“brief” downtime and “several hours several times a month” don’t quite jive.
GridServer blows. The only thing it has going for it is PRICE… but their other products are rather over-priced in my opinion. Instead we’ve started doing VPS’s on SliceHost and have been MUCH happier…
My biggest issue with them is that they PRETEND it’s all A-OK when things are really more like “in a shit storm” - I told their sales people “look, if the GridServer isn’t enough for us, tell me what product we SHOULD be using” and they didn’t really have much of an answer - their tongues were tied because they couldn’t admit how BAD the GS really was in order to upsell their own, supposedly (probably?) better services.
I really couldn’t tell you, I don’t handle that stuff for the company, but I think we were using (gs). I just know that we were down several times for 24+ hours because of “unscheduled maintenance”… and sometimes even scheduled maintenance would take 6+ more hours than they expected.
Also, I remember numerous people in the company complaining about their customer service (although I have never dealt with them directly). My experience with them has been limited to all the downtime and slow responses when trying to update/implement things on sites that are still hosted there.
dreamhost here. i have some special deal worked out with them, $60/year free domain reg 5gb space 100 gb transf. i think havnt looked at it in awhile, i really only use it for email and hosting random files
If you’re looking to colo there is a new datacenter going in across the street from the Amherst police station it will have 24/7 access for coloed servers.
What are you trying to host on a Gridserver? (gs) is really for small websites, blogs, etc… as are most of the hosts people have mentioned. If you are talking about hosting anything that actually gets a good amount of traffic, you’re going to have plenty of issues on (gs). I personally have have almost no downtime with my sites on (gs).
For the company - we have several (turbos), which is a step up from (nitro), all load balanced, etc, etc… I don’t know much about the setup, but I know it’s pretty serious and pretty expensive.
mt) Media Temple’s new data center in El Segundo is a state-of-the-art, built to Tier IV specifications, Data Center that satisfies the evolving needs of our customers seeking reliable facilities for mission critical IT operations. [LEFT]Facility The space is in approximately 7,000 square feet currently with room for expansion up to 40,000 square feet. The center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. On-site armed security is around-the-clock. They monitor the alarm system and security cameras that are on all perimeter points of ingress/egress to the building. Bulletproof security station and shipping/receiving areas with a Biometric security system are also in place. Our personnel require authorized escorted visitations. 24” raised floor manufactured by Maxcess covering every square foot of our cages, MDF and Network Operation Center. [/LEFT] Commercial Power
Two separate power feeds provided by Southern California Edison.
Power supplied from two separate SC Edison substations. Four transformers at 3,750 KVA each serve building load.
Four PDUs (power distribution units) in our data room, each fed from a preferred source and back-up source.
The facility uses one CPS (continuous power supply) and we have our own CPS unit that serves our data room (N+1). Generator
Building can operate at 100% connected load on five HiTecs and two standby generators.
The HiTec system feeds redundant switchgear providing power to mission critical loads.
Three 2-megawatt standby generators serve facility essential loads. N+1 capacity with swing generator.
One 2-megawatt stationary load bank located on roof connected to the power backbone allows for bypass testing and duty cycle maintenance. DC Power System
The data room has 800 AMP redundant –48 volt DC battery system. There are 3 more identical systems for expansion. Diesel Fuel Supply
50,000 gallons, On-site comprised of two 25,000 gallon tanks. The facility is also on the emergency fuel list in case of a natural disaster. HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning)
3,350 tons total refrigeration capacity (5 Chillers at 670 Tons each).
Seven 30-ton CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) units inside our data room.
Five cooling towers
Five chilled water pumps
Five condenser water pumps
Five chemical treatment stations
Three chillers can handle total maximum load, giving building N+2 redundancy.
Building has own water well for its HVAC backup system so it is not dependent on city for continuous operations. Fire Suppression
Dry pipe, pre-action system enabled by activation of VESDA (very early smoke detection alarm) and or smoke detectors. Loss of air pressure in the pipes caused by a broken sprinkler head will cause water to discharge only if smoke detection is present. The system is monitored 24x7 by onsite personnel.
Does it compare??
Obviously there are better choices out there if you want to host a blog or some small site, but for mission critical, high trafficked websites - you have to pay to play.
What tier? Is this an actual datacenter with a solid backbone or someone with an abandoned server room in an office with a few T1s and a FIOS connection? I might be moving some of my servers into there if they are legit.
I’m in the same boat right now. I’m in the middle of creating a site from a template, and I’ll be publishing it shortly. I already bought the domain through register.com; what should I go with?