Liam-FD Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 Hi all, I've been creating some PHP/SQL based software focusing on how pupils are assessed. We have been trialling this piece of software with several classes within the school and as of September we want to be able to slowly roll it out to the entire school. I am looking for suggestions of UK based VPS providers (must be UK based due to data protection for the school - rather than EU). To this date I haven't been too particular with companies that I have hosted with but for such an important project that will potentially need to answer to any Ofsted inspections, it is important that we decide on a reliable company for our project. We have chosen to host off site rather than on site. Obviously we are bound to a budget by the school but I would be grateful for any suggestions of UK based VPS providers whom you may have had positive experiences with. Specification wise we would be looking at 2GB+ Ram, 75GB+ HDD with the option of having backups (or as standard) as well as cPanel (for easier controlled management), a large amount of data transfer as well as UK location. Companies based in the UK would be favoured as it will be easier to converse with them as we are hoping to extend our relationship with the host as the usage of the software spreads into other schools. Any suggestions would be fantastic! Thanks, Liam
MrKJLS Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 DigitalOcean are good. They are U.S. based but they have a London Datacenter. They don't come with cPannel installed out of the box. But their servers have SSD's and they are Linux based.https://www.digitalocean.com/ I personally think this would make a cool internal project to do, but DigitalOcean seemed to be pretty good. I've been running my VPS with them for a couple of months and everything seems to be ok! 1
dhicks Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 I am looking for suggestions of UK based VPS providers (must be UK based due to data protection for the school - rather than EU). Mythic Beasts have infrastructure split between London and Cambridge: https://www.mythic-beasts.com Positive Internet (UK) run their own Cambridgeshire datacentre: The Positive Internet Company | Home 1
Liam-FD Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 DigitalOcean are good. They are U.S. based but they have a London Datacenter. They don't come with cPannel installed out of the box. But their servers have SSD's and they are Linux based.https://www.digitalocean.com/ I personally think this would make a cool internal project to do, but DigitalOcean seemed to be pretty good. I've been running my VPS with them for a couple of months and everything seems to be ok! Mythic Beasts have infrastructure split between London and Cambridge: https://www.mythic-beasts.com Positive Internet (UK) run their own Cambridgeshire datacentre: The Positive Internet Company | Home Thanks for your suggestions. Do you know if DigitalOcean have any sort of control panel as standard? Simple things like file management, emails, databases etc. I don't necessarily need cPanel but will need an easy to use interface so that others will be able to work with it.
GTX Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 I'll be honest.. OVH (France) are my personal favorite. Iv been using them for around 5 years. The costs are minute for great hardware and fantastic network (With Ddos protection). Support can be shocking at times but if you want to some some cash. I have only had to contact support once in 5 years regarding a hardware issue on my Dedicated server. This is it. 1
MrKJLS Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Thanks for your suggestions. Do you know if DigitalOcean have any sort of control panel as standard? Simple things like file management, emails, databases etc. I don't necessarily need cPanel but will need an easy to use interface so that others will be able to work with it. You pay DigitalOcean just for the server. You don't get cPanel or anything installed on. But they give you root access to the server, so you can do what ever you need to it. You can get droplets (server) pre-installed with LAMP, WordPress and things like that. That's it really. You also get SSH access and the normal Linux Stuff. They also host DNS if you need it as well. I attached some images from the Management Area: 1
gtg93 Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 https://www.unlimitedwebhosting.co.uk/vps-hosting-ssd.php Unlimted web hosting I'd recommend - there are some cheaper alternative out there, but for the speedy and helpfulness of their support, it's worth paying the extra money. They do offer CPanel licenses too, but they're direct from CPanel anyway so you'd be just as well buying your own. They're based in Manchester and use UK only datacenters. 1
Liam-FD Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 I'll be honest.. OVH (France) are my personal favorite. Iv been using them for around 5 years. The costs are minute for great hardware and fantastic network (With Ddos protection). Support can be shocking at times but if you want to some some cash. I have only had to contact support once in 5 years regarding a hardware issue on my Dedicated server. This is it. Thanks, OVH look good, it's a shame you say their support is not so good however if it's not needed I guess this is good! You pay DigitalOcean just for the server. You don't get cPanel or anything installed on. But they give you root access to the server, so you can do what ever you need to it. You can get droplets (server) pre-installed with LAMP, WordPress and things like that. That's it really. You also get SSH access and the normal Linux Stuff. They also host DNS if you need it as well. I attached some images from the Management Area: [ATTACH=CONFIG]31229[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]31230[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31231[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31232[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31233[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31234[/ATTACH] Thanks for the screenshots, I guess I could always install webmin or similar if needed. I am now expanding my search to any other EU based VPS providers, still meeting the specification above (disregard UK location). If anyone can suggest reputable companies for EU based too, that would be great!
localzuk Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 You can buy and install CPanel yourself - Pricing Plans & Discounts | cPanel, Inc.
Liam-FD Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 You can buy and install CPanel yourself - Pricing Plans & Discounts | cPanel, Inc. Indeed, the only downside is that the costs are generally more to buy from cPanel direct, than as part of a package with a company and with a budget to consider I need to try and save everything I can!
mikecampbell Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 I have experience with Memset and their Miniserver VPS are really good value and their support is excellent. I also have experience with DigitalOcean, who are also very good, and probably a bit more consumer friendly (less enterprisey). 1
jtoland Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Cpanel also do education discount so it like 15 pound once then nothing after 1
Lippy Posted June 29, 2015 Posted June 29, 2015 (edited) I can personally recommend United Hosting (unitedhosting.Co.UK). I've had a reseller account with them for many years and a VPS for a few months. They have a secure data centre in London and are flexible with their VPS specs. They provide CPanel as standard as well as regular backups and genuine 24/7 support (they also have a data centre in the US but you can specify UK server) Edited June 29, 2015 by Lippy
dwhyte85 Posted June 30, 2015 Posted June 30, 2015 (edited) Vultr are pretty good, you can purchase an instance in the UK with cPanel on CentOS (under application) - I pay $20.00 a month for mine 15GB SSD, 768mb RAM, 1TB transfer and the performance is pretty good (I found it better than digital ocean). Support is very much do it yourself, unless something is wrong on the infrastructure or network you aren't going to get support, digital ocean was a little more helpful on that front - swings and roundabouts. Good luck! Edited June 30, 2015 by dwhyte85
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