Server Management companies that support DA?

interfasys

interfasys

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I've been looking for a $50-$100 a month full server management service. Different companies provide this, but few support DirectAdmin.

-Bobcares say they will with their Server Management plan ($100), but I don't think they have experience with it and I think they might be better at support that sysadmin.
-R-fx Networks has a nice Server Aware Monitoring plan ($85), but they have so much work that they cannot get any new client. Their communication skills are terrible.
-Touchsupport has a Dedicated Tech plan($75), but won't provide this service for DA for another 3 months (at least imo) unless the merger with R-fx Networks happens very soon.

Do you know other companies that can provide full server management, 24/7, at that price and without breaking DA?
 
We use ncmanage. They don't support DA as the control panel, but we're only with them using the security / 24-7 service package.

Given the fact that we're thinking about upgrading the account and you might be interested they would perhaps start supporting DA. The more customers running DA the more interesting it becomes for them.

http://www.ncmanage.com
 
I'd be happy to do this and have something I cant yet reveal..... which involves management.

To be honest with you it wont cover the management of the panel..... If a problem occurs with directadmin we would not guarantee to be able to fix.... quite simply only John and Mark will know the source of certain problems since they know the source.

A simple summary of what we currently do with managed servers:

Software updates and patches, firewall installed and configured, telnet is disabled, Kernel is updated to a recent stable and secure version, all software installed by us is regularly checked for updates and updated as required if there are no known bugs, problems or security problems with the software it in most cases is not updated. Direct root login is disabled as a extra form of security, SSH protocol 2 is forced. Apache server versions are masked to hide version numbers which hackers may use. All root passwords are changed to a password you specifiy, the admin password for root can also be changed by us.

Hostname setup, all software configured to work with your DNS correctly, Firewall configured to work with all IP addresses for your server, nameservers are setup for you to link domains to your server.

PHP, Perl etc are usually installed if they are not already, DirectAdmin incudes this so can therefore be ignored here.

Apache is tuned to run up to 6 times faster than normal, server settings are modified to cause hard drive speed gains of up to 100%, Zend optimizer is installed on your system which optimizes PHP. MySQL is also configured to give optimimum performance. (DirectAdmin also includes zend so that can be excluded from there)

All managed servers supplied by us have SIM (system intergrity monitor) installed. SIM will restart all the major software installed on your system in the case of it failing or crashing for any reason. Regular simple checkovers take place on your server to make sure all required software is running correctly. DirectAdmin has a similar feature buiolt in and therefore SIM is only set to check software that is not monitored by DirectAdmin.

Monitoring as a server whole (where the server goes down etc) we do NOT supply as part of management.

A divert is setup to forward all email sent to 'root', to an email address you specify.

If you request it (you will need a license) we will also install and configure Urchin 5 free of charge. Once we have tested automation with DirectAdmin we will also include that if you wish.

We setup log files to be rotated on a daily basis then compressed for 2 weeks before getting deleted. This is to lower the disk space usage of log files. This can be specified to anything you wish upon request.
Click to expand...

At the moment (until i can get this setup officially) I would do this for $60 USD per month.

If you or anyone else is interested I would need to get an agreement setup firstly then.

(going to stop advertising now :D )

Chris
 
The tuning sounds good, but I would need tougher security measures. Something like this:
http://www.rfxnetworks.com/linux_appsec_managed.php
With the grsecurity kernel.

This also includes some monthly hours to install new software and I would use that to install php modules,etc.

If something happens with DA (bugs, weird behaviour) at the server level, the admin should contact DA's support. That would be ideal.

Some monitoring is being done at ServerMatrix. If anything goes wrong, the admin should take measures to bring the server up and fix things up.

Basically, I want to stop taking care of the server unless I need to. I've got better things to do =)
 
- Custom firewall setup; APF (Advanced policy firewall) [optional]

We install KISS firewall on all servers, basically an equal alternative to APF

- SIM (System integrity monitor)

This software is installed for services DirectAdmin does not monitor ( as mentioned above)

- PRM (Process resource monitor)
- FaF (File anomaly finder)

Both of these can be installed as cron with emails sent daily / weekly etc as you specify.

- PMON (Network socket monitor)

This could also be installed upon request although it is not included as default

- SPRI (System priority)

Another of the scripts from R-FX this could also be installed upon request.

Things not mentioned in my first message that i owuld happy to install in the name of security also include

libsafe
snort
others listed above

there are a fex extras missed out on the above message such as time setup sync to a time server you specify removal of unneeded software such as printer drivers etc upon request apache php etc custom apache build system with directadmin can be used for apache /php updates.... if you simply wanted php compiled wityh a new configure line etc that could be done also. a few things I did not mention also, telnet is disabled and the port blocked - this is temporarily reverted during SSH upgrades, the date and time on the server are set to the time you specify or sync'ed to a time you specify, if youwish this can be left.

MRTG, Mod_GZIP perl modules new php configure lines etc can all be done upon request.

Regarding DA problems, a simple license 'ok' check such as logging in successfully i think would be ok.... to check in detail it would basically be creating sites every day then removing them to keep it clean etc etc....with 'general' DA problems such as licensing troubles wont start etc I would obviously go into helping into detail, contact Mark or John as soon as possible if you werent there etc but in depth DA checking I think is something I would rather keep away from and am therefore not going to offer it as something 'included'.

Edit: just noticed the grsecurity mention in your previous post, I wouldn't be looking to do something of that extent at the cost, remotely and with the knowledge I have of that particular kernel.

Chris
 
It's very interesting offer.
Monitoring as a server whole (where the server goes down etc) we do NOT supply as part of management.
Click to expand...
But it's very important thing, I guess. How much it will cost to include monitoring in your service?
If server (or service) goes down, someone must be ready to fix it ASAP and 24/7.
 
To be 100% i'm not including it since I cant actually offer it, I could say im offering it but quite simply would not be able to stand against my word by saying such.

As much as it is impossible to totally remove the possibility of a server going down the risk of it occuring can be minimised by a layout of procedures before a problem such as a system crash or failure occurs.

Firstly, with both SIM and DirectAdmin installed on your server you are immediately monitoring the main software on your server, this including:

Apache
DirectAdmin
Exim
MySQL
Named
ProFTP
sshd
vm-pop3d
Bind
PostGreSQL (if you have it installed)

With a bit of work the list can be extended.... MRTG etc etc

With this protection as default your leaving the listed software basically impossible to stop and stay down for anymore than 5 minutes, the only exception would be when the software fails to startup for any reason.

After that area of keeping software running server crashes etc can be caused by high load, to many processes, memory leaks, high CPU usage etc. This then gets covered by things such as PRM (process resouce monitor) SIM (basic load protection) along with other software.

This kind of software basically monitors load, CPU usage, processes, memory usage etc, in most cases you can specify the point where you wish to get notifed. The programs in most cases simply notify you of the problem and from there we can look into it although its often possible to restart software or even stop software to kill all previous activity and processes (such as mysql apache etc) that should also pull loads and CPU usage back down... with memory leaks its again monitoring things keeping up-to-date etc which is always done.

If you did want the monitoring servers you would be required to purchase them yourself at your own expense, a few I know of include:

http://www.alertra.com/pricing.php
http://www.server-monitoring.co.uk/pricing.html

Chris
 
So if we monitor things, we could forward alerts to you and you would be able to take actions 24/7 so that we can go on vacation? =)
 
interfasys said:
So if we monitor things, we could forward alerts to you and you would be able to take actions 24/7 so that we can go on vacation? =)
Click to expand...

Do you mean when you go on vacation the alerts get switched over to us rest of the time you have it? or do you mean permanently linked to us.

For vacations etc I can go over normal although as I said, under normal circumstances I do not *always* have access to ssh.

Can I ask who your server provider is or alternatively how you go about rebooting your server.... if its simply submit a ticket from a normal html form at your provider (such as ev1 that works like this)

If it works the same as mentioned above I would accept permanent alerts sent to me have a page set to monitor certain parts of your server manually (which I could check after an alert of your server being down to see if everything is down or just apache)

Although again:

If at this point ftp etc were showing as online and apache down i would be left with an issue if i was away once again, with no SSH access.

The soloution that comes to mind here, is telnet, I *DO* have telnet access anywhere..... which covers up the ssh access.. almost.... as we all know :D telnet is insecure...... so what im thinking is.... a system where an email can be sent to [email protected] with a certain message that would then start up telnet allowing me access, failing that i could just restrict 1 user access to telnet with a unknown username :p...... I dont like the idea of having telnet running or having to use it.... but it does solve a problem here.

Can I ask what your opinions on this are also?

Chris
 
I mean permanently linked to the company that provides the service. That way I wouldn't have to worry about the server going down right after I went to sleep.

Touchsupport and Bobcares have a large enough team to take care of their customers 24/7 and that would be a relief.

But what I'm looking for might be a bigger package than the one that you're offering, since I really want to stop taking care of the machine.

(Maybe you could have a partership with some US based companies (TS) since you are in a different timezone than theirs and you know DA ;))

How come you have telnet anywhere and not SSH? Most PDAs or smartphones have SSH.

Your solution of automatically launching telnet is a good idea,but I'm a bit worried about the security implications (exploit)
 
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May I ask why you don't have SSH access everywhere but do have telnet access? Do you have a telnet program on your mobile phone or something?
 
If you can find a copy of putty for windows smartphone 2002 24/7 server monitoring is yours with no argument :D

With what i'm offering you could basically forget about any knowledge you have with server administration, could you tell me what the process is for rebooting your server currently also.... remote reboot port, ticket etc? if it was web based thats another problem solved. With the monitoring and the setup put together i cant see there being many problems taking long to resolve.... the worst case scenario being

I have just taken a look at both BobCares and TouchSupport also, and both seem to give minimal information on what the cost actually includes.... with bobcares they actually dont specify any work done, rather just a set time which sounds quite worrying.


Chris
 
http://www.movsoftware.com/products/sshce/sshce.htm
Hmmm...and I guess those apps need to be signed?
How do you use telnet on such a small screen anyway?

Reboots are asked via a control panel and I can create user accounts with access to specific resources.

For Bobcares, you have to look at this:
http://www.bobcares.com/pages/skills.php
to get an idea of what they can provide.

For Touchsupport, you don't know how much work they do for you (unless you ask them), but they have a good reputation, so I guess they provide good value for money. They do mention that they will monitor, backup and restore the server for you. The restore part is interesting in case of a HD failure. If I'm not here, they take care of this.

The pack that goes into more details is the one from RFX Networks, but they might not provide it anymore.

Ezms also has a nice detailed package:
http://www.ezsm.com/fullservice.html
and they are well known, but I have no idea if they provide support for DA...
 
interfasys said:
http://www.movsoftware.com/products/sshce/sshce.htm
Hmmm...and I guess those apps need to be signed?
How do you use telnet on such a small screen anyway?
Click to expand...

Just tried the download with no luck.. failed to run.

Its actually not that bad, its quite amazing how you can get normal sized web pages with normal sized graphics on there and it still being usable :p

interfasys said:
Reboots are asked via a control panel and I can create user accounts with access to specific resources.
Click to expand...

If its accessable via IE i can get there... that would be no problem.

The only real problem I could think of now would be if software monitored by SIM and DA failed to start... in most cases a reboot would fix the majority of these errors although not *always*..... apart from this I think any problems there have been resolved?

interfasys said:
They do mention that they will monitor, backup and restore the server for you. The restore part is interesting in case of a HD failure. If I'm not here, they take care of this.
Click to expand...

They provide the space for backups etc...? im sure if you had 3 120gb HD's wired up in your box and full they may take a dislike to you :p If its 'you provide the space we run the backups' id be happy to take that on also.... be second harddrive or external FTP location.

Chris
 
At the moment only redhat 7.2 > 9, will be with a RHEL in a day or 2 (or once ev1 get them!) so that will come soon also.

Chris
 
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