Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Need feedback on Virtual Internet please

[spoon_wizard]

Does anybody have any useful information on Virtual Internet (www-dot-vi-dot-net. We are considering moving our hosting to them but have been unable to find any good/bad feedback on them.

Any news will help greatly.

Alex

[midnightsoftware]

Is there any reason why that company in particular? Have you tried contacting them yet at all - their answers to any questions you may have could tell you a lot about them.

[spoon_wizard]

Originally Posted by midnightsoftware

Is there any reason why that company in particular? Have you tried contacting them yet at all - their answers to any questions you may have could tell you a lot about them.

Yes we have spoken and are on the verge of signing a contract. However I was very keen to hear any other opinions that anybody might have.

So far everything has been very professional, the prices are good and the Manchester datacentre seems good.

[midnightsoftware]

Whats the price - maybe its worth asking for a trial account, just to see what the performance is.

[spoon_wizard]

Details to follow in next post (I can't post a url until I have done 5 posts...)

[midnightsoftware]

Hehe - sometimes the rules are a little restrictive, but i'm sure it does weed out a lot of idiots.

[spoon_wizard]

Originally Posted by midnightsoftware

Whats the price - maybe its worth asking for a trial account, just to see what the performance is.

All details are on http://www.vi.net/hosting/dedicated_hosting.asp

we are looking at 4 x VI Business package with Windows, an upgrade to SAS drives (+£20 per box pm), 4 x 50GB on site backup (£35 per box pm) and a Cisco pix 501 firewall (£50 per month)

Total for 4 servers + firewall = £1066 per month

[midnightsoftware]

To start with, i've got to question why Windows Server is an extra £40/month - this seems a little high.

Is the server price plus/including vat - if they are registered. If they are not vat registered, why not? (they must have less that £65k turnover).

Does the price for the 4 include having the second network ports in their own vlan? (so that the servers can talk to each other without using your bandwidth allocation)

[spoon_wizard]

Originally Posted by midnightsoftware

To start with, i've got to question why Windows Server is an extra £40/month - this seems a little high.

Is the server price plus/including vat - if they are registered. If they are not vat registered, why not? (they must have less that £65k turnover).

Does the price for the 4 include having the second network ports in their own vlan? (so that the servers can talk to each other without using your bandwidth allocation)

Good point about Windows license (by the way it is the full version - not web edition). What do you think it should be?

All prices are ex VAT, we are also VAT registered.

Yes we can have private lan connection between boxes (not taken from out data transfer figure)

Alex

[midnightsoftware]

Well, it certainly doesn't cost £40 (we charge less than half that - for 2003 Server Standard).

It does seem a *little* pricey overall, but assuming that there is the support available to justify the extra cost, then it should be okay.

[spoon_wizard]

Originally Posted by midnightsoftware

Well, it certainly doesn't cost £40 (we charge less than half that - for 2003 Server Standard).

It does seem a *little* pricey overall, but assuming that there is the support available to justify the extra cost, then it should be okay.

Thanks Leigh, you have been most helpful.

I don't suppose you know much about their Manchester Datacentre (greenhays)? We also have the option of Level 3 in London (an extra £50 per box per month).

Having been to Level 3 I am tempted to take an extra £200 per month hit and be able to brag about it. What do you think?

[midnightsoftware]

I can't really say that i've experienced either facility.

Personally, unless there was another reason to go for London (other than bragging rights) i would stick with Manchester (which incidentally is only down the road from me!) There will be slightly more latency (i'm assuming its fed from London), but if you are okay with that then go for it.

I'd have expected London to be cheaper though - also check if you get extra transfer allowance in London (its 'usually' cheaper).

[Xandrios]

The problem with London is, like in every major city: Space. Its cheaper to run a fiber to a DC somewhere in the countryside than renting the space in London itself.

[edit]
Well, not really countryside...but Manchester surely is a different deal than London, space-wise.

[nitrohosting]

Spoon_Wizard,

See my post on the other forum about the Level3 facility. It's certainly not something to boast about - there are much much better facilities in London.

The pricing certainly isn't budget and is definitely sustainable however I'd be cautious of any company boasting that your server benefits from a

1.28 Terabits Trans-Atlantic Dark fibre

. I'd be pretty confident that it isn't theirs and would only reduce your server's connectivity if they, or their providers, were for some reason shoving traffic over that instead of sensibly routing it within Europe first

Kris

[spoon_wizard]

Originally Posted by nitrohosting

Spoon_Wizard,

See my post on the other forum about the Level3 facility. It's certainly not something to boast about - there are much much better facilities in London.

The pricing certainly isn't budget and is definitely sustainable however I'd be cautious of any company boasting that your server benefits from a . I'd be pretty confident that it isn't theirs and would only reduce your server's connectivity if they, or their providers, were for some reason shoving traffic over that instead of sensibly routing it within Europe first

Kris

Hi Kris,

Interesting comments.

I have been to Level 3 and was very impressed by what I saw. I was told that both Google and Microsoft have suites there and that it is the only UK datacentre to have a government guaranteed fuel supply.

Maybe this is not true. I would be very keen to hear what anybody else has to say about Level 3.

Alex