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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    New provider needed for corporate site.

    The company I work for is significantly ramping up it's on-line presence. We already take a number of payments online, and are expecting that to grow significantly in the future. Sadly, due to neglect, our website is hosted on a $17.95 a month shared hosting account. I did just inherit control of the website, so I take no blame!

    While I could manage the server, it's not something I want to do. The website was just something thrown into my job description because I'm capable of handling it. It's no where near my full time job. So I'm looking for a managed provider. At the current time our space and bandwidth requirements are extremely minimal, and while it'll grow somewhat with our new site, I highly doubt it'll ever go above 1 gigabyte of space and 100 gigabytes of bandwidth.

    So questions I have for you are:

    1.) Would you go with a VPS? We're looking for 100% uptime, as we're in the financial services industry. Downtime just isn't acceptable anymore. I know a clustered solution would seem even better, but it's so hard to go for that when some of our requirements are so minimal. Would it be possible to do a redundant VPS system? There will be customer information stored in a database, so I really don't want that being transferred around through the web.

    2.) Along with serving customers direct, we also work with a number of other financial institutions. We already have a "portal" site setup to handle this site, and are hosting the server in house. We only have 2 T1 lines (and they're not setup in BGP, obviously). With the growth, we need more bandwidth. Would you recommend putting this site on an entirely different server? Again, we'll be dealing with some sensitive data.

    3.) What providers would you recommend? I have prior relationships with ServINT & WiredTree, both of whom I loved being with, but that was when I was in the web hosting world. While the company I work for does not have ISO, SAS, PCI DSS, or HIPAA certifications, we will soon, and I'd like our providers to also have some sort of certification.
    Last edited by IGobyTerry; 09-22-2009 at 09:16 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    282
    ServeINT and WiredTree are two very reputable VPS providers. If you were happy with them, then I personally would think it's worth to continue with them in the future.

  3. #3
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    Both are solid, there are others, just search around, contact a few providers. Ask questions, get to know them and what they do. Don't jump on the first deal you find, you seem sharp and on the ball.

    VPS Could work, though are you planning for this to be a high traffic site? Also with VPS its not just a matter of you securing your container, there is also the issue of your provider securing the node you are on. So it's a double security task there.

    Dedicated would probably be the best bet. With some sort of managed service, perhaps behind a hardware firewall, etc. All the goodies

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    inogenius,

    I've worked with all of the providers. Gigenet is the answer.

    Go dedicated. Skip the vps business.
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  5. #5
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    I second Steven's recommendation -- definitely Gigenet.

  6. #6
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    I also wanted to jump in on this:

    2.) Along with serving customers direct, we also work with a number of other financial institutions. We already have a "portal" site setup to handle this site, and are hosting the server in house. We only have 2 T1 lines (and they're not setup in BGP, obviously). With the growth, we need more bandwidth. Would you recommend putting this site on an entirely different server? Again, we'll be dealing with some sensitive data.
    Do other institutions access this? Or is it something you primarily access?
    Steven Ciaburri | Industry's Best Server Management - Rack911.com
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    I also wanted to jump in on this:



    Do other institutions access this? Or is it something you primarily access?
    They have access to it.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by inogenius View Post
    They have access to it.
    May not be an idea arrangement, but is it a possibility for a vpn to be setup on their side?

    You could host a dedicated(s) at say gigenet and run a vpn from the server to the other side(s).
    Steven Ciaburri | Industry's Best Server Management - Rack911.com
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  9. #9
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    Jan 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by inogenius View Post
    We're looking for 100% uptime, as we're in the financial services industry.
    Just to interrupt, What you are speaking about purchasing seems to have no relation to what you have actually specified you are looking for.

    Even though I know that you already know all of this, I think it's worth pointing out.

    You are either looking to achieve 100% uptime and redundancy or you are looking for a VPS, "fail-over" fall under the same bracket as you do not have 100% uptime there is a time frame between the node going down and a new one starting your VPS/VE which may be seconds or it may be minutes but bottom line is that is not 100% uptime.

    Finally outside of how the actual thing is achieved there is the providers network and power. Bare in mind that a 100% uptime SLA is not guarantee of 100% uptime, it's simply a guarantee that in the event there is not 100% uptime you will receive some form of credit, almost always up to your monthly fee or slightly more - but still pennies. You should ask them for their actual uptime records for the past few years and see who has actually provided 100% uptime from the network, power right down to the application level.

    So with that being said, you should re-evaluate your requirements and if you still need 100% then you should be looking to pay for it or if close to 100% is good enough (IE 99.99/99.98%) then continue on

    You should be fully aware of the level of policy compliance you are looking for as it can significantly effect your decision and also your requirements (Both in terms of the provider itself and your associated hardware).
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  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by inogenius View Post
    We're looking for 100% uptime, as we're in the financial services industry. Downtime just isn't acceptable anymore..
    So you need fallover/redundancy on both nameserver machines on seperate c/classes..

    Fallover/redundancy on your webserver and database server..

    hmm sounds like you could be paying a bit then..
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  11. #11
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    When you talk about 100% uptime, a single VPS or a single dedicated can't achieve that. So look for providers providing failover solutions.

    Just for example something like what is offered at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=888004
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    May not be an idea arrangement, but is it a possibility for a vpn to be setup on their side?

    You could host a dedicated(s) at say gigenet and run a vpn from the server to the other side(s).
    Explain a little bit more. We have a SonicWall VPN system setup here, but I'm not sure if it'd work with the solution you're recommending. Some of our customers are a little dense too, so I'd be afraid of even saying something like VPN to them.

    The other financial institutions are still accessing a website interface. They're just downloading larger files (sometimes up to 3 Gigabytes at a time), and using it for support.

    <<snipped removed post>>

    Quote Originally Posted by Scott
    So with that being said, you should re-evaluate your requirements and if you still need 100% then you should be looking to pay for it or if close to 100% is good enough (IE 99.99/99.98%) then continue on
    lol, 100% uptime I know isn't going to happen, especially not on this budget. The 99.98% that comes with a good VPS/Dedicated host is fine. I just don't want a company that is used to hosting personal blog like sites trying to host the corporate site where we absolutely need reliability.
    Last edited by bear; 09-23-2009 at 04:21 PM.

  13. #13
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    Look for a high availability VPS hoster, with a good storage (RAID 10 or SAN) And a good network. My opinion: A dedicated is overkill for you.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by inogenius View Post
    lol, 100% uptime I know isn't going to happen, especially not on this budget. The 99.98% that comes with a good VPS/Dedicated host is fine. I just don't want a company that is used to hosting personal blog like sites trying to host the corporate site where we absolutely need reliability.
    Now what about policy compliance do you know exactly what compliance you are looking for? This will play a large role in who is actually capable of hosting and who is not.
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott.Mc View Post
    Now what about policy compliance do you know exactly what compliance you are looking for? This will play a large role in who is actually capable of hosting and who is not.
    SAS required. We may need PCI DSS as well, but I'm not sure on that. HIPAA & ISO are only preferred.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by inogenius View Post
    SAS required. We may need PCI DSS as well, but I'm not sure on that. HIPAA & ISO are only preferred.
    You are going to be best looking for a provider that serves SMB's rather than the typical "web host crowd" around here. Some of the larger ones would be inetu and datapipe but if you think you'll get something like a $70/month vps unfortunately that isn't going to happen

    I would make sure you know your exact policy compliance requirements because it could involve significant changes to your requirements (especially hardware).
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