Advice and recomendations appreciated

benz1 · #1 05-30-2009, 08:15 PM

Through several business ventures I've ended up with a number of different hosts and hosting arrangements:

Dedicated server with Hostgator
VPS with MediaTemple
Shared reseller account with Dathorn
Trial Clustered Cloud shared reseller account with UpTimeHost

I'd like to consolidate these and am veering towards a cloud/grid solution due to:
the cost of the dedicated server,
the cost of the VPS and Plesk licenses,
the responsibility of managing client sites on a single server (single point of failure),
the load balancing aspect of cloud/grid solutions and the ability to accommodate spikes in usage.

I thought I'd found a solution with UpTimeHost and was taking part in their beta trial but having persevered through months of performance issues they seem to have gone underground and are not responding to tickets or posts on their forum.

So, can anyone recommend a solution with a reliable host? I'm open to other suggestions that will meet my needs. Would by far prefer a cpanel based solution. Users are spread throughout the world, mainly in the US, UK and Australasia so looking for a US based host with good connectivity to service all markets.

Thanks in anticipation,
Benz1

**JLHC** · #2 05-31-2009, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benz1

I thought I'd found a solution with UpTimeHost and was taking part in their beta trial but having persevered through months of performance issues they seem to have gone underground and are not responding to tickets or posts on their forum.

I believe some of their staffs have left the company so this may be the reason for them not to respond. I remember that I have read somewhere that one of the partner, Kaumil was looking for employment in the employment forum due to him already leaving the company.

benz1 · #3 05-31-2009, 03:07 AM

Yes, Kaumil left a couple of months ago which is a real shame as his customer service was excellent and it went downhill after that.

Funnily enough they responded to my tickets of over 2 weeks ago just after I made my original post. Who knows, maybe it will get better?

**JLHC** · #4 05-31-2009, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benz1

Yes, Kaumil left a couple of months ago which is a real shame as his customer service was excellent and it went downhill after that.

Funnily enough they responded to my tickets of over 2 weeks ago just after I made my original post. Who knows, maybe it will get better?

Looks like posting at WHT is really an effective communication tool.

AquariusStorage · #5 05-31-2009, 03:40 AM

Just wanting to point out, that cloud hosting, although sounds nice, is years from being fully perfected:

RackSpace is still struggling with mosso, it's "cloud" system.
http://status.mosso.com/

Issues at this point seem to be normal in the cloud industry.

akashik · #6 05-31-2009, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benz1

MediaTemple

You already have a relationship with mp. Have you called them up to figure out an arrangement?

Of all the companies you mentioned MediaTemple is probably you're best answer to get the best result.

* Disclaimer: No relationship with them at all, but I do know they're a big dog in town with a lot of horsepower behind them... and they're pretty big on new.tech ideas.

madguy24 · #7 05-31-2009, 04:14 AM

I consider Cloud hosting is still in its infant stages. You have your own risks and have to compromise on many factors when you get low cost. But based on the reviews I go through, I trust MT and Mosso. Mosso, just because they are backed by RackSpace.

akashik · #8 05-31-2009, 04:19 AM

Yeah, agreed... again, when you talk about horsepower Rackspace is right up there too - probably moreso than mp. They gots'a'lotsa'servers.

benz1 · #9 05-31-2009, 07:08 AM

So if cloud hosting isn't 'mature' yet is there an alternative that spreads the risk over more than one server?

Interesting re Mosso. When I was doing my research when I found UpTimeHost, Mosso admitted on WHT they were having performance issues which was enough to put me off at the time.

I inherited the MT VPS but really don't like Plesk or having to pay for multiple licenses and I find their whole domain management system very cumbersome.

Any more suggestions?

Thanks,
Benz1

benz1 · #10 05-31-2009, 10:27 PM

What's the consensus on using a grid service? Any recommendations? The MediaTemple GS looks good on paper but reading here I see they have performance issues and some significant downtime.