Server Management companies that support DA?

[interfasys]

I've been looking for a $50-$100 a month full server management service. Different companies provide this, but few support DirectAdmin.

-Bobcares say they will with their Server Management plan ($100), but I don't think they have experience with it and I think they might be better at support that sysadmin.
-R-fx Networks has a nice Server Aware Monitoring plan ($85), but they have so much work that they cannot get any new client. Their communication skills are terrible.
-Touchsupport has a Dedicated Tech plan($75), but won't provide this service for DA for another 3 months (at least imo) unless the merger with R-fx Networks happens very soon.

Do you know other companies that can provide full server management, 24/7, at that price and without breaking DA?

[S2S-Robert]

We use ncmanage. They don't support DA as the control panel, but we're only with them using the security / 24-7 service package.

Given the fact that we're thinking about upgrading the account and you might be interested they would perhaps start supporting DA. The more customers running DA the more interesting it becomes for them.

http://www.ncmanage.com

[ProWebUK]

I'd be happy to do this and have something I cant yet reveal..... which involves management.

To be honest with you it wont cover the management of the panel..... If a problem occurs with directadmin we would not guarantee to be able to fix.... quite simply only John and Mark will know the source of certain problems since they know the source.

A simple summary of what we currently do with managed servers:


Software updates and patches, firewall installed and configured, telnet is disabled, Kernel is updated to a recent stable and secure version, all software installed by us is regularly checked for updates and updated as required if there are no known bugs, problems or security problems with the software it in most cases is not updated. Direct root login is disabled as a extra form of security, SSH protocol 2 is forced. Apache server versions are masked to hide version numbers which hackers may use. All root passwords are changed to a password you specifiy, the admin password for root can also be changed by us.

Hostname setup, all software configured to work with your DNS correctly, Firewall configured to work with all IP addresses for your server, nameservers are setup for you to link domains to your server.

PHP, Perl etc are usually installed if they are not already, DirectAdmin incudes this so can therefore be ignored here.

Apache is tuned to run up to 6 times faster than normal, server settings are modified to cause hard drive speed gains of up to 100%, Zend optimizer is installed on your system which optimizes PHP. MySQL is also configured to give optimimum performance. (DirectAdmin also includes zend so that can be excluded from there)

All managed servers supplied by us have SIM (system intergrity monitor) installed. SIM will restart all the major software installed on your system in the case of it failing or crashing for any reason. Regular simple checkovers take place on your server to make sure all required software is running correctly. DirectAdmin has a similar feature buiolt in and therefore SIM is only set to check software that is not monitored by DirectAdmin.

Monitoring as a server whole (where the server goes down etc) we do NOT supply as part of management.

A divert is setup to forward all email sent to 'root', to an email address you specify.

If you request it (you will need a license) we will also install and configure Urchin 5 free of charge. Once we have tested automation with DirectAdmin we will also include that if you wish.

We setup log files to be rotated on a daily basis then compressed for 2 weeks before getting deleted. This is to lower the disk space usage of log files. This can be specified to anything you wish upon request.


At the moment (until i can get this setup officially) I would do this for $60 USD per month.

If you or anyone else is interested I would need to get an agreement setup firstly then.

(going to stop advertising now :D )

Chris

[interfasys]

The tuning sounds good, but I would need tougher security measures. Something like this:
http://www.rfxnetworks.com/linux_appsec_managed.php
With the grsecurity kernel.

This also includes some monthly hours to install new software and I would use that to install php modules,etc.

If something happens with DA (bugs, weird behaviour) at the server level, the admin should contact DA's support. That would be ideal.

Some monitoring is being done at ServerMatrix. If anything goes wrong, the admin should take measures to bring the server up and fix things up.

Basically, I want to stop taking care of the server unless I need to. I've got better things to do =)

[ProWebUK]

- Custom firewall setup; APF (Advanced policy firewall) [optional]

We install KISS firewall on all servers, basically an equal alternative to APF

- SIM (System integrity monitor)

This software is installed for services DirectAdmin does not monitor ( as mentioned above)

- PRM (Process resource monitor)
- FaF (File anomaly finder)

Both of these can be installed as cron with emails sent daily / weekly etc as you specify.

- PMON (Network socket monitor)

This could also be installed upon request although it is not included as default

- SPRI (System priority)

Another of the scripts from R-FX this could also be installed upon request.

Things not mentioned in my first message that i owuld happy to install in the name of security also include

libsafe
snort
others listed above

there are a fex extras missed out on the above message such as time setup sync to a time server you specify removal of unneeded software such as printer drivers etc upon request apache php etc custom apache build system with directadmin can be used for apache /php updates.... if you simply wanted php compiled wityh a new configure line etc that could be done also. a few things I did not mention also, telnet is disabled and the port blocked - this is temporarily reverted during SSH upgrades, the date and time on the server are set to the time you specify or sync'ed to a time you specify, if youwish this can be left.

MRTG, Mod_GZIP perl modules new php configure lines etc can all be done upon request.

Regarding DA problems, a simple license 'ok' check such as logging in successfully i think would be ok.... to check in detail it would basically be creating sites every day then removing them to keep it clean etc etc....with 'general' DA problems such as licensing troubles wont start etc I would obviously go into helping into detail, contact Mark or John as soon as possible if you werent there etc but in depth DA checking I think is something I would rather keep away from and am therefore not going to offer it as something 'included'.

Edit: just noticed the grsecurity mention in your previous post, I wouldn't be looking to do something of that extent at the cost, remotely and with the knowledge I have of that particular kernel.

Chris

[ClayRabbit]

It's very interesting offer.

Monitoring as a server whole (where the server goes down etc) we do NOT supply as part of management.
But it's very important thing, I guess. How much it will cost to include monitoring in your service?
If server (or service) goes down, someone must be ready to fix it ASAP and 24/7.

[ProWebUK]

To be 100% i'm not including it since I cant actually offer it, I could say im offering it but quite simply would not be able to stand against my word by saying such.

As much as it is impossible to totally remove the possibility of a server going down the risk of it occuring can be minimised by a layout of procedures before a problem such as a system crash or failure occurs.

Firstly, with both SIM and DirectAdmin installed on your server you are immediately monitoring the main software on your server, this including:

Apache
DirectAdmin
Exim
MySQL
Named
ProFTP
sshd
vm-pop3d
Bind
PostGreSQL (if you have it installed)

With a bit of work the list can be extended.... MRTG etc etc

With this protection as default your leaving the listed software basically impossible to stop and stay down for anymore than 5 minutes, the only exception would be when the software fails to startup for any reason.

After that area of keeping software running server crashes etc can be caused by high load, to many processes, memory leaks, high CPU usage etc. This then gets covered by things such as PRM (process resouce monitor) SIM (basic load protection) along with other software.

This kind of software basically monitors load, CPU usage, processes, memory usage etc, in most cases you can specify the point where you wish to get notifed. The programs in most cases simply notify you of the problem and from there we can look into it although its often possible to restart software or even stop software to kill all previous activity and processes (such as mysql apache etc) that should also pull loads and CPU usage back down... with memory leaks its again monitoring things keeping up-to-date etc which is always done.

If you did want the monitoring servers you would be required to purchase them yourself at your own expense, a few I know of include:

http://www.alertra.com/pricing.php
http://www.server-monitoring.co.uk/pricing.html

Chris

[interfasys]

So if we monitor things, we could forward alerts to you and you would be able to take actions 24/7 so that we can go on vacation? =)

[ProWebUK]

Originally posted by interfasys
So if we monitor things, we could forward alerts to you and you would be able to take actions 24/7 so that we can go on vacation? =)

Do you mean when you go on vacation the alerts get switched over to us rest of the time you have it? or do you mean permanently linked to us.

For vacations etc I can go over normal although as I said, under normal circumstances I do not *always* have access to ssh.

Can I ask who your server provider is or alternatively how you go about rebooting your server.... if its simply submit a ticket from a normal html form at your provider (such as ev1 that works like this)

If it works the same as mentioned above I would accept permanent alerts sent to me have a page set to monitor certain parts of your server manually (which I could check after an alert of your server being down to see if everything is down or just apache)

Although again:

If at this point ftp etc were showing as online and apache down i would be left with an issue if i was away once again, with no SSH access.

The soloution that comes to mind here, is telnet, I *DO* have telnet access anywhere..... which covers up the ssh access.. almost.... as we all know :D telnet is insecure...... so what im thinking is.... a system where an email can be sent to X@X.com with a certain message that would then start up telnet allowing me access, failing that i could just restrict 1 user access to telnet with a unknown username :p...... I dont like the idea of having telnet running or having to use it.... but it does solve a problem here.

Can I ask what your opinions on this are also?

Chris

[interfasys]

I mean permanently linked to the company that provides the service. That way I wouldn't have to worry about the server going down right after I went to sleep.

Touchsupport and Bobcares have a large enough team to take care of their customers 24/7 and that would be a relief.

But what I'm looking for might be a bigger package than the one that you're offering, since I really want to stop taking care of the machine.

(Maybe you could have a partership with some US based companies (TS) since you are in a different timezone than theirs and you know DA ;))

How come you have telnet anywhere and not SSH? Most PDAs or smartphones have SSH.

Your solution of automatically launching telnet is a good idea,but I'm a bit worried about the security implications (exploit)

[S2S-Robert]

May I ask why you don't have SSH access everywhere but do have telnet access? Do you have a telnet program on your mobile phone or something?

[ProWebUK]

Originally posted by S2S-Robert
Do you have a telnet program on your mobile phone or something?

Yes :)

Chris

[S2S-Robert]

[off-topic]
neat

buy yourself a phone with SSH then :P

[interfasys]

I'm surprised because putty was ported to a lot of platforms.

[ProWebUK]

If you can find a copy of putty for windows smartphone 2002 24/7 server monitoring is yours with no argument :D

With what i'm offering you could basically forget about any knowledge you have with server administration, could you tell me what the process is for rebooting your server currently also.... remote reboot port, ticket etc? if it was web based thats another problem solved. With the monitoring and the setup put together i cant see there being many problems taking long to resolve.... the worst case scenario being

I have just taken a look at both BobCares and TouchSupport also, and both seem to give minimal information on what the cost actually includes.... with bobcares they actually dont specify any work done, rather just a set time which sounds quite worrying.


Chris

[interfasys]

http://www.movsoftware.com/products/sshce/sshce.htm
Hmmm...and I guess those apps need to be signed?
How do you use telnet on such a small screen anyway?

Reboots are asked via a control panel and I can create user accounts with access to specific resources.

For Bobcares, you have to look at this:
http://www.bobcares.com/pages/skills.php
to get an idea of what they can provide.

For Touchsupport, you don't know how much work they do for you (unless you ask them), but they have a good reputation, so I guess they provide good value for money. They do mention that they will monitor, backup and restore the server for you. The restore part is interesting in case of a HD failure. If I'm not here, they take care of this.

The pack that goes into more details is the one from RFX Networks, but they might not provide it anymore.

Ezms also has a nice detailed package:
http://www.ezsm.com/fullservice.html
and they are well known, but I have no idea if they provide support for DA...

[ProWebUK]

Originally posted by interfasys
http://www.movsoftware.com/products/sshce/sshce.htm
Hmmm...and I guess those apps need to be signed?
How do you use telnet on such a small screen anyway?

Just tried the download with no luck.. failed to run.

Its actually not that bad, its quite amazing how you can get normal sized web pages with normal sized graphics on there and it still being usable :p


Originally posted by interfasys
Reboots are asked via a control panel and I can create user accounts with access to specific resources.


If its accessable via IE i can get there... that would be no problem.

The only real problem I could think of now would be if software monitored by SIM and DA failed to start... in most cases a reboot would fix the majority of these errors although not *always*..... apart from this I think any problems there have been resolved?


Originally posted by interfasys
They do mention that they will monitor, backup and restore the server for you. The restore part is interesting in case of a HD failure. If I'm not here, they take care of this.

They provide the space for backups etc...? im sure if you had 3 120gb HD's wired up in your box and full they may take a dislike to you :p If its 'you provide the space we run the backups' id be happy to take that on also.... be second harddrive or external FTP location.

Chris

[interfasys]

I do have to provide FTP space =)

Do you manage FreeBSD servers also?

[ProWebUK]

At the moment only redhat 7.2 > 9, will be with a RHEL in a day or 2 (or once ev1 get them!) so that will come soon also.

Chris

[teedee]

Chris,

did you get my mail regarding this ?

[ProWebUK]

Yep.... I thought I responded?

I willresend in a moment :)

Chris

[interfasys]

Originally posted by ProWebUK
At the moment only redhat 7.2 > 9, will be with a RHEL in a day or 2 (or once ev1 get them!) so that will come soon also.

Chris

Seems it's even harder to find a DA/FreeBSD sysadmin ;)

[nobaloney]

I can't believe it took me this long to find this thread :) .

We're in the support business. We've been supporting Cobalt RaQs for webhosting companies since the RaQ2, and we're Plesk Gold Partners.

We actually host very little ourselves; most of our clients are hosting companies.

We've not set up a plan for DirectAdmin because frankly I thought the DA staff was doing such an admirable job themselves.

However, though it's not on our website, we can start offering DA services immediately.

Please write me or visit my (not up-to-date :( ) website for more information.

Jeff

[teedee]

Chris (ProwebUK) went through my system for me and I m very pleased with the work that he done. Great job, Great value for $'s.

[ProHS]

So is bobcares.com trust worthy? Because i am not to sure about them since there a foreigh company.

[interfasys]

They are ISO certified and I would trust them for server admin tasks, but for support I'm not sure since their english might not be good enough sometimes.

[ProHS]

Yea very true i will probably start off with having them manage my server and later on i might have them help my customers later on if i find there good in english.

[nobaloney]

For what it's worth, we're in the hosting management, administration and hosting support business.

Less than 5% of our business is our retail and reseller clients; 95% is small hosting companies.

We only offer english-language support at this time.

We do both telephone and email support options; our most popular option is where your clients call a toll-free number when they have a problem and our onduty support representative calls back within a few minutes. It's most popular because it's the least expensive way to do live telephone support.

We can supply references.

Jeff

[ProHS]

Originally posted by jlasman
For what it's worth, we're in the hosting management, administration and hosting support business.

Less than 5% of our business is our retail and reseller clients; 95% is small hosting companies.

We only offer english-language support at this time.

We do both telephone and email support options; our most popular option is where your clients call a toll-free number when they have a problem and our onduty support representative calls back within a few minutes. It's most popular because it's the least expensive way to do live telephone support.

We can supply references.

Jeff

Can you equal to what bobcares.com offers?

[nobaloney]

Originally posted by ProHS
Can you equal to what bobcares.com offers?
John and Mark have asked me to not quote prices on this forum, so I urge you to contact me privately. If for some reason you can't call, please get our contact information from my website.

Though we're located in the U.S., and not in India, so our costs are quite a bit higher, we can compete with BobCares very well for similar service.

Jeff

[interfasys]

An interesting thing for me per example is that Bobcares.com or instacarma.com are also able to manage BSD servers in case you want to switch a server to that.

[nobaloney]

Though we're not as familiar with them as we are linux, we've been managing BSD-based servers since 1996 :) .

And if you ever decide to upgrade to telephone support, we offer that.

But I don't want to get into a shooting match, so all I can say is you need either administration or support, contact us.

Jeff

[interfasys]

Yeah, I've realized after posting that it wasn't a really smart reply...

It's great to see that people from this forum can provide support service and that we have people or companies out there that can help us.

[ProHS]

I just wanted to let everyoen know instacarma.com does not offer BSD management only windows and linux.

[interfasys]

Ouch, they must have changed their mind....Too many request perhaps...

I think supportresort.com still does it

[ProHS]

Yea maybe but who knows.

[interfasys]

Instacarma says that they do support FreeBSD.
http://instacarma.com/services.htm

Do you have proof that they don't?

[nobaloney]

According to their website they do support FreeBSD.

According to their website they do NOT support DirectAdmin.

Imho their 4 hour resolution leaves a lot to be desired.

They seem quite expensive as well.

Jeff

[interfasys]

I wouldn't call their plan expensive since for a $100 you get unlimited hours of server management. Yeah, I know..unlimited....but can you really do 8 hours a day of work on a webhosting server, just for maintenance?

But maybe you're talking about their support plan.

As for DA, I don't think it's a problem since DA uses standard components. It's not hard for a sysadmin to understand how things work with this setup.

[nobaloney]

Originally posted by interfasys
I wouldn't call their plan expensive since for a $100 you get unlimited hours of server management.
I just examined their entire page, and that's not the impression I get at all. I don't see the words "unlimited" or "hours" at all; I'm going to write them to clarify.

Yeah, I know..unlimited....but can you really do 8 hours a day of work on a webhosting server, just for maintenance?
The going wage for techs and admins in India is equiavalent to about us$1.25, so they could afford to give a lot of service if they needed to.

We've been supporting systems for small webhost companies for years, and while I've been told I can't advertise my rates here, I think if you called me you'd see that you can get what it really takes from a U.S. company (which may or may not be "better" in your opinion :) at competitive prices).

But maybe you're talking about their support plan.
Actually, I was.

As for DA, I don't think it's a problem since DA uses standard components. It's not hard for a sysadmin to understand how things work with this setup.
I agree, but it's been my experience that Indian outsource companies place a lot of stake in their exact language. If they don't say they'll support DA, my guess is they won't. I'll ask them that as well.

EDIT: Can't reach them at this time through sbc (my ISP) so I've used lynx running on one of my colocated systems to fill in their contact form. Clean code, the contact form works fine through lynx, and that's a plus :) EDIT-END

Jeff

[nobaloney]

Originally posted by interfasys
Ouch, they must have changed their mind....Too many request perhaps...

I think supportresort.com still does it

I sent a specific question to supportresort.com yesterday to see if I could use them for programming projects (their prices are reasonable and I'm willing to try them), and didn't get an answer until today. The answer, when it came, didn't really address my question, perhaps because of the language barrier.

I've written back, to clarify my questions, and we'll see what kind of an answer I get. If the language barrier is serious, and the delays long, they'd be unusable by us for that reason :( .

Has anyone on the list used them for customer support and gotten good response?

Jeff

[interfasys]

About Instacarma,

Actually, I made all these statements because I have their SLA in my hands ;)

I've talked with one of their sales person and they have assured me that to support Directadmin wouldn't be a problem.

[nobaloney]

Thanks.

I haven't belonged to isp-outsourcing for a while; I'll ask there if anyone has actual experience with them.

Jeff

[Seth]

http://www.bocacom.net
:D

[interfasys]

Bocacom has nothing to do in this thread or I'm blind...

[Seth]

Oh I thought the thread was about the poster wanting a providor who used DirectAdmin....

[interfasys]

There is a separate forum for such offers ;)

[nobaloney]

I id a bit of checking; it appears that Seth is a satisfied client of Bocacom; not an employee.

If he honestly thought that this was a thread asking for companies offering DirectAdmin, then his post, though misplaced, was not malicious.

From the title it might be a bit confusing as to what the thread was about, but it doesn't seem that Seth is guilty of anything more than exuberance and a lack of investigation before posting.

Jeff

[Seth]

my post was related to his question, right?

[ProWebUK]

Originally posted by Seth
my post was related to his question, right?

Not really;



Do you know other companies that can provide full server management, 24/7, at that price and without breaking DA?


However, as Jeff noted, from your second post it's clear that the advertising was not intenionally spam for the company but rather a lack of understanding of the authors original post.

Chris

[Seth]

and what are your tags and signatures? haha

I scanned the guys first post and hit reply...I was just trying to help him out.

[nobaloney]

Signatures are actually defined in various RFCs Seth, and a concensus has been reached by the entire Internet community on their use, their length, and their purpose.

Please don't take netiquette lightly; those of us who have a lot of history on the 'net and indeed in some cases a lot of input into how and why it works the way it does, both physically and culturally, have a lot invested in keeping the Internet a workable community for everyone.

Jeff
(who founded what may have been one of the first webhosting company back in late 1994)

[Seth]

haha, ok sorry if I hurt your feelings

[rldev]

I know acunett.com/managed, rack911.com and cheetaweb.net now support DA.

[smtalk]

Now there are many companies that support DirectAdmin :) I think that now we should discuss which is the best one.

[nobaloney]

But Martynas, how many of us would just put forth our own name :) ?

Jeff

[future assassin]

Old thread but I use Acunett and they have done a fine job managing my box for over a year now.