Does any other host have a similar deal to Rackshack in terms of $$$, but is based abroad?<br /><br />Gambling laws are a bit tight in the US so I need to look for other options just in case...

I assume you are American, so you mean outside of America?<br /><br />I would say not a lot - Bandwidth cost is going to be an issue outside of the US.

No, I'm not American, but yes, I do mean "outside of America." I basically run a sportsbetting portal, and although we don't take bets ourselves, we provide advertising to those who do. Plus there are affiliate schemes involved so in legal terms this could make us part of the picture if push came to shove. The UK would be ideal in terms of a web host, as long as the pricing is comparable to Rackshack. I don't need all 700GB/mth though, 100GB would be just fine for now.<br /><br />On a side note, does anyone know what kind of legal issues revolve around hosting in a particular country? What happens if a company from country "A" runs a web site, makes advertising revenue, etc., and decides to rent a server abroad in country "B"? Can the tax people in country "B" step in and state, "you must pay your taxes here because your server is physically located here." ??<br /><br />Is renting a server or web space in a particular country equivalent or running a business in THAT country?

Did Rackshack get bought out by someone? It seems that their web site has changed (for the worse) and looks like an amateur design now. Are they still the same, reliable company as always?

same company, rebranded.<br /><br />http://www.hostingtech.com/news/2003/9/11/St_Nitf_RackShack_net_Announces_Rebran_b0904044.3sw.html

Thanks Navaho! They definitely seem to be doing well as all of their P4 servers are sold out!<br /><br />Can anyone PLEASE recommend a similar service with regards to good specs+pricing, BUT one that is based ABROAD (outside the US)? It seems like the gov't is going after gambling portals just for showing ads/banners (http://www.igamingnews.com/index.cfm?page=artlisting&tid=4553), so I definitely need to be located elsewhere.

Here's a decent hosting option based in the US: http://www.ipshosting.com/?forumhosting<br /><br />The prices are quite good taking into consideration the bandwidth that comes with each account.

Is anyone here a customer of www.servermatrix.com ? How do they compare to Rackshack in terms of quality and service?<br /><br />I noticed that you get certain levels of server management free with this company. The silver level (free) includes:<br />- Ping Monitoring.<br />- Network IDS.<br />- Onsite Hands and Eyes.<br />- O/S updates and patches.<br />- Service Monitoring (FTP, SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, Terminal Services, etc….) [up to 3 services]<br />- System Monitoring (Drive Space, Processor usage, Server Load, etc….) [up to 3 services]<br />- Process Monitoring (ColdFusion.exe, PGP.exe, ApacheGuard.sh, snort, etc….) [up to 3 services]<br /><br />Is this really a big deal or are they just trying to make it seem so? How hard are the O/S updates/patches to carry out on Red Hat servers? Simple stuff, or is it actually possible to get it wrong as a totally inexperienced user?

I have not heard much about them, so I can't comment on their service. But the free server "management" is not a big deal, they are really just trying to make it look like you get a lot of great stuff for free.<br /><br />In most instances, dedicated server control panels and server admin packages come with these things, such as service monitors, system monitors, etc. They are built right in and you can check them at any time.<br /><br />I personally use cPanel/WHM and infact, on top of having these service and system monitors, you can even set them up to email or page you when resources are critical or a service fails. <br /><br />Also, these control panels typically have built in updating features, and they will update mysql, php, apache modules, etc all automatically as well.<br /><br />From looking at their FAQ, you get cPanel on linux machines, but no control panel at all for windows machines. So for the inexperienced, they may have some added monitoring stuff for the windows machine, but if you get cpanel with linux, basically everything they list is built in.<br /><br />The only thing I am wondering about is the O/S updates. I can't immagine them doing linux updates for free.. windows yes, that is easy. But when you have to update the kernal or something, that is a bit difficult, and almost all providers I've seen, even higher end providers charge a fee to do kernal upgrades.<br /><br />Either way, I hope that information helps you in your decision!

Now just to add to what Jeremy has stated in my experience. Not that I want to bash windows or anything. Even though it is good to take a swing at Gates every now and then even though most hosts will charge for kernel updates linux is still the way to go for a production environement for the internet in my humble opinion. There are usually easier to set up for the user with less downtime and proven reliability. I have seen in my time alot of configuration issues with windows servers. Alot of windows hosts do not allow file permission changes etc. Linux is alot more user friendly in setting things up. If I were you I would opt for the linux machine for a few more each month.

I'm sure Michael could chime in regarding ease of use of photopost and imagemagick and permissions on linux compared to windows <img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Many thanks for the info guys. My board has just hit the 130GB/mth bandwidth barrier so it looks like I'll be forced to get a dedicated server soon. It's basically a toss-up between Rackshack and Servermatrix, depending on who privides the best price/specs. I'll definitely go for a Linux server though, no doubt about it.<br /><br />Quick question for those of you running boards on dedicated servers: what kind of CPU does your server have? I'm currently looking at a P4 2.2 (with 1GB RAM) and am wondering whether it'll be enough...

The P4 would be great, and a gig of ram should be the minimum. I have run mine on a PIII 1.6ghz machine in the past and that worked just as well. The biggest help is ram. But right now I'm on a 2.4ghz with a gig of ram and it runs great. But I will be adding another gig of ram here soon.

Yes-- LINUX......<br /><br />Windows servers haunt me daily and I will throw a party the day they are all eliminated. <img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /><br />

Your board is running very smoothly indeed, Jeremy. Are you on a dedicated server now with Vertexhost? I checked out their site but they only seem to do shared accounts at present.<br /><br />Earlier in the day I found a provider that offered a co-location service with a 1Mb/128Kb EIR/CIR connection to the internet. Is this adequate for a decent-sized Threads board, or are they miles away from offering a decent connection?<br />

Well, actually I own Vertexhost <img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />So yes, my server is with them you could say <img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> And you're right, I don't offer any dedicated packages at this time. That is still in the works.<br /><br />If you are going to co-lo, then remember, you need to purchase your own server, which will cost a few thousand up front. Then typically you are responsible for installing the operating system, software, etc.. unless you pay to have them do that.<br /><br />It is much easier for someone who may not have a lot of time or knowledge in that area to just get a dedicated server with a company, that way they do all of the work getting it ready, then all you need to do is put your websites on it <img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Many thanks, didn't realise you were the owner of Vertexhost. It'll be another few weeks before I move my board, so if roll out some dedicated server packages in the meantime then please let me know!<br /> <br />Just a quick question on Threads and the caching system: putting future growth aside, how much extra space should I get to allow any caching systems within Threads to function properly? How much space can the cache take up compared to the total size of the board? 20% more, 50% more... double?

That I don't think I can answer... hopefully one of the threads gurus will chime in <img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />