Jun 10 2005
Server Decisions
Well, my research (window shopping, if you will) for a server has paid off.
I’m going to get myself a server from MegaNetServe, who (appear to) offer US and UK based servers, or tech support at least.
Their budget server for $49 a month is what I’m looking at getting:
- 1.7 GHz Celeron
- 512 MB RAM
- 40 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
- 5 IP Addresses
- 600 GB Bandwidth p/m
- MRTG Graph from switch
- Remote Reboot System
I’m even probably going to spash out an extra $10 a month to get an 80GB disk instead. My only problem is the O/S decision.
They offer Dead Rat/CentOS and FreeBSD currently, Debian as of July. Dead Rat/CentOS is not an option, I value my time. So I’m left with deciding FreeBSD now, or wait a little bit for Debian. I like both a lot, both are easy to manage and very reliable. But I’m tempted to wait for Debian, since I’m more familiar with Debian administration than FreeBSD, so a Debian production box is less hassle. Plus FreeBSD needs more disk space the way I admin a box, with CVS checkouts of the src and ports.
So, unless someone is able to really convince me to go with FreeBSD, I’m going to wait until I can get a Debian box. Of course, that means migrating stuff off Trastevere somewhere for a few days, probably to a box at home. Hmmm, effort…
Update:
I found another interesting provider, Sago, who have a box of equivalent specs as MegaNetServe (well, a 1.6GHz Celeron CPU), but with 1250GB monthly bandwidth, plus they offer Debian now. Prices are quite comparable too, $9 extra setup fee and only $6 more a month.
I do have concerns about both companies, MegaNetServe don’t seem to understand how to make a HTML link (4 main sections of their website reference the current document). Sago are based in Florida, which is prone to Hurricanes, plus I found a forum thread about Sago, with mixed reviews (although by potentially silly Americans). Sago have a better latency than MegaNetServe and even the ThePlanet apparently. Sago also appear to have GBX and Level3 connectivity (at least traceroute thinks so), which disproves/deprecates 1 point in that forum thread.
See if you can find someone hosted on it and use their site before you go for it. Some of these people, particularly the too-cheap-to-be-true ones, have extremely high latency connections.
Latency doesn’t bother me, I’m interested in reliability. Judging by their prices and specs, they’re trying to compete with ServerMatrix, where Trastevere is, so latency will probably not be an issue.
Plus, it’s a month by month contract, so I can always move again if I have to.
Ah, I was talking about press-a-key, wait-a-second scale of latency. Not nice.