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The IPXcore KVM Beta Test, round two.... ($2 for 512mb for 30 days)
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The IPXcore KVM Beta Test, round two.... ($2 for 512mb for 30 days)

DamianDamian Member
edited February 2013 in Offers

This is a re-posting of our prior KVM beta test offer. We had an issue with NIC instability last week, which we feel that we have resolved. However, the server still needs to prove itself to us, so we're extending the beta test for another month. EXISTING BETA CLIENTS: I have advanced your product's registration date to today, giving you another 30 days, free of charge.

Some good things from the prior beta test thread:
http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/199206#Comment_199206
http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/200106#Comment_200106
http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/207749#Comment_207749

==============

When we originally started offering OpenVZ a couple of years ago, to be honest, we weren't 100% sure what we were doing, and our systems were not set up in the most ideal manner. In an effort to avoid the same events with KVM, we're offering cheap KVM containers on a one-time, 30 day interval at a very low price, with the idea that we can get some people on there stress testing the hardware. The results of this test will dictate the price/resources of the actual plans.

The container will auto-terminate after 30 days. If you like the service and want to keep it, you will be able to continue with the container at the regular price. We should know within a week or two what kind of pricing we'll be able to offer.

So why isn't it free? To be honest: to keep out the riff-raff. Requiring a payment brings us a long way in keeping malicious users away. Additionally, anyone participating in the beta test will receive a recurring coupon for a heavy discount when the 'live' plans are available.

Some company info:
We've been up and running since May of 2011. We're running OpenVZ virtualization on our very own Dell, HP, and Supermicro -powered hardware.
Each server node has it's own 100mbit connection.
Past-30-days support ticket mean response time: 0 Day(s) 0 Hour(s) 19 Minute(s) and 51 Second(s)

**Serverbear benchmark for a container on the node: **http://serverbear.com/benchmark/2013/01/27/FL8q66XKtsQ6tCE4

The offer:
KVMBetaTest
512mb RAM
20gb Disk Space
300gb transfer
1 IPv4
0 IPv6

$2.00 for 30 days: https://billingcp.us/cart.php?a=add&pid=69&carttpl=modern3&systpl=ipx3

I've pre-added some Linux and BSD distros. If you don't see your favorite in the list, please let us know what it is, and we'll add it. Non-Windows only, and we won't be doing custom ISOs; we'll download your favorite distro from the distro's website.

_FYI: As outlined in the AUP/TOS ( http://ipxcore.com/auptos/ ), all new registrations MUST be made with verifiable postal address information. _Repeating your province/state in the address fields will cause your account to be suspended til you update your account information. These plans are auto-verified with Maxmind; if you get auto-tagged for fraud, open a support ticket for resolution. All plans are also subject to manual verifications. Please note that mismatched payment/account information is grounds for suspension til manual verification is complete!

This plan does not qualify for our 3 day trial period.

Test IP: 198.144.190.10
Looking glass with test files: http://carbon.ipxcore.com/lg/

Comments

  • Did you decide on pricing for the KVM after the beta?

  • So you don't plan to allow windows once you finish testing?

  • @herbyscrub said: Did you decide on pricing for the KVM after the beta?

    Not yet, it's one of the points of the beta

    @Ruriko said: So you don't plan to allow windows once you finish testing?

    We will. We'd like to test it now, but the quagmire of MS licensing makes it really difficult

  • @Damian Why do people have to pay for Your test?

  • @Damian said: So why isn't it free? To be honest: to keep out the riff-raff. Requiring a payment brings us a long way in keeping malicious users away. Additionally, anyone participating in the beta test will receive a recurring coupon for a heavy discount when the 'live' plans are available.

  • jcalebjcaleb Member
    edited February 2013

    @LAKid said: @Damian Why do people have to pay for Your test?

    I think he mentioned that when you do get the plan later, he will deduct the $2. Like a downpayment? But that is for round 1 I think

  • @jcaleb said: he will deduct the $2. Like a downpayment? But that is for round 1 I think

    It's for this round, too. This will be our last round; it's 'go'.

  • @Damian said: We will. We'd like to test it now, but the quagmire of MS licensing makes it really difficult

    Bring your own license?

  • Can I test windows if I have my own license?

  • @u4ia said: Bring your own license?

    @Ruriko said: Can I test windows if I have my own license?

    Sure, what ISO shall I put in?

  • Oh nvm I just realised I can't run windows on your plan cause your plan is only 512mb. Windows 2008 Web Edition 64bit needs atleast 1GB to run smoothly

  • mikhomikho Member, Host Rep

    @Ruriko said: Windows 2008 Web Edition 64bit needs atleast 1GB to run smoothly

    Depends on what you do on it, it will run on 512mb but ofcourse... 1 GB would be better. :)

  • @Damian - are you able to upload a Win2K8 evaluation ISO? Since it's only a 30 day trial VPS, the eval version should be sufficient. Not sure if that's allowed by MS, but I can't see why not?

  • @kiwidave said: are you able to upload a Win2K8 evaluation ISO? Since it's only a 30 day trial VPS, the eval version should be sufficient. Not sure if that's allowed by MS, but I can't see why not?

    I took a look at the download page, and couldn't really see a reason not to, so I have added it. If anyone else has further insight, do let me know.

    image

    @kiwidave - Send me a PM of your IP address, and i'll enable the Windows media group for you.

  • pcanpcan Member
    edited February 2013

    Any version/language/edition of Windows can be installed using the Clonezilla ISO that @Damian has put in the default ISO list of the SolusVM control panel.

    1) Create a disk image of the favourite source Windows virtual machine with Clonezilla and put it on a spare VPS. The source VPS partition must be smaller than the target VPS disk (less than 20 Gb, on this case). The image file is compressed, it takes 10 Gb on disk. If you create the source VPS on Vmware, select the IDE virtual disk controller, do not use the default SCSI controller and do not install Vmware tools.

    2) Boot the KVM VPS with the Clonezilla ISO, enter the IP address of the VPS that hosts the disk image, then select the image and start the restore.

    3) Start Windows and let it discover the new hardware. Reboot, then expand the partition to fill the disk and tune the network card parameters as required.

    Network is fast, the restore of my Windows template (30 day trial license) took less than 30 minutes. The Windows environement is pretty responsive, but this VPS does not meet the Microsoft specified minimum requirements, so this is for fun and tests only.

    The trick works on any KVM host. Clonezilla makes it very simple, but it is basically a ssh file transfer. I applied it because on this thread @Damian authorized the use of the trial Windows ISOs. Always ask for permission before restoring a operating system image not provided by the host.

  • Of course the the host doesn't meet Microsoft minimum requirements cause it only has 512 RAM. You can probably only run lightweight programs like firefox, ftp, notepad etc...

    @Damian you might wanna add a method to install virtio drivers for windows since when you're installing windows you need a way to swap CD's fast without rebooting

  • I'm actually seeing from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb414778 that it just barely meets the minimum requirements :P

    @pcan said: I applied it because on this thread @Damian authorized the use of the trial Windows ISOs. Always ask for permission before restoring a operating system image not provided by the host.

    Thanks for the information... it would be rather hard for us (or anyone else) to detect this, so I'm not thinking it's that big of a deal, especially with the the amount of effort it takes.

    @Ruriko said: @Damian you might wanna add a method to install virtio drivers for windows since when you're installing windows you need a way to swap CD's fast without rebooting

    Do you happen to have a link for this? I did find this otherwise: http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers

  • The updated minimum requirements for Windows 2008r2 are at the following page: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd379511. The issue is not the amount of RAM, but the disk space. Microsoft quote: "Be aware that 32 GB should be considered an absolute minimum value for successful installation."
    The installation will complete even with 15 Gb, but the winsxs folder and logs will grow over time. Not a issue for a 1 month test, anyway.

  • I decided to buy one because I was searching for a kvm/xen vps to try. And ipxcore never let me down with their 96mb vps. :)

  • Could you add a Win 2003 ISO? I don't have a spare VPS to use the Clonzilla method. ;(

    Here's the link from Microsoft:
    http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/3/7/737d5061-be37-4d02-a67c-70569e75584b/w2k3sp2_3959_usa_x86fre_spcd.iso

  • @Damian said: Send me a PM of your IP address, and i'll enable the Windows media group for you.

    I can haz too?

  • DamianDamian Member
    edited February 2013

    The beta is now closed, and KVM pricing has been finalized: http://ipxcore.com/premium-kvm/

    People who participated in the beta test will receive a coupon for 45% off.

    I will be sending an email out to the beta test participants later today (or maybe tomorrow...)

    Thank you to everyone who participated!

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