So what do I like about Rackspace Cloud?
I really like their offering and how easy it is to choose. Cloud Sites is basically a managed solution. $100/month gives you the equivalent of a 2.8GHz machine in a clustered environment. You also get 50GB of space, 500GB of monthly bandwidth, automatic backups, SSL support and access to a live, fanatical 24/7 support team (and they really are fanatical!). You can even mix a LAMP server setup with a .NET setup. (I really hope they will add ColdFusion to this mix as well… *hint* *hint*)
They also have an offering for Cloud Servers. These are virtual dedicated machines and this is what really persuaded me to go for Rackspace Cloud. I really like that you only pay for what you use. If you’re not using the server, you don’t pay anything. This is perfect for development and testing servers but also for setups that you don’t use as often. The Cloud Servers are also flexible. You can start off with their smallest server (10GB HD/256MB RAM) and scale it up when you need more space or RAM. The Rackspace Cloud control panel is very easy to use and gives you a great overview of how much your servers are consuming.
I ended up signing up for a Cloud Sites account and also signed up for a 40GB HD/1GB RAM Cloud Server. I moved all the blogs (including this one) and sites to the Cloud Sites account and installed ColdFusion 9 on the Cloud Server. The move was a very smooth ride! I’ve been using this setup for a month now and was very happy to find out that I’m now paying a little more than a third of what I used to pay for my hosting (obviously also thanks to the Dollar to Euro ratio).
If you want to try Cloud Sites yourself, I have a $25 promotion code for you.
Just use the promo code THANKS-serge@webkitchen.be when you sign up for a new Cloud Sites account and you will receive $25 off your first month’s Cloud Sites hosting bill. But hurry up… The promo code is only valid until December 1st.
The ColdFusion support is in hand … watch this space …
Interestingly, we’ve just moved three or four apps away from Rackspace Cloud, as we found it to be much slower and more unreliable that what we’re now using. We were using Cloud Servers, so I can’t really comment on Cloud sites.
Buyer beware and all that. ;)…
@Neil: That obviously also depends on where your other server is. If it’s in Europe and you’re connecting from Europe, then it’s very likely to be faster than connecting to a US server. Compared to my old EU based server, it is indeed a little slower. That said, I also have a 2nd Cloud Server that I use as a VPN server to get access to some US only content and that really works very well.
Interestingly, I’ve just moved from dedicated servers to use rackspacecloud.com for sites, servers and files. The migration is not complete, mostly for cloud site, because I have over an hundred to move but for now it performs very well. Setup on cloud servers performs as well as my dedicated one and I was at a very good one. I just hope uptime will be as good as where I was…
@Neil, I’ve been with their Cloud Servers and it’s one of the best unmanaged hosting I’ve been with. The server is always up and responsive. (I monitor things pretty intensively) Not to mention their sleek control panel and one-click backup system.
Never had any experience with Cloud Sites. The one time I was just going to sign up with it, I found some pretty bad reviews about them for being really slow. But never have I heard anyone complain about their support yet. It’s easily the best because it’s Rackspace.
Can’t beat the cost of setting up your own webserver.
@Leef: I’d love to know how you came to that conclusion
I also used dedicated Hetzner server for hosting websites and it worked well, but as you said Serge: at some point it will become pain in the ass to be the guy responsible for hosting all the sites (configuring servers, worrying if the server stays up etc.)
I now use Mediatemple GridService and it’s pretty good and you can have 100 different websites on a single plan.
I also really liked Hetzner service, “only” about 40€/month and you get yourself a kick ass dedicated server.