You wrote:
Even the 10mbit deals are no longer cogent only and are on their BGP4 network.. So all traffic is routed based on BGP4 metrics not the cost of the server...
I stand by the first line of my previous post, and also point out that the system is question is quoted at $249, which is still a good price on the face of it.
I suppose you're saying that "cost" isn't a programmable BGP4 metric. I'm not a BGP guru, but I just called my network specialist and he advises me that BGP can certainlly take it into account. All I know is the cost of some of the networks they use far exceeds the prices they charge. For example, they offer a Xeon server with 1200GB of monthly transfer for $249. That's 2.4 T-1 connections running full time at full speed for an entire month.
Of their 10 mbps connection servers, the only one available is Cogent only, for $349.
Looking at the others, starting at $399, I doubt they'd use others (besides Cogent) more than occasionally; my cost for 10 mbps connections, inside a Class A carrier-neutral datacenter (where we get the best pricing because of competition), is almost 7 times that.
You also wrote:
I have a 150/month server from them and the network is great.. I've pulled 80 mbit from it once..
You managed to pull the equivalent of almost 3 T-3 lines from them? That's quite impressive, though a bit hard to believe. Did you see number that from their monitor page, or from your own system?
Nevertheless, I was very heartened by the response to this thread, and decided to look into using ev1 for our main list-server for our mailing list business and a slave DNS server.
Lest you think this is a rant, I assure you that I don't mean it to be; I mean it to be an explanation of why I felt I couldn't use one or more of their rental servers. I really wish I could use some of their systems; at first glance their prices look quite reasonable.
The problems I ran into were (in no particular order but as I think of them):
* Lack of availability and misleading advertising. For example this morning (New Year's Eve, still 2003) looking at Intel Celeron Server Series, the home page says 91 servers available from $99/month, but clicking on and going to the page, there are only two servers available, one a Compaq DL320 with Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for $129, and one a Compal DL320 with RHL 9 at $119. Mind you I have no problem with the DL320; I have one less than three feet from me as we speak, but where are those other 89 servers I can choose from? While I understand it may not be the easiest thing for them to update the page, I don't see any for $99, and only two available at all, not 91, and I think that's a bit misleading.
* No software updates once the operating system is installed. They supply out-of-the box RHL, of the version ordered; updating it to secure it is entirely up-to-you. From speaking with tech support it appears as if their sole "fix" available is to restore the system.
* Inefficient use of hard disk space. Your mileage may vary, but for me, I find it quite inefficient that they offer dual 60-gig drive systems but they won't set them up for software RAID. I don't need 120 gigabytes of space near as much as I need the protection of RAID. They do offer RAID on their Dual Xeon systems beginning at $349/month (only with CPanel and RHL9), but both are sold out. (They're also a bit higher priced than I'd like.)
* No customization of setup available. For example, their tech support tells me they only build linux servers with one partition scheme: a boot partition, a swap partition equal to 2x the memory, and the rest of the drive. While linux beginners and desktop users can get away with that (my desktop Linux systems are built that way), most experienced admins know that partitioning gives you lots of advantages, including flexibility with quotas, the ability to prevent hacks by loading your non-changing partitions as readonly (to prevent hackers from replacing your software with their own), and protection from runaway services filling your drives and making it impossible for you to log in.
Now some of these failures you can resolve yourself (you can keep the systems updated yourself, for example), but for me they just don't work.
My main concern is RAID. I don't run systems without RAID.
While it's no secret I have my own facilities, I need geographic dispersement (especially for DNS) and I do need to colocate in, or rent from, other locations for that.
I've found RAID-enabled servers, high speed processors and 1 Gig of RAM, with customized OS install, customized Memory size and other customization available, as well as software update service, at much lower prices than ev1 charges for their more sophisticated offerings.
To bring the thread back on topic, we remain happy with reselling Comodo certs, and I believe you will be, too.
If there's to be any more discussion on colocation and rental systems, we should probably move it to a different forum, perhaps even "Off-Topic", or perhaps to webhostingtalk.
Jeff
I've tested it with this server temporarily, and woohoo! no popup!
will split the topic now.