FDC Servers

AMD XP 2000
512MB RAM
80GB HDD 7200 IBM
FREE IPs (ARIN rules)
Un- capped 100Mbit port
UN-METERED BANDWIDTH

for 99 monthly and 199 setup.

Is this good? Just how fast our their servers?
I am wanting to sign up for a long time, i just want some opinions on how fast they are. Are they better than rackshack? FDC is cheaper, and unmetered bandwidth, i am just wondering if it takes too much resources. I will have a few forums, 4-5, vbb or phpbb, and with maybe 30 users on at a time. The server specs seem good, amd xp 2000+ runs at 1.56 ghz i believe, which is good. Any comments?

take a look here (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=547462&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending)

there should be some useful stuff both good and bad about FDCServers

Originally posted by xzx
amd xp 2000+ runs at 1.56 ghz i believe,

1.7ghz

Originally posted by Daniel


1.7ghz 1.67 actually.

Now regarding FDCServers, I have no experience with them personally, but check at WHT as Gayo suggested. I've seen both good and bad posted about them.

I personally wouldn't sign up at the moment, i would wait until the new Yipes link comes up (if it ever does that is).

Thanks for all of your comments, but there is one thing i mistated.

I am not concerned about the speed of the hardware. AMD XP 2000+ is great.

I am concerned about the shared 100 mbps line they have it on. I am wondering if this is a common thing to do, and if other places like rackshack do it.

And what is the best control panel for free? I have heard of Cpanel ($1400), Plesk ($800) and Ensim ($200), but i am wondering about what is free? FDC says that they can install webmin for free, but it doesn't look too promising. Any suggestions?

I've heard the FDC can be quite slow at times, and pretty good at other times.

Sharing a 100Mbps port between several servers is a common thing to do, but each server usually has a set limit to how much bandwidth it can use.

Originally posted by Gayowulf
I've heard the FDC can be quite slow at times, and pretty good at other times.

Sharing a 100Mbps port between several servers is a common thing to do, but each server usually has a set limit to how much bandwidth it can use.

Rackshack does the same thing? What is their limit?

On FDC is says un-capped, does that mean it isn't limited? and it says un-metered bandwidth, so i could use all i want and they don't care. I am going to need around 1.5 terabytes at the maximum, probably more like 800 gigs but i just want to make sure that it is unlimited or as people rather refer to it as "Unmetered" since unlimited doesn't exist as people say...

Rackshack also does the sharing thing? With same limits?

1) Yes you are on a 100Mbit port, meaning you can spike up to 100Mbit if that is available, but i really highly doubt you would get more than 5Mbit.
2) You have no set limit, you can transfer as much as you possibly can.
3) Rackshack has you on a 5Mbit port i was told, and you can only transfer up to 400GB without paying overages.

With FDC I have seen spikes up to 20mbit Spikes only nothing constant there network gives good speeds you could push 4 - 5 mbps constant on a 99$ server....

Rackshack is 100mbps port on there shared stuff and you can push alot at a time but they limit you to 400gigs of transfer

Do not put a website you need to be online they use single homed cogent connection which goes down. But there cheap and usally pretty good.

As for free control panels webmin's good then stick on http://webcp.can-host.com/ its decent enough there's a few more around if you look. hotscripts.com will have em.

So has their down time problem been taken care of yet? Just how much downtime are we talking about in a month?

From what I've heard, it really depends on the month.

you really should do a search for FDC at webhostingtalk.com there seems to be a couple discussions every week about fdcservers there.

Most of them are too old...

Wel to be honest mabe a couple hours a month some month's theres nothing but some month's they have a few outages... Fact is if peering with a partner goes down or some sorta link fault goes which happens so much your sites down.

But latly its been pretty good.... That doesn't say much though good can turn bad in an instant without a backup

That's good...

I have a server at FDC, and they have in the past month truly shown a great improvement. Most network issues seem to have been resolved, tech support now really seems to be available 24/7 (whereas before you may have had to wait a day to get a response at times).

They've also made their pricing far more realistic. Put to mind, I'm paying the huge sum of $118 a month for an XP 1800+ machine with 1 GIG of ram and 2x40 GIG harddrives on an unmetered 100 MBIT port. I must add I did pay for the extra ram and harddrive, but it's still a very sweet deal. The server itself costs me $79 a month and I got in on a special offer on CPanel just under 2 months ago.

I've been with FDC from the start at the beginning of the year, and they did go through some rough months as they grew much faster than they had anticipated. They now seem to have gotten their act together (to my delight) and if they keep service up like it's been the last month, they can count on me beeing a long term customer.

EXAMPLE: This week they spent over 10 hours fixing CRC errors on one of the harddrives in my server. Pitty that after 2 days of running again it turned out to be a faulty harddrive I'm now waiting to get replaced. That's maybe one weakness left in their system. It takes them a long time to get their hands on replacement hardware.

P.S. If you are looking for a control panel, I have a 100 domain Ensim licence I could lend you. Ensim won't let me sell it and I'm not doing dipsh*t with it as I switched to CPanel. May as well lend it to somebody who's just starting out until they get on their feet.

Cool, i might want that. Ensim, it has customizable skins right? How hard is it to make them, like is it just create a html template and put some predefined variables by ensim, included in it? I may go and purchase the unlimited domain version, since i would like to have unlimited domain support, instead of 100. FDC doesn't install it for me, and the ensim site states that i need physical access to the server, and a cd rom drive to install it. Is it possible for me to install it over the internet? and how difficult is it?

On more question about fdc, their servers are unmanaged, i understand what that means, but i am wondering about hackers. Does the server come preinstalled with a firewall of some sort to stop hackers. I am new to the server biz, but not to computers, and i can work my way around. If someone has some url's and things that i will need on the server, i would appreciate it. I need php, perl, ssi, cgi-bin, .htaccess, imap, sendmail, etc. All url's for free upgrades or addons are appreciated, thanks for all your help...

You'll have to get fdc to put the cd in the server(if it has a cd drive). Otherwise, your screwed.


Of course not the servers have no firewall installed and I sure hope not you install one yourself, you'll just lock yourself out.

i am wondering about hackers. Does the server come preinstalled with a firewall of some sort to stop hackers. I am new to the server biz, but not to computers, and i can work my way around.

Red Hat 7.1 comes with IP Chains installed, you'll just need to configure it.

Red Hat 7.2/3 comes with IP Tables installed, you'll just need to configure it.

As long as you take your time and follow directly step by step, you aren't likely to lock yourself out. If you're going with Red Hat 7.1 there is a nifty program called PMFirewall which will setup and help you configure IP chains, just make sure you leave the correct ports open.

If you're going with Red Hat 7.2/7.3 you can grab Bastille Linux, both will definatly tighten security up on your server in a hurry.

With a little patience and self confidence you'll do fine. ;)

Is there anyone that is willing to teach me this stuff online, through aim or something? I really don't want to get a managed server, since it is so much more expensive and i would like to learn this stuff for future servers. If I pay someone to do this for me, i won't learn anything and have to pay everytime.

For bastile linux, It says i need to install perl-Curses or perl-Tk first, then Bastille RPM. It gives a command for installing, but i am wondering how simple it is. Is fdc going to give me a ftp address or something and i upload the rpm file into where? Where i am supposed to enter the install command? Please don't respond with sarcasm and say that i should go with a managed server, i don't like people who do that. I want to learn this stuff and i am asking directions or a place where i can learn it fast. Thanks...


Tazzman, If i could use your license for ensim, that would be great. Do you know how to install it over the internet by any chance?

Thanks...

1. Ensim can easily be installed remotely, there's no need for cdrom access. All you need is root access via SSH.

2. I'm sure if you ask FDC nicely they will install Ensim for you, but that would mean paying their rates and I'm not sure, but they may have a monthly charge.

3. Ensim doesn't have a built in firewall, but combines very well with PSAD and Bastille Linux, which is a very secure combination.

4. Ensim is fully skinable, but don't ask me how it works as I never got that far ;)

5. Should you trust me enough to give me root access to your server I would be willing to install Ensim for you. If you really wanted I could even throw PSAD and Bastille on for you. Otherwise, Ensim comes with detailed information on installing it and you can find a tutorial on installing Bastille and PSAD at http://www.unofficial-support.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=5

The licence file is a simple text file with a licence key you import to the control panel and thus can be changer easily at any time. I'd suggest you use Ensim using my licence key for a while to get a feel of it. Some people can't stand it after using it for a while (and I was one of them) while others love it to bits.

Sure, sounds great, i would like to save as much money as possible right now, until my sites start making some revenue. Doi you have some kind of instant messaging client?

Yes, FDC can install ensim for me, but i have to pay a $50 monthly fee which is a ripoff since i am purchasing the server annually to get the discounts...

Is there anyone that is online alot, that has experience with installing these things? I am going to try and use unofficial support but i might run into trouble and i want to be able to have someone to ask right then, and not have to wait a few days before someone responds here.

What order do install these things in? Ensim is before or after bastile. Is bastile first?

Can you please continue your discussion with private messages instead of posting on the message boards? Thanks.

I did give him my email address, but it seems he'd rather post around here than try me. Must agree that this isn't a tech forum, so I'll remove my last post and again stress that if he wants any help, he can email me...

Anyway, all these questions while I pointed him to some very staightforward tutorials... Makes me wonder how long this server of his is going to stay online. You might be better off with a fully managed server my friend.

Originally posted by Daniel
Can you please continue your discussion with private messages instead of posting on the message boards? Thanks.

Sorry, i didn't know that i couldn't ask for help on these forums. If i can't ask for help, then what are forums good for?

Taz, thanks, i am learning how to set it up and i don't want to get a managed server, because i want to learn how to do it myself. Sorry if it is too much trouble asking for guidance instead of paying someone else to do something i could learn how to...

Originally posted by xzx


Sorry, i didn't know that i couldn't ask for help on these forums. If i can't ask for help, then what are forums good for?



Yes but it appears that you are talking to tazzman, in that case, please use the private messaging system, or email, aim, whatever. Otherwise, I'm sure 4 posts in a row is considered spamming.

Sorry, i guess i should have used the edit buttons. I am talking to taz, but if anyone else has any suggestions, i am open-minded and appreciative to any helpful comments. I just wanted to double check so i don't lock myself out...

Something very bad just happened, Unofficial support is no longer in existance. Where can i find another tutorial as straight forward as that one?

Originally posted by xzx
Something very bad just happened, Unofficial support is no longer in existance.
Working Fine Over Here.

Originally posted by Moonman

Working Fine Over Here.

Yea, it's working fine now...

Linux comes with a firewall it seems, is this a good firewall or should i really install bastile linux?