Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

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Edge100x
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Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

Post by Edge100x »

We've now officially launched VPS/VDS service, out of our InterNAP Chicago location. These virtual servers are like the full-on dedicated machines that we already offer; the main differences are that they:

Have additional price points because they provide a piece of the overall hardware and not the full machine. We set prices based on the amount of dedicated hyperthread CPU cores are needed, with matching RAM, disk space, and transfer amounts. We've launched virtual servers with extremely affordable prices -- as low as $39.99 per month -- and if you sign up now, that price will be grandfathered in forever.

Come with full console access. You have more than just "root" or "administrator" level control; you can watch the machine boot and interact with it directly through VNC as though you were sitting in front of it.

Can have their operating system changed or reinstalled at will. This is done easily and automatically whenever you need it, through our control panel.

Have a 2-day free trial for new customers, discounts for multiple months of rental, and free instant setup, just like our game servers. Setups and teardowns are all handled in software and entirely automated.

We've tested and made certain that our new virtual servers work very well for games. A CS 1.6 server easily runs at a steady 500fps on a Windows 2003 install on one of our virtual machines, for instance, and CS 1.6 Linux servers run at around 800fps by default. Our servers also work very well for more traditional VDS/VPS tasks such as running a customized webserver install.

You can order a virtual machine right now, if you'd like -- we have immediate availability. Just use our virtual dedicated server order page here.
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Re: Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

Post by JayArea »

Hmm so for example, your single core VPS deal is 39.99 a month. You can buy a 16 slot game server from you guys for around that price. If its cheaper to buy a VPS, why doesn't everyone do that?

And also, I own a dedicated server hosted by you guys, will the VPS be the same thing where it is unmanaged? and all help you have to ask on the forums?


I am considering buying a single core VPS to lessen the load on my dedicated server.



One last question, I'm assuming I can change the slot, tickrate and FPS at will right? Can I acheive higher than 500 fps through the VPS?



Thanks.
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coupsan
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Re: Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

Post by coupsan »

Oh, awesome! I have a couple questions, though:

* Because VDSes are less powerful than dedicated servers, and really aren't "meant" to be running as game servers, would it be possible for me to run something outside of the GldSrc realm of games? Say, for example, I wanted to run an L4D server for an hour or two, and at the lowest possible tickrate--would that be too processor intensive for the cheapest VDS?

* Is it fully managed, or unmanaged? I would prefer it to be unmanaged, as your dedicated servers are, because this would be a great learning experience for me.

* Is there throttling on the downloading of files if they reach a certain size?

I was going to choose another company that specializes in VDS hosting, but, relatively speaking, the prices of the cheapest VDSes from NFO are more competitive than the cheapest of the other company's--especially given that there is more RAM, more bandwidth, and more diskspace for only a bit more.

Thanks in advance!
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Re: Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

Post by Edge100x »

coupsan wrote:* Because VDSes are less powerful than dedicated servers, and really aren't "meant" to be running as game servers, would it be possible for me to run something outside of the GldSrc realm of games? Say, for example, I wanted to run an L4D server for an hour or two, and at the lowest possible tickrate--would that be too processor intensive for the cheapest VDS?
These virtual servers use some of the fastest processors available (with the latest VT-x iteration) and the latest versions of Xen and Linux, which are actually very well optimized. I did some testing with a single-core machine running a hyperaccelerated CS 1.6 server at 500fps, using all the same software and monitoring systems that we use for our full-on game servers, and it actually performed very similarly to a bare-hardware server.

L4D servers run at only 30 FPS and 30 tickrate by default and should run very well on our cheapest VDS. In fact, you could likely run a couple of them. I'd say more than a couple, but L4D is quite piggy on memory -- that's what you'll probably run out of first (using -fork or running Linux may help in that case).
* Is it fully managed, or unmanaged? I would prefer it to be unmanaged, as your dedicated servers are, because this would be a great learning experience for me.
This is an unmanaged product. However, like with dedicated servers, we will do our best to answer software questions through the forum at http://www.nfoservers.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=44.

One really, really nice thing about virtual servers is that you can always wipe and start again if things go belly up. That's not easy to do with a dedicated server :).
* Is there throttling on the downloading of files if they reach a certain size?
We don't throttle anything, nope. If you go over your GB transfer limit, you'll just be charged 10 cents per GB that is beyond what you purchased.

The virtual network adapter does only support 100mbps, though.
I was going to choose another company that specializes in VDS hosting, but, relatively speaking, the prices of the cheapest VDSes from NFO are more competitive than the cheapest of the other company's--especially given that there is more RAM, more bandwidth, and more diskspace for only a bit more.
I was looking at that myself today and I was very surprised at how expensive all the VDS providers out there are. I set the prices here based on our real costs -- the cost of the hardware (the machines are a little more than our dedicated boxes, but not tremendously more), plus the bandwidth (which is harder to gauge, because it's difficult to say how much people will really use), plus the software. The automated systems handle the setup and teardown, so those costs are negligible, and since hardware support isn't needed and we offer software support through forums, those costs are also low.

Maybe I'm just not seeing something important when it comes to how much this will truly cost, but if so, that'll be your gain :). We grandfather in prices, so if you order something now at the current price, you'll keep that price for as long as you have that same server in the same configuration -- even if we raise the prices on our order page.

We do benefit here from some bandwidth and hardware cost savings due to how much of each we already buy for game servers. This may be one reason why we can be less expensive than other companies, even if they've been around for little while and seem to specialize. It's hard to tell from a website how big someone really is.
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Re: Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

Post by coupsan »

Alright, thanks! I'll definitely get a VDS from you guys soon.
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Re: Virtual Dedicated Servers / Virtual Private Servers

Post by Edge100x »

JayArea wrote:Hmm so for example, your single core VPS deal is 39.99 a month. You can buy a 16 slot game server from you guys for around that price. If its cheaper to buy a VPS, why doesn't everyone do that?
That's a very good question, actually.

Our game servers have:

- A game-oriented, new-user friendly control panel. This gets people on their feet immediately and allows quite a high level of control through a web-browser.

- A much higher level of support. We offer support for many popular plugins on game servers, for optimizing servers, for initial setup, and so on, directly through chat and email. We offer support through forums here, but it won't be quite as fast or as in-depth.

- Higher performance. We use proprietary "secret sauce" technologies for our game servers that we can't offer through virtual servers, and running on the bare hardware is still a little faster than running virtually. In addition, we have a large number of servers that we load-balance between to maintain peak performance at all times -- usually this means less than 10 or 20% overall CPU usage on a machine. We offer trim levels for our game servers that aren't possible with virtual servers, such as 1000fps or better FPS rates.

- More locations available and the ability to change between them at will. Right now, virtual servers are only available in Chicago, though this may change in the future.

With our game servers, we don't actually make a profit, if you're curious.
And also, I own a dedicated server hosted by you guys, will the VPS be the same thing where it is unmanaged? and all help you have to ask on the forums?
Yes, that is correct.
I am considering buying a single core VPS to lessen the load on my dedicated server.
I think a single HT cored VPS (from us, at least) would work well for offloading one of your servers.
One last question, I'm assuming I can change the slot, tickrate and FPS at will right?
Yes, it is like a dedicated server in that you have full control over all the software you run. It actually goes beyond a dedicated server, as well, by giving you the ability to change the OS and view the boot process.
Can I acheive higher than 500 fps through the VPS?
If you run Linux, you should be able to achieve something higher than 500 FPS, yes. In my testing, CS 1.6 and CS:S servers were able to run at upwards of 800 FPS with certain kernel configurations, though the realized FPS with those kernels wasn't quite as stable as others that were limited to 500. I haven't had too much time to tweak and test further than this, so it's possible that you could do even better.
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