Re: [cobalt-users] Cobalt Racks Question

[Keith Davis <cache@xxxxxxxxxx>]

We wanted to tryout a RaQ4 before buying one so we leased a dedicated
RaQ4 at CobaltRacks.com for a few months and moved a few of our sites
over there. Some of the sites use unusual configs and we wanted to make
sure a Raq could handle them without major changes. So far we have been
un-impressed with the RaQ, it is nothing more than advertising hype that
is FAR from ready for prime-time. There are other UIs that do far more
with better layouts and have been released as "stable versions" instead
of a perpetually ongoing beta.

But CobaltRack.com itself is OK, especially for basic website hosting.
Occasionally we have had some slow times because CobaltRack does not
have enough redundancy in their backbone connection (something they are
upgrading this month). 

CobaltRack, like Cobalt, is a fast changing company. When we first
looked at them their site looked like one of those butt-ugly things
generated by a Perl pm. They seem to have expanded their staff and the
website has become more useful. One of the things you can't see until
you signup is the "members area". One of the things there is a full list
of all RaQ patches (unlike the incomplete and pathetic list at
cobalt.com). My guess is that this members area will continue to mature.

As for support, they've been no more or less than what we've experienced
elswhere, until this last weekend. Last Friday all webmasters got an
alert that some servers in the center had been hit by a Lion worm attack
and they suspected that the center itself was a target. The alert urged
all of us to update our patches with full instructions and links for
those who had never done so. Since our server is not in production I had
not kept up with upgrades and did the BIND upgrade. As a result 2 of our
sites became inaccessible. The reason was unimportant, BUT, the team at
CobaltRack chased this problem down for us just to make sure it was not
hack related. As far as I'm concerned they went well beyond the terms of
their service contract this weekend!

If you're offering somewhat enhanced web hosting with beginner level
features like PHP and ASP, and the RaQ4 indeed meets your admin needs,
then CobaltRack will also live up to your needs. They are a good
marriage for what they do. However, neither one of them is up to heavy
duty, mission critical standards. I guess what I'm saying is: as a rule
of thumb, if the RaQ meets your needs, then don't kid yourself about
needing a world-class data center, you don't. CobaltRack is not
world-class, but it is Cobalt-class. And I don't mean to be putting
either down with that remark, Cobalt fulfills a niche and our experience
with CobaltRack was that it is more than adequate within that niche. On
the other hand, if you indeed need a world-class data center, don't kid
yourself - you don't have a world-class server in your hands. Calculate
when you'll need to leave point A, when you need to arrive at point B,
how fast you'll need to travel - your milage may vary.

Another thing to consider, especially if you plan on filling up those
200 virtual spots with client websites, stability. One of our clients
requires mil-grade DOD security and services. As a result they need to
know what kind of stability they can count on. Although a new company,
CobaltRack is a division of an older, well established internet firm
with solid financials and an experienced tech team. There wont be any
suprises like moving to another data center on short notice. We did not
find that to be true of some other Cobalt data centers that have jumped
on this bandwagon.... Just something else to consider....

keith