Unmanaged VPS and Dedicated Server Support

SenseiSteve

HD Moderator
Staff member
Over the years, I've handled a good number of support tickets where a client with an unmanaged server requested support that exceeded the plan they purchased. More often than not, it was related to software issues.

While some could be referred to a knowledgebase, and others were handled as a courtesy, some were leaps and bounds beyond the scope of their plan.

I'm curious what the trend among providers is today. Where should the line be drawn?
 
I used to provide unmanaged VPS before but I had been in your situation. So now I just provide managed VPS and dedicated hosting. It hard to draw the line. For unmanaged, I think if it is an OS or software issues then it is the duty of the customer to fix but for network issue it should be the responsibility of the hosting provider.
 
Over the years, I've handled a good number of support tickets where a client with an unmanaged server requested support that exceeded the plan they purchased. More often than not, it was related to software issues.

While some could be referred to a knowledgebase, and others were handled as a courtesy, some were leaps and bounds beyond the scope of their plan.

I'm curious what the trend among providers is today. Where should the line be drawn?

Providing support for unmanaged servers beyond the line is very common. You cannot be so strict to a customer that they get disappointed.

We get 10% customers who feel like we will be managing their servers. We limit them by providing tutorials for managing their own services.
 
Providing support for unmanaged servers beyond the line is very common. You cannot be so strict to a customer that they get disappointed.

We get 10% customers who feel like we will be managing their servers. We limit them by providing tutorials for managing their own services.

I second your opinion. Provide them support as much as you can. Only 5-10% of customers should reach the hosting provider to get support that exceeded the plan they purchased. You shouldn't let them get disappointed otherwise their could be bad reviews of your hosting company on the internet.
 
It must be clearly stated in the SLA about all support. Also read the fine print as providers hide surcharges and details of what they can or can not do.
 
It must be clearly stated in the SLA about all support. Also read the fine print as providers hide surcharges and details of what they can or can not do.
I get what you're saying, but it's incumbent on prospects to read each prospective providers Terms of Service and then ask for clarification on what is and is not covered.

In reality, if it's in their TOS, it is not really hidden. Saying that, sometimes a TOS is in conflict with what they're advertising, more often than not ... resource limits.
 
For me most of the time its not that much time to take of most customers even if its not in the scope. It makes a happy customer and they may refer others.
 
So it's important to clear the different between managed and unmanaged on the landing page! Most people don't know what's the difference, they just buy the unmanaged since it's cheaper!
 
I think for goodwill services offered to these unmanaged customers, you could spell out clearly the response time -- if these customers are being impatient, they could consider upgrading to your managed offerings.

I guess it is common to have unreasonable customers, ie those who are on unmanaged service but expects top notch service from you but if these bad eggs start to weigh onto your support workload, it will be bad and unfair to your other managed customers.
 
What are their server upgrade protocols? For example, are they able to update and upgrade their servers without downtime? If so, how? During what hours of the day/ night do they make those updates?
 
Such "service" should be strictly announced within SLA/TOS/AUP. The main problem is some clients will simply try to do all the hard work for customizing their environment. For sure all depends on how big the client is and if it worth keeping the client, some work can be done within an unmanaged solution. But when it comes to spending hours and hours of work because something was broken by the client, that should be done in a proper way of the admin fee. That's why in most cases all managed solutions provided without root access to the server in order to avoid "mistakes" done by the client which leads to server downtime. And even with managed services, there should be SLA and a lot of policies. If the issue is really interested even with an unmanaged solution and you have plenty of time to spend with all other stuff goes smooth then there is also no reason not helping :)
 
That's why in most cases all managed solutions provided without root access to the server in order to avoid "mistakes" done by the client

Can you provide evidence of this as Most managed server providers i have come across and worked with allows full root access to servers.

Managed servers just means that if you require server admins assistance they will do this at no extras cost. the main purpose is if you are not sure about servers and how they work then you take out managed plan.

I ran my hosting business for 18 years as a one man band, even though i know my way around a server i always took managed servers as it gave me extra hands if ever needed.
sometimes they would actually inform me of issues with the server before i found out
 
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