I originally used Rackspace for cloud hosting since 2010 and have had absolutely no issues. The services is easy use and rock solid with many advanced features. But then again it is a premium service.
In Feb 2012 I spent some time to look for cheaper alternatives.
My main criteria were,
- 1024GB of memory
- Ubuntu OS
- Decent bandwidth 2GB or higher / month
- Allow adding more IPs
- Provide console access
- Preferably hypervisor based
- Nice to have ability to do full image backups and restores
Selected Virtual Private Server
vServer Center
http://www.vservercenter.com/
web management: https://vcp.vservercenter.com
KVM hosting at $29.95/Month with life-time discount using http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1102906 WHTVDSKV20A and it goes down to $9.95/Month
Unverified discount code WHTVDSKV20 from http://www.domainpromocodes.com/coupons/vserver-center/
$9.95/month for KVM with Mem = 1GB, BW = Unmetered at 10mbps = 1000GB, Space = 20GB
Using wget downloaded at 1.28M/s grabbing a Confluence download.
Using browser to download from Apache same file averaged 1.2M/s.
Vservercenter has doubled their hardware specs for the basic server package
Since then Jan 2012 I noticed vServer has now upgraded their bandwidth to 10mbps so re-run tests.
Purchased it and one nice feature was ability to install your OS from their image list. To do this during purchase,
Operation System Installation Type: Custom Self Install via vServer Center Control Panel (free)
Operation System: Customer Own KVM Image
Pros,
- Allows full OS install from scratch!
- Console has bandwidth graph.
Some cons found so far,
- No self-serve image backup and restore ability. You must contact support and they will sell you cloud space and you have to call every time for manual backups. When I spoke to the support rep he said they would look into this in the future.
- No DNS Servers (not a big con, most domain registrars provide this).
Virtualization Technologies
In general, there are two main types,
Hypervisor, which is hardware-based virtualization - Xen, VMWare and KVM
Container (software) based virtualization where the host kernel is shared - OpenVZ, Virtuozzo (based on OpenVZ), Solaris Zones.
The following chart outlines the top level pros and cons,
Technology | Pros | Cons | Implementations |
---|---|---|---|
Hypervisor |
|
| Xen, KVM and VMWare |
Container |
|
| OpenVZ, Virtuozzo (based on OpenVZ), Solaris Zones and recently LXC |
Java with Container Based Virtualization
At least with Virpus who uses OpenVZ they say Java does not work well.
Here is a good article that explains the challenges and offers a possible solution..
This looks like it has working solutions http://forum.openvz.org/index.php?t=msg&goto=7057.
Considered
RAM HOST
Experienced performance issues with server.
http://www.ramhost.us/?page=vps/kvm-los-angeles-west
$15.99/month for container OpenVZ with Mem = 1024, BW = 1000GB, Space = 25GB
BuyVM
$12.95/month for container OpenVZ with Mem = 1024/2048, BW = 3000GB, Space = 60GB
$20.00/month for Hypervisor KVM with 1024MB, 3000GB and 60GB, 2 Core
Only issue seems to be stock.
Positive reviews - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1107446
Comparison reviews - http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/1238/picking-a-vps...-hostigation-vs.-secure-dragon-vs.-buyvm
JaguarPC
JaguarPC is recommend by one of the review sites hostcult.
$29 for VPS hosting with,
- 50 GB Disk Space
- 3,000 GB Bandwidth
- 1024 MB RAM
- 2048 MBBurst RAM
- Equal CPU (1 core min.)
Rejected
YardVPS
This one also looks good with a fast connection speed. Normally $15.95 but with the discount code yardvps it drops down to $12.76. They have a 100Mbit connection,
http://www.yardvps.com/xen.html
$12.76/month for Xen with Mem = 1GB, BW = 20000 GB at 100Mbit, Space = 50GB
Just noticed another coupon, limited sale for today March 1, 2012, YARDLEAP which gave me a 40% discount dropping it to $9.57.
One con, they currently do not offer additional IPs.
Servers are located in Los Angeles, California.
March 4, 2012 - So far not impressed. After fiddling around I found that the system did not notify me it was ready. I booted the system, but so far it's not trivial to get going.
Virpus Networks - Rejected
Xen VPS Hosting - XVM1024 Priced at $24.00 US with a 20% discount for the life of the subscription which gives,
- 1024GB memory
- 1000GB bandwidth
- 40GB disk
There is a much cheaper shared resource hosting option called OpenVZ at $10.00 per month but it won't do Java. Read the comparison chart for more details.
Web chatted with a customer support rep who was quite knowledgeable. Here are the highlights of the conversation,
You can add more bandwidth at $7/mo per 1TB.
$.10 per GB if you went over your max.
cPanel is the more popular option and is feature rich, but uses more memory than DirectAdmin. DirectAdmin uses less memory, however is slightly harder to navigate through. They generally have the same features however.
Can I use directadmin to do a full image backup? Kenneth O [agent] Yes, I believe this is possible - probably on a per account basis It will not do a full VPS image backup But you can use the Quick Backup function which will do this.
Very negative review - http://www.the-best-web-hosting-service.com/virpus-review.php - Virpus wiped their system no backups, downtime.
Another negative review - http://www.hostcult.com/2010/03/review-virpus-hosting.html - Downtime
Consolidated Reviews of Hosting Sites
http://www.web-hosting-top.com/ - reviews from people.
http://www.lowendbox.com/blog/best-low-end-providers-in-2011-q2-its-ram-host-quickweb-and-buyvm-again/ - best low end providers
http://www.similarsitesearch.com/alternative/vpsland.com - lists hosting companies like vpsland.com
http://www.webhostingstuff.com/category/Server-Hosting.html - reviews