Managed Services, What Are Your Expectations
Jun 25, 2007
The term Managed Services concerns me with the way it is tossed around in the industry and I am curious to see what other hosts refer to as managed services, how they implement them and also what the consumer expects to receive on a managed server.
In going over one websites description earlier today they had more than five pages devoted to managed services and in my opinion said nothing. In fact at one point they mentioned their backup power, which while I will agree with that it is very important, that is infrastructure and IMHO has nothing to do with backup services.
Anyway I am interested in your view and definition of what you expect to receive on a managed server.
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Oct 17, 2007
I'm experienced with various flavors of Unix but haven't taken the VPS plunge yet. My main fear is that I'm going to end up spending a lot of time managing the server, especially security. I'm leaning heavily towards a hoster that's well regarded on this forum but was surprised when I learned the default managed VPS they deliver is fully open. It also sounded like it was mostly up to me to do the hardening. I've seen the really helpful "HOW TO: Secure and Optimize your VPS" article and I'm okay carrying out these steps initially but all of this makes me wonder:
1) Shouldn't a brand-new managed VPS come completely closed and leave it up to the user to open the few services they need?
2) How much security work should I expect a managed hoster to provide up front and on an ongoing basis?
3) How much security work should I expect to put in initially and ongoing to keep this site running smoothly and securely?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting this to be "fire and forget" but I don't want running this server to become my day job. And after all, with my current shared hosting package I don't have to do *anything* - other than the occasional outage, it just runs.
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May 21, 2008
Anybody using 2 different 3rd party Managed DNS services like dnsmadeeasy.com and ultradns.com on same domain name ?
Reason for doing it is because we are having resolving issues also the domain name is ".in" not ".com/net/org".
Now we have added nameservers of both the providers in the domain registrar control panel. Total it has 8 name servers now.
I copy pasted exactly same A records & Mx record and same ttl.
Q1) The NS records on both the dns services are Different. Should i add the 1st dns providers 4 nameservers in the 2nd dns providers panel and viceversa?
Q2) will this setup work anybody done it before .. does create problems?
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Jun 1, 2009
I was thinking of using Gigenet as my web host but I am unsure as to how good their "Managed Services" are. I need something fully managed and 99.9 % to 100% uptime is a must. Does anybody know if Gigenet immediately takes care of a problem (if the problem arises) as opposed to first opening/submitting a ticket then resolving the issue?
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May 9, 2009
how the hosting provider would back me up in setting up my vps, support in additional issues etc. with regards each of the above topics.
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Jun 25, 2007
I would like to know as to what amount of expectations should one have when opting for a VPS.
i.e. what's the ideal kind of website that will work fine with a VPS ideal site in the sense that ... the bandwidth and resources (or other criteria) the site consumes.
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Jun 9, 2008
moving my colocation (just a single 1U server) to another provider. Is it reasonable to expect to be able to pay the original provider a fee to ship the server to the new location for me instead of requiring me to fly to the DC to pick up the server and do it myself?
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Jun 17, 2008
This is my review of my initial setup with Pacific Rack.
After the issues with the fire at TP, I decided to pickup another server at a different data center as an additional server.
I ordered a Supermicro, which is a quad core processor. The price was well within the range, the extras were all within range as well, except cpanel, which was $35.00. I'd rather see that at $25.00, but overall that was fine. Total price as $266, right around what I expected to pay.
Setup took a few days, right at around what I expected.
When it was delivered, I asked why I couldn't log into WHM. They told me everything was fine. After some communication and about an hour and a half they said that they forgot to install cpanel... That wasn't a good start.
They failed to meet expectations because of the following:
1. RDNS was not setup at all. I shouldn't have to request it be setup. This is small, but if I didn't know to check/ask, it would be a major issue in the future.
2. The box always fails to reboot and requires manual intervention. Why can't they fix that? or even address the issue?
3. cPanel was not installed properly and when I asked for help, they told me that the box was unmanaged and I choose the configuration. If it didn't work right out of the box, the fault was my own for choosing that configuration.
Alex said, "You have received a standard Fedora 64 bit install, that we downloaded just for you. What you need must not be included in the standard install, or the cPanel install.
If you want us to manage your server, then you will have to subscribe to our server management service which is $29/month with a 6 month commitment. Otherwise you can just google for the command to install an RPM, as I don't know if off hand, but I know its really simple."
Just to comment, if it turned out to be as simple as installing an RPM, then I would have just killed myself due to the shame of it.
Turns out after working with cPanel support, it was an install error, cPanel was not installed correctly. (Don't know if that is PacificRack's fault or cPanel's, but I know it's NOT my fault and I would expect the data center to get my server up and running properly so I could manage it)
My expectation was that I would be delivered a box that worked properly and if it didn't, PacificRack would help me get it working so that I could use it. It appears that PacificRack's expectation was they just install the crap, it's up to me to make it work. If the install is bad, I can just Google it.
I'm fine with managing a server, I have four years experience running serveral servers, but I am not able to debug install issues where the box NEVER worked properly in the first place.
So, in this area, they fail to meet expectations.
I also found their technical staff to be arrogant and unfriendly, though I'm personally arrogant and unfriendly, but I always am very nice to support people, no need to cut my own throat.
Overall, I'd say that my experience doesn't seem to be typical, but the fact that they were unwilling to resolve the issues really bothers me. I detest companies who hide behind "unmanaged" as a shield against providing the services that they should be providing as a data center. I also refuse to pay a $29.00 a monthly fee to get a managed server (basically a $180.00 commitment) to get them to deliver a working server, when that should be a "Free" service provided when I purchase.
The DNS servers are pacficrack work well and the connections are fast and reliable.
The server still is not working up to expectations and their support people seem to be unwilling to get it to meet expectations with out going "managed". Now, honestly, $180 would be far cheaper than any other options, but its the principle of it.
Overall, I'd rate pacificrack about average. The server is a good server and at a reasonable price. The support people where knowledgeable. The turn around on tickets was very good, no ticket sat for more than a few hours. It really seems like pacificrack is a very small operation. I think that is a big plus.
At this point, I'm not sure if I should just move on or continue to try and get this server to work properly. I'll make a decision in a week when the server is close to renewal.
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Oct 13, 2009
I had three VMs with Fsck VPS, dating back to before they got hacked in June. I've been paying the bill since then, I imagined as a kind of insurance, so that I had the VMs handy if I needed to use them in a big hurry. Last week, I tried to log in, and found that my three VMs didn't exist, anymore. As far as I can tell, the VMs haven't existed since the June break-in.
SETUP / PROVISIONING
My first reaction was "They've been billing me for three months, and providing nothing?!??!" I'll be honest, I was pretty tweaked, but after I'd calmed down I decided to see how they handled the situation. So I submitted a ticket asking for an explanation: How long had the machines been down for, and what would it take to get them back up and running?
It took about a day, but we eventually established that VAServ could build three new OpenVZ VMs, and that they would give me three months' credit for those three machines. Since I actually do need the VMs, and I didn't really want to fight about the billing, I decided to go for it. It took another day, but I did get three new machines up and running.
Unfortunately, I do have some complaints about the process, specifically:
- VAServ's technical support is very inconsistent, and different techs seem to have vastly different levels of communications skill and professionality.
- Many of the techs don't seem to bother reading your ticket, beyond the subject. They tend to only be capable of answering the first question in each ticket/email, and they ignore anything else you've asked.
- After the FSCKVPS/VAServ buyout, following the break-in, the HyperVM control panel was disabled. If you need a reboot, or a root password reset, or anything that you can't accomplish yourself by SSHing into the VM, you have to open a ticket. (Seems like a chancy proposition, now, to me.)
REBOOT-AND-PRAY
Today, I started seeing memory allocation errors in running programs. The machine mostly worked, but certain operations (shell scripts, in particular) would error out. I opened a ticket asking for some guidance, and within less than 10 minutes, the VM started rebooting. I got an update about the ticket a few minutes later, and was told that the VM had been reconfigured (increased memory allocation limit) and rebooted.
I was pretty mad about the no-notice reboot. I'd been in the middle of editing a bunch of configuration files, and I lost an hour of work. It just seems so unprofessional and inconsiderate for VAServ's technician to bounce the VM without confirming it with me, first.
I did get an explanation/apology from the tech who rebooted the machine. I asked him to have his supervisor contact me, which took a few hours, but I did hear back. The supervisor wrote:
"...we reboot the vps if we found any VPS out of memory. Normally most of the service stop working or access got killed when VPS is out of memory..."
To me, it sounds like the reboot is a standard procedure for a common problem. Given that kind of environment, it's only natural that the tech's first impulse would be to reboot, given a ticket about memory errors.
At the same time, it's also indicative of a bottom-of-the-barrel service, isn't it?
- Memory problems seem to be common--is that because they're over-subscribed? Does your 512MB allocation mean anything, or is it just talk?
- The staff can't / won't bother to read through a ticket and give it some consideration.
- The staff has an itchy reboot finger. Their first impulse is to power-cycle, rather than to try to understand and fix the issue directly.
FOR THE FUTURE
I do intend to continue using VAServ / FSCKVPS, at least for now. They're really cheap, about $10/month for a 512MB VM, and I can mostly get done with what I need to do. But this is a qualified opinion. I am solely using these VMs for simple R&D projects: Quasi-professional work, stuff that nobody is currently paying me to do.
Given my experiences so far, I would never trust these guys with a real, money-making business project. VAServ / FSCKVPS is suitable for toying around with, or if you're flat broke, but I wouldn't bet my job on them if I could possibly help it.
I'm setting a calendar reminder for myself, right now, to check back in another month or so with an update to this post. Assuming I'm still chugging along with these VMs, I'm going to make a point of posting my impressions on a regular basis.
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Jul 10, 2008
While dedicated server providers are quick to promote that they support the server hardware how proactive do you expect them to be in terms of identifying hardware problems?
When hardware goes bad a customer might see performance problems and report it, or perhaps notice hardware errors in the logs.
Or is it the host's job to be monitoring hardware components status? Would you consider such monitoring to be part of the basic service or an optional management extra?
I'm interested in your expectations with a typical dedicated server.
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Mar 29, 2009
I am considering moving to dedicated server, what are risks with self managed server compared to managed?
Managed servers are very expensive for my needs.
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Jul 16, 2008
When a colo vendor can consider themselves as a managed colocation provider? What make them different than *normal* colo service?
If you need a managed colo, why not go with managed server? With managed server, your vendor will take care about the server health, including software and hardware too
(I am mentioning to fully managed server vendors like Rackspace, don't tell me cheap managed servers)
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Mar 7, 2007
I've always had hosting where everything is pretty much already setup. I am now considering getting my own dedicated server. I see most good packages are Self Managed Servers.
I'm not a system admin and never had any experience managing and setting up my own server. Is this a lot of work? Is this something that is also pretty easily learned or does this really take a lot of knowledge?
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Oct 29, 2009
I am using Plesk 9.2 with windows 2008 server and all of the sudden our DNS services goes down every other 2nd and 3rd day and we have to restart the dns services every time to bring it up, it doesnt even show any error message under windows event.
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Jun 1, 2008
I own virtual server.
In account created by my server i can't create database whit utf8_unicode.
I am in pozition to use Create database wizard but there latin2 is default.
In whm on my (VPS) i find out that in myphpadmin can create database whit utf8_unicode but how can i share this database whit the privet account that i crate form my whm.
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Dec 21, 2008
I own around 50 domains.
for the Past 5 years I've been using a VPS with cPanel to point an A record to the IP instead of using the other (shared, resseller and other VPS) IPs or public DNS.
I'm looking for a similar service, that can provide:
- my own DNS (or the hability to point my DNS to the IP)
- can add A, PTR, rDNS records
- less than 20$ month for 50 domains
Anyone know a service like that that recommend?
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May 9, 2009
I've purchased a NL Master reseller (about to purchase one in the US) and then a small VPS to see what more I could do, after transferring my site over to the VPS from the NL server I thought I'd come up with the idea with selling master reseller accounts, (both from NL and US master reseller services) the reason I came up with is because the VPS isn't to large to really do anything but seems perfect to keep a database, payment portal, WHMCS, my site, and hopefully all of my client information. What i want to do is somehow connect all 3 together so that when i do create a new client in LxAdmin I can select witch server I want to create it on and what package/permissions and what not, all from the VPS.
Example: LxAdmin -> create client -> fills out form basically similar that to the one in WHM
Resellers/VPS run CentOS Linux
WHM: 11.24.2
cPanel: 11.24.4-R35075
CENTOS 5.2 i686 virtuozzo
So basic question, is all this possible ? this including domains/email/ftp/ect.
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May 16, 2009
know anything about domain.com VPS services and if it worth to try with them or not?
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Jan 21, 2009
I wanted to know if there is a provider that will host our sites and provide site maintence all in one package(EX: any changes we want to the website they can do it). We are trying to move away from having multiple hosts and resellers from our multiple sites for our hosting and site maintenance. Alot of companies out there just do the hosting and suggest to get a third party to provide the site maintenance. Basically we want the ability to change anything on our website but have someone who knows what they are doing and do it for us and not take forever to implement changes to the website.
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Jul 25, 2009
I am switching from shared hosting to managed VPS. I have minimal knowledge of UNIX/Apache, pretty good with PHP and programming in general.
So, what I have now is my VPS, with 512mb of ram, CentOS, cpanel and my two sites, not live yet, that is, I haven't changed dns records in the registrar.
I want to try to optimize the box or whatever is the correct name for it and understand the whole thing better. Mainly to learn more, I dot' think I'll be pressed for memory or bandwidth for now. Still, at least knowing things I can optimize for speed of space.
Few things that I assume should allow for some simplification and RAM savings(hopefully) is that:
a) Both sites are hobby sites, not very big load. Few thousand visitors a day. Traffic is around 10gb monthly combined.
b) Both sites are mine, nobody else on that box, so I don't have to worry about customers screwing things up and caging things internally.
Based on that, I don't really need email for the second site domain.
When I run top command I see 2 exim processes running. Is that normal, or is it because I have 2 domains registered there? And if yes can one be disabled?
Same applies to pop3-login and imap-login processes, 2 copies of each. Can I have just one of each, i.e. exim, pop3-login and imap-login?
Next, I selected not to run log analyzer cpanellogd for 21 hours, i.e. it'll run for 3 hours a day. I assume that should be sufficient for the site like mine?
I did read sticky about securing the site and quite a bit about Apache/mysql optimizations.
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Dec 12, 2008
I am having trouble accessing any kind of services on one computer from another computer on my LAN.
I can ping toher computers and access windows file sharing but if I run any kind of server like apache or Dorgem(webcam) I can't access it from any other computer on the LAN..I've tried changing the ports etc but to no avail..
I am not the amin of this network but is there anything else I can do on my end to get things working..?
Is this a common occurence, for admins to stop this traffic?
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Aug 5, 2008
what free DNS hosting service to use? So far I have had experience with the following services:
Xname.org - fine, admin-wise kind of DNS zone management. Con: it is relatively often offline (DoS/whatever0
EditDns.net - fine, but it has several times rolled abck their DB state, wiping out my records. I can't name that a rliable service.
EveryDns.net - fine, quick, easy to manage. Con: I have tried to donate, to have limits removed, but my donation was never recorded, all the attempts to contact the administration failed, as well.
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Nov 4, 2008
This kinda follows on from a prev thread about advice on finding another isp.
My (soon to be ex) isp had email outage for over 3 days, I lost emails which means losing business and I don't want to be in this situation ever again.
I know that stuff happens and machines do go down etc. but I need to know how if possible a decent isp would be able to work around this, should they have a standby server, could they intercept/redirect incoming emails even though the account was down.
I'm not very technical but these are the questions I need to ask any prospective isp's
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Apr 4, 2008
I forgot the name of the script which brings all services up as they go down..
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Feb 25, 2008
Every month, I pay my invoice and everything is fine but in Febuary, after I paid it, I received a ''Payment reminder'' and I was a bit surprised but I replied explaining it was already paid and gave the paypal transaction ID #. I received an apology and they said it was fixed. A week later (or so), I received the a ''reminder #2''. I replied the same thing and the girl at the billing service aplogied and assured me that the invoice was now marked as paid and it shouldn't happen anymore.
This morning I got a ''Last reminder'' (15 days overdue). I sent the same informations again but now my website is disabled.
Am I alone in this situation or is it a known issue with Flux services or anything? I find a bit ridiculous, to be honest, to have a such issue about an invoice that IS paid and confirmed by them as paid but having the system send me reminder over and over and having, subsequently, them disabling my website.
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May 21, 2008
I am interested in blocking translation services from accessing my site, such as Google Translate and Yahoo Babelfish.
Google's translation tool adheres to a nice meta tag, so that's taken care of, but Yahoo doesn't appear to do so. The way they work is akin to a proxy, using the IP address of the user, and they don't use a standard referrer, so I can't do a referrer or IP block.
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May 18, 2007
I have a Gbit server, Windows 2003 as the OS.
The server is primarily an FTP server, however once or twice a week I use it as a HTTP server as well.
During both FTP and HTTP usage the bandwidth usage is between 80-150 Mbits. However the server just becomes unstable if too much bandwidth is pushed out.
CPU usage is normally below 10% However when the server becomes unstable services.exe maxes out one CPU core. when that happens the server can barely push out 1-2 Mbits.
There are no blue screens or error reports, the only thing that is affected is the network side of things.
Initially I thought it was a problem with IIS, so I tried Apache instead but same problem. Even without the FTP server, if traffic goes too high with HTTP the server just crumbles.
Specs are as follows :
Core2duo 1.86 Ghz
2 GB RAM (Nearly always 1 GB free)
Windows 2003 Ent Edition
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Oct 21, 2007
I'm setting up clientexec for my hosting service and was wondering if "services" are necessary for auto billing. Services are located under Admin/plugins/services. As of right now, I recieve the following error:
"NOTICE: Crontab is not available in your system or you don't have permission to use it. Therefore, you must enable the plugins you wish to use, and manually enter through your hosting control panel its correspondent cron job."
If they are not necessary for clientexec to bill my customers then I will not use them. I'm running cpanel 11.11.0-STABLE. I hope one of you has some info regarding my situation.
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Aug 28, 2007
What is the best way to get notified if a service has issues. I know I get emails from cpanel if a service fails, but for some reason for mail, it shows ipmap/pop is up but email is not being delivered.
I usually reset IMAP Server, Mail Server (Exim) and POP3 Server then everything seems to kick in and any undelivered mail gets delivered.
What logs can i check so find the issues, and also is the some type of listener i can use to notify me when there are issues with the mail server?
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Nov 12, 2007
Can anyone recommend hosted DNS services that they've used? Just looking for something to use with about three dozen low-traffic domains.
EasyDNS wants something like $300-$600 which is a completely different level of service than I'm looking for. I just want something modest for personal use.
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May 28, 2007
Well a day later I got Nagios installed and configured .
What other things do people use it for then monitoring
ftp, http, smtp, pop. Thats all ive set it up for so far.
What other good is it?
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