Results 1 to 16 of 16
-
09-22-2009, 09:11 PM #1Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Oct 2001
- Location
- Ohio
- Posts
- 8,535
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.
-
09-22-2009, 09:21 PM #2Web Hosting Guru
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Posts
- 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.
-
09-22-2009, 09:36 PM #3Private Citizen
- Join Date
- Jan 2009
- Posts
- 3,878
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
-
09-22-2009, 10:58 PM #4Problem Solver
- Join Date
- Mar 2003
- Location
- California USA
- Posts
- 13,681
inogenius,
I've worked with all of the providers. Gigenet is the answer.
Go dedicated. Skip the vps business.Steven Ciaburri | Industry's Best Server Management - Rack911.com
Software Auditing - 400+ Vulnerabilities Found - Quote @ https://www.RACK911Labs.com
Fully Managed Dedicated Servers (Las Vegas, New York City, & Amsterdam) (AS62710)
FreeBSD & Linux Server Management, Security Auditing, Server Optimization, PCI Compliance
-
09-22-2009, 11:20 PM #5Aspiring Evangelist
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Conroe, Tx
- Posts
- 379
I second Steven's recommendation -- definitely Gigenet.
-
09-22-2009, 11:46 PM #6Problem Solver
- Join Date
- Mar 2003
- Location
- California USA
- Posts
- 13,681
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.Steven Ciaburri | Industry's Best Server Management - Rack911.com
Software Auditing - 400+ Vulnerabilities Found - Quote @ https://www.RACK911Labs.com
Fully Managed Dedicated Servers (Las Vegas, New York City, & Amsterdam) (AS62710)
FreeBSD & Linux Server Management, Security Auditing, Server Optimization, PCI Compliance
-
09-23-2009, 12:07 AM #7Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Oct 2001
- Location
- Ohio
- Posts
- 8,535
-
09-23-2009, 01:59 AM #8Problem Solver
- Join Date
- Mar 2003
- Location
- California USA
- Posts
- 13,681
Steven Ciaburri | Industry's Best Server Management - Rack911.com
Software Auditing - 400+ Vulnerabilities Found - Quote @ https://www.RACK911Labs.com
Fully Managed Dedicated Servers (Las Vegas, New York City, & Amsterdam) (AS62710)
FreeBSD & Linux Server Management, Security Auditing, Server Optimization, PCI Compliance
-
09-23-2009, 05:19 AM #9Engineer
- Join Date
- Jan 2005
- Location
- Scotland, UK
- Posts
- 2,681
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).Server Management - AdminGeekZ.com
Infrastructure Management, Web Application Performance, mySQL DBA. System Automation.
WordPress/Magento Performance, Apache to Nginx Conversion, Varnish Implimentation, DDoS Protection, Custom Nginx Modules
Check our wordpress varnish plugin. Contact us for quote: sales@admingeekz.com
-
09-23-2009, 10:37 AM #10WHT Addict
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
- Location
- UK
- Posts
- 159
► Ore Stone Radio
Playing the best unsigned new music 24 hours a day
Musicians - Visit our forums to submit your music for airplay
► www.orestoneradio.com an Ore Stone Music Ltd. Company
-
09-23-2009, 01:22 PM #11Always Learning...
- Join Date
- Aug 2002
- Location
- Bharat
- Posts
- 4,808
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=888004Vinsar.Net - Quality Web Hosting at Economical Price on USA & European Servers
Offering domains, shared, reseller & VPS hosting.
Reliable Domain Reseller Account Resell Domains with Confidence
-
09-23-2009, 01:35 PM #12Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Oct 2001
- Location
- Ohio
- Posts
- 8,535
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>>
Originally Posted by ScottLast edited by bear; 09-23-2009 at 04:21 PM.
-
09-23-2009, 04:02 PM #13Disabled
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
- Location
- Geffen (NL)
- Posts
- 214
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.
-
09-23-2009, 04:36 PM #14Engineer
- Join Date
- Jan 2005
- Location
- Scotland, UK
- Posts
- 2,681
Server Management - AdminGeekZ.com
Infrastructure Management, Web Application Performance, mySQL DBA. System Automation.
WordPress/Magento Performance, Apache to Nginx Conversion, Varnish Implimentation, DDoS Protection, Custom Nginx Modules
Check our wordpress varnish plugin. Contact us for quote: sales@admingeekz.com
-
09-23-2009, 04:50 PM #15Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Oct 2001
- Location
- Ohio
- Posts
- 8,535
-
09-24-2009, 07:48 AM #16Engineer
- Join Date
- Jan 2005
- Location
- Scotland, UK
- Posts
- 2,681
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).Server Management - AdminGeekZ.com
Infrastructure Management, Web Application Performance, mySQL DBA. System Automation.
WordPress/Magento Performance, Apache to Nginx Conversion, Varnish Implimentation, DDoS Protection, Custom Nginx Modules
Check our wordpress varnish plugin. Contact us for quote: sales@admingeekz.com
Similar Threads
-
[Hiring] Corporate Identity Needed
By rackgeek in forum Employment / Job OffersReplies: 5Last Post: 02-10-2005, 07:46 PM -
Corporate Logo Needed
By vizhost.com in forum Design OffersReplies: 6Last Post: 06-25-2004, 01:39 AM -
Needed: Corporate hosting design
By dbbrock1 in forum Design OffersReplies: 11Last Post: 01-29-2004, 01:44 AM -
Corporate Sites -- Info Needed
By Mrdredd in forum Running a Web Hosting BusinessReplies: 19Last Post: 09-05-2003, 05:41 PM