Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Managed Hosting and Services : softlayer and server wizards - positive review

[warpsmith]

We had been looking for a new host and a new managed services provider. After much research here on WHT, we went with SoftLayer for a host and with Server Wizards for a management partner. We could not be happier.

We were very impressed with SoftLayer's network - they have built out a pretty innovative network architecture. Their support has been outstanding. We had a slow setup period due to our unique requirements (not due to SoftLayer at all). Their VP of sales noticed and proactively contacted me and volunteered additional technical support for free to assist, even though this was well beyond their area of responsibility.

We have also been very pleased with Server Wizards. We had unique setup requirements (including Direct Admin), and Server Wizards was outstanding over a long setup period in meeting our needs. We feel very comfortable in having Server Wizards manage our servers on an ongoing basis.

I recommend to any hosting company this combination of service providers.

John

[Alex]

Good to hear, its nice to see more positive reviews . Just out of curiosity, how many servers do you have?

Thanks,

[sdnet]

How long have you been with SoftLayer?

[WireNine]

Thank you for sharing your review!

[IRCCo Jeff]

We have been outsourcing our management to Server Wizards and have been equally happy with the results.

[01globalnet]

Some other hosts that provide probably 'very fully' managed server are Liquid Web, Hostgator, Fastservers, Accunet ...

I think that any host can provide this service if you pay them to do so !

[IRCCo Jeff]

tonyFF,

I prefer to outsource, my small team simply does not have the resources to handle a farm of managed servers.

[tauseef]

nice to hear , i am also working with SW and has same goood experience

i am searhing review about softlayer as i have plan to get server in next few days , and its 1st review i read hopefully i got more good reviews.

[warpsmith]

to the questions about how long and how many:

We set up two servers with SoftLayer in order to evaluate their customer service. We have been with SL about 3-4 months now. We will be migrating servers from other hosting companies to SL over time.

The only drawback has been the fact that they do not support Direct Admin, but since we have ServerWizards managing the servers, that was not a problem - SW has been fine with DA install and support.

[tauseef]

Okey

So i order Server at SL , server ready within 24 hours,

i check there 1000 MB uplink , from My Planet server i download file at 50 Mmbps Avg speed and i think its max speed my Planet server can provide on 100 Mmps shared link.

cant comment about support as till now i dont talk with support , every thing work fine so no need i think.

SW also working gr8 on other hand , i have one problem server at Liquidweb , daily 3-4 restart is common for LW server too much load , before week i join SW and they optimze my server and now its work well no restart , server performe gr8 now i have 20% increase in traffic as i cover down times

[iBold]

I also use both, and have been extremely satisfied. ServerWizards is absolutely awesome. They have taken me through 3 server migrations (as upgrades were needed) without even so much as a hitch. They reply to tickets very, very promptly and even offered me lots of advice on what hardware I needed to upgrade to when my previous machines load got out of hand.
Softlayer has been great. My machine was up within 3 hours, and their support personal are very friendly. They don't just give you a 'hey we fixed it' type of response. They tell you exactly what they did, and what you can do in the future if you want to handle more on your own. The SL support responses I have recieved thus far have only been second to ServerWizards support team.

Very happy customer here.

[layer0]

Nice to hear all of the good reviews on SL & SW - hope SL continues to deliver the same level of service as they grow - that's one of the main things to look into at this point, IMHO. (TP at a point offered very decent support [they still do in some peoples' opinions], but it cleary has reduced in quality, I hope SL doesn't face the same fate).

[warpsmith]

server wizards follow-up review...

we have used two other support companies in the past, and the difference between Server Wizards and the others is striking.

First, Server Wizards is very competent. Whether an issue concerns e-mail, Direct Admin, PHP, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, Webmin, or general hosting, SW has always come through.

Second, SW is speedy. Tickets are usually answered right away, and in the rare case that a fix takes a while, SW is diligent about acknowledging receipt of the request.

Third, and this is an intangible, SW support personnel are quite personable. They have gone the extra mile with assistance for problems that may not even be covered under the general server management contract.

And, as a post script, referencing the thread at http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=535334, SW was all over this problem right away. Neither we nor they could determine any application error, and about 5 hours after that post everything cleared up. Everyone can draw their own conclusions, but SW was proactive in looking at the problem.