

Ask HN: recommendation for VPS/Dedicated Server - juanefren

I am running a SaaS startup company in Mexico, right now I am using a shared server but now looks like it is time to transfer to something bigger, I would like to hear your recommendations. This is what I need:
Fast service (fast response with requests).<p>Possibility to add sub domain names automatically from shell.<p>Possibility to create databases from shell. (each client uses his own subdomain and his own database)<p>Modern Linux environment. (Preferably Ubuntu 10.04)<p>Not hidden charges<p>I am looking for something around $100 U.S. Dollars/month. I am using Webfaction right now. Their service is very good, but with shared hosting I can't do points 2 and 3 (I have to manually create them each new client is registered). And spending $350/month for a dedicated is just not possible for us
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mtigas
For a VPS/dedicated where you're manually operating the server and database,
#3 is generally given.

I run a couple of small boxes on Slicehost <http://slicehost.com/> and their
management interface allows you to bring up new boxes / close down boxes as
you need, manage your DNS records, and etc.

If you require shell support, they do have an API to their management
interface [http://www.slicehost.com/articles/2008/3/26/announcing-
the-s...](http://www.slicehost.com/articles/2008/3/26/announcing-the-
slicehost-api) — I've played with it just once, in Python, and found it to be
extremely accessible.

The couple times I've needed support, I got resolved within less than an hour.
Generally, I find that I can resolve minor issues within their management
interface (reboot an instance, get shell access via browser if you have broken
SSHD, etc.).

~~~
mtigas
Additionally, for $5 per box, you can store 3 backup images of the whole
machine — and have two of them operate on a schedule (i.e., one image updates
daily at a certain time, another one updates weekly at a certain time, and you
can store another one manually before a large migration or upgrade if you
want).

This has saved my ass before.

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kmg
the choice of a VPS or dedicated server depends on what you want - guaranteed
disk i/o (dedicated server) or protection against hardware failures (VPS).

Another thing you want to consider is network latency. If your clients are
also from Mexico, a VPS in Texas/California would be better i guess, than say
a VPS in New York or Europe. I have seen the latency correlate with light
speed + base last mile latency, but ymmv.

But since are managing fine in a shared hosting environment so a VPS might be
the logical next step.

As lzw had already mentioned,
[http://www.hetzner.de/de/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-
pr...](http://www.hetzner.de/de/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-
produktmatrix-eq/) is by far the cheapest dedicated server I know of, with
awesome hardware specs. We own a couple of servers there and are completely
satisfied with their offering and support. But they are in Germany and a new
server takes about 3-5 days to come up.

If you look for dedicated servers in the US, <http://www.serverbeach.com/> has
a ~100$ server. <http://softlayer.com/> comes close with a $139 entry-level
server.

The usual players in the VPS market are <http://www.linode.com/>,
<http://www.slicehost.com/>, www.rackspacecloud.com/ with a HN member
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lsc>) running <http://prgmr.com/xen/>

Creating subdomains and databases - this depends on your linux-fu with djbdns
and postgresql/mysql !

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drewr
Can't say enough good things about <http://linode.com>. Already inexpensive,
you can pre-pay to make it even cheaper. Super-stable, fast, lots of
datacenter options (TX most likely for you). Support is incomparable (#linode
on oftc is hot), but I've only had one outage in two years so I don't use it
much (it was just a host machine reboot). Tool support and API is the best
I've seen at its price point and better than most much higher.

~~~
juanefren
How do I cancel the service? Should I fill a cancellation form asking me for a
lot of things I don't know? I had a bad experience with ServerPronto trying to
cancel.

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benologist
I have a couple boxes with <http://hivelocity.com/> that I throw a lot of
traffic at. You can get some pretty sweet bargains on their stuff through this
forum: <http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36>

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eduardo_f
Linode is inexpensive and the control panel is great to do lots of tasks. If
you want a _big_ dedicated server, go for 100tb.

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sethwartak
from my experience, slicehost.com is great.

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lzw
For your budget, you can get a dedicated machine with much better specs than
the VPS slices.

<http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq4/>

8GB RAM, 750GB Hard drive space, 1TB traffic and a truely dedicated machine
there, for 49euros a month. Only downside is you have to pay a 149 euro setup
fee.

I haven't used this service, but I found out about it because someone on this
forum recommended it. It is the best deal I've seen for dedicated hosting by a
good distance.

