3 ms·

Are there any good, dependable, modern alternatives if you don't want to deal with the hardware, and also don't need "scale on demand"? The only name I know is

Are there any good, dependable, modern alternatives if you don't want to deal with the hardware, and also don't need "scale on demand"? The only name I know is SoftLayer, which is certainly not cheap.

idlewords 11y ago
Hetzner.de is a good place to rent a dedicated machine that is fairly configurable.
- lobster_johnson 11y ago
  I know Hetzner, but I didn't think they had any datacenters in the US.
  - idlewords 11y ago
    I don't believe they do. If you want a US datacenter, consider LeaseWeb. They're a Dutch company but offer servers in DC and San Jose.
    - lobster_johnson 11y ago
      Looks alright, but their server selection is a bit limited (and hard to navigate, just a big list that doesn't even filter properly). For example, if I want 128GB RAM and SSD disks, their prices suddenly go up to thousands of dollars per month because they're all some kind of beefy Dell or HP, whereas Hetzner can give me a single-processor, 6-core Xeon E5-1650 3.4GHz + 128GB RAM + 960GB SSD for $123/mo. LeaseWeb has cheaper SuperMicros, but they either max out at 32GB, or they don't have SATA disks. They're skewed very differently: With Hetzner you can't pick "less RAM, lots of CPUs" and LeaseWeb doesn't have "lots of RAM, fewer CPUs, SSDs". A vendor like this needs to offer a much wider range of specs to be worth investing one's entire infrastructure in, to be honest.
      - idlewords 11y ago
        I thought we were talking about "where do I get a dedicated server"? If you're serious about moving your entire infrastructure onto dedicated hosting, you have to pick up the phone and negotiate a deal. The off-the-shelf options are pretty limited, as you point out.
        lobster_johnson 11y ago
        Is that entirely true, though? I'm too small a fish to be in the position to negotiate much. And besides, at my scale, there's no reason "negotiation" can't be expressed as simple mechanical rules (fixed-length contracts, volume discounts, usage tiers, etc.). Off the shelf is what I want, not some bullshit corporate sales thing.
latch 11y ago
There's thousands of choices, most have been in business since before AWS has existed, and almost all of them will give you much better (2x-16x) bang for your money (Even on a small order, you can (or could) negotiate SoftLayer's down by ~50%). Ones that I'm personally familiar with: Hivelocity in Florida ReliableSite in NY WebNX in LA 100TB (a SL reseller in some locations, and they own their own in others) OVH (lower quality, lower price, great for various workloads, NA data center) Hetzner (Germany)
- lobster_johnson 11y ago
  Yes, that's why I'm asking. There's surely tons of potential differences, in reliability, redundancy options, turnaround time for new boxes, selection of configurations (including recently released hardware and things like GPUs), networking options, backbone connectivity, software services, multiple data centers (so you only need to pay/deal with one vendor) etc.

idlewords 11y ago

Hetzner.de is a good place to rent a dedicated machine that is fairly configurable.

lobster_johnson 11y ago
I know Hetzner, but I didn't think they had any datacenters in the US.
- idlewords 11y ago
  I don't believe they do. If you want a US datacenter, consider LeaseWeb. They're a Dutch company but offer servers in DC and San Jose.
  - lobster_johnson 11y ago
    Looks alright, but their server selection is a bit limited (and hard to navigate, just a big list that doesn't even filter properly). For example, if I want 128GB RAM and SSD disks, their prices suddenly go up to thousands of dollars per month because they're all some kind of beefy Dell or HP, whereas Hetzner can give me a single-processor, 6-core Xeon E5-1650 3.4GHz + 128GB RAM + 960GB SSD for $123/mo. LeaseWeb has cheaper SuperMicros, but they either max out at 32GB, or they don't have SATA disks. They're skewed very differently: With Hetzner you can't pick "less RAM, lots of CPUs" and LeaseWeb doesn't have "lots of RAM, fewer CPUs, SSDs". A vendor like this needs to offer a much wider range of specs to be worth investing one's entire infrastructure in, to be honest.
    - idlewords 11y ago
      I thought we were talking about "where do I get a dedicated server"? If you're serious about moving your entire infrastructure onto dedicated hosting, you have to pick up the phone and negotiate a deal. The off-the-shelf options are pretty limited, as you point out.
      - lobster_johnson 11y ago
        Is that entirely true, though? I'm too small a fish to be in the position to negotiate much. And besides, at my scale, there's no reason "negotiation" can't be expressed as simple mechanical rules (fixed-length contracts, volume discounts, usage tiers, etc.). Off the shelf is what I want, not some bullshit corporate sales thing.

latch 11y ago

There's thousands of choices, most have been in business since before AWS has existed, and almost all of them will give you much better (2x-16x) bang for your money (Even on a small order, you can (or could) negotiate SoftLayer's down by ~50%). Ones that I'm personally familiar with: Hivelocity in Florida ReliableSite in NY WebNX in LA 100TB (a SL reseller in some locations, and they own their own in others) OVH (lower quality, lower price, great for various workloads, NA data center) Hetzner (Germany)

lobster_johnson 11y ago
Yes, that's why I'm asking. There's surely tons of potential differences, in reliability, redundancy options, turnaround time for new boxes, selection of configurations (including recently released hardware and things like GPUs), networking options, backbone connectivity, software services, multiple data centers (so you only need to pay/deal with one vendor) etc.