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October 27, 2006 7:08 PM

Looking for a dedicated server hosting provider

We’re about to launch an online application – built in Flash to run research experiments.

The parameters that are most important are:

- Low latency (we’ll be running experiments in all parts of the World including China),
- High spec box (probably looking at 200 concurrent users hitting an app with a lot of optimised animations and rich media, regularly writing to a database),
- Budget – preferably less than $800USD per month.

*It has to be a Windows Server running >IIS5 with MS SQL database (and have SQL server enterprise manager)
Any other suggestions appreciated (except technology choice – it’s too late and complicated to get into those types of fundamentals).

posted by strawberryviagra to computers & internet (14 comments total)

webhostingtalk.com
posted by trevyn at 8:11 PM on October 27, 2006

What is a "high spec box?" Have you benchmarked your app on known hardware? How much data needs to be sent to each user to deliver the rich media and animations? How many database transactions per user/s?

We have a server with servermatrix.com, which is the budget dedicated server brand of ThePlanet, and I've been happy with them so far, though we haven't put the server under much strain.

How low latency do you need, because the speed of light is hard to get around? You may need to put another server closer to china to get the latency you want.

What kind of uptime do you require.

I'm guessing that someone like the planet could give you something acceptable for well within your budget, provided you don't need exceptional uptimes. You can "rent" a SQL server license, or you might try running with SQLExpress if you don't already have a web appropriate SQL server license.
posted by Good Brain at 8:13 PM on October 27, 2006

I don't have benchmarking details to justify a particular spec, other than to elaborate: we're tracking user activity through a configuration task, so each time they (respondents) click something, the application writes a timestamp (et al) to the database. There are a few rules that need to be checked and written, also (so a bit of database load, particularly at higher concurrency). The media/data transfer between the server and client is Flash based - most of it is <1 00kb but there will be a few files that will be up to 300kb (we can optimise with pre-loading, so just need good backbone access, etc for this).br>
I agree with you on the China problem - we've had inconsistent packet loss issues which I think is more to do with the great firewall of China problem. Our work-around is to also provide an executable version - but I thought it would be good to poll people for their solutions also.

Uptime is really important - quite often we run experiments in 3 continents concurrently - nothing worse than getting phone calls at 3AM... every fucking night.

It may be apparent that I'm not a developer or a sys admin - so bear with me. And... thanks.
posted by strawberryviagra at 9:12 PM on October 27, 2006

Carpathia offers several solutions that might fit your needs, and they've got true 99.999% uptime, and a kickin' datacenter. If Carpathia seems too expensive/over-the-top spec-wise, check out ProHosters, the company that has Carpathia's budget priced plans (in the same datacenter).
posted by fvox13 at 11:20 PM on October 27, 2006

Either rackspace.com or serverbeach.com might work for you.

ServerBeach offers Windows Server 2003 boxes with IIS 6 and MS SQL - dunno about the SQL Enterprise Manager, though. I'm not too familiar with that product and I haven't seen it listed on any of the dedicate hosting sites.

I've been pretty happy with ServerBeach. Less than 60ms to a box on the other side of the country from me. Never had any problems to speak of.
posted by drstein at 11:23 PM on October 27, 2006

Be sure to get console-over-SSH. Nothing sucks more than pinging the data center trolls to de-black-hole a server you got careless with. (Ask me how I know.)

(Rackspace does not offer this, and I wish they did, since their "fanatical" tech support is hit-or-miss. Think "telephone" with bored techies.)
posted by Coda at 12:09 AM on October 28, 2006

Rackspace has no pricing info on their site. Does anyone know what their rates are?
posted by madman at 12:37 AM on October 28, 2006

Rackspace is basically the ballpark that I'm currently working to - they tried to sting me with an additional $65 per month when it came to sign the contract - pissed me off, so I'm now checking other options to see what's out there.

They want $500 set up, and $995 per month (based on a 6 month contract) - this is "fanatical" support, with all the bits I identified above (AMD dual Athlon 3200 + 1 gig RAM).
posted by strawberryviagra at 1:21 AM on October 28, 2006

We used Verio for a few years and were generally happy with their service. Never had a problem with uptime. (At least, no problem due to their stuff. My stuff, on the other hand, well....) Our application was used solely from the US, so I can't comment specifically on their performance from other continents. It looks like they have basically what you want, a Microsoft 2003 Managed Server for $599/mo+$495 setup.
posted by blue mustard at 3:22 AM on October 28, 2006

It seems I've been looking at the right providers (have quotes from Verio and Rackspace). It occurs to me it may be a bit unimaginative to simply go with the most expensive - although having tier 1 access is a critical factor.

What we've built is probably more like an online game - so serverbeach may be good option - servers spec'd in consideration of the various processes required. I guess I'd have concerns about over-subscription, though.

Does anyone have any suggestions on load testing services?
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:38 PM on October 28, 2006

Specifically a load test that can walk through a Flash application?

I've been digging around gaming load tests - but haven't stumbled upon anything that looks appropriate (apart from dudes who would like to earn money testing games).
posted by strawberryviagra at 8:48 PM on October 28, 2006

Hey, ServerBeach is even selling dedicated gaming servers, so maybe they're right up your alley.

I don't even have any referral codes to whore your direction! :-)

And I don't know of any way to load test a Flash application. :|
posted by drstein at 11:01 PM on November 4, 2006

Wow - still live.

I actually found a benchmarking test that (according to the developer) I can use to load test flash. I'm about to undertake it - will let you know how it proves.
posted by strawberryviagra at 2:39 AM on November 6, 2006

And here it is

From their support: Neoload can record and playback any HTTP transaction including Flash navigation.
So, NeoLoad should work with your flash application. You can try the free trial version to check if there is some issues.
posted by strawberryviagra at 5:01 AM on November 6, 2006