Looking for a dedicated server host

[Djinnii]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my current 3 VPS server profile to a (current) single dedicated machine. After looking around for the best part of two weeks, I've noticed that the prices, specs and customer service/support are all over the place.

I've literally found hundreds of results, with the same hard specification ranging in price bands from £50 to £180 per month!

I would like to know your opinions on hosting providers you have ad experience with. I'm not looking for vague "I've heard good things about "x" company.

P.S: I am a very happy CreeperHost customer, the only reason I am looking elsewhere is that they currently cannot provide me with the hardware specification I am looking for.

I am looking for something similar to:

E3-1270 Quad Core @ 3.50GHz

16GB RAM

60 - 120GB SSD (- Primary drive for Minecraft)

250 - 500GB HDD (- Backups and webservices and other non-intensive applications like teamspeak/mumble etc...)

100mbps/1gbps port

On it I would be looking to run 8 to 10 minecraft (bukkit, tekkit, FTB) servers, a web server, an email server and 1 or 2 voice servers.

I don't really care where in the world the server is located or what currency I have to pay in as long as I have a decent connection/latency. For reference I live in the South of England.

Ideally I would also be looking for some inclusion of a half decent game panel, like Multicraft or McMyAdmin or even a custom one, as long as it's available to all installations.

[AlexanderPripiet]

Do you have an available budget?

Since you're in England I can point you to OVH and aspecially this server.

They offer a very good deal, I originally wanted to get it but I'm not based in England so I can't. If you don't find that to your liking I can point you to several other good hosting providers or budget providers if needs be.

Quick edit: I'm using Gorilla Servers as a provider - http://www.gorillaservers.com/ - I've been with them for about 3 months now. Their server is great so far. Support is stupidly fast, I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes to get an answer to my ticket. The hardware is fair for the price range, they've never had a downtime as far as I know.

[Djinnii]

That OVH looks bloody nice! + 30day trial!

Shame they charge so much for KVMoIP

[AlexanderPripiet]

Well, since we're at it, here's a list of Server Providers who have good reputation and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to buy one:

http://www.hetzner.de/en/

https://www.datashack.net/dedicated/

http://joesdatacenter.com/dedicated-server-packages

http://www.hostvenom.com/dedi.htm

You will also want to check out the WebHostingTalk's dedicated server offers - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36 - usually you can find what you're looking for within a few days, if not hours, at most. These guys know what they're doing a lot better than myself.

A few tips before actually buying it:

- Contact costumer support and ask if there are any discounts that you should be aware of.

- Ask for a *.bin download link to test the speed of the connection.

- Get on WebHostingTalk and ask for a review. Really, always ask for a review before buying it.

- Managed servers cost more than unmamaged. You don't really need a managed server, if you know some basic commands in your chosen Linux distro you should do fine.

Oh I almost forgot!

IPv6 will ALWAYS be cheaper than IPv4. So don't get screwed over.

[Graziservers]

limestone networks hands down.

[Djinnii]

Well slightly refreshing to know I've already looked at 3 of those 7.

And you know... from the looks of it OVH dont actually sell servers in England... France and the US from the ones I'm looking at.

I do kinda like the Gorilla servers IPMI idea though.

Really starting to wish I'd paid more attention in class to what the /26, /27, /28 IP address spacing means.

(On the other note... is there any particular reason we should have to pay for an IPv6 address? it's not like there's ever going to be a shortage of them...)

[AlexanderPripiet]

Funny you should say that. There is actually a shortage of IP's. Not shortage per-se, it's just an artificial shortage create by the market itself.

For the hell of it you may want to read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4_address_exhaustion

The total number of IPv4 addresses is 3,706,452,992 where as the total number of IPv6 is

340.282.366.920.938.463.463.374.607.431.768.211.456. Either way, if they're not charging you for extra IP's go for whatever you want.

Of course you can also use just 1 IP and have the servers using different ports but that is just messy!

Usually IPv4 costs a bit more.

Gorilla servers will offer you a main IP and a usable range of IP's(5 if I remember correctly).

[Graziservers]

Limestone networks will also give you five IP's.

[Djinnii]

Funny you should say that. There is actually a shortage of IP's. Not shortage per-se, it's just an artificial shortage create by the market itself.

Oh I know about the IPv4 issue, But isn't that why IPv6 was created?

I thought half the point of IPv6 is that there would be enough address spacing to individually address every man, woman, cat, dog, child, and kitchen appliance. Which is why I'm saying, why should we have to pay for an IPv6 address when there is already more than enough address spacing to at top level give blocks of them to every single individual on the planet.

And Grazi, thanks, but I already looked at limestone networks, since its where most other minecraft hosting providers seem to get their equipment. But they are too expensive for me.

[AlexanderPripiet]

Because those who sell IPs are greedy bastards. As per all other businesses.

[Djinnii]

Lol,

I could have put money on that answer.

Unfortunately I have had to rule out Gorilla due to its unfavorable geographic location. Which is a shame, because I do really like what they have to offer. I don't suppose you know if they have any plans to move a bit closer to the East Coast or Europe?

So far looking like OVH is a good bet. Although I've yet to hear back from their pre-sales team.

[AlexanderPripiet]

Well, besides OVH and Hetzner there's http://www.server4you.com/root-server/ but their costumer support is widely know as being atrocious. Days can pass before you get an answer to your ticket.

You could also check out http://www.sakuraserver.com/dedicated-servers/ and http://www.databasebydesignllc.com/ DBBD is kind of expensive.

In EU http://www.sps-host.it/en and http://www.aruba.it/ are the ones that comes to mind, besides the ones that I already mentioned.

I honestly don't know more. Usually one of them would have meet the requirements by now.

As a tip, keep an eye on the Dedicated Server Offers forum from http://www.webhostingtalk.com. For the most part new offers pop up every day.

On a side note, for what it's worth, as I said I have server with Gorilla Servers, and I'm based in Eastern Europe. Latency is great - 45ms.

[Djinnii]

On a side note, for what it's worth, as I said I have server with Gorilla Servers, and I'm based in Eastern Europe. Latency is great - 45ms.

Mind PM'ing me your server details so I can test it?

[Jeffdonatic]

Limestonenetworks is a amazing place for servers , we operate 3 servers on our 1290v2

1 Tekkit 100 Slot with no lag at 100 people,

1 FTb server 30 in development

1 Vanilla 50 slot in started

http://www.limestonenetworks.com/dedicated_servers/order.html?id=54&o1=30002&o2=1&o3=10270&o4=10040&o20=1&o21=1&o5=4&o7=10060&o8=1&o9=1&o27=1&o26=1&o10=2&o11=1&o13=1&o15=3&o24=1&o22=4

Thers a thing i put together which is what you wanted a good perk of it is you can get the upgrade to 1270v2 at just $10 extra

The v2 is Ivy Bridge compared to the Sandy bridge 1270, Which is 10% better clock for clock

[Djinnii]

No offense Jeff.. but sounds like your wasting ALOT of money.

[Jeffdonatic]

Our main server roles in 5 x What we pay for the rent a month, and i only mentioned what minecraft servers we run on it

[Guardofthedragon]

I would completely recommend MPserv as a server hosting company. I have been with them for a long time and have never had any complaints. Very affordable prices for what they offer and an amazing control panel make it the best . For your minecraft server they give you full FTP access MYSQL access and console all in their custom built control panel called wrench (wrenchcp.co). Any support tickets are usually answered in less then 20 minutes and the staff will do anything to help you. They do offer dedicated servers (what you're looking for) and the server specs you want. They also offer cheap websites with complete control over it. I can't even describe how pleased I am with MPserv and I certainly hope you'll try them out!

[Djinnii]

Hi Guardofthedragon,

Thanks for that,

Unfortunately they look a little out of my price range right now.

[Djinnii]

Hi,

I've been thrown a bit of curve ball.

I've managed to get a much nicer offer out of CreeperHost (which I would be more than inclined to take) however I'm not really sure which one to take them up on.

£95 /month for

Chicago/Atlanta

2x L5420

24GB RAM ECC DDR3

2x 1TB HDD

1x 120GB SSD

1IP

Unlimited bandwidth

---or---

Dallas

1x E3-1230v2

32GB RAM ECC DDR3

2x 1TB HDD

1x 120GB SSD

1IP

Unlimited bandwidth

Since I plan to split the server into probably 10 Virtual Servers each running Minecraft/Tekkit/MySQL/Websites/Voice Coms etc...I'm having a hard time choosing between the L5420 and the E3-1230v2

[Jeffdonatic]

All depends at the intended capacity of those said vitrual servers

[Djinnii]

10-15 Minecraft servers...

[Jeffdonatic]

I mean the capacity of the servers like 40 slot etc,

If its going to be lower slot like 40 slot the 1230 id suggest if its several with higher slot go for the dual

[Djinnii]

Okay,

Mind supplying some reasoning?

Seems counter intuitive to take a processor clocked 1GHz slower if the servers are more highly populated.

[Jeffdonatic]

Well if you have say 10 servers on a quad core at 3.4ghz with 50 people thats 2.5 servers per core per say

if you have 10 servers on a 2 x 4 Core thats 1.25 Servers per core evening the difference in clock speed