VPS provider recommendations

[Kurt Granroth]

Mike Garfias wrote:
> I would prefer Xen to the other crap thats in use.  There seems to be  
> a great variation in the service levels (both price and in what the  
> machines offer).
> 
> The other requirement is that I have to run debian on there.  No rpm- 
> based distros for me.

I was recently in the same search mode as you.  I settled with Server
Axis.  They are a Xen provider with good specs, good control (remote
console!), good prices, and good reputation.  The rep comes from
WebHostingTalk.  They have Debian 3.1 and 4.0 (along with the standard
CentOS, an older openSUSE and gentoo).

I've been with them only a couple of months so I can't give any long
term reports.  So far, though, I've had no problems whatsoever.

All that said, I wouldn't go so far as to call the competition "other
crap".  I've heard many a good report on OpenVZ/Virtuozzo hosting.  And
I know from first-hand experience that VMWare is the king of
virtualization.  It's just far too expensive for most VPS hosting.

I almost settled with VPSLink, a division of Spry (yes, that Spry, but
no, not the same people).  VPSLink had everything I was looking for plus
a very active community surrounding them.  However, they are
OpenVZ/Virtuozzo and I had three problems with that:

1. Couldn't use my own kernel like you can with Xen
2. The memory is shared, not totally dedicated like Xen
3. You don't get block level access to the disks like you do with Xen

After actually getting a Xen host, though, I discovered that two of my
reasons didn't matter.  First, even though Xen allows you to use your
own kernel per instance, that doesn't mean that your hosting provider
will!  In fact, they pretty much won't in any any VPS environment.
Second, you may get block level access... but that doesn't mean that you
can actually repartition the disks (and setup encryption, etc) and the like.

So had I known those two bits of info, the choice may well have been a
tougher one.  As it is, I'm happy with Server Axis so I'm staying put.

http://www.serveraxis.com
http://www.vpslink.com

Kurt

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