NYCPHP Meetup

[Marc Antony Vose]

>I was just doing some research into budget virtual dedicated servers
>and thought I might "inquire within".
>
>a. Has anyone tried VDS hosting?
>b. what kind of experience did you have?
>c. what are the major factors to look for in a good VDS host?
>

Not entirely sure if we are using the exact same terminology, but I 
think two of my clients are using "virtual dedicated servers".

a.

They are both hosted at MediaTemple (http://www.mediatemple.net/). 
They have the "Application Server" accounts, which are basically a 
complete copy of linux running on a shared machine.  So, when you log 
in, it looks like the whole machine is yours.  (To me, that sounds 
like a 'virtual dedicated server', though I am only familiar with it 
in this context.)

b.

Experience is generally OK.  The account itself is kind of a neat 
concept; I am able to log in and do anything I want, just as if it is 
a dedicated server.

My least favorite thing about the account is the Plesk tool, which is 
I guess basically OK, but it has its bizarre idiosyncrasies that they 
do an incredibly shitty job of explaining to you.  Also, I had a 
nightmare trying to apply a secure certificate to one account (fully 
purchased through the Plesk tool).  Most of my problems were caused 
by it defaulting to open_basedir restriction set to 'on', and not 
treating subdomains as 'real' domains (i.e., it was not possible to 
have a subdomain secure unless it was created as a 'full' domain, yet 
no documentation explained this.)

Anyway, absolutely none of that rant had to do with VDS, I guess, 
except that if you choose the (as) account at (mt), you are stuck 
with Plesk.

c.

I don't know that this question is a lot different from "What are the 
major factors to look for in a good host."  It seems to me that if 
they are running a good virtual account system, or a good dedicated 
system, they are probably running a decent VDS system (assuming they 
offer it).

Though I don't care about phone calls, in my case, my clients wanted 
to be able to reach people on the phone, and (mt) offers phone 
support.  MediaTemple has been decent...there have been some moments 
of strangeness, but for the most part they have resolved any issues 
rapidly.

After years in this business, I have just sort of settled into the 
opinion that there is no perfect Web host and I will always have some 
kind of problem, whomever I choose.

At the moment, I'm hosted on both (mt) and DreamHost.  I'm reasonably 
happy with both, which is about as ringing an endorsement I can ever 
give.

Cheers,

--
Marc Antony Vose
http://www.suzerain.com/

The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.
-- W.E.B. Du Bois