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Review of Server Mania
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Review of Server Mania

We signed up with Server Mania about 3 weeks ago.

We use a product called JAMF which is a SPAM filter. It accepts mail for subscribed domains and mailboxes, processes them for SPAM using RBL's, Amavisd and Spamassassin then forwards the emails to the domains real mail server. It is not an open relay and only sends legitimate mail.

The details

In the first day of being commissioned, the VPS was down. After a ticket followup, they advised that the system had sent 14 emails and they suspended it for SPAM abuse and it was pulled down due to TOS Violation.

I was surprised. While the system does send out approx 150 emails per hour I could not see what the issue is. I had to explain what the product was and how it worked and was then told

"We have implemented a new filter which captured containers with multiple SMTP connections to help us identify spammers on the network. ".

I was then advised that the IP address of our VPS would be whitelisted.

I was happy with this until the problem re-occurred two days later. To date it has re-occurred on over 5 occasions. On each occasion, there are no notifications, and I had to explain what I was using the VPS for and justify the need to send email from this VPS.

On one occasion, they asked me to explain why their system was targeting and null routing the IP of our VPS. I was tempted to answer, "because your system is broken"

Obviously, I was never whitelisted to begin with.

Today, I had enough, pulled the plug and moved the VPS to one of our trusty providers.

So, if you need a VPS that needs to send emails, don't get a VPS from these guys.

q) Will I use Server Mania again a) no
q) Will I recommend Server Mania again a) no

Comments

  • Seems like they need to get their shit together. Thanks for the heads up.

  • epaslvepaslv Member
    edited June 2015

    Well just a few more gotchas,

    a) they don't provide refund any circumstances

    b) DDOS protection is not provided despite being advertised as included

    c) There is no console access despite being advertised

    b) their control panel does not allow re-install or new install

    Hmm, so I cant do much with it ...

  • Ole_JuulOle_Juul Member
    edited June 2015

    @epaslv What made you choose Server Mania in the first place?

  • epaslvepaslv Member

    @Ole_Juul said:
    epaslv What made you choose Server Mania in the first place?

    I was looking for a new provider to have some redundancy and the price was very good. They are also advertized on this board.

  • HTMLHTML Member

    Their per year VPS package looked good in AD i saw on LEB but the DDos Protection is not included as it was advertised in their banner and you have to pay extra for it and order it as an addon.

    Here is that banner where they made it look like ddos protection is included but no! you have to pay extra even to get 1 gbps protection and the maximum is 10gbps protection.

  • epaslvepaslv Member

    Just an update on this.

    a) The service has been down on no less than 10 occasions during the last 3 weeks.

    b) Today the service was restored after 4 days of downtime. Initially told it should be up in a few hours,

    c) I asked for a refund but they advised that they don't refund. They also advised that they provide a world-class support. (I think they mean third-world-class)

    d) Low and behold, the service just went down again which prompted me to post this update.

    Anyway, it is a good lesson on just how bad things can be.

  • HTMLHTML Member

    @epaslv said:
    Just an update on this.

    a) The service has been down on no less than 10 occasions during the last 3 weeks.

    b) Today the service was restored after 4 days of downtime. Initially told it should be up in a few hours,

    c) I asked for a refund but they advised that they don't refund. They also advised that they provide a world-class support. (I think they mean third-world-class)

    d) Low and behold, the service just went down again which prompted me to post this update.

    Anyway, it is a good lesson on just how bad things can be.

    Thanks GOD i didn't decided to order from them otherwise i was going to order last month but the only thing that stopped me was no ddos protection as advertised.

  • epaslvepaslv Member

    @HTML said:

    Here is that banner where they made it look like ddos protection is included but no! you have to pay extra even to get 1 gbps protection and the maximum is 10gbps protection.

    That's right, my queries in getting DDOS enabled as part of the advertised package have gone un-answered.

    I think this is deliberate, and they do this to get your money and then manage it by saying "no refunds"

  • HTMLHTML Member

    @epaslv said:
    I think this is deliberate, and they do this to get your money and then manage it by saying "no refunds"

    Yes i talked to their support through live chat and i have to say it was one of the worst experience i ever had with a vps provider.

  • ATHKATHK Member
    edited July 2015

    These were the same guys offering cheap SSL certs and not delivering them.. I was lucky to get a refund though.

  • epaslvepaslv Member

    Where I am surprised though is that "scamming someone" does not break any rules on both lowendtalk.com and lowendbox.com .

    Including DDOS protection in an offer and not delivering it can only be described as a SCAM. It is not a typo.

  • time4vpstime4vps Member, Host Rep

    They have DDoS protection as addon to the VPS. Thought, limited locations. Why do you think that it's a scam?

  • epaslvepaslv Member
    edited July 2015

    @time4vps said:
    They have DDoS protection as addon to the VPS. Thought, limited locations. Why do you think that it's a scam?

    Because if you look at the banner, one would reasonably assume it is included in the price. Once payment is made, you find out it is not. This is a SCAM

  • time4vpstime4vps Member, Host Rep
    edited July 2015

    Yes, advertisement banner is blinking but there is no word "included". So this entirely depends on your interpretation. Also, when ordering I see clear and easy to understand option for DDoS protection.

    Definitely, they can provide more information about VPS options you will have, but they are not scam.

  • coolicecoolice Member
    edited July 2015

    It has a dropdown menu to select DDOS protection 1 Gbps is $12 year and is stated Bufalo only

    P.S. Only at providers that use ovh is included all other Ramnode, BuyVM you pay for it

  • While it isn't mentioned that it's included, it is misleading to consumers and let's not forget the downtime. No VPS should be down that long @time4vps and @coolice.

  • epaslvepaslv Member
    edited July 2015

    @time4vps said:
    Yes, advertisement banner is blinking but there is no word "included". So this entirely depends on your interpretation. Also, when ordering I see clear and easy to understand option for DDoS protection.

    It does not say the VPS is included either?

    It does not say that 2GB is included either?

    It does not say Instant Setup is included either?

    PS, Setup was not instant also, it took 11 hours (but now I am just being petty!).

  • epaslvepaslv Member

    And just after posting this, the VPS has suddenly been taken offline.

  • Hi,

    We are also seeing recently that our annual VPS is often being null routed because there is apparently a large amount of email leaving the system. However, we are lucky to have the server send more than 180 emails in any 24 hour period, in fact it is often only a couple of dozen.

    The server was great until around the end of June. Before that it ran really good.

    Suddenly this issue of null routing has been popping up regularly and we can't see any reason in our logs for this to occur.

    We do want to point out that the support staff are always very co-operative on the issue however they never seem to be able to provide any specific imformation about why the null routing occurs. This then makes it really hard to respond to their claims about large amounts of email leaving the server.

    I hope they/we can sort this out because other than this new issue the server and the support are really good with a great set of features for the price.

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