Author Topic: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?  (Read 4146 times)

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Offline alberthrocks

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withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« on: October 30, 2011, 01:41:42 pm »
As you might have heard on IRC, withg.us.to has died - the entire VPS server is down (possibly permanently) due to my VPS provider neglecting to pay bills. Apparently, the owner, Brandon Crawford, is "taking a vacation"... perfectly valid for forgetting to pay bills, right? :P

Either way, data loss is imminent, if not already guaranteed. I'm attempt to contact ColoCrossing, the datacenter which hosts the Chicago node of VPSes offered by eNetSouth (eNSCloud). They've already said no, but hopefully they may turn on the server for a bit so that me and other former customers can get stuff backed up.

(See here for a joyful conversation about this host. :P)

Either way, data loss or not, it's time to look at the future. LowEndBox has mentioned some decent, stable VPS hosts here. They are trustworthy as this is user voted, and the users are experts at VPS hosting.

The only hosts listed there are BuyVM, RamHost, and QuickWeb. RamHost is sold out (hey, at least they're truthful, right? and not overselling :P), so that's off the list. The other two, BuyVM and QuickWeb, are available.

I'm picking a server that's in the US, with 512 MB - 1024 MB of RAM, 1+ cores, 30+ GBs, and 500+ GBs of bandwidth. I'm also aiming for Xen, since that VPS foundation is typically stabler and more reliable (and you can't oversell! :P).

That said... here are the plans I found:
Spoiler For "VPS Plans":
BuyVM
OpenVZ
512 / 1024 MB RAM | 2 cores | 50 GB HDD | 2000 GB BW | $5.95/mo
1024 / 2048 MB RAM | 4 cores | 60 GB HDD | 3000 GB BW | $12.95/mo
KVM
512 MB RAM | 2 cores | 50 GB HDD | 2000 GB BW | $10.00/mo
1024 MB RAM | 2 cores | 60 GB HDD | 3000 GB BW | $20.00/mo
Storage (useful only for backups)
128 MB RAM | 1 core | 250 GB HDD | 100 MBit/5Mbit DL/UL speed | $7.50/mo

QuickWeb
OpenVZ
Softlayer
512 MB RAM / 768 MB swap | 1 core | 20 GB HDD | 2000 GB BW @ 1000 MBit | $14.95/mo
"Supa" (Super)
512 MB RAM / 768 MB swap | 1 core | 25 GB HDD | 2000 GB BW @ 100-1000 MBit (Phoenix is 1Gbit, LA is 100 Mbit) | $9.95/mo
1024 GB RAM / 1.5 GB swap | 1 core | 40 GB HDD | 3000 GB BW @ 100-1000 MBit (Phoenix is 1Gbit, LA is 100 Mbit) | $17.95/mo

Xen
Softlayer
512 MB RAM / 1024 MB swap | 1 core | 30 GB HDD | 3000 GB BW @ 1000 MBit | $32.00/mo (way too expensive)
SingleHop @ Chicago
512 MB RAM / 1024 MB swap | 1 core | 30 GB HDD | 700 GB BW @ 1000 MBit | $24.95/mo (also expensive)
California
512 MB RAM / 1024 MB swap | 1 core | 30 GB HDD | 700 GB BW @ 100 MBit | $24.95/mo (also expensive)

Other companies not listed (but are either in the business for a long time or are back by a Fortune 500 company):
Zerigo
512 MB RAM | 4 cores | 24 GB HDD | 160 GB BW | $19.00/mo

Burst.NET
OpenVZ
512MB RAM | 1 core (1000 MHz) | 20 GB HDD | 1000 GB BW | $5.95/mo
512MB / 1024 MB RAM | 1 core (2000 MHz) | 20 GB HDD | 2000 GB BW (1 Gbps port) | $14.95/mo [This is their "premium" plan]
1024 MB RAM | 1 core (1500 MHz) | 50 GB HDD | 1000 GB BW | $9.95/mo
  - Both include 2 IPv4 and 1 IPv6

Note that OpenVZ has "burstable RAM", hence the 2nd number. You can go over your amount of RAM for a short period of time.

I apologize in advance for looking more like a spambot than a calc guy - I'm really indecisive about buying VPSes after what I like to call the "eNS Incident"... :P

What do you guys think? Which one is the cheapest and the best?
Withgusto Networks Founder and Administrator
Main Server Status: http://withg.org/status/
Backup Server Status: Not available
Backup 2/MC Server Status: http://mc.withg.org/status/


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Spoiler For Signature:
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Withgusto Networks Founder and Administrator
Main Server Status: http://withg.org/status/
Backup Server Status: Not available
Backup 2/MC Server Status: http://mc.withg.org/status/

Activity remains limited due to busyness from school et al. Sorry! :( Feel free to PM, email, or if you know me well enough, FB me if you have a question/concern. :)

Don't expect me to be online 24/7 until summer. Contact me via FB if you feel it's urgent.


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Calculator Projects:
M__ C_____ (an A____ _____ clone): 0% done (Need to figure out physics and Axe)
C2I: 0% done (planning, checking the demand for it, and dreaming :P)

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2011, 02:54:56 pm »
This is a bit why I stayed away from VPSes and cheap ones especially, because that always happens x.x

I hope you can recover your stuff but I hope you also ddi your homework first (doing backups).   

ANyway I'm not sure which one is actually good. It almost seems like going with a huge but more expensive company like 1and1 and SurpassHosting is the best way to go. You may get semi decent service, but you're almost guaranteed to not be shut down in long terms. But again good companies like Jatol did the same as your VPS in the past, so it's hard to trust anyone...

Offline Juju

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2011, 03:49:10 pm »
That sucks... Stupid VPS provider. Hope you find a more reliable one.

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Offline Eeems

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2011, 10:28:17 pm »
This explains what happened....

Well nothing I can't fix with a new server :P ( I have all the source files to everything I had up there ).
Take your time finding the right VPS :) Hopefully I'll figure everything out with my finances soon enough so I'll be able to help you pay a little :)
/e

Offline alberthrocks

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2011, 03:34:16 pm »
Good news - I've successfully got all of my data backed up! :D
I'll explain a bit more later, but right now, I have a new VPS and am retiring the old one: http://withg.us.to/

Quote from: Frontpage
withg.us.to is packing up!
Due to our VPS provider ditching their VMWare service (and not paying server dues = near loss of data for us),
we are moving to another host - of course, another VPS host, that is! :)
We recommend making immediate backups of your data NOW. If you modified data this past week, your data is probably not a part of our system backup.
We are not going to run another system backup again, so if this applies to you... BACK UP!

It will take a few days - maybe even a week or two - to get our stuff set up on the new VPS host, so please be patient.

Well, that's it! :) We hope to see you on the other side of the tunnel, withgusto! :D

- Albert H. (alberthrocks), withgusto server admin
Withgusto Networks Founder and Administrator
Main Server Status: http://withg.org/status/
Backup Server Status: Not available
Backup 2/MC Server Status: http://mc.withg.org/status/


Proud member of ClrHome!

Miss my old signature? Here it is!
Spoiler For Signature:
Alternate "New" IRC post notification bot (Newy) down? Go here to reset it! http://withg.org/albert/cpuhero/

Withgusto Networks Founder and Administrator
Main Server Status: http://withg.org/status/
Backup Server Status: Not available
Backup 2/MC Server Status: http://mc.withg.org/status/

Activity remains limited due to busyness from school et al. Sorry! :( Feel free to PM, email, or if you know me well enough, FB me if you have a question/concern. :)

Don't expect me to be online 24/7 until summer. Contact me via FB if you feel it's urgent.


Proud member of ClrHome!

Spoiler For "My Projects! :D":
Projects:

Computer/Web/IRC Projects:
C______c: 0% done (Doing planning and trying to not forget it :P)
A_____m: 40% done (Need to develop a sophisticated process queue, and a pretty web GUI)
AtomBot v3.0: 0% done (Planning stage, may do a litmus test of developer wants in the future)
IdeaFrenzy: 0% done (Planning and trying to not forget it :P)
wxWabbitemu: 40% done (NEED MOAR FEATURES :P)

Calculator Projects:
M__ C_____ (an A____ _____ clone): 0% done (Need to figure out physics and Axe)
C2I: 0% done (planning, checking the demand for it, and dreaming :P)

Offline Juju

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2011, 05:39:28 pm »
Yay \o/

Remember the day the walrus started to fly...

I finally cleared my sig after 4 years you're happy now?
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Offline Eeems

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2011, 07:09:40 pm »
yay! This meeans I don't have to recreate one script that I don't have locally
/e

Offline alberthrocks

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2011, 08:15:30 pm »
Well, time for a more deep down explanation:

First of all, I apologize for not telling you this earlier - you might have noticed me rejoicing a bit in IRC, because the old VPS was restored earlier. However, I didn't want to jinx myself by saying that all the data has been backed up... and have the connection to the old VPS cut while doing a backup transfer. :P Also, I didn't want to provide news that may not necessarily be true - that is, the backups may not be transferred correctly, and karma might kill me. :P Nevertheless, now you know that withgusto is seeing a brighter future, starting today! :D

So on Monday night, the VPSes were restored in the datacenter. Immediately, I quickly crafted a script to perform the backups - I did backups by folder so that there would be less chance of error and problems occurring. The backups completed in a few hours.

The next hurdle was to get the backups... well, backed up! :P I asked around, and Tari, seana41, and Aes was kind enough to lend their support and download those backups. :) (I don't know if they have Omni accounts or not) Tari finished first (he has the fastest bandwidth O_O), with the others following after. My internet is terribly slow (180 kbytes/s MAX), so I am unable to download 10 GBs of compressed backups.

Finally, the last hurdle was to get a new VPS provider. In that same thread, a kind owner was able to offer me what I consider a steal - $15/mo for a KVM VPS (good virtualization software!) that has 1 GB RAM, 25 (now 60!) GB HDD, 1 TB bandwidth, and 2 CPU cores! O_O After some reputation assessing, I committed to his offer and got a new VPS! :D I began and successfully completed the transfer of backups to the new VPS, and have verified that they made it safe and sound. :)

So although this was pretty stressful and irritating, I got to learn a bit more about VPSes in general... and even got a better deal too! :D
(Previous deal was $12.99/mo for 512 MB RAM, got away with paying the same price for 768 MB RAM - actual price is $17.99/mo. Now you see why I consider this a steal! XD)
Withgusto Networks Founder and Administrator
Main Server Status: http://withg.org/status/
Backup Server Status: Not available
Backup 2/MC Server Status: http://mc.withg.org/status/


Proud member of ClrHome!

Miss my old signature? Here it is!
Spoiler For Signature:
Alternate "New" IRC post notification bot (Newy) down? Go here to reset it! http://withg.org/albert/cpuhero/

Withgusto Networks Founder and Administrator
Main Server Status: http://withg.org/status/
Backup Server Status: Not available
Backup 2/MC Server Status: http://mc.withg.org/status/

Activity remains limited due to busyness from school et al. Sorry! :( Feel free to PM, email, or if you know me well enough, FB me if you have a question/concern. :)

Don't expect me to be online 24/7 until summer. Contact me via FB if you feel it's urgent.


Proud member of ClrHome!

Spoiler For "My Projects! :D":
Projects:

Computer/Web/IRC Projects:
C______c: 0% done (Doing planning and trying to not forget it :P)
A_____m: 40% done (Need to develop a sophisticated process queue, and a pretty web GUI)
AtomBot v3.0: 0% done (Planning stage, may do a litmus test of developer wants in the future)
IdeaFrenzy: 0% done (Planning and trying to not forget it :P)
wxWabbitemu: 40% done (NEED MOAR FEATURES :P)

Calculator Projects:
M__ C_____ (an A____ _____ clone): 0% done (Need to figure out physics and Axe)
C2I: 0% done (planning, checking the demand for it, and dreaming :P)

Offline Juju

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Re: withg.us.to -> DEAD -> Better future?
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2011, 10:54:53 pm »
Awesome :D

Remember the day the walrus started to fly...

I finally cleared my sig after 4 years you're happy now?
THEGAME
This signature is ridiculously large you've been warned.

The cute mare that used to be in my avatar is Yuki Kagayaki, you can follow her on Facebook and Tumblr.