

How to choose a low cost VPS - JosephRedfern
http://blog.redfern.me/choosing-a-low-cost-vps/

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csense
My favorite host is prgmr.com. They have plans which fit even the smallest
budget. The support is friendly and competent. You have access to an out-of-
band SSH-based console and rescue image, so you can do arbitrary command-line
maintenance stuff.

You can install whatever version of whatever distro you want. You can upgrade
on your own schedule. You can even do more exotic things like install a custom
kernel or even BSD (anything with Xen guest patches will work). You can use
LVM.

The best part is that they give you tools to fix things yourself. You don't
have to use some half-baked web UI whose creator didn't envision your use
case. You don't have to file a support ticket and wait for the staff to get
back to you for most maintenance tasks; you can just reboot in rescue mode and
do it yourself.

> VPS control panels

I've worked with a few different hosts, and I've never found a web-based
server management UI that isn't slow, buggy and generally half-baked.

~~~
beagle3
I like prgrmr. They used to be cheap, but they aren't anymore - because
everyone else lowered their price.

I'm paying $10/month (+$1/$2 more for outgoing traffic) for a 256MB Rackspace
Cloud. It costs $8 or so at prgrmr - it is 25% but it's only $2, and rackspace
always has space and bandwidth (unlike prgmr which has no spare capacity every
now and then).

Minimal rackspace is now 512MB @ $16/month (comparable prgrmr is $12). If
you're doing anything nontrivial, I suspect rackspace is a better option.

~~~
csense
From Rackspace FAQ:

> Can I import my own image or export an image of a server?

> At this time, you would have to pick from our Linux distributions or Windows
> images.

I want to upgrade the OS on my schedule, not theirs. I want control of my own
backups. And I really, really want snapshot capability, running / under LVM or
btrfs. None of these seem possible from my interpretation of this answer
(although I can't conclusively say they aren't).

You're right, though -- the pricing isn't bad at all.

~~~
beagle3
> I want to upgrade the OS on my schedule, not theirs.

You can. But you can only install from their images. After that, you can "apt-
get dist-upgrade" or whatever at your own rate.

> I want control of my own backups.

I think they give you that.

> And I really, really want snapshot capability, running / under LVM or btrfs.
> None of these seem possible from my interpretation of this answer (although
> I can't conclusively say they aren't).

Likely they can give it to you. They have really excellent chat support - just
ask.

I've got 300 days of uptime on a $10/month VPS, that's working flawlessly
since the second it was installed. I know from other people that they have
fantastic support - but I can't vouch for it myself - I've never needed it.

