Would you pay for a VPS without root access?

Would you pay for a VPS WITHOUT root?

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subigo

subigo

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Oct 20, 2007
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After starting this thread a few months ago, I have a new question for you: Would you pay for a VPS if you weren't given root access?

I ask, because it seems we are almost ready to launch a limited number of VPS plans. However, we beta tested them for a couple weeks with a few clients and well, the majority of them honestly screwed up their VPS on a regular basis.

So... if a company offered a fully-managed VPS plan and the price was right, would you care if you didn't have root access? Would no root access keep you from signing up in the first place?

Or at the very least, didn't give you root access by default. And if you did get root access the services covered under the definition of "fully-managed" would be reduced.
 


personally it would hurt the deal for me, because root access allows me the ability to change certain permissions on software I may be running on my vps that require root privs. to change, as well as certain scripts that require root access.
 
I think it's good for most people but there are guys like me that would still want root access.
 
As long as the option was there to have root access enabled, then yeah I'd be cool with it. Better for you guys not have to deal with dozens of tickets from people that fucked with the server and blew it up.
 
Well I guess I've got my answer.

I asked this same question in a chat room and got bombarded with people saying that no host would do that. However, it's actually quite common. If you look at Dreamhost for example they don't offer root access with their VPS's... but maybe that's why they re-brand them under their special name (dreamhostPS or some shit).

Anyway, we'll probably go with the "root enabled by request" option.
 
subigo said:
Well I guess I've got my answer.

I asked this same question in a chat room and got bombarded with people saying that no host would do that. However, it's actually quite common. If you look at Dreamhost for example they don't offer root access with their VPS's... but maybe that's why they re-brand them under their special name (dreamhostPS or some shit).

Anyway, we'll probably go with the "root enabled by request" option.
Click to expand...

Did you just compare yourself to Dreamhost? I thought you were smarter than this, subigo. :)
 
Bofu2U said:
Did you just compare yourself to Dreamhost? I thought you were smarter than this, subigo. :)
Click to expand...

lol... I just singled them out because they are so big and probably 10% of my clients are coming from them.

On a side note, I think I just found a new admin to hire, so that makes things a million times easier on me.
 
I'd much prefer having root, it's a God complex thing. However if the cost is discounted, I'd not have an issue with it assuming I can do what I need.

It sounds like you're just looking to take power away from the idiots ... not pass on savings.

Your new beep and bump plan sounds interesting

Our Perfectly Balanced DirectAdmin plans mean your account is placed on an UNDERsold server
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but the name (b&b not perfectly balanced) sucks.
 
erect said:
I'd much prefer having root, it's a God complex thing. However if the cost is discounted, I'd not have an issue with it assuming I can do what I need.

It sounds like you're just looking to take power away from the idiots ... not pass on savings.

Your new beep and bump plan sounds interesting

but the name (b&b not perfectly balanced) sucks.
Click to expand...

Well by taking the power away from the idiots, that does pass on savings. As it stands right now we'll probably be offering a fully-managed service, which will cost me a lot more in terms of what I pay a full-time admin. These are kind of the options:


  • Offer fully-managed plans with full root access. This means more support tickets for us (because people like to screw things up), which in turn equals a higher cost for me, because I pay my support team per ticket. So... that equals a higher cost for the VPS plan.
  • Offer fully-manged plans without root access. In theory this means fewer support tickets, which lowers what I have to pay the support team, which in turn allows me to offer cheaper VPS plans.
  • Offer semi-manged plans and both pay less for my support team and give cheaper VPS plans. However, if someone fucks something up, they might just be on their own, because it won't be covered by the semi-managed support.

Oh, and my girlfriend is going to hate you. But I <3 you. lol... I let her come up with the name "Beep and Bump" and hated it. But a couple of her friends who were there at the time all liked it too and sided with her, so I used it... but I told her the first time someone said it was gay I would changing it. :drinkup:

And on a totally different note... If anyone here is a linux admin who is familiar with CentOS/DirectAdmin and they are looking for part-time work, PM me. We pay anywhere from $2-4 per ticket for admin work (depending on experience) and a small monthly bonus as well. * Note: We don't get a ton of tickets, especially admin level, so this is not a replacement for a full-time job. You would be responsible for most of the VPS tickets when we launch the plans.
 
I would as long as I could ask an admin for help to change something in a reasonably short time frame if needed.
 
Subigo, you're really asking the wrong forum for your business. You got your answer already when your beta testers screwed everything up. I had to research what you were talking about to begin with so I would actually be your target audience for a manged vps. The question is are there more out there like me? I think so if you speak their language. For example I've been looking around for another solution to shared for a while but I just don't require something as big and robust as a dedi. I just need more disk space and faster load times. And I would appreciate it if other people weren't fucking with my server. But as for root access no. Infact, I would appreciate it if you would take the retard button away from me.

but Yeah I've been hoping zensix would do something like this for a while.

EDIT: Let me clarify the first sentence. WF is full of Brainac geeks that probably have they're own dedis already. Is this really the shared hosting audience? Probably not as much.

EDIT 2: How far off is this if you do it? cause I was seriously looking at managed vps hosting about 3 minutes before I saw this thread.
 
Sort answer:
I wouldn't.

Long answer:
I wouldn't because it takes all the magic of a VPS/Dedi away by not allowing us to do almost anything "big" without asking my hosting provider first - and I don't like the feeling of depending on someone.
 
Don't have so big need for VPS.
But I changed my hosting from shared to VPS just because of 2 things: 1) Stability. 2) ROOT access.

So yeah, it is really deal breaker.
 
I actually would. I mean, I'm a moderately skilled Linux admin, so I wouldn't mind having root, but for my webhost for AM stuff, I don't need it.

But if I don't have root, then what I do need: XCache, very current versions of PHP and MySQL, and enough sudo access to restart daemons and the VPS, edit the apache.conf, and add users. Those are, after all, mainly what I'd use root for.
 
Yes. For a VPS I'm paying for the power more than the control, but I would need to be able to submit tickets to get certain shit changed if necessary. In fact, I'd prefer it :)
 
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