“So, DreamHost has started their own Virtual Private Server hosting business.”
“You kidding?!”
“Yes, it is true!”
From DreamHost Blog’s latest entry, What a CON!, where Josh Jones has again done what he does best — humiliating the whole HostingCon, companies such as Lunarpages, HostGator, Tier 1 Research and OpenHosting. Very enjoyable read for an otherwise boring Friday afternoon.
DreamHost has also used this opportunity to introduce their latest project — DreamHost Private Server, a Linux VServer based VPS hosting that
- By invitation only currently.
- Currently charges $0.1/month for 1MB RAM and 1MHz guaranteed CPU time, scaling from 150MB to 2,300MB.
- 4 Core 2.3GHz Opterons with 4GB RAM on physical server.
- Adding/removing resources can be done on the fly from DreamHost control panel, and billing will be adjusted accordingly.
- Bandwidth and storage comes from your DreamHost shared hosting account, starting from $7.95/month (unless promo code is used)
- Customised Debian Linux with exactly the same setup as other DreamHost web servers.
- Use shared MySQL server, DNS, load balanced email and mailing list servers.
- NO ROOT ACCESS.
It is an interesting but weird product — way too different from other hosts selling Virtuozzo/Xen VPS as a separate product. Without root access, what it gives you is basically:
- Guaranteed resource for your Apache server/PHP processes/FastCGI processes.
- Long-running persistent long process binding on unprivileged port.
- Managed environment like the rest of DreamHost servers.
- Utility-computing like scalability where you can alter the size depending on the current load, and pay accordingly.
I.e. a “managed semi-dedicated shared hosting”. It does not feel “fitting” with what market VPS is for (or what I think VPS is for), where users get full administrator access. It does not feel fitting with the grid/cluster/utility computing crowd either, as the most you can scale up is half an Opteron server.
What is it for?
Shared Hosting Customers — I guess it might be useful for DreamHost’s current shared hosting customers, especially those with a growing website that does not warrant a full dedicated box yet. You get the same familiar control panel interface. Just throw your sites in, adjust the resource allocation, and hopefully DreamHost will take care the rest.
Dedicated/VPS Customers — I think it really depends on why you get a dedicated/VPS in the first place. If you need the control? Then I do not think DreamHost Private Server fits in. You don’t have root access, which means you can’t control things like Apache configuration, web server program, firewall configuration, bootstrap services, etc. That pretty much limits what sort of sites you can host.
However if you bought into this dedicated/VPS thing because your previous shared hosting provider kicked you out for over-utilising CPU/memory resources, then moving to DreamHost PS might be an alternative. I still think a cluster approach makes more sense though.
Will you use a DreamHost Private Server? I won’t. I still cannot get around the idea of getting a private server without the administrator access. Obviously DreamHost has done enough market research to determine feasibility before pushing out a new product. Except I don’t get it.
Update: I have just signed up the waiting list for a DreamHost PS. I’ll see how it goes.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Comments
The part you’re missing is that most people can’t administer their own server. The cost of hiring a professional to set up and configure Apache and a slew of other services quickly makes a $20 Slicehost cost as much as a dedicated Rackspace machine (in the short term anyway).
What you have said is true — “most people can’t administer their own server”. But is managed Linux-VServer the right approach to this problem?
I think a managed shared hosting with cluster backend (like MediaTemple, NearlyFreeSpeech.NET and also other H Sphere approach) will be much more appropriate. I am just sick of people asking “hey I get this phpBB forum that needs 1TB a month” and people jumped straight to the conclusion that he/she needs a dedicated server. I am all for managed services if your application is generic enough to deploy on managed platform.
As of dedicated/VPS, I actually much prefer them to be unmanaged or with minimum management, because “control” is the main reason I went for a VPS rather than a shared cluster.
What about vpsFarm (www.vpsfarm.com) ?
The prices looks good and ther is no wait list like slicehost:
xen256
256 Megabytes RAM 10 Gigabyte Hard Disk 1 mbps Unmetered Bandwidth INSTANT SETUP $19.99/month
xen1024
1024 Megabytes RAM 40 Gigabyte Hard Disk 5 mbps Unmetered Bandwidth INSTANT SETUP $39.99/month
I’m currently using vpsfarm. I chose them because i wantted to have a server that runs on east coast.
The setup process is real fast. It takes about 5 minutes to setup your choice of operating system (they had gentoo, debian, centos, fedoracore, and planning to have BSD as well) If you don’t like one operating system, switching to another takes about 5 minutes too; of course, you will lose your data.
They also provide ssh to xen console which allows you to start and stop your server if needed.
The best part is that there is no yearly plan. Give it a try.
Hi!!
I was wondering, do you have a VPS on dreamhost already? Cuz if you do I’m in need of an invitation :) youv’e got my mail, I left the real one posting this comment, cya!
No I don’t. However you need to sign up a DreamHost account before you can get a DreamHost PS I think, and you can access your DreamHost PS right from inside your control panel.
Post new comment