What to Look For

[Matthew]

What do you guys look for when choosing a dedicated server and provider?

I look for a good track record of support, a nice network with plenty of providers and also quick response.

The reason I look for a good track record for support is that I was once hit by a company not responding for several days and then they decided to shut down without informing anybody. I would dig up the thread from another forum but it was a long time ago

A nice network with many providers is a must. When I first worked in the hosting business I was a reseller and the reliability was bad. Sites down several times a day. I moved to a dedicated solution thinking that all problems were solved... wrong. The server was perfect and reliable but the network was Cogent at the time and they had outages quite often. Often there was heavy packet loss and some times daily. So, that had to change and a network with several providers is the way forwards there.

Quick response... Very important in the hosting industry. In a shared environment you sometimes need answers very quick!

What do you look for in a provider when choosing your servers and where to house them?

 

[Lesli]

Solid network, yes, good equipment, yes, fast connections, yes, backups and security, yesyesyes...but since I'm not able to access the machine physically myself, the people who do need to be responsive, efficient, and clear. They need to be excellent communicators. They are as much a part of the "network" as the machines themselves.

 

[Matthew]

Exactly! I have heard of several cases from some companies where the tech wasnt on the ball and replaces the wrong drive in a server etc...

I guess some of that might be clearly communicating with the team and telling them exactly what you want so they do not have any room to guess.

 

[Lesli]

I was initially referring to answering trouble tickets and communicating about maintenance and / or network problems; but yes, definitely - if the customer doesn't communicate clearly, then that's also a problem. When in the market, look for a company that communicates well with you. What works for someone else may not be your particular cuppa. (For example, some people loathe support forums, and swear by IM communications. I'm the opposite.)

It's interesting that a job sector which is so attractive to geeks also requires a bit more communications skill than average

 

[Matthew]

It's interesting that a job sector which is so attractive to geeks also requires a bit more communications skill than average

LOL I'm sure none of us fit in that catagory... hopefully.

 

[niyogi]

As Murphy's Law applies and you are only as strong as your weakest link, a dedicated server provider has to have as many channels of communication open and also have a rapid way of reboot servers that are down.

We have servers in six different datacenters - all have their strengths and weaknesses. Some off the top of my mind:

ServerBeach - their trademark Rapid Reboot is actually a good feature - but they do not have ACLs for their ticket system.

ThePlanet - not the best hardware, great ticket system and fast reboots most of the time (ironically, we are doing one right now); prone to DoS attacks; great phone support SLA

DedicatedNow - awesome hardware, fast server setups, great phone support (most of the time)

Beachcomber.net - not good in terms of support, no phone support, slow reboots, but cheaper than the others

Roj

 

[Matthew]

ThePlanet - not the best hardware, great ticket system and fast reboots most of the time (ironically, we are doing one right now); prone to DoS attacks; great phone support SLA

Roj

I went to reboot a server a week ago at ThePlanet and logged in to Orbit and noticed that the reboot request actually reboots the server. I was quite impressed. 60 seconds later all was up and running again Not sure if thats a new feature on all servers, or some servers or if it was a special deal when I got the server. I dont think it is a special deal though because it wasnt available 4 months ago when I needed a reboot.