Pacific Rack 7 Month Review

I've actually had a post-it note pegged to my project board for the last two months to remind myself to write up a review of Pacific Rack. Between the holidays, life and there never being enough hours in the day...I just hadn't had a chance until now. Please allow me to apologize in advance if I go into more detail than what is needed. I have an annoying habit of over-explaining things.

Anyways - here is a bit of background:

My Industry:

A freelance designer that also provides web hosting to design clients on a dedicated server housed with Pacific Rack. My main website can be found at [url]and most of the websites displayed in my design portfolio are also hosted on the server (Caution: Those websites in my portfolio are semi-adult in nature [companionship providers], so if you are at work or have an irrational hang-up about such things, I suggest not following my portfolio links). I don't make a profit from hosting (nor do I try to) - so it's not like I'm a big, high-tech hosting company. In fact, what I know about server management is pretty pathetic and minimal - which is why I pay PSM to manage it for me. I mainly offer hosting as a convenience and extra layer of identity protection to design clients.
The websites I host are mostly smallish, semi-dynamic outfits powered by my own, mysql-based, home-brew CMS solution. I host around 60 accounts, none of which are very resource intensive. My clients typically require require between 3-12GB monthly transfer each.

Server Hardware:

The server specs and package I have with Pacific Rack are as follows:

Intel C2D (2.0Ghz)

2GB Ram

250GB SATA 16MB Cache

CentOS 5.1

cPanel/WHM

2000GB Bandwidth

100Mbps port

50GB Automated Backup

Sign-Up:

I moved to Pacific Rack from Dediwebhosting in May 2008. The initial contact and transition was handled by Alex Ferrier, who was simply phenomenal. Yes. I am aware he is actually Chris so-and-so and that there was a huge controversy about him and some shady way he handled a hosting business several years back (he was a teenager at the time, mind you). Frankly - I don't care. He was not only courteous and helpful to me during my transition, but he didn't make me feel like an idiot for being such a noob. He also had a sense of humor and communicated on a level that was very personable. Knowing what I know now about his past has not changed my opinion of him or Pacific Rack in the slightest. Ok. Getting off topic. So I signed-up/paid on 5/29 and had my server up and running by 6/1. I had some issues with the new server having an updated version of mysql that broke my CMS - but this wasn't anyone's fault but my own.

Reliability:

It hasn't been a full year yet, but I've had very little downtime with my server and none that I can even recall clearly. Far less than I'd experienced with a reseller account at H9 or with my first dedicated server with Dediwebhost (neither of which were excessive either). I also noticed a definite improvement in overall server response and performance when I moved to PR - though my hardware specs were much better than where I was coming from. I'm not sure if is due to a better network, but previously my server couldn't send/receive mail with AOL accounts (yes. I'd gone through all the troubleshooters) - but this problem was resolved after moving to PR.
Support:

So this is where I think they really shine. I'd mentioned above that I currently use PSM for my management needs. I think they're a terrific service but there are some limitations in terms of response times and how thorough they are in making sure things aren't broken after doing an update for you. There have been a few times in the last year when a server package install/update has caused problems with my client sites, which ... after waiting an hour or more for a response from PSM (while I'm stressing from clients yelling at me) - I'd get impatient and submit a ticket to Pacific Rack instead. In every single one of those cases, Pacific Rack responded to (and often resolved) my issue within 15 minutes. They're just darn quick with support requests. They have the pay-per-incident option (usually only $5), but they've only actually charged me a couple of times out of all the instances I've contacted them.
Not only that, but as touched on above - they just don't make me feel like the server idiot I know I reveal myself to be at times. WHT is intimidating for me to post on because it seems as if most of you are big shot hosting gurus (or big companies that can afford to hire your own hot shot hosting gurus). I'm just a rinky-dink freelancer, whose hosting requirements are quite modest compared to many of the people here. Yet, all things being relative - my hosting needs are still important and significant in my own little world.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm sure PR has much larger accounts than my small little server...yet they don't project an attitude that I'm any less important to them. Support is quick, friendly and informative. In fact, I'm waiting to hear back from their sales department about what management services they offer. I really have appreciated having PSM, but because I host so many accounts that depend on me for uptime - I feel like I need to look into more reliable management options.

Actually, 'reliable' isn't the right word...as PSM has been pretty great. I just need a service with faster turn-arounds on tickets.

So all in all, I highly recommend Pacific Rack. I realize my modest server requirements may not be the proper scale from which to judge your own performance and reliablity needs...but their support and network uptime would apply to anyone ... and that I can vouch for. I just feel like I'm in good hands with them.