Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting services

Hi folks,

I first heard about VPS hosting services from POTN. A little bit of background.. I am an experienced UNIX (FreeBSD, specifically) admin who has had the luxury of hosting his own services on colocated hardware for a number of years prior, and life is good when one runs their own services, thus ensuring everything *RUNS*. Properly. Like it was MEANT to so taking care of my own boxes is no hassle at all.

I'm looking at VPS options for light-duty webhosting, specifically my own website and domain. Sorta aware that VPS don't offer the same performance as dedicated colocated hardware but I am unlikely to need it anyway.

To make things even more interesting, my provider is offering me 50% off if I sign up like, RIGHT NOW (dangit why do they always leave me so little time to think about it).

They're using Virtuzzo and Plesk 8, offering Linux based VPS. Not interested in Windows VPS. Unfortunately, my experience with Linux is somewhat limited as I have always run a FreeBSD shop. It's not that I have anything against Linux, just that I do not spend so much time on it. Previously ran some versions of Redhat and Fedora Core 4/5 on and off. I pretty much like FC4 and FC5. The skillset is portable but the daunting part is getting to know the ins and outs of the system.. the deep magic that takes you years to learn.

So.. what do you guys think of VPS services and their associated advantages and disadvantages? Does the Plesk control panel simplify things a little or a lot? I'm not looking forward to the re-learning part but then again FreeBSD VPS providers are hard to come by....even harder to find one that I TRUST. I have a good relationship with the one I'm interested in, and that has spanned a number of years already. There are SO many dodgy webhosting companies out there, we used to liken it to the used car business - and you'd have better odds of getting a car that actually moved..

Couple of other key points I thought of.. how does one go about protecting their VPS server? Firewalls? Patches? What needs to be done?

This kind of question might be better placed in the Red-necked Tupperware Party thread

I use Free Virtual Servers as my host. They're pretty decent although you do get whacked by 17.5% tax as it's in Britain. For about $40 I get 500mb plus tons of other services.

I manage approximately 40 VPS sites on my server with Plesk

It works and takes some of the agony out of it.

What takes a while to get used to is the disk layout/management under Plesk control.

Also, if you are going to be hosting others, try and find out what applications they will be running first. One very resource-hogging application will make life misery for others.

I use the Apache firewall for access control at port level. There are other tools that can also be implemented to manage unwanted accesses.

Good luck with it.

Great, thanks all

condyk: my trivial little hosting issues are not serious enough even for tupperware they discuss Even More Important things like "why you should not microwave a chicken"

Permagrin wrote in post #2413309
DO NOT MICROWAVE A CHICKEN!!! BLEAH BLEAH BLEAH BLEAH

You can tell where the priorities lie


rhys: Not bad.. I'll check it out. Got a link?

kiwi: Thanks!! I will be moving into my own VPS account, nobody else. I can host others but most likely will not be doing that.

I can't say I have personally used a VPS service - I have a dedicated server at a data center (Running Linux) - someone I know created http://www.gridcolo.co​m/ - it isn't a fancy package like Virtuzzo + Plesk, basically it is your own little Linux box that you have to admin yourself (no cool web control panel, unless you install one yourself...)

OR- since you like FreeBSD... grab yourself a little Intel based Mac Mini, install FreeBSD on it, and then colo it: http://www.stephouse.n​et/Enterprise/Colocati​on

--
I have never used any of the above services, but I am tempted to to colo a Mac Mini at link #2 just for the heck of it...

Lightstream wrote in post #2413360
Great, thanks all

condyk: my trivial little hosting issues are not serious enough even for tupperware they discuss Even More Important things like "why you should not microwave a chicken"

Ok, then try www.voxtreme.com ... I have used them for 4-5 years and support and prices very good (a rare combination!)