Onderwerp: Quote on dedicated server

First of all I appologise for being rude and posting in English here, despite it's a Dutch speaking forum. Sorry for not mastering the Dutch language. I however noticed a few other threads in English, so hopefully it's okay to make an exception.

That being said, I'm looking for a quote on a Dutch or Belgian server, as it seems the provider I've already placed an order with, isn't going to do anything about it. If you decide to reply, please read carefully my request, as I seriously don't want more quotes with specs that don't meet my criteria.

My budget is around 80-130€/month and setup fee/s (if any). If it helps lowering the monthly fees, I can pay more in setup, as long as you don't ask for something like 500€. I'm looking to have a one month contract term, paid each month, with the option to negotiate a 6 or 12 month contract later on, if the services appear to be good and a longterm contract gives me some rebate. However not doing a longer term contract is also just fine.

Now onto the server and service specs/requirements/wishes:

- Server vendor: Sun, HP, IBM, SuperMicro and Dell are plus, but not necessary.
- CPU: Intel P4 (non HT, HT or dual core) or single Xeon *OR* AMD Athlon (XP, 64 or X2) or single Opteron - whatever fits in my price range, you can give quote on several options.
- At least 1 GB RAM.
- 2 x 73-160 GB HDD (IDE, SATA, SATA II or SCSI), both drives must be equal. You can give quote on several different bus options (eg. SATA and SCSI)
- Hardware RAID controller for RAID 1. Also a quote without the RAID controller would be welcome, as I can then decide if I want it or not. A one time setup fee or paying it in several portions could be great for this, however not a must.
- OS: My own choice of Linux or BSD distro.
- Control panel: None. Don't pad my price with any control panel license fee.
- Remote reboot port (APC, HP iLO or whatever you deploy).
- Additional bonus: KVMoIP free charge or for a small fee, if I would need it. This is just optional, but a big plus. Quote on this separately.
- Bandwidth: sufficient. Anything from 500 GB upwards is okay. Or something like 200-300 GB is also okay, as long as buying additional bandwidth is cheap. My traffic level varies from project to project, so one month it can be 100 GB and another month 700 GB.
- Uplink: 100 Mbps.
- Possibility to get NAS or a cheap backup storage server later on. This is just a small wish for future flexibility. The longer I can stay with you.
- Two IP subnets with CIDR /27 or /28 (meaning two IP subnets with 30 or 14 IPs each), from two different C class subnets (CIDR /24). As for the necessary RIPE paperwork, will of course do it.
- Reverse DNS (PTR records) re-delegation of the subnets to my own offsite DNS servers. If in doubt, I can tell you that smaller subnets than CIDR /24 (class C) can also be re-delegated (RIPE FAQ).
- A sentimental service request: Photos of the server and the rack it's located in. I've had several Dutch companies saying it's okay, so I assume this can arranged with others too. This is something I'm asking as it helps giving my own customers a more professional feeling about the whole thing, when I can show a picture of the actual stuff doing the job. Far too often just some stock datacentre pics, which don't give a realistic impression.

Also give details about your SLA policies and uplink providers wanted or point me where to find them on your website. Especially Level(3), Cogent and Telia Sonera would be great.

I know this request was a pretty detailed one, but if all this can be arranged, then you can count on me wanting to stick to your service.

Send a PM, e-mail (rasbelin{AT}rasbelin.com) or reply in this thread with any quotes or further questions about my needs. If my budget is too low, then you can still give a quote and I may think about it.

Bedankt!

Dear Rasbelin,

First off all I think you are one of the first posters here that deserves credit for posting a very detailed request for a dedicated server!
(Instead of the usual 5 lines "I need server posts" ) And don't worry. English is OK on this forum. I hope I can be of service. Here is information regarding dedicated servers from MKEweb.com in Delft, The Netherlands.

We currently have a special Dedicated HP Proliant Server Free the First Month.
Free Dedicated Server

First Offer
The specs for this server are.
Server: HP Proliant DL360G4
CPU: 1x Xeon 3.0 1MB
Memory 1x HP 1GB ECC RAM
Storage: 1x HP 80GB SATA HDD
Network Uplink: 100Mbit
Monthly Datatransffer: 250GB p/m
Setup Price: Free
Monthly Price: Free First Month, €129 Excl. VAT after that per month. (Minimum Contract 6 Months)

Second Offer
I would also like to offer a more specific server for your request.
Server: HP Proliant DL360G4
CPU: 1x Xeon 3.0 1MB
Memory 1x HP 1GB ECC RAM
HDD: 2 x 73GB RPM 10K HP SCSI Drives
Hardware RAID controller: HP Smart Array 6i with 128 MB battery backed read/write cache RAID 1
OS: Any flavor of Linux (Free and Supported, Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu), FreeBSD(Installation Only) or Windows 2003 (Extra Price €29 p/m, Supported)
Control Panel: None (CPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk, Helm at Extra Price)
Remoot Reboot Port: Both APC Remoot Reboot and Integrated Lights Out (HP)
KVMoIP available with Integrated Lights Out Advanced. (Free first two(2) Months then Extra Price €19 p/m)
IP addresses: We can currently offer ten(10) IP addresses with this server right away. More IP's cost extra and require intervention from our datacenter thus can take some time)
rDNS is possible but delegating IP's to other DNS server is not supported. (Again without intervention of our datacenter)
Some Pictures are available. Here is one from a couple of weeks ago: Pic1,
Pic2, Pic3
Next time I'm at the datacenter I can take more pics of the baby's
If you wish we can also arrange for you to visit the datacenter.
Also available are Real Time Statistics of Network Usage.
More info on HP Servers:
Link to HP Servers

This server I can offer you for
€159 Excl. VAT Per Month - No Setup Cost - Minimum 6 months contract
or
€139 Excl. VAT Per Month - €99 Setup Cost - Minimum 6 months contract

This includes 250GB Datatransfer or 1Mbit Connection.
Network Uplink: 100Mbit Uncapped
For Total 500GB datatransfer (+250GB) add €19 p/m
For Total 750GB datatransfer (+500GB) add €29 p/m

We currently use the WeDare datacenter in Rotterdam and are very pleased with the quality they provide.
They manage and provide a very stable and fast network well known because of the speed and low pings.
Switching is done by HP switches.

Info about WeDare Network:
Routers
* 1x Juniper M160
* 2x Juniper M40-B
Exchanges
* 1000mbit AMS-IX
* 1000mbit AMS-IX backup (Trueserver)
* 1000mbit DE-CIX
* 100mbit BNIX (Trueserver)

Transit
* STM-1* Cable & Wireless (We Dare DC Rotterdam)
* STM-4* Cable & Wireless (Sara Amsterdam)
* 1000mbit Level(3) (Sara Amsterdam)
* 1000mbit Interoute (We Dare DC Rotterdam)
* 1000mbit Interoute (Telecity 2 Amsterdam)
* 1000mbit KPN Eurorings (Sara Amsterdam)
* 1000mbit Cogentco (Telecity 2 Amsterdam) Active Backup

Point to Point
* 8000mbit DWDM Rotterdam > Amsterdam (Telecity 2)
* 622mbit STM-4 POS Rotterdam > Amsterdam (Sara)
* 155mbit STM-1 POS Rotterdam > Amsterdam (Sara)
* 155mbit STM-1 POS Rotterdam > Frankfurt (InterXion Germany)
* 1000mbit MPLS Rotterdam > Frankfurt (InterXion Germany)

Network Test:
TestIP: 84.244.170.140
TestFile: http://www.mkeweb.net/100mb.bin

MKEweb has been offering domain name registration, webhosting and other Internet Services since 2004. (2002 Outside NL)
We aim for 100% customer satisfaction and are proud of making our customers happy no matter the extra effort!
We offer a 99,9% network uptime guarantee with compensation. Server Uptime is not offered for servers not being managed by us.
If you wish to "test before you buy" we can arrange a no commitment "trial period" so you can be sure of the quality of your choice.
Also if you have other wishes don't hesitate in contacting us.

Contact us for any questions you have at +31 15 285 3117 or via http://www.MKEweb.com

We hope to hear from you!

Thanks in advance,
Michael Ensermo
www.MKEweb.com

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door ensermo

IP addresses: We can currently offer ten(10) IP addresses with this server right away. More IP's cost extra and require intervention from our datacenter thus can take some time)
rDNS is possible but delegating IP's to other DNS server is not supported. (Again without intervention of our datacenter)

Can you please verify with your datacenter that the IP subnet and reverse DNS issue can be arranged specifically as I suggested in my message (see quote above)? Not wanting to have any nasty suprises, in case the DC would decide to refuse it or two small subnets from two larger subnets isn't possible.

Overall your offer sounds great. I'll however wait and see if anyone else posts an offer.

Hello Rasberin,

We offer Dedicated Server solutions based on SUN Fire X2100 and X4100 servers. These are stable machines that have proven themselves for us and our customers.

Offer WHT060606:
Private Server SUN Fire X2100
- SUN X2100 Server.
- AMD Opteron model 146 (2.0GHz).
- 1GB RAM (DDR400 ECC).
- 2x 160GB SATA HD (software RAID1).
- 500GB traffic (per maand).
- 100Mbps Ethernet port.
- Linux OS (Debian of CentOS).
- 2x /28 IP block (bound to RIPE policies).
- Reboot via APC port.
- Reverse DNS, delegated or using our DNS admin panel (preferred).
- Free regular server pictures ;-)

- monthly: €119,-
- setup fee: €49,-

Contract is 12 months, with the right of termination without additional charges during the first month. We have the server available with Debian AMD64 on it (was installed a few days ago), you could be up and running right away.

Optional:
- Additional traffic €15 per 100GB (prepaid) or €3,50 per 10GB (postpaid).

Datacenter and Network:
illian.networks te Telecity2, AS39292

Transits:
- AboveNet.
- Interoute.
- JointTransit (providermix with Global Crossing, Hurricane Electric, NTT Verio, KPN Eurorings, Cogent, Carrier1, FLAG en T-Systems).

Partial Transit:
- OpenPeering (nearly all Dutch ISPs en AMS-IX members).

Exchanges:
- NL-IX

Test IP:
Test IP: 87.238.168.162
10MB random binary: http://test.illian.net/10mb.bin
100MB random binary: http://test.illian.net/100mb.bin

Bedrijfsinformatie:
illian.networks B.V.
Graaf Florisweg 71-12
2805 AH Gouda

telefoon: 0182-686754
fax: 0182-687457

KvK: 24360180 te Gouda

web: http://www.illian-networks.nl/
email: sales@illian-networks.nl

illian.networks B.V. is a Cisco Registered Partner and SUN Partner!

All pricing is in euro's and without 19% BTW (VAT).

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door mousehouse

- 2x 160GB SATA HD (software RAID1).

Noticed that I asked for a quote on hardware RAID. Could you please update the offer with a hardware RAID controller? Battery backup preferred for the cache memory.

- 2x /28 IP block (bound to RIPE policies).

Possible to have them from two different C class subnets as I asked for? Just making sure it's that way.

As for the OS, I assume a different OS can be provided with a few days delay? Because I don't like to deploy 64-bit yet, simply because there's still abit too many issues with it. Sure, can be nice for a desktop PC, but without all key components being 64-bit (mainly the extension cards), the advantage isn't yet that large, so that I would choose it over reliability. That's also why the hardware RAID.

Eureka Solutions Sp z o.o. is a firm founded in 2001 under Polish law. Eureka is de main shareholder of Neoworld Limited, the network operator.

We have total control of the network, so we can offer you full flexibility on your requests. We do not allow IRC services however, unless we give you specific permission. Sometimes irc for test purposes is allowed, but we do not allow shell hosting on major public IRC networks.

We offer you a Dell server with the following specifications:

- Xeon 3.0 ghz
- 1 GB ram
- 2 x 160 gigabyte SATA RAID-1
- Your own choice of OS, if license fees need to be paid, we will charge you the license fees (like Redhat for example)
- No control panel
- APC remote reboot port
- KVMoIP for rent, see below for charges
- 1000 gigabyte data traffic
- 100 mbit uplink
- Possibility for NAS, ask for quotes with detailed specifications
- Two subnets in different C class subnets, you get your own vlans and subnetting
- Reverse DNS (PTR records) re-delegation of the subnets to your own offsite DNS servers if indeed possible according RIPE.
- We will send you a photo of your server and the rack where it is hosted.
- We have a optional SLA, against 25% extra charges, if you need a SLA let us know

Our uplink providers, Neoworld AS35017

- Level(3) 1000 mbit/s
- CogentCo 1000 mbit/s
- TeliaSonera 1000 mbit/s
- Leaseweb 1000 mbit/s (Leaseweb peering only, AMS-IX, De-CIX and BNIX)
- Fiberring 1000 mbit/s (a mix of TeliaSonera, Teleglobe, Abovenet, KPN Eurorings and MCI worldcom)
- InstantXS peerings, with proserve peerings included 200 mbit/s

Setup Euro 199,-
Monthly fee Euro 119,-

Monthly contract. We can waive a part of full setup fee if you can sign a 6 or 12 month contract.

KVMoIP port rental Euro 49,- per day, minimal one day.
Test IP: 194.126.175.40

Eureka Solutions
Tel: 0048 71 344 8838
Fax: 0048 71 344 5305
Email me directly: remon (@) swiftnoc.com
We currently only have a Polish website at http://www.swiftway.pl

Any questions? Let me know.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Rasbelin

Noticed that I asked for a quote on hardware RAID. Could you please update the offer with a hardware RAID controller? Battery backup preferred for the cache memory.

Possible to have them from two different C class subnets as I asked for? Just making sure it's that way.

As for the OS, I assume a different OS can be provided with a few days delay? Because I don't like to deploy 64-bit yet, simply because there's still abit too many issues with it. Sure, can be nice for a desktop PC, but without all key components being 64-bit (mainly the extension cards), the advantage isn't yet that large, so that I would choose it over reliability. That's also why the hardware RAID.

Another OS is no problem but depends a little on the OS requested. We have installation images available for several OS'es that we have verified with the hardware. If your "OS of choice" is not amog those, we will install it but it may require some more time on our side.

Hardware RAID1 is not an option on this server. Yes it has an available PCI-E slot, but installing a hardware RAID card in it will involve messing with the SATA backplane etc. which we prefer not to do. We cannot offer you a server featuring hardware RAID1 that falls within your budget.

The IP's can be allocated to you from different /24 supernets. The question is how you want this connected to your server? On different interfaces or on the same interface as different IP aliases.

In terms of rDNS, we prefer using our webbased panel. Is that acceptable?

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Swiftway-UK

- Your own choice of OS, if license fees need to be paid, we will charge you the license fees (like Redhat for example)

Now that you mention it, how are your RHEL licenses priced? Monthly fee like most webhosts or are licenses paid for annually, like the retail licenses of Red Hat are? If it's monthly, then a quote on RHEL ES 4 would be nice.

- We will send you a photo of your server and the rack where it is hosted.

In which datacenter would the server be? You forgot to mention that. Based on what your uplinks are, seems like Leaseweb?

An additional request to everyone:

I have received quotes so far on single CPU Xeons and Opterons, but no P4 (HT or dual core) or Athlon 64s or X2s. I know they're cheaper, but I'd like to have a few quotes also on some configs with those, just to have some comparison, if any of them would actually be a better choice.

Oh, and please, only hardware RAID, no software RAID.

Thanks very much for all quotes in this topic and the ones I received by e-mail so far! I'm waiting for answers to my follow-up questions and hopefully see some other offers too. There's already some good choices, but I need to start narrowing down now. However new quotes still welcome.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door mousehouse

Hardware RAID1 is not an option on this server. Yes it has an available PCI-E slot, but installing a hardware RAID card in it will involve messing with the SATA backplane etc. which we prefer not to do. We cannot offer you a server featuring hardware RAID1 that falls within your budget.

Well, software RAID isn't an option for me, because it's very unreliable. Especially when you start to have more I/O load, it apparently easily starts causing hickups with software RAID. So the only option would then be to use the server without RAID, which is also an option. As for the cost of the server, my monthly budget is unfortunately max 150€, but should be more like the price range I quoted. However I can pay more in setup, as that's just a one-time cost.

In terms of rDNS, we prefer using our webbased panel. Is that acceptable?

That actually would mean that I couldn't do reverse DNS myself. I wouldn't want to go that way, but if absolutely necessary, then maybe. I just need short TTLs myself and I anyway deploy a DNS network consisting of 4 different locations.

The server itself seems great and the price is okay, but I fear that right now it's not my #1 option. However I'll see as I get further responses from the others.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Rasbelin

Can you please verify with your datacenter that the IP subnet and reverse DNS issue can be arranged specifically as I suggested in my message (see quote above)? Not wanting to have any nasty suprises, in case the DC would decide to refuse it or two small subnets from two larger subnets isn't possible.

Overall your offer sounds great. I'll however wait and see if anyone else posts an offer.

I have contacted our datacenter regarding these two matters. Ten IP's should be no problem to start with, but if we need to provide more on two different classes we have to wait for an answer of the DC. Are 30 +14 = 44 Ip's needed right away? (And can they be accounted for towards RIPE?)
rDNS is no problem via websystem/support system. For Re-delegation we have to check with the datacenter and the possibilities.

Off topic. Offers made by e-mail are not allowed on the forum.

If you have any other questions please don't hesitate in contacting us.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Rasbelin

Now that you mention it, how are your RHEL licenses priced? Monthly fee like most webhosts or are licenses paid for annually, like the retail licenses of Red Hat are? If it's monthly, then a quote on RHEL ES 4 would be nice.

In which datacenter would the server be? You forgot to mention that. Based on what your uplinks are, seems like Leaseweb?

I will come back with a RHEL quote for you.

EDIT: we cannot provide you RHEL monthly license, since you have a month to month contract, with a 12 month contract we can provide you a RHEL license.

Leaseweb does not have a DC, we use Redbus Interhouse and Easynet as datacentres, we operate our own network, Leaseweb is just one of our uplink providers, we use them for peering and transit because we have quite some network traffic to move accross MCI and Leaseweb peers.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door ensermo

I have contacted our datacenter regarding these two matters. Ten IP's should be no problem to start with, but if we need to provide more on two different classes we have to wait for an answer of the DC. Are 30 +14 = 44 Ip's needed right away? (And can they be accounted for towards RIPE?)
rDNS is no problem via websystem/support system. For Re-delegation we have to check with the datacenter and the possibilities.

Ten IPs would be okay, however it would be more practical to assign both subnets at the same time. I've had in the past my own subnet (CIDR /28) from RIPE, so filling in the paperwork won't be an issue for it. By allocating both subnets at once, I can better spread out my websites onto the two subnets, which is vital for good SEO. However if the DC has some strict policies about this, then of course will have to follow those.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Swiftway-UK

EDIT: we cannot provide you RHEL monthly license, since you have a month to month contract, with a 12 month contract we can provide you a RHEL license.

If I would agree to have a 12 month contract, RHEL could perhaps be provided as a freebie? If so, I would then need to have access to their system for support, as otherwise using RHEL over CentOS or something else would be merely about using a brandname distro and nothing more useful.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Rasbelin

If I would agree to have a 12 month contract, RHEL could perhaps be provided as a freebie? If so, I would then need to have access to their system for support, as otherwise using RHEL over CentOS or something else would be merely about using a brandname distro and nothing more useful.

As a freebie it is not possible, we made the main system already nice sharp priced for you Maybe using centos is an option for you, what kind of support you require? we do offer managed services solutions.

Well, what would the monthly fee for RHEL be then with a 12 month contract? As for management services: thanks, but no.

The standard support RHL-ES license is Euro 69,- per month
The basic support RHL-EX license is euro 39,- per month

Only in combination with a full year contract.

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Rasbelin

Ten IPs would be okay, however it would be more practical to assign both subnets at the same time. I've had in the past my own subnet (CIDR /28) from RIPE, so filling in the paperwork won't be an issue for it. By allocating both subnets at once, I can better spread out my websites onto the two subnets, which is vital for good SEO. However if the DC has some strict policies about this, then of course will have to follow those.

Dear Rasbelin,

When I was at the datacenter today I came across one of their technicians and asked him about the IP possiblilities. I didn't have all the info at hand so we didn't discuss it in detail but he said it should be possible to assign an IP range directly to a customer. He wasn't sure about two separate subnets. He did however tell me that there was some paperwork involved. The person that could give me more info was not there but I have allready mailed him. As soon as I hear more I'll let you know. In any case the other then IP's (on our own range) are available. So it could be possible to start with those and add the others on a VLAN later.

If you have any more questions please let us know.

Thanks in advance,
Michael Ensermo
www.MKEweb.com