I would look at https://www.webhostingtalk.com forums and specifically the "Dedicated Hosting Offers" forums https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36 for providers and deals. On Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 1:34 PM Forrest Christian (List Account) < lists@packetflux.com> wrote:
Maybe this will help:
I use vultr. I have also brought my own address space and am announcing it to them from one of their instances (vm's) with BGP. They are set up such that you can use a private AS if you don't have your own and are ok with them announcing this from their AS (after they strip off the private as).
If you told me right this second that you needed a Ubuntu Server spun up, I could be logged into the interface, select a location/size and have it running within 60 seconds - with the complete Ubuntu install done. Most of my instances are running under their $5 plan which is 25GB of disk space, 1 CPU, 1G of memory, and 1TB of transfer. Oh, and one or two are on the $6 plan which has slightly more disk and is on a faster CPU. They obviously have various options that go up from there all the way to dedicated servers. In a couple of locations, they also have a smaller IPv6-only server for $2.50.
I haven't found anything I need anything larger than their $5 or $6 plan for, but I also am not running any heavy workloads. Basically a static webpage, a ticketing system, a couple of DNS servers, and the like. I'm currently testing voip(Asterisk) on the platform as well, and based on testing so far will likely be moving it into full production in the next few weeks.
I used ubuntu as an example, they also have all of the mainstream linux distros and the BSD's and I think in some locations windows available. They also have a pretty good selection of preconfigured applications (aka common CMS'es, eCommerce platforms, etc). All of these are in the ~60 seconds to spin up category. You can also upload your own ISO or use a pre-uploaded one from their library of less commonly used applications/operating systems.
I've been running on the platform for about a year after having enough of a shared hosting provider for some of the stuff and running on my own metal in a datacenter for other stuff. So far I'm very happy with them.
If you want to try them out, I noticed as I logged in to look up what the $5 service includes that they're running a a "refer a friend and they get $100 to test the service" promo. I normally don't pass on referral codes but I figured if you're evaluating this you might want the $100 credit (for up to 30 days of service). If so, the link for that offer is https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8776996-6G .
On Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 10:39 AM Bryan Holloway <bryan@shout.net> wrote:
You make an excellent point, Martijn ... (and I suspect this is what Bill was pointing out ...)
Virtualization on top of virtualization is inherently not the best idea.
I guess I'm looking for flexibility in the sense of being able to spin up additional VMs at my leisure. In which case #2 could be suitable in the right environment.
... in which case SLAs would be tantamount to success ...
So ... that said, any recommendations? :)
On 1/19/21 6:32 PM, Martijn Schmidt wrote:
For #1, are you trying to do "Cloud-ception" e.g. running your own proxmox virtualization on top of an already virtual machine, so that you're basically two layers deep?
For #2, of course you need to be able to survive a hardware failure (using RAID1 or some flavour of DRBD for example) but having to think about such things is the "trade-off" of having access to the bare-metal layer.. it does have advantages, for example if you want to install your own virtualization layer without any involvement from the hosting provider. You'd usually have agreements with the hosting provider about how/when hardware replacements would be done.
Best regards, Martijn ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* NANOG <nanog-bounces+martijnschmidt=i3d.net@nanog.org> on behalf of Bryan Holloway <bryan@shout.net> *Sent:* 19 January 2021 18:18 *To:* William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> *Cc:* NANOG list <nanog@nanog.org> *Subject:* Re: Hosting recommendations ... ? Perhaps I'm missing something, but in your #1 example "Cloud", what prevents me from running a Proxmox ISO (which is more or less Debian) vs. a "standard" Debian install on the provider's virtual server?
If I can, I've succeeded. That is the sort of hosting provider I'm looking for, if they exist.
#2 would be suitable, but it seems to be that if leased bare-metal dies, it will be some time for ETR. Less desirable, but I'm open to ideas.
#3 I do now. Trying to move away from that.
On 1/19/21 5:44 PM, William Herrin wrote:
On Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 8:31 AM Bryan Holloway <bryan@shout.net> wrote:
I would like to stop personally dealing with bare-metal. That's what I'm doing now.
Hi Bryan,
Cloud = you get virtual servers with virtual storage, generally adjustable to meet your needs. You manage the operating systems and storage within the virtual environment. You DO NOT manage the host operating systems or hypervisors.
Bare metal = you lease physical equipment. You manage all software on the equipment including any hypervisors needed to run virtual servers. You DO NOT deal with hardware break/fix, that problem belongs to the service provider.
Colocation = You lease space in a data center. You provide physical equipment in your custom configuration.
With this terminology, at least one of your requirements is unmeetable for contradicting the others. So I ask again for clarification: which of these do you seek?
Regards, Bill Herrin
-- - Forrest