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  1. #1
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    what do you expect from a dedicated server provider?

    Just in the process of starting yet another dedicated server company (as opposed to the boat load of them out there already) and just wanted to know what you guys would consider tolerable/etc.

    Please note, the bandwidth: EXODUS and InterNAP ONLY... no cogent, no yipes, no cheap bullsh*t. only premium providers.

    The plans I had in mind:
    ==============================================
    - Transmeta Crusoe-based server
    - 640MB RAM
    - 40GB internal hard drive
    - 40GB NFS-mounted backup/additional storage
    - Hosted SQL Server (we provide access to a xeon-based SQL server for you and your clients databases)
    - Customized Control Panel with support for managing all this flawlessly
    - 100GB of transfer on premium backbone
    - unlimited transfer to network mounted drive and sql server (via separate backend network)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    $249/month + $49/setup (introductory offer)
    ==============================================
    oh... as for IPs/etc... not sure on how many yet because I have to get details from exodus still on network addressing but whatever the amount, more can be obtained in realtime via a management panel, tickets can be opened in panel, 24/7 1800 telephone support with employees that know how to speak english (as opposed to offshore outsourcing of support) and the power can be cycled (server rebooted) in realtime via control panel... server monitoring: will be notified within 5 minutes of any downtimes via telephone, within 15 minutes of any noticable server slowdowns (HTTP/etc taking too long to load n stuff)...
    ==============================================
    so... what'd ya all say? I am not advertising myself now because:
    a) i didn't post any url... no company name can be implied from "netdude"...
    b) the company doesn't operate yet, still finishing off financing... but our parent company has a 3 year history in the web hosting world... our owner, a 6 year history in the hosting world (working for another webhost until finally starting his own).
    Last edited by netdude; 08-01-2002 at 12:58 AM.

  2. #2
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    How much would be charged per GB of Bandwidth?

  3. #3
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    lets say... hmm... additional bandwidth being $2.50/GB? (volume discounts will be available, along with high-volume service plans)

    the servers themselves will probably stay a similar configuration, but we will offer load-balancing and clustering help (free of charge because it'd mean multiple servers from us, which is our payment right there) if a webmaster has a site too large for one single server.

    essentially... with this new company, we are trying to aim at the premium hosting market... i've been on these forums for quite a while... and have heard the horror stories about faulty servers/data loss/network downtimes/slow speeds/etc... all the servers we are ordering are brand name... no "white boxes"...

  4. #4
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    I like the fact that some advanced options are available.

    which exodus DC are you at?

  5. #5
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    well, we won't be directly within an exodus datacenter... we have contacted them and all regarding colocation rates, and as expected, they were quite high... so instead we have partnered with a datacenter that has feeds to both exodus and internap (and only those two, so not utilizing any sub-premium bandwidth)... as far as the redundancy, with those two top providers: we have better odds of the earth hurling into the sun than both those providers being down at the same time.

    and as you probably can guess, when dealing directly, both providers charge in excess of $500/Mbps not to forget the hefty setup fees (>$3000) and rackspace rates (>$1000).

    the datacenter itself is in atlanta... our alternative is verio in san jose... but i prefer exodus myself...

    also... those 'advanced features'... they are included as a standard... the NFS storage is offered primarily as a backup space so clients don't have to ever worry about losing data... can just setup a cron to backup an entire drive overnight/etc... every night or something (can purchase more diskspace, but i figure the average client will only use a few GB of storage, so can backup multiple days in their network drive space)... the storage space itself will be powered by proper NAS devices (not some cheap servers with a bunch of drives), so reliability is also assured on that.
    Last edited by netdude; 08-01-2002 at 05:47 AM.

  6. #6
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    Some very nice features, esp the nfs backup and the sql server...

    I am actually looking for a decent service for doing db intensive hosting, and that would be good, but I kinda doubt you would want that many clients chewing up your xeon

  7. #7
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    *nod*

    we are aiming for the average dedicated server user (obviously, kinda like the 'unlimited' webhost trying to get clients that use 5MB)... the SQL servers themselves are all dell xeon boxes (we've had these servers for about a year and a half... leased them a long time ago (and stuck in the damn leases)... dell poweredge 6400 quad-xeon boxes, ultra3 scsi hard drives with hardware raid (128mb cache version) n all...

    after reading: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=62308 and that client's issue, i just realized another feature our hosting platform has which was not previously noted: remote console... this includes the capability of even going into the BIOS, remotely! although something of this level we will either need to do with a client over the telephone or setup a temporary access point because we don't want somebody accidentally altering something in the BIOS (hard drive configuration) which corrupts data/etc... (hence we won't make the claim that its in true realtime)...

    the aim is to create a hosting platform for enterprise clients, in terms of managability, performance and reliability. the fact that small business and independant webmasters can benefit is a bonus.

    minor update... transit providers are: exodus (primary), internap and uunet (worldcom, yes but their bankruptcy is being taken into consideration and the redundancy is there)
    Last edited by netdude; 08-01-2002 at 05:12 AM.

  8. #8
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    some ping times and which network feed the traffic comes in on from some major cities:

    AADS NAP Chicago - InterNAP - 24ms
    Amsterdam, Netherlands - Exodus / C&W - 104ms
    AMSIX NAP Amsterdam - Exodus / C&W - 104ms
    Atlanta, GA - WorldCom / UUNet - 24ms
    Baltimore, MD - Exodus / C&W - 40ms
    Berlin, Germany - Exodus / C&W - 128ms
    BNIX NAP Brussels - Exodus / C&W - 104ms
    Boston, MA- InterNAP - 48ms
    Brussels, Belgium - Exodus / C&W - 104ms
    Chicago, IL - Exodus / C&W - 48ms
    Cincinnati, OH - Exodus / C&W - 56ms
    Charlotte, NC - WorldCom / UUNet - 20ms
    Dallas, TX - InterNAP - 20ms
    DECIX NAP Frankfurt - Exodus / C&W - 116ms
    Denver, CO - InterNAP - 36ms
    Detroit, MI - Exodus / C&W - 60ms
    Dusseldorf, Germany - Exodus / C&W - 116ms
    FIX-West NAP San Jose - InterNAP - 84ms
    Frankfurt, Germany - Exodus / C&W - 116ms
    Garden City, NY - InterNAP - 28ms
    Hamburg, Germany - Exodus / C&W - 120ms
    Houston, TX - InterNAP - 40ms
    Los Angels, CA - InterNAP - 68ms
    London, England - Exodus / C&W - 104ms
    Las Vegas, NV - InterNAP - 76ms
    MAE-EAST NAP Washington DC - Exodus / C&W - 40ms
    MAE-WEST NAP San Jose - InterNAP - 76ms
    Miami, FL - WorldCom / UUNet - 36ms
    New York, NY - InterNAP - 28ms
    Orlando, FL - WorldCom / UUNet - 36ms
    PAIX NAP San Jose - Exodus / C&W - 68ms
    Paris, France - Exodus / C&W - 116ms
    PARIX NAP Paris - Exodus / C&W - 120ms
    Philadephia, PA - InterNAP - 44ms
    Phoenix, AZ - InterNAP - 64ms
    Raleigh, NC - Exodus / C&W - 28ms
    Richmond, VA - Exodus / C&W - 24ms
    San Antonio - InterNAP - 44ms
    San Diego, CA - InterNAP - 64ms
    Seattle, WA - InterNAP - 64ms
    San Francisco, CA - Exodus / C&W - 84ms
    San Jose, CA - InterNAP - 80ms
    Salt Lake City, UT - InterNAP - 76ms
    Saint Louis, MO - Exodus / C&W - 56ms
    Stamford, CT - InterNAP - 44ms
    Tampa, FL - WorldCom / UUNet - 36ms
    Tustin, CA - InterNAP - 76ms
    Washington, DC - Exodus / C&W - 20ms
    Weehawken, NJ - InterNAP - 44ms

    i am getting these stats from: http://alice.eng.level3.net/traceroute/traceroute.cgi
    Last edited by netdude; 08-09-2002 at 03:30 PM.

  9. #9
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    i guess what i'm trying to ask is ... as a consumer, would you guys pay that amount?

  10. #10
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    Transmeta Crusoe-based server ?
    ••• Mark Castle •••
    ••• www.captivereality.com •••
    ••• domainlabs.uk •••
    My views are my own and not those of my company.

  11. #11

    Re: what do you expect from a dedicated server provider?

    Originally posted by netdude
    Just in the process of starting yet another dedicated server company (as opposed to the boat load of them out there already) and just wanted to know what you guys would consider tolerable/etc.
    I won't comment on bandwidth, hardware, etc...because there are enough knowledgeable people around here to help you out with that.

    If you truly want to blow your competitors out of the water, do something that the majority of them don't - communicate with your customers. When they send you a sales question, answer it, preferably the same day. If there is a network problem (and there will be), keep them informed as to what's going on. Set up an off-network status page somewhere, so that when your network is experiencing problems, your status page will still be accessable to your clients. Don't make promises you can't keep, both privately and in the form of "specials" you can't possibly honor. Finally, do not nickel-and-dime your customers, ever.

    As I recently told one of my current providers with whom I have two servers, I would gladly pay more - lots more - if they could just answer their damn email once in a while.

    If a company comes along that can/will do any of the above in the sub-$500 range, I'd drop my current providers like a bad habit.

    Didn't mean to rant, but it's a subject near and dear to my heart.

    Best of luck to ya', whatever you do

    -BFS

  12. #12
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    thanks for that response BFS... heh...

    well... from our side, we're all techies... none of us have any really true sales experience... (well, we have two guys with MBAs, but they aren't at the core of this project, so i figure they'd be able to do a bit of sales)...

    but as far as communicating with clients... what we had in mind:
    - the management panel, will have the option to get a call back within 15 minutes from that... i figure how i'd guarantee that is... the client doesn't get a call back (for an actual legitimate request), they get $5 lopped off their current month's bill each time... so if they keep on requesting call-backs but never get 'em, they could theoretically end up with a bill of $0...
    - in addition to that, will have a 1800 number... i am not sure if i would just get this attached to a alpha-numeric messaging device to be totally honest... and they could punch in their number and expect a call-back asap...
    - and to add to that, icq, msn and aim...

    but the point being... a request comes in via any means, it'll get forwarded to all our tech staff at the same time (via our cell phones, text messaging... tech will be able to answer sales questions as well, we are a small company, overhead wise, and all of us working for it know and trust eachother with our lives)... everybody is oncall 24/7, webhosting are our lives, not just our business...

    we want to base most of it on a call-back basis... but i know clients don't always like that... so they'd have the option of having the direct number to whomever they prefer speaking to (i know when i was a hosting client at one of the larger colos, i'd rather wait a day to have my request fulfilled by someone i knew than get it done right away by some new guy)... not saying that the clients will have to wait a day, because everybody is available 24/7 (yes, our phones will be on while we sleep, with the highest ringer setting, lol)...

    take note... this is just what we're planning... although i am quite confident this is what we'd go with (heh, the big companies can't do this for obvious reasons... heh)... overall, our actual cost to do something like this is quite minimal, so it seems reasonable from a planning prespective...
    Last edited by netdude; 08-02-2002 at 12:32 AM.

  13. #13
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    Originally posted by markcastle
    Transmeta Crusoe-based server ?
    well... thats essentially an alternative to intel CPUs... choosing these servers because thats whats available on the blade server platform we are planning to use... by using blade servers instead of "white boxes"... we get much better remote controlability while still maintaining the ability to have the servers colocated in a top quality datacenter (don't have to drive down for reboots for bios reconfiguration or anythin', as opposed to getting a few feeds and making some dinky 'datacenter' in-house)...

    oh... in addition to the remote control, don't forget reliability... brand name hardware all the way... no cheap bullsh*t... not in bandwidth providers or hardware...

    to make up for the performance loss (but superior reliability because we are using only hardware designed to work with eachother such as motherboard-cpu-network card-etc compatibility and optimal performance), we would include the hosted SQL/etc to relieve the CPU load... so in the end, it works out to much better performance... and for the hosted SQL/NFS/etc... they run on a backend network as mentioned earlier... giving even better performance (not congesting main internet feeds or even the ethernet cards to handle internet connectivity to each blade)...

  14. #14
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    Originally posted by netdude


    well... thats essentially an alternative to intel CPUs...
    Yeh - i know what it is - was just curious as to why you were using them Never seen anyone offering servers for hosting with them before.
    ••• Mark Castle •••
    ••• www.captivereality.com •••
    ••• domainlabs.uk •••
    My views are my own and not those of my company.

  15. #15
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    its just the processors our blade solution uses... we are trying to get it all going on blades for starters for reliability and remote management... With the hosted SQL, the performance will be much better overall...
    Last edited by netdude; 08-02-2002 at 06:59 AM.

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