Virtual server or Reseller account

[timmillwood]

I currently have a reseller account for my freelance development work, I need more control over the server but cannot afford a server.

Will a virtual server be better?

 

[ajx22]

Depending on the host.

Some VPS offers are junk, and some are ok.

If you provide the actual offers to compare; we should be able to be more helpful.

 

[bigandy]

Sounds like you need a VPS.

With VPS' you really get what you pay for, I've found.

While it isn't something you consider to begin with, make sure you're comfortable with the patform the VPS runs on. The best VPS I had was with memset.com - VMWare based.

Xen and Virtuozzo VMs quite often have slightly bespoke kernels (when dealing with Windows), and for me, these were a complete pain in the ass, because you couldn't install some software, sometimes at all, and sometimes without *huge* grief on your part.

I'd highly recommend memset.com if you're willing/needing to pay a little more for a VMWare based VM. It was pain free and just worked.

Alternatively, have a look at webhostingtalk.com's advertising forums - they have a huge base of hosts advertising everything from shared to managed servers - and 90% of the time, reviews for them too. I've made my dedicated server decisions after recommendations there, and they've never steered me wrong.

 

[timmillwood]

I was looking at http://www.webfusion.co.uk/virtual-private-servers/fusion-value-virtual-private-server-hosting/

 

[bigandy]

I was looking at http://www.webfusion.co.uk/virtual-private-servers/fusion-value-virtual-private-server-hosting/

been there done that with webfusion - in my view, they're not to be trusted. i had bad experiences with them, and only lasted a week before demanding money back.

http://cheapvps.co.uk/ (UK or US based) has some rather cheep ones, and they're good. i had one from them up until last week, and in over a year never gave me a minute of grief.

http://www.xeneurope.co.uk/ (NL based) is a good 'un too. one of their support guys (adam) is almost too helpful, and is always just an MSN message away (i think he's acutally glued to his computer). they offer lots of bandwidth, and fast VMs, for a good price. just as reliable as memset or cheapvps.

 

[ChrisA]

I currently have a reseller account for my freelance development work, I need more control over the server but cannot afford a server.

Will a virtual server be better?

If the server will only be serving up a very small volume of traffic, like say it is just a demo so you can show your work then yo can run your own server at home connected to a DSL line. It's hard to imagine how you could have more control over the server. Cost can be as low as you want. Older PCs sell from as low as "free". Then yo load the OS of your choice, Linux, BSD or Solaris.

The other way, and I'm actually doing this right now is to run the "server OS" inside VMware fusion on the Mac. If you have about 3GB RAM on any dual core Intel Mac you can keep a server running and never really notice.

 

[timmillwood]

If the server will only be serving up a very small volume of traffic, like say it is just a demo so you can show your work then yo can run your own server at home connected to a DSL line. It's hard to imagine how you could have more control over the server. Cost can be as low as you want. Older PCs sell from as low as "free". Then yo load the OS of your choice, Linux, BSD or Solaris.

The other way, and I'm actually doing this right now is to run the "server OS" inside VMware fusion on the Mac. If you have about 3GB RAM on any dual core Intel Mac you can keep a server running and never really notice.

It is about 10 web sites I am hosting, not of them get a lot of traffic, around 400 visitors a month each but they need to work and need to work professionally.

I was also hoping to get one with Plesk, i know this is asking a lot. Are web fusion really that bad?

 

[bigandy]

It is about 10 web sites I am hosting, not of them get a lot of traffic, around 400 visitors a month each but they need to work and need to work professionally.

I was also hoping to get one with Plesk, i know this is asking a lot. Are web fusion really that bad?

DSL shouldn't be considered if you need uptime. And if you're selling space/sites, you need uptime - something you need location in a datacentre to ensure.

Pretty much any VPS host I've come across will set up a control panel of your choice without charge. Of course, they'll charge for the license...