Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!


The Reality of Budget VPS Services
New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.

All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.

The Reality of Budget VPS Services

albuckalbuck Member
edited October 2011 in Providers

Hacker News had a LEB discussion make it to the home page today:

http://www.justkez.com/reality-of-budget-vps/

Reasonably active discussion on budget hosting:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3146411

Thanked by 2drmike LowEndAdmin
«1

Comments

  • tldr: linode..linode..linode..linode..linode..linode..linode..linode..linode..linode.. :P

    Thanked by 1drmike
  • Only thing missing is a ref link

    Thanked by 3drmike asf jamson
  • The BURSTNET vps turned me off and made me believe this guy needs a lobotomy.

    Thanked by 1drmike
  • kiloservekiloserve Member
    edited October 2011

    Article said: it is a great read, but do not expect your super budget VPS to perform anything like this.

    What? That ain't no "reality of budget VPS services". It's a one-sided article; why don't they put up any numbers from us "super budget" providers?

    I'd put up the performance of any of my "super budget" VPS and those of some of the other LEB's here against more expensive brands and even dedicated servers.

    Budget is not synonymous with "low performance".

  • asfasf Member
    Thanked by 1drmike
  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    Linode...meh. Overpriced. Rock solid, yes, but you can get the same performance with better specs at 6sync.

    Not sure if buyvm is overrated or not...just got some in the recent round and we'll see how they do.

    Thanked by 2drmike asf
  • +1 @kiloserve. The service I'm getting from hostigation has been fantastic (great VPS performance and incredibly responsive support).

    Thanked by 2drmike asf
  • This guy has less experience with LEBs than the regular LowEndTalk user has. I don't agree a full 100% with this guy. I do however host any site of any importance on my own dedicated servers, that is - sites who make a good profit or contain any risky information.

    Thanked by 2drmike asf
  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    BTW, when was this article written? He mentions Slicehost several times and they are now Rackspace.

    Thanked by 1asf
  • One word, or words if you prefer, BURSTNET aka BURNTEST!!!

  • Mon5t3rMon5t3r Member
    edited October 2011

    comparison linode VPS against budget VPS (512MB of ram)

    VPS resource price

    linode : $5

    budget : $5

    Support Ticket

    linode : $13

    budget : $1

    Profit

    linode : $1.95

    budget : $1

    it's just in my thought

  • Like what Mon5t3r said, the extra cost is not on hardware but the support and infrastructure. I have ~4 Linode at the moment running various backend tasks of my business, and the uptime was great (except the ones in Fremont). Performance is acceptable but I guess the price point would probably drive out some abusers.

    However I appreciate the fact that they actually have hired a support person in my country of residence to provide round the clock support. In one incident (yeah, Fremont HE.net), I get support tickets created by Linode telling me that the data center is offline and they are looking at it, even before I noticed that my node is off-line.

    But I guess for a lot of other tasks I don't really want to pay for the fast support turn around time. That's where low end boxes fit in, at least in my case.

  • I have no experience with Linode, but their prices are pretty high, you could spend a bit more and get a dedicated with a decent company like CalPOP.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    With linode you are paying really for two things.

    First, they don't stock the nodes as heavy as a budget provider. They use Xen so there isn't the oversubscribing you see on low-end OpenVZ. Even with Xen, though, someone can put too much RAM/customers on box. If you buy one of their 512 plans, they're only putting 40 VPSes on it:

    http://www.linode.com/faq.cfm#how-many-linodes-share-a-host

    That means the server has 24GB of RAM. Some budget providers will put 48GB or 96GB on a box and fill it full of 128MB VPSes. The more VPSes, the more contention for I/O. Linode boxes have excellent I/O and a big part of that is less contention. (They man be big enough that they're using a SAN - in fact, I am almost sure they are given their pricing model - but it's still contention on the SAN cards then).

    The other thing is that they have significant staff. A lot of budget providers are one-man operations or have only a few staff members. You're paying somewhat for continuity. Someone can quit at linode and it doesn't bring support to a crawl. There's a provider I think is very good, but I know that behind the scenes it's only two guys and it scares me a little.

    I do think linode is priced very high, particularly given the stingy bandwidth you get.

  • raindog308 said: I know that behind the scenes it's only two guys and it scares me a little.

    That is a real catch 22. Everyone (most) know I am a one man show, I've had several ex-linode clients comment on faster/superior support I offer, maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but the catch-22 comes in when you want to bring on more staff. People like to get paid, I like to provide jobs, but now the chicken/egg stuff starts raging, and in providing unmanaged LEB, you can sink yourself real quick as payroll can quickly become one of the largest bills you pay. We've already seen leasing equipment is a total failure eventually for the LEB provider, so cashflow is king to purchase new gear, and replace aging gear over time, so I find myself always waiting for revenue to increase just a bit more before thinking about adding on a staff person. Then there are the larger providers that have amassed the size to afford staff, now you have people without a vested interest helping your clients, they will never put in the same care as you would, and losing 1 client means nothing anymore, it is not a matter of another week of ramen noodles or maybe an upgrade to bologna.

    Thanked by 1Aldryic
  • AldryicAldryic Member
    edited October 2011

    I tend to agree with Tim on that one. A paid staff will do their jobs to an acceptable level because their motivation is 1) Keeping said job due to reliance on the income, and 2) Maintaining the status quo for the company, which leads back to point 1.

    Meanwhile, when you have a company whose staff members are not motivated by a paycheque, chances are much higher that you will end up with more personal support, and a company that's willing to mold and adapt to bring better services. You're not simply a number to them; chances are, you're on a first-name basis with the owner or senior staff. And when you have something to say, they listen.

    Of course, while the above scenario does seem to be exceedingly rare (skimming through any deadpool post here can attest to that), it serves well enough to debunk the theory of "Paid support techs provide better service".

  • on the other hand some leb's could of course outsource support and forget the wage bill, companies on wht offer 24/7/365 ticket and telephone support outsourced for $600 a month that is much cheaper than hiring 2 staff rotating shifts 24/7 but they will lose the personal touch.

  • FranciscoFrancisco Top Host, Host Rep, Veteran

    daimonb said: on the other hand some leb's could of course outsource support and forget the wage bill, companies on wht offer 24/7/365 ticket and telephone support outsourced for $600 a month that is much cheaper than hiring 2 staff rotating shifts 24/7 but they will lose the personal touch.

    "Hello Sirs,

    We have moved your ticket to a higher admin. Pls stand by for a reply.

    Thnx"

    If that's your preferred form of reply than 2 actual english speaking people then yea :P

    Francisco

  • Francisco said: actual english speaking people

    My thought is to hire someone fluent in English and whatever the majority in China speak, be it Cantonese or Mandarin.

  • cough <_<

    Ok, well, I'm nowhere near fluent. But Good Enough for Government Work, as it's said.

  • Aldryic said: cough <_<

    Ok, well, I'm nowhere near fluent. But Good Enough for Government Work, as it's said.

    Well I wasn't planing to solicit an offer from LET, and I doubt I can meet your requirements or compete with Coke.

  • HAH. Although, if you saw our (Coke's) actual "IT Professionals" and the decisions that get made, you'd change your mind on the requirements part :P

    To be perfectly honest, us launching BuyVM was my motivation for picking up the basics in a few new languages :P There's quite a few instances where Google Translate just leaves you completely baffled XD

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    The majority of Coca-cola's IT is outsourced to HP India.

    'nuff said.

  • Which Coca-Cola? There's the Coca-Cola Company, Coke United, CCBCU, CCE, CCR... the list goes on.

    Or.. did you not do your research before posting a generic "outsourced to India" comment? :P

    I'm sorry, but exactly what would we outsource? Removing comfortably-paying jobs like mine, and instead having to find airfare that serves curry every time the receptionist ends up changing her 400 login trying to get to Facebook? It's not like people need IT support on the soft drinks they purchase...

  • Mon5t3rMon5t3r Member
    edited October 2011

    Have you ever seen the rain? :P

    Coke + IT just remind me about John Sculley.

  • HAH. If it makes you feel any better, I'm no longer the liaison to that company due to my tendency to start singing Proud Mary if the other person takes too long to answer or look something up <_<

    Although, what'll make you feel worse, is that probably 4/5ths of this community don't know who CCR are without hearing "Fortunate Son" =\

  • Aldryic said: Although, what'll make you feel worse, is that probably 4/5ths of this community don't know who CCR are without hearing "Fortunate Son" =\

    They could probably pick up on "Heard it Through the Grapevine" but then would want raisins.

  • SpiritSpirit Member
    edited October 2011

    Aldryic said: Meanwhile, when you have a company whose staff members are not motivated by a paycheque, chances are much higher that you will end up with more personal support

    Yes, first two, three... years :)

    I think that Hostigation guy once asked what people have so much against one man hosts. Well.. in beginning in most of the cases nothing, especially if host is honest regarding this (many of them aren't and respresent themself like a big company). But problems often appear later... many of the don't keep long term consistency of service.

    I don't doubt that it's fun for you to work for buyVM and you enjoy with this. But I wondering if you will be still here after few years. If you will be still dedicated that much. If you will still hang at IRC 24/7. If you will still have patience to deal with so many support issues year after year without being motivated by a paycheque, etc... Life is not only fun, especially when it's needed to pay bills and you ain't getting any younger.

  • Spirit said: But I wondering if you will be still here after few years. If you will be still dedicated that much.

    Since I've been doing this in one form or another since 1995, I think I've already proven myself. No, I no longer provide dialup internet service, but not many do, I do have to reinvent what I offer every now and then as technology dies off or big corporations move in and kill off all the mom and pops.

  • Spirit said: I don't doubt that it's fun for you to work for buyVM and you enjoy with this. But I wondering if you will be still here after few years. If you will be still dedicated that much. If you will still hang at IRC 24/7. If you will still have patience to deal with so many support issues year after year without being motivated by a paycheque, etc... Life is not only fun, especially when it's needed to pay bills and you ain't getting any younger.

    1) Five years and counting now... over nine if you include my time in Fran's pre-Frantech/BuyVM communities/projects.

    2) I never did hang around IRC 24/7. But when I do have some free time from answering tickets and working on upgrades, folks still get the infamous Pony they know and (forcibly) love.

    3) Patience? See point 1.

    4) My daughter is in second grade, and has a soccer playoff tonight. I'm very well aware that I won't be getting any younger :P

    Granted, all of us at BuyVM are very unique cases in this industry; but aye, for anyone else, you have made very good points.

Sign In or Register to comment.