

you said managed correct? and not just managed - but, top shelf, fully managed correct?



dont offer managed cloud servers



didnt you mention you were already with this provider?



add $100 just for management



dont offer managed



no idea what they offer - give them a try?



how much CPU and RAM do you need exactly?



Well, I think you (or me) may be mixing up some terms here - but, these providers are offering up software level VPS solutions (virtuozzo, openvz, etc) - and this is completely different then solutions based on xen or vmware for example.

Heck, many "cloud" providers are selling xen or vmware vps solutions with a utility billing portal as a cloud.. I guess you need to figure out exactly what it is you want to get. If you want a managed vps based on virtuozzo or openvz, and you want an established company to manage this - then sure, you can fit that within your budget. If you want a real, hardware based virtual solution or the upgrade to this - ie a cloud based solution - then you are looking at a much higher budget.. especially considering you want this fully managed



want to see some comparisons?

ok - slicehost for example - which rackspace purchased and rebranded (with some modifications) to rackspacecloud

slicehost - 2 GB RAM - $130 a month - unmanaged
rackspacecloud - which is slicehost technology with a really fancy portal - 2GB - $116.80 per month - self managed

again - buying hard resources in xen/vmware environments like this is simply more expensive then things like virtuozzo or openvz - different solutions, different price points..



then go for a vps provider offering virtuozzo or openvz - your budget is certainly more then adequate for this... a cloud provider - no - a top shelf cloud provider actually offering redundancy, sans, etc - absolutely not - especially not fully managed...

dont shoot the messenger, I am trying to help..

384MB VPS from LiquidWeb worked awesome when I first switched. It became slower over time and that was not because my resource requirements increased. I suspected it was shared server got busier (although they checked and said it wasn't overloaded).

StormOnDemand, is very fast so far, but this issue I am having is a big problem. I am throwing PHP memory issues left and right, even with 64MB memory_limit. Prior to migrating I was on 384MB VPS (with 100MB free almost 24/7) with zero problems. This solution has 1.7GB but there is some quirky thing going on.

Rackspace Cloud is only $87 for 2GB (you were pricing Windows, which I don't need) but I don't even think I need 2GB initially, 1GB should be a big jump from when I was running 384MB. But then again that doesn't factor in bandwidth, which will likely bring you up to $100-$120.

What I am looking for from a cloud provider is more native redundancy and better performance.

I forgot about the management fee for VPS was $100 alone.

As for how much CPU/RAM, I don't think much, again I have 8 sites right now, relatively low usage, 3 are wordpress, but on a busy day one may reach 250 visitors in a day. Most of the large files are delivered via CDN anyway using W3Total Cache & CDN service.

Ultimately I am just looking for very fast hosting with good support and excellent reliability.

Fully managed is not a must have, but it is favored. Many of the providers I have used and looked at offer fully managed in this price point.