Dedicated Server Costs

[playerone]

Does anyone have an idea what a dedicated server should cost?

I have got quotes but they vary massively!

I need something that-

- can have unlimited domains (or at least 20 odd)
- is easy to install common software eg Wordpress
- full backup
- can support an ecommerce site
- will help a bit of a numpty transfer stuff from my existing providor

I know a couple of PHers are involved in hosting so I would appreciate a push in the right direction.

[tegwin]

Give vidahost a call.... their service has been second to none (including the one that is "favoured" on here!)

[Podie]

Not sure if it'd be Register1, or ServerStream you'd want - drop JamieBeeston a line

[LivinLaVidaLotus]

If you need support, then that's the thing that bumps the costs up. Some providers will no doub thave been quoting you for un-managed services - wehre they give you a cheap server, install the OS for you and then you're on your own. Others will have been quoting for a fully managed service where from your perspective it's like having a really big shared hosting account - with just you on the server, hopefully with decent hardware and hardware RAID-1 at least.

From the sounds of what you're looking for, as an example at work we'd charge about £200/month, but obviously that's only a rough guide without knowing things in a bit more detail.

[loltolhurst]

Whats the diff between having ure own server and having a reseller type account ( genuine question)?

thks

[Stupeo]

Register1 have a pretty good recommendation from other PH'ers on here so may be worth contacting JamieBeeston. I found their ServerStream too expensive when i was looking for several boxes late last year so ended up going elsewhere.

Matt

[kryten]

loltolhurst said:

Whats the diff between having ure own server and having a reseller type account ( genuine question)?

Contention usually. Shared or reseller setups can have hundreds of accounts on a single server. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing because _most_ of these sites will be very low volume: bit of email, few web hits etc etc.

Then of course there's the quesion of whether your 'dedicated server' is a full machine in its own right, or some sort of VM where again you have many running on a single piece of hardware.

If the price of dedicated puts you off, you probably don't need it (or rather, your business model can't support it) - a dedicated server will cost a reasonable amount up-front which has to be accounted for. Then you have the space it takes up, cost of the bandwidth you use and then often most important, the cost of the electricity to run it 24/7 just for you (which if you've chosen the mega fast, lots of disks, tons of ram server will be significant).

As has been said, any sort of support will add to the cost - a server is just a box in a lonely datacentre. Paying for someone who knows what they're doing to help you out doesn't come cheap!

[JamieBeeston]

Stupeo said:

Register1 have a pretty good recommendation from other PH'ers on here so may be worth contacting JamieBeeston. I found their ServerStream too expensive when i was looking for several boxes late last year so ended up going elsewhere.

Matt

Podie said:

Not sure if it'd be Register1, or ServerStream you'd want - drop JamieBeeston a line

At internet world all week, but drop me an email via my profile and I'll sort you out something special at better than website rates

J