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).

Possibility to add sub domain names automatically from shell.

Possibility to create databases from shell. (each client uses his own subdomain and his own database)

Modern Linux environment. (Preferably Ubuntu 10.04)

Not hidden charges

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

[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... — 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.

[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... 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 !

[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.

[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

[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.

[sethwartak]

from my experience, slicehost.com is great.

[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.