what do you look for in a dedicated server provider?

[thecoolh]

the title says it all... so... what do you guys look for?

[Sarah]

We have a guide on what to look in a dedicated server which maybe of some interest.

guides/dedicatedservers/dedicatedserv2.asp (http://www.dedicatedserverdir.com/guides/dedicatedservers/)

There is also another good article which will (hopefully) be published tomorrow. I'll let you have the url then.

[thecoolh]

err

thats what u guys (and galz) suggest they look for... what do they really look for? i mean... i know providers that come in #1 in all those categories... that just don't get picked over others... hehe... i mean, what is it that makes that subconcious decision? the pretty colors on the website? hehehehe... :)

[bitel.biz]

Hmmm, interesting question.

What would I like is:

- No set-up fees (or no more then 100$. If I have to pay for hardware I would order colo not dedicated)
- No charge for IP's (as they are free but some co. charge as much as 10$ for IP...)
- Fair amount of monthly traffic (over 100GB, not like some of them offering 5 GB of traffic in their packages and then charge arm and leg for extra traffic)
- Good tech support
- Free DNS
- Option to lease the server

I think I am not asking too much, or am I?

P.S. I can't uderstand why some companies charge more for colo then for dedicated for same amount of traffic. In colo I spent money for the hardware, in dedicated they spent, so why should they charge more for colo???

[bitel.biz]

Argh, I forgot one more thing:

- Prices listed on their websites (I dont like to send emails to their sales@ email and then wait 3-4 days for answer. If they have good prices, if they are competitive why they don't list on their web. Lack of webmasters time? Scarred of competition??)

[thecoolh]

hmm

well... as for why some providers charge more for colo than dedicated servers... in some cases, a server's specs determines how much transfer it can actually push... and with colo, specifications are upto the client, so the service provider can't kinda use that "hardware limit" to their advantage... so it sucks for hosts that offer "unlimited bandwidth"...

hmm

for situtations not involving unlimited b/w... i dunno... smoked too much weed b4 designing the site?

[Sarah]

Hi

As promised here's the other article I was talking about earlier.

Why Sharing Can Be Hazardous to Your E-Commerce Business (http://www.webhostdir.com/news/articles/showarticle.asp?id=561)

A thread has been started about this particular article which you can read here:
http://forums.webhostdir.com/showthread.php?threadid=2561

[sugarbunnie]

Checking out their other clients could tell you a lot about what goes on behind the scenes. If you ask for references from their sales people, they will provide them for you, make sure you get a group that gives you a small company to a larger one. Find out what the average churn rate is. If just one or two other people having issues then it's probably an internal situation with those clients. If there is a lot of churn throughout the system, then the dedicated host themselves has problems that you don't need. For example, if every time they upgrade an entire service goes out (such as their shopping cart) that will seriously tick off your clients and cause you a high churn rate. Check with the local credit card processing people and see if they will give you a rating on them, check the BBB.