Need a new Windows VPS home!

[PHyndman]

Hi,

I've just spent four days banging my head against my current VPS hosting technical support desk

... after three days of my server being down and only getting the response 'sorry, the data centre haven't replied yet' I've decided it's time to get out and move somewhere that provide some level of support.

Having come across you guys during a couple of hours on google I definately like the tone of this forum and am thinking of opening a VPS account with you - before I do can you answer some questions.

1. Can you confirm that Windows VPS includes MS SQL Server 2005?
2. Does the available disk space include the space used by O/S, patches, MS SQL etc.? (these themselves easily take 4-5GB and would determine the package I need).
3. My recent problems were caused by me trying to perform MS updates on a Plesk 8.1.1 VPS Windows 2003 server (in the 2 months I've had it there have been no security updates ... and it doesn't even have SP2!) - this killed the server. I would like to have a hosting provider who ensures servers are updated with security patches .. or gives me the ability to do so without killing the server!!! Can you confirm that security updates can be applies (or are applied) regularly to your Windows servers?
4. Having read some of the posts on this forum I get the feeling that upgrading from one VPS package to another would be fairly quick (and simple!) - currently I would have to cancel my package and create a new one, this would generate a new IP and I would then have to manually transfer any sites, DBs and change IP settings (tedious and causes disruption to my clients).
5. My current VPS has 1 IP address, I have no way of adding to it and hence can only really provide a single SSL site. The nature of much of my work is to provide DB driven apps. which may hold sensitive info. and so would require SSL - I see from your site that I can purchase SSL certificates at a very reasonable price AND get an additional free IP address (this alone gets me excited! ... I know, sad). I also see that your VPS packages generally come with between 2 and 4 IP addresses. My question is: are the addition SSL IPs in addition to the ones I would get with the VPS or am I limited to the number in the VPS package (so for the top VPS package, with 4 addresses, would I be limited to 4 SSL domains?)
6. One of the (few) things I do like about my current supplier is the DNS management which allows me to keep all my domains in one place, manage them seperately and point each at whichever server I want (I also have a Linux VPS which I don't want to transfer at the moment as this would cause too much disruption to clients). I want to be able to keep my domains within 123-reg (whoops! have I just given something away!) and manage the DNS myself - is this possible/OK with your packages?

I think that's it for the moment ... sorry if this is a bit of a mammoth exercise - having been badly burned over the last few days I really want to get it right!

Thanks for your time,

Paul Hyndman

[eUK-Nick]

Originally Posted by PHyndman

Hi,

I've just spent four days banging my head against my current VPS hosting technical support desk

... after three days of my server being down and only getting the response 'sorry, the data centre haven't replied yet' I've decided it's time to get out and move somewhere that provide some level of support.

Having come across you guys during a couple of hours on google I definately like the tone of this forum and am thinking of opening a VPS account with you - before I do can you answer some questions.

1. Can you confirm that Windows VPS includes MS SQL Server 2005?
2. Does the available disk space include the space used by O/S, patches, MS SQL etc.? (these themselves easily take 4-5GB and would determine the package I need).
3. My recent problems were caused by me trying to perform MS updates on a Plesk 8.1.1 VPS Windows 2003 server (in the 2 months I've had it there have been no security updates ... and it doesn't even have SP2!) - this killed the server. I would like to have a hosting provider who ensures servers are updated with security patches .. or gives me the ability to do so without killing the server!!! Can you confirm that security updates can be applies (or are applied) regularly to your Windows servers?
4. Having read some of the posts on this forum I get the feeling that upgrading from one VPS package to another would be fairly quick (and simple!) - currently I would have to cancel my package and create a new one, this would generate a new IP and I would then have to manually transfer any sites, DBs and change IP settings (tedious and causes disruption to my clients).
5. My current VPS has 1 IP address, I have no way of adding to it and hence can only really provide a single SSL site. The nature of much of my work is to provide DB driven apps. which may hold sensitive info. and so would require SSL - I see from your site that I can purchase SSL certificates at a very reasonable price AND get an additional free IP address (this alone gets me excited! ... I know, sad). I also see that your VPS packages generally come with between 2 and 4 IP addresses. My question is: are the addition SSL IPs in addition to the ones I would get with the VPS or am I limited to the number in the VPS package (so for the top VPS package, with 4 addresses, would I be limited to 4 SSL domains?)
6. One of the (few) things I do like about my current supplier is the DNS management which allows me to keep all my domains in one place, manage them seperately and point each at whichever server I want (I also have a Linux VPS which I don't want to transfer at the moment as this would cause too much disruption to clients). I want to be able to keep my domains within 123-reg (whoops! have I just given something away!) and manage the DNS myself - is this possible/OK with your packages?

I think that's it for the moment ... sorry if this is a bit of a mammoth exercise - having been badly burned over the last few days I really want to get it right!

Thanks for your time,

Paul Hyndman

Hello Paul,

Let me go about addressing your concerns one by one.

1. All our windows VPS come equipped with MS-SQL 2005 Express Edition

2. The space we quote on the websites is inclusive of all the default installations viz. OS, MS-SQL, Plesk etc.

3. We recommend that customers do not run "Automatic Windows Updates" and also ask them not to install SP2. We have checked with Sw-Soft regarding this and this is the advise we have received from them.

4. As far as security goes, I can tell you that our nodes have never been hacked and there also has not been a case of them being compromised. We also have RAID protection on the hardware nodes.

5. Upgradation is a simple task for us which is down without downtime.

6. Our windows VPS comes with a minimum of 2 dedicated IP's. There are no limitations as such. You may have more than 4 domains with dedicated IP addresses (with SSL). All you will have to do is purchase additional IP's.

7. When you purchase a VPS from us, we register private nameservers for you to be used along with your VPS. You may use these for all your domain names which you would want to host on the VPS. You may also point the domains to different DNS if you wish to.

Our Windows VPS plan details are listed at http://www.eukhost.com/windows-vps-hosting.php

We setup a VPS in about 2 to 3 hours from the time the payment for the order is confirmed.

[PHyndman]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the quick response - that all sounds great.

I suspected the security updates were more a limitation of Plesk!

You will get my account setup order later today.

Paul

[eUK-Nick]

Originally Posted by PHyndman

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the quick response - that all sounds great.

I suspected the security updates were more a limitation of Plesk!

You will get my account setup order later today.

Paul

You are most

You may also want to have a look at http://www.eukhost.com/vps-rules-guidelines.php