Web Hosting

[lesliedocherty]

Hi,

Currently with Nu-Clear Web hosting, we need to move the plan we are on for a few reasons, we are looking at this plan from them.
Been with them for 3 years, only had 1 problem, which is reson we need to upgrade packages, pretty good so far, but run on a skeleton staff, so if something goes wrong at weekend, its not great for support.

Moving to someone else and re-pointing all DNS things is not appealing, but for recomended good service & price drop it might be an option.



DS3: An uncompromising mission-critical Xeon Server

Our top of the range Dedicated Server the DS3 is ideal for mission-critical applications such as for use in Intensive Web Hosting Environments or as Database Server. With Mirrored (RAID) SCSI Hard Disks, 2GB of RAM and Dual Xeon Processors, this server really can take almost anything you care to throw at it.
Hardware Configuration:

• Dell PowerEdge 1950
• Dual Core Intel Xeon 5050 2x2MB cache 3.00GHz 667MHz FSB
• 2GB FB 533MHz Memory
• Dual 73GB 10,000rpm SCSI (Hot Swap) Hard Disks
• PERC 4e/Si embedded RAID

Features:

• Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
• IIS6 Web & FTP Server
• Microsoft Mail Server
• Microsoft DNS Server with your own custom name servers.
• Unrestricted Administrator Access
• Free Unmetered & Burstable Bandwidth
• Secure Private Gigabit LAN
• 8 IP Numbers
• Shared Hardware Firewall Protection
• Daily Automatic Security Updates
• Symantec Antivirus Protection
• Remote Power Reboot Control
• Housing in our UK Data Centre
• 24/7/365 Telephone Support

Pricing:
Pay Monthly: £379 per month plus £379.00 set-up
Pay Annually: £4,548 per annum with FREE set-up

 

[stugster]

The first thing that strikes me as odd is that the Memory is only 533MHz.

 

[lesliedocherty]

odd, in a good or bad way

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Worth looking at Phils site at openmind. Also, they're having a 20% off 5th Birthday celebration thing.....

Definitely recommend for support. Weekends and holidays included.

 

[lesliedocherty]

ive heard good things about open-mind, anyone used them

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I'm 100% happy.

 

[JamieBeeston]

Thats an Old Old server.

The Perc4 is 2 generations behind current, the drives are small and slow, the CPU is an old, slow dual core and it's an awful lot of money for what you're not getting.

There are far better offers both in terms of spec and package from many other larger and smaller providers.

J

 

[ltcd]

Thats an Old Old server.

There are far better offers both in terms of spec and package from many other larger and smaller providers.

J

I agree with that!!

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Hi,

DS3: An uncompromising mission-critical Xeon Server

Our top of the range Dedicated Server the DS3 is ideal for mission-critical applications such as for use in Intensive Web Hosting Environments or as Database Server. With Mirrored (RAID) SCSI Hard Disks, 2GB of RAM and Dual Xeon Processors, this server really can take almost anything you care to throw at it.
Hardware Configuration:

• Dell PowerEdge 1950
• Dual Core Intel Xeon 5050 2x2MB cache 3.00GHz 667MHz FSB
• 2GB FB 533MHz Memory
• Dual 73GB 10,000rpm SCSI (Hot Swap) Hard Disks
• PERC 4e/Si embedded RAID

Features:

• Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
• IIS6 Web & FTP Server
• Microsoft Mail Server
• Microsoft DNS Server with your own custom name servers.
• Unrestricted Administrator Access
• Free Unmetered & Burstable Bandwidth
• Secure Private Gigabit LAN
• 8 IP Numbers
• Shared Hardware Firewall Protection
• Daily Automatic Security Updates
• Symantec Antivirus Protection
• Remote Power Reboot Control
• Housing in our UK Data Centre
• 24/7/365 Telephone Support

Pricing:
Pay Monthly: £379 per month plus £379.00 set-up
Pay Annually: £4,548 per annum with FREE set-up

Ouch not a good spec for the money.

Just to compare we could do

Dell Poweredge R200 Base
Quad Core Xeon 2.5Ghz 1333Mhz FSB 12Mb Cache
8Gb DDR2 667Mhz ECC Memory
2x 150Gb 10k RPM 3Ware Hardware Raid 1
Windows 2003/2008 Web/STD 32bit or 64bit
SmarterTools bundle
Fully Managed
- 24x7 UK Phone Support
- 99.95% Network Uptime SLA
- 4hr Hardware Replacement SLA
£339/Month
£119 Setup

or

£3,699/Year
FREE Setup

No VAT or anything like that to add.

 

[Optegris]

Leslie,

Are you looking to go for a completely managed server or are you comfortable with security, patching etc in order to manage it yourself?

 

[lesliedocherty]

Currently the server we have, we have supplied all the hardware, but had security issues, so need to upgrade and change how we configure it.

Our web guy manages all the technical side of it, configuring and so on, just need the equipment, bandwith and support,
I am going to check that the equipment on their site is the equipment we are getting as he is pretty clued up on these things, i will be sharing the server with 5 or 6 smaller websites.

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Currently the server we have, we have supplied all the hardware, but had security issues, so need to upgrade and change how we configure it.

Our web guy manages all the technical side of it, configuring and so on, just need the equipment, bandwith and support,
I am going to check that the equipment on their site is the equipment we are getting as he is pretty clued up on these things, i will be sharing the server with 5 or 6 smaller websites.

So if you are after an unmanaged system it should be far cheaper

All though if you have had security issues it sounds like you could do with a proper pre-setup or some sort of management.

 

[Optegris]

OK in that case here is an alternative spec for you:

Dual Core Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz
2GB RAM
2 x 160GB in RAID format
Windows Server 2003 Standard
4,000GB monthly bandwidth
Dedicated 100MBit port

£95 + vat per month

Now there are plenty of permutations of this, have a look at the link below and you can see you can mix and match the server components:

http://www.openmindhosting.co.uk/uk-dedicated-hosting/dedicated-servers.cfm

There are also a variety of control panels we can offer to make day-to-day administration of the server easier for you.

I'm also quite happy to supply you with a quote to install and secure the server initially, I would just need to know from you what you need on the box to get you started

 

[eukhost]

Currently the server we have, we have supplied all the hardware, but had security issues, so need to upgrade and change how we configure it.

Our web guy manages all the technical side of it, configuring and so on, just need the equipment, bandwith and support,
I am going to check that the equipment on their site is the equipment we are getting as he is pretty clued up on these things, i will be sharing the server with 5 or 6 smaller websites.

You can check our fully managed dedicated servers at http://www.eukhost.com/dedicated-server-hosting.php

Let me know if you need any help

 

[astutiumRob]

we are looking at this plan from them.

it depends on what you're looking for, but for the price/month i wouldnt settle for anything less than decent 24/7/365 support with g'teed resolution times, and high throughput/performance

there are a couple of obvious issues with the machine spec you quoted ... it's a bit like estate-agent-speak, you have to translate it back to reality ...

>An uncompromising mission-critical Xeon Server

it's an 18 month or so old, less than top-spec server

>Dual Xeon Processors
>Dual Core Intel Xeon 5050 2x2MB cache 3.00GHz 667MHz FSB

so is it dual xeon or single xeon dual-core - they are *very* diferent things

>2GB FB 533MHz Memory

is 2Gb enough ? 533 FB Dimms are world-famous for their ability to cook bacon quicker than a 200degC grill

>embedded RAID

"fake-raid" will never give performance to compare to a real raid card

>Windows Server 2003 Web Edition

web edition ? but they said this would make a DB server - you cant install db software on web edition ...

>Free Unmetered & Burstable Bandwidth

at what speed ? unmetered at 1Mb/s on a shared/contented 10Mb/s line is going to be slower than AOL dialup

>8 IP Numbers

surely they mean addresses, as 8 ip *numbers* would be 2 ip addresses 1.1.1.1 and 2.2.2.2

>Daily Automatic Security Updates

ah good old windowsupdate - ok, as long as you realise thats forever going to be rebooting your machine without warning and will at least monthly break it completely

>Housing in our UK Data Centre

"our" in this respect means someone else's portsmouth DC on NTL fibre

>24/7/365 Telephone Support

interesting definition of 24/7 which doesnt cover weekends or evenings - is that like most hosts who advertise 24/7 support which means you can email them anytime you like ?


for an "out of docklands" hosted server of that spec/setup, I'd expect it to be sub £200/month, less if the support isnt great ... for the price you're being quoted you can get a system that will out perform it an order of magnitude, get the support you require, and be hosted in a better datacentre on better connectivity

HTH

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

web edition ? but they said this would make a DB server - you cant install db software on web edition ...

They could mean w2k3 web enhanced which mssql can be installed on.

But the physical limitations of w2k3 web make it pointless.


Cracking post Mr Golding
Are you having a bad Friday?