SSDNodes review after couple of years of usage

letrocks

For the starter, I am not affiliated with any VPS provider.
I usually don't post any reviews on any site but I though it is worth sharing my experience.

• For the performance I am not going to claim that I am getting top of the line performance as I am not running anything heavy on the servers. I get under 1GB/sec dd test and BW test are under 110MB/s from different locations. So nothing spectacular but then it is more than adequate to host personal sites.

My issues with them

• Their service only makes sens get your money by offering 1 year or 3 years plan. That is where they essentially get you. You pay hundreds of $$ and then you are essentially stuck. They do offer the refund for 14 days, but only for the first service but nothing after that. However they do offer store credit, which is better than many other providers.
• My main problem with them is that they have very limited set of OS choices.
• Also you can't install the OS from the scratch, it is a template based installation so not much can be configured. That means, I can't setup LVM, LUKS any many other good things that Linux offers where I can greatly benefit for various reasons.
• No custom ISO installation or upload of such. This means, I can't install latest version of X operating system (Read ArchLinux) at all.
• This means you are paying a lot of money (forget about how much resource they offer), but you can't use the system the way you want to.

• They are selling it like you are getting a lot of bang for a buck but then they hamper you with other limitations as such.

• I bet if I have LVM with LUKS it could utilize the all allocated disk during the installation. Which is not going to be the case with the template based VPS. So if you are paying for 240GB storage, you might be only using 8GB in total like OpenVZ.

• I haven't used my VPS to fullest as I am not very comfortable with limited Linux capabilities.
• I like tinkering and for that I use LVM snapshot as a recovery mechanism. With SSDNodes, I can't do any of these things so you have choice to let the system run when it is working fine or restart the VPS setup again if it breaks for whatever reason.
• Also not to mention, you have to open a ticket to get the VNC access for the VPS.
• And they provide the snapshot backup of the VPS, which again you can't download locally. It can only be used to restore the VPS. Again a total loss I feel.

I am slowly burning through my hard earned cash (pennies a day) and waiting for the credit to dry out.
Can't think of good use cases for such restrictive VPS provider. Do you guys any use cases where I can put it to a good use?

seriesn

SSD Nodes does offer some good pricing for "WOW" features. Tagging @SSDNodes .

If you are considering to switch over (shameless plug), we do offer a contract buyout option, for this exact situation such as yours. : https://my.nexusbytes.com/knowledgebase/31/Switcher-Special-and-Contract-Buy-Out-Guidelines.html . Our door is always open for new family members </small>

chocolateshirt

Just move on.. There are lot of better providers here..

AC_Fan

If you manage your expectations, they could work. They offer cheap bandwidth, even in APAC region and if you just assume that only 25% specs are available, it's still pretty damn cheap. They certainly can't be used as pets, but should work just fine as cattle.

letrocks

@chocolateshirt said:
Just move on.. There are lot of better providers here..

I am already using other provides like VirMach, ButVM, and Hetzner. I learned my lesson.

letrocks

@seriesn said:
SSD Nodes does offer some good pricing for "WOW" features. Tagging @SSDNodes .

If you are considering to switch over (shameless plug), we do offer a contract buyout option, for this exact situation such as yours. : https://my.nexusbytes.com/knowledgebase/31/Switcher-Special-and-Contract-Buy-Out-Guidelines.html . Our door is always open for new family members </small>

Not sure how you can offer buyout. The money I have paid is already with them. They are not going to refund but only offer store credit when I cancel the current VPS. So money rests with them only.

Only after limitations with their service, I started using other VPS providers and realized even with higher cost, it is a better value as it offers a much more needed control for the system as a whole.

letrocks

@AC_Fan said:
If you manage your expectations, they could work. They offer cheap bandwidth, even in APAC region and if you just assume that only 25% specs are available, it's still pretty damn cheap. They certainly can't be used as pets, but should work just fine as cattle.

I knew that it is too good to be true. I am ok with 25% of resources, but not having some basic features as I mentioned in the OP are problematic.

I am not worried about cost, I am more worried about lack of features.

AC_Fan

@letrocks said:

@AC_Fan said:
If you manage your expectations, they could work. They offer cheap bandwidth, even in APAC region and if you just assume that only 25% specs are available, it's still pretty damn cheap. They certainly can't be used as pets, but should work just fine as cattle.

I knew that it is too good to be true. I am ok with 25% of resources, but not having some basic features as I mentioned in the OP are problematic.

I am not worried about cost, I am more worried about lack of features.

I suppose that makes sense for some usecases, I usually just need a plain old Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS installation and a reinstall button (to handle my own stupidity).

exception0x876

If they offer VNC, you can just install archlinux on your local VM then get the disk image and DD it to the disk of your VM. Of course, they might have some tricks that will prevent the system from booting if it's not their template, but still worth a shot IMO.

letrocks

@exception0x876 said:
If they offer VNC, you can just install archlinux on your local VM then get the disk image and DD it to the disk of your VM. Of course, they might have some tricks that will prevent the system from booting if it's not their template, but still worth a shot IMO.

Sounds like a good idea and worth trying it out.

jackb

@letrocks said:

@seriesn said:
SSD Nodes does offer some good pricing for "WOW" features. Tagging @SSDNodes .

If you are considering to switch over (shameless plug), we do offer a contract buyout option, for this exact situation such as yours. : https://my.nexusbytes.com/knowledgebase/31/Switcher-Special-and-Contract-Buy-Out-Guidelines.html . Our door is always open for new family members </small>

Not sure how you can offer buyout. The money I have paid is already with them. They are not going to refund but only offer store credit when I cancel the current VPS. So money rests with them only.

It's just a sales technique - he's taking the hit for whatever credit you've got left with them in order to obtain you as a customer.

Getting new customers usually comes at a cost in one way or another.

letrocks

@exception0x876 said:
If they offer VNC, you can just install archlinux on your local VM then get the disk image and DD it to the disk of your VM. Of course, they might have some tricks that will prevent the system from booting if it's not their template, but still worth a shot IMO.

BTW any links on how to accomplish that? I have the VNC connection using TightVNC viewer but not sure how can I transfer the image?

exception0x876

@letrocks said:

@exception0x876 said:
If they offer VNC, you can just install archlinux on your local VM then get the disk image and DD it to the disk of your VM. Of course, they might have some tricks that will prevent the system from booting if it's not their template, but still worth a shot IMO.

BTW any links on how to accomplish that? I have the VNC connection using TightVNC viewer but not sure how can I transfer the image?

You will have to boot from the rescue system and then dd the file. Alternatively, there is a guide on how to start Archlinux installation from Grub

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Booting_ISO9660_image_file_directly_via_GRUB

miu

Their main problem (and customers also) IMO, is their servers are regularly, still more and more oversold
And your VPS will still works worse and worse and worse.. As time is running..

miu

@exception0x876 said:

@letrocks said:

@exception0x876 said:
If they offer VNC, you can just install archlinux on your local VM then get the disk image and DD it to the disk of your VM. Of course, they might have some tricks that will prevent the system from booting if it's not their template, but still worth a shot IMO.

BTW any links on how to accomplish that? I have the VNC connection using TightVNC viewer but not sure how can I transfer the image?

You will have to boot from the rescue system and then dd the file. Alternatively, there is a guide on how to start Archlinux installation from Grub

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Booting_ISO9660_image_file_directly_via_GRUB

In past I spent useless and stupidly a much time with similar things (copying whole partition with preinstalled whole OS to shit providers) and at the end nevertheless i canceled shit services and moved all to the good reliable providers (listed below in my signature). Only in each one case lost useless time, money and nerves when try fight with them (scammers and shitters). My experiences and recommendations from this time, avoid such providers where u have headaches, best way. If they seems to be cheaper?? FALSE suggestion: In final result (when u sum up your lost time, nerves, and useless spent money) reliable excellent provider will be a lot cheaper as shitters causing headaches and degrading your work and business

miu

@seriesn said:
SSD Nodes does offer some good pricing for "WOW" features. Tagging @SSDNodes .

If you are considering to switch over (shameless plug), we do offer a contract buyout option, for this exact situation such as yours. : https://my.nexusbytes.com/knowledgebase/31/Switcher-Special-and-Contract-Buy-Out-Guidelines.html . Our door is always open for new family members </small>

Thumb up for NB, 0 issues, 0 headaches till now, rock solid stable and working FAST vpses (without regular or later overselling on background)
Thanks! And keep this style and way next! Smart and honestly users know it appreciate.

seriesn

@letrocks said:

@seriesn said:
SSD Nodes does offer some good pricing for "WOW" features. Tagging @SSDNodes .

If you are considering to switch over (shameless plug), we do offer a contract buyout option, for this exact situation such as yours. : https://my.nexusbytes.com/knowledgebase/31/Switcher-Special-and-Contract-Buy-Out-Guidelines.html . Our door is always open for new family members </small>

Not sure how you can offer buyout. The money I have paid is already with them. They are not going to refund but only offer store credit when I cancel the current VPS. So money rests with them only.

Only after limitations with their service, I started using other VPS providers and realized even with higher cost, it is a better value as it offers a much more needed control for the system as a whole.

Hiya Stranger,

@jackb explained it perfectly . It is part of our per clients marketing budget .

@miu said:

@seriesn said:
SSD Nodes does offer some good pricing for "WOW" features. Tagging @SSDNodes .

If you are considering to switch over (shameless plug), we do offer a contract buyout option, for this exact situation such as yours. : https://my.nexusbytes.com/knowledgebase/31/Switcher-Special-and-Contract-Buy-Out-Guidelines.html . Our door is always open for new family members </small>

Thumb up for NB, 0 issues, 0 headaches till now, rock solid stable and working FAST vpses (without regular or later overselling on background)
Thanks! And keep this style and way next! Smart and honestly users know it appreciate.

I love you too<3 .