ChicagoVPS, are they good? and can they handle my requirements?

rev3rse

Hello everyone, this is my first post here, hope I find good suggestions.

So, let's get started: as I was looking for a good & not overpriced host, I came across ChicagoVPS. they seem to have a good reputation here. I'm thinking to take a OpenVZ VPS from them, but I wanted to know are they good? can someone -kindly- lead me to a review or IO benchmarks? Would you recommend them for anyone? If no, then why?

Finally, which is the second part of my question, I'm willing to host a website with the following "software": Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, APC, Codeigniter(A PHP lightweight framework) and probably Varnish. I'm willing to take care of configurations, since they have huge impact on the RAM. And I'm willing to take a 128MB OpenVZ VPS from chicagoVPS, is that even possible with such a VPS host? Should I expect good IO/Network that will make website runs with no problems? Honestly, I'm asking here because the prices are little bit too cheap.

If you have any suggestions, or want to recommend me another VPS host, I'm open for discussion.

GetKVM_Ash

Chris knows i probably hate saying this, but from everything i see they are pretty awesome :P That and they are currently with us at 100% on the pung monitoring (http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/3746/pung-the-provider#Item_19).

They have loads of customers here so im sure somebody with personal experience will jump in soon.

eastonch

@rev3rse I can reccomend CVPS as a great host; on your package, I'm not sure if they offer it; but if you bug @CVPS_Chris about it, he should be able to help.

One thing to note about most poviders here, is that you're on your own in terms of setup. They'll support you with their side, but your VPS, is your responsibility.

Personally, I've used CVPS on multiple occasions, they've been flawless. However, I've also used IPXCore and SecureDragon, both of which are on-par with CVPS in my opinion.

Disk IO shouldnt be problem on any provider with the setup you've described, and it should be fine; however, I would limit MySQL connections being it a limited ram instance.

Network speed, accross the board ranges mainly at 100mb -> 150mbit but occasionaily you will find a provider with 1Gbit. Both of which, are not exactly needed for a website, but they come in useful when transferring files back and forth.

Do some searches of "IPXCore" "SecureDragon" "GetKVM" "BuyVM" and "CVPS / ChicagoVPS".

Quick note; IPXCore is in the same building as CVPS since a recent datacenter migration from IPXCore, so network is effectively, the exact same.

rev3rse

@eastonch They do offer it here . Anyway, I'm fine with managing my own VPS, I'm already familiar with that.

And i'll definitely check the VPS providers you listed, thanks.

rev3rse

I'm still looking for opinions about ChicagoVPS. also, about the idea of serving such a website with 128MB of RAM only.

Maounique

I would say that ram is a bit low, unless your site has very few visits. If it goes higher than 3 visitors, it may misbehave even with good tweaks, depending on how is generating the pages. If you have more than 10 same time, it will NOT work, no matter how well coded is the page and how well tweaked the setup.

M

miTgiB

@rev3rse said: I'm willing to take a 128MB OpenVZ VPS from chicagoVPS

Not that there is really anything wrong with it, but be clear you understand their description, it's 128mb of ram, period, while most other providers advertise openvz with guaranteed ram, and offer another 50-100% in burst ram, there is no burst offered with ChicagoVPS.

Again, there is nothing wrong with how they offer it, but many confuse or compare others and neglect others are offering the added burst.

rev3rse

@Maounique That's weird, 128MB of RAM can't handle 3 visitors at the same time? Even though I'm running it on top of Nginx?

Maounique

It can, but depends on site and tweaks. Over 10 it wont work for sure. Also, "it works" not the same as "the provider is ok with my site slamming the io and taking way more cpu than average". Some might not like it if the spikes are too severe. M

rev3rse

@miTgiB which means I practically have no guaranteed/burst ram?

rev3rse

@Maounique The site generates 1~4 queries with every page, somehow dynamic.

Maounique

@rev3rse said: which means I practically have no guaranteed/burst ram?

This means you have only guaranteed ram. For that number of queries, then I think it can hold 7-8 visitors without going bezerk on resources, possibly even more. M

yomero

@rev3rse said: Even though I'm running it on top of Nginx?

Isn't about Nginx, is about the RAM usage of each PHP instance. And of course this will depend on how is your site coded too.

fan

Everything should work fine except for varnish, you need a large amount of ram for it to work well.

rev3rse

@yomero php-fpm handles PHP instances better than mod_php, if I'm not mistaken. @fan And, how many users a 128MB of RAM server with the software I mentioned could handle at any given time?

Maounique

@rev3rse said: php-fpm handles PHP instances better than mod_php, if I'm not mistaken.

While that is true for most of the time, it doesnt mean it works miracles. M

jcaleb

sign up for the $7/month 2GB RAM

yomero

Again, isn't about instances, is about how well your applications manages the memory in each request. If my site does image processing, allocates big arrays, gets big result sets of queries, then it will use RAM like idiot. If is a simple text site like a self coded forum/blog then it will handle easily.

CVPS_Chris

@rev3rse said: which means I practically have no guaranteed/burst ram?

We only offered dedicated ram

azizmb

I can recommend ChicagoVPS after months of using various plans of theirs. I've had a 1GB VPS that I got for $48/yr and a Minecraft server I run for my friend.

Although, I think 128MB of RAM might be a bit low if you plan on running web sites unless they're static or getting a very low number of views. I have web server running nginx, php-fpm, mysqld, znc and eggdrop using just around 210MB.

jcaleb

just PM the ChicagoVPS guys, Im sure they can help you something out to fit your needs, if you really like them.

sleddog

@Maounique said: @rev3rse said: which means I practically have no guaranteed/burst ram?

This means you have only guaranteed ram.

I'd argue with that and say no.

CVPS is using the traditional OpenVZ user_beancounters memory management.

Applications will almost always allocate more memory than they actually use. e.g., an app might use 5MB but have 10MB allocated.

On a dedicated box, Xen, KVM you'd see it using 5MB.

On OpenVZ with beancounters, the 10MB allocated counts against one of the OpenVZ memory variables: privvmpages. On an 128MB OpenVZ with no "burst", privvmpages is limited to 128MB. So you will have consumed 10 of 128 MB.

If all your apps allocate 2X what they actually use, you'll hit the privvmpages barrier when your actual application memory usage is 64MB.

jcaleb

i like the one with vswap

fly

@sleddog said: If all your apps allocate 2X what they actually use, you'll hit the privvmpages barrier when your actual application memory usage is 64MB.

This is part of the reason why Java won't fare too well on ovz

jcaleb

That is true. My Java on KVM eats 350mb, but around 550mb on OVZ. same tomcat and application deployed.

Maounique

@sleddog said: I'd argue with that and say no.

Eh...When I read guaranteed/burst I was thinking of the way ppl advertise specs, like guaranteed/burst 128/128 or similar and i replied like, no, you dont have any burst or anything. It probably doesnt make any sense in English, sorry for that :P M

rev3rse

@yomero Again, isn't about instances, is about how well your applications manages the memory in each request. If my site does image processing, allocates big arrays, gets big result sets of queries, then it will use RAM like idiot. If is a simple text site like a self coded forum/blog then it will handle easily.

Guess I fit in the second category.

rev3rse

@azizmb Although, I think 128MB of RAM might be a bit low if you plan on running web sites unless they're static or getting a very low number of views. I have web server running nginx, php-fpm, mysqld, znc and eggdrop using just around 210MB.

Well, after doing some lil Googling, I guess you're running some kind of IRC. Maybe that's why you're using too much RAM. Also, how many users you're getting at peak moments? If you don't mind.

And thanks for sharing your experience!

rev3rse

@sleddog I'd argue with that and say no.

CVPS is using the traditional OpenVZ user_beancounters memory management.

Applications will almost always allocate more memory than they actually use. e.g., an app might use 5MB but have 10MB allocated.

On a dedicated box, Xen, KVM you'd see it using 5MB.

On OpenVZ with beancounters, the 10MB allocated counts against one of the OpenVZ memory variables: privvmpages. On an 128MB OpenVZ with no "burst", privvmpages is limited to 128MB. So you will have consumed 10 of 128 MB.

If all your apps allocate 2X what they actually use, you'll hit the privvmpages barrier when your actual application memory usage is 64MB.

Wow, do all OpenVZ memory management software do this? Anyway, I think 128MB is not a valid option anymore, since my in reality i only have 64MB, which is too low for such a website. Thanks for sharing some useful information.

HalfEatenPie

I haven't had any issues like that before.

rev3rse

@CVPS_Chris said: @rev3rse said: which means I practically have no guaranteed/burst ram?

We only offered dedicated ram

Thanks for clarifying things.