Got my new Root I server

[danweber]

I have been on a pretty good VPS server since the beginning of the year but I started to get more and more problems with performance. Even though I have read more negative than positive feedback about 1&1 I figured I would take my chance and see myself as their prices are really good. I am not a professional hosting company and only host Websites of clubs and associations that I am involved with, so there is not much money at stakes if there should be some downtime.

-I ordered my Root I server at 9pm EST yesterday.
-After 20 minutes the automated system called to verify the order.
-At 10:30 pm I got an e-mail that the server was ready
-Called support at 10:35 to fully activate (as per email instructions)
-Configured Yum according to instructions from this sute
-Updated OS and Plesk
-Had my main domain up and running at 11:30 pm

So far it has been pretty smooth sailing. The only glitch I encountered were some error messages about duplicate entries.
---
0: /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/class.ActionLog.php:638 psaerror(string
"Unable to query database: Duplicate entry '48-Domain Name' for key 1")
---
I believe it could have been because I changed the server name and deleted the default domain after I had my main domain configured.


Today I used the migration manager to migrate the other domains from the VPS to the root server. The only strange glitch was that 6 names from one mailing list were not transferred on one of the domains. Haven't noticed anything else so far.

Also edited the external firewall rule to allow DNS service and activated it. Seems like a nice feature to bounce some of the invalid requests before they even get to the server.

FTP backup seems to work fine as well. I think I am going to buy 4PSA's TotalBackup to do server backups.

I'll leave the VPS in its idle state for a month and see how it goes with this new server. If I am not happy I simply activate the VPS again and look for another alternative. But so far response time and performance has been really good. It's a joy to use the Plesk panel now where before it was dog slow (and I had a 512MB Ram VPS). I realized the SiteBuilder is even installed. Haven't used it before but will check it out.

Bottom Line:
Happy camper so far
:D

[eWebtricity]

We have pretty much shared your same experience, we're basically happy until we have to contact 1and1 support for help. It's always a goat rodeo, but the bang for the buck is what keeps it a toss up for us so far.

I'm glad to hear this site was of some assistance to you.

[danweber]

I had my root server for a week now and it has been running fine. I decided that I didn't like the partitioning that was provisioned by 1and1 and used the recovery console and backup servers to make a complete backup of the server, re-partition it, and restore the data. This worked rather well an I am liking the recovery console.

All in all the server performs better than the VPS I have with another company. If I can burst the CPU on the VPS I am getting more out of the box, hell it's running on a dual Opteron, than I can get from my Root I server but overall the performance is much more consistent on the Root I server and that seems to be more important to me.

I am now in the dilema that I don't know if I should give the VPS and fully trust the Root server or not. I definitely don't want to kepp them both. I am fairly proficient with Linux, although I am pretty new at running a hosting server. What worries me are the stories about 1and1 support. If I get to a point where I can't resolve a problem I am almost certain that 1and1 wont be able to help me either, or will recommend to re-image without even trying. I could always hope for help from the community and that's probably what I end up doing.

How has the reliability been on the hardware and network? Is the 1and1 network pretty stable? How responsive is 1and1 in replacing broken hardware? I guess these are the only items I really depend on 1and1 and I want to make sure that they are pretty much a non-issue.

Ah, one more thing. Does anyone know if 1and1 provide hardware upgrades like more memory? This would be a simple thing for them to provide but from their faw it seems that there are simply no upgrades whatsoever.

Thanks
Dan

[eWebtricity]

No on the hardware upgrades, we've asked time and again. Their solution is to upgrade their products/packages. They recently upgraded all their packages to more memory and more bandwidth which is great, but there was also a price increase, not huge but it still is an increase.

We have been using about 6 servers with 1and1 over the past year or more and have had probably 4 hardware issues between two servers, 2 network connectivity issues, and 1 issue with getting them to help with Verizon when Verizon blocked everyones email including large blocks of 1and1's IP space.

My humble opinion is that the price is well worth the hardware and the network has been great for the most part. You have to expect that every data center/provider is going to have issues. 1and1 has a great setup, as long as you backup your data on a regular basis. If there ever is a problem, you can just backup/re-image and restore if you need to. The key to 1and1 support is to stay on top of them, keep calling, keep emailing them. Ask for escalation to a supervisor if needed.

[dhodge]

Going on 2 years now with my Root I server, still no hardware issues.