VPS Search - Updated Version
Shortly before the new year, I presented my virtual server search service VPS Search to Habra. During these two months, there have been a number of changes on the site, including the expansion of the list of parameters for even more convenient selection and comparison of servers, which I will discuss today.
The first and most significant innovation is the emergence of new search parameters and the ability to select several items at the same time .
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Also, there are two new sorting order: the ratio of price to the amount of disk space and the ratio of price to the amount of RAM. Thus, you can quickly find a tariff with the cheapest disk or the cheapest memory, if the other parameters are not so important.
I'll tell you more about each of the new parameters:
There are three checkboxes to choose from: SATA, SAS and SSD. Thus, you can choose tariffs with the fastest disks (SSD) or buy more space for less money. The system takes into account that the hoster can use the SSD disk for caching. In any case, if you move the mouse to the railway volume in the tariff table, the type of disk system will be shown.
There is a rather large list of Linux operating systems, as well as Windows and FreeBSD or installation from an ISO image. There was an idea to make a separation into versions (for example, Windows Server 2008 and Server 2012), but in the end this was not implemented, since the hoster most often offers any version.
If you move the mouse to the type of virtualization, a pop-up hint appears with all possible operating systems for this tariff.
Through this filter, you can find only those hosters that have certain methods of payment for services. Unfortunately, with payment methods, not everything is as smooth as we would like. The problem is that some hosters connect the reception of payment “directly”, and some - through the aggregators. And in addition, aggregators themselves can be payment systems. A bright indicator is Yandex.Money: you can also pay with the internal currency of Yandex, and you can pay from the card, but through the Yandex.Money interface. Or you can choose the third option: connect to the RoboCass and use Yandex.Money through it, which in turn accept cards. As a result, the list turned out to be mixed and there are both payment systems and aggregators in it.
You can choose from the following commercial panels: ISPmanager, cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk Panel. Naturally, the control panel does not get hosters for free, but many offer to use it for free all the time renting a VPS. It is clear that the cost of the panel is included in the cost of the server, but such a nice bonus can push the client to purchase. Moreover, the price of the hosting panel may differ significantly from the price for which it is offered to customers. The icon for the availability of a free control panel will be displayed in the “Options” column.
It is also a rather complex parameter, since different hosters call the degree of their assistance to the client differently. Information about the type of administration is indicated in the “Options” column with an asterisk or a half asterisk. There are three administration options to choose from:
Already that year the information appears on the Internet that IP addresses of the 4th version are coming to an end, and a global catastrophe is about to begin. But now that year nothing cardinally changes, and IPv4 for some reason appear from nowhere. Everything seems to be good, but for the client there is one problem: due to the shortage of IP addresses, getting additional addresses is either very difficult or simply impossible. And if they can be obtained, the price for them is unreasonably high. IPv6 comes to the rescue, a shortage of addresses of this type is not expected in the near future, and getting a block of addresses is not a big problem for a hoster. However, hosters are in no hurry to implement this version of the protocol and provide it to the client. From the hoster's side, the situation is clear: you can earn money for IPv4, and you can’t take money from a client for IPv6, but you’ll get more worries. As a result, it was decided to encourage those hosters who issue IPv6 addresses, and each tariff with its support will have this badge to attract attention:
In connection with the appearance of additional parameters, it became possible to view more detailed information about the tariff. Detailed information on each of the tariff parameters appears in the pop-up window.
Another big innovation on the site is Looking Glass .
In this section, the user has the opportunity to check the speed of downloading files from servers hosters, as well as execute commands ping , traceroute and mtr from the point. At the moment, 23 servers have been added to the map, and all of them were donated by hosters, for which many thanks to them! By the way, for hosters that support IPv6, there is also a big plus: points with IPv6 are highlighted in a different color. When you click on each point, a pop-up menu appears in which you can select the file size to check download speed or execute one of the commands to check the network from the server.
The site has a section with discounts and promotions from hosting companies. Users can subscribe to the newsletter about new discounts , and for hosters there is a convenient form to add discounts . We try to keep the discount section up to date, so the maximum “lifetime” of the promotion is three months. But, if the action is still relevant, we are happy to extend its action at the request of the hoster.
I’m sure that I’m not surprised anyone, saying that the easiest way to monetize such a project is to use hosters' affiliate programs. In order not to load the site with banners, it was decided to follow this path. For users, this does not represent any inconvenience, especially if the project has helped in finding the right server. However, not everyone loves affiliate links, so an option has appeared especially for such users, when enabled, the referral links will be disabled. The option is available to all registered users and is activated in the settings . I hope that there will be no dissatisfied after that.
A section with news appeared , tariffs have information about the speed of the port, currency rates are updated daily on the Central Bank and prices are adjusted. At the time of this writing, the database has added information about 182 hosters and 1464 tariffs.
I will be glad to hear feedback and comments about the innovations!
PS Thank you andorro for editing the text.
The first and most significant innovation is the emergence of new search parameters and the ability to select several items at the same time .
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- Hard disk type (sata, sas, ssd)
- Operating systems that can be installed on a virtual server
- Payment methods that hoster supports
- Availability of a free server control panel (ISPmanager, cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk Panel)
- Type of administration that comes bundled in the VPS
- IPv6 capability
Also, there are two new sorting order: the ratio of price to the amount of disk space and the ratio of price to the amount of RAM. Thus, you can quickly find a tariff with the cheapest disk or the cheapest memory, if the other parameters are not so important.
I'll tell you more about each of the new parameters:
Hard drive type
There are three checkboxes to choose from: SATA, SAS and SSD. Thus, you can choose tariffs with the fastest disks (SSD) or buy more space for less money. The system takes into account that the hoster can use the SSD disk for caching. In any case, if you move the mouse to the railway volume in the tariff table, the type of disk system will be shown.
Operating systems that can be installed on a VPS
There is a rather large list of Linux operating systems, as well as Windows and FreeBSD or installation from an ISO image. There was an idea to make a separation into versions (for example, Windows Server 2008 and Server 2012), but in the end this was not implemented, since the hoster most often offers any version.
If you move the mouse to the type of virtualization, a pop-up hint appears with all possible operating systems for this tariff.
Payment Methods
Through this filter, you can find only those hosters that have certain methods of payment for services. Unfortunately, with payment methods, not everything is as smooth as we would like. The problem is that some hosters connect the reception of payment “directly”, and some - through the aggregators. And in addition, aggregators themselves can be payment systems. A bright indicator is Yandex.Money: you can also pay with the internal currency of Yandex, and you can pay from the card, but through the Yandex.Money interface. Or you can choose the third option: connect to the RoboCass and use Yandex.Money through it, which in turn accept cards. As a result, the list turned out to be mixed and there are both payment systems and aggregators in it.
Availability of a free control panel
You can choose from the following commercial panels: ISPmanager, cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk Panel. Naturally, the control panel does not get hosters for free, but many offer to use it for free all the time renting a VPS. It is clear that the cost of the panel is included in the cost of the server, but such a nice bonus can push the client to purchase. Moreover, the price of the hosting panel may differ significantly from the price for which it is offered to customers. The icon for the availability of a free control panel will be displayed in the “Options” column.
Type of administration included
It is also a rather complex parameter, since different hosters call the degree of their assistance to the client differently. Information about the type of administration is indicated in the “Options” column with an asterisk or a half asterisk. There are three administration options to choose from:
- At extra charge. This includes all tariffs on which the hoster does not perform any actions on the client’s server after installation. That is, if the hoster offers the initial installation of the server to the requirements of the client, then this rate falls under this administration point.
- Basic administration. Here those tariffs fall when the hoster offers limited assistance with setting up the server and answering emerging questions.
- Full administration. Some hosters offer their servers and at the same time take care of the setup. As a result, the client has the opportunity to ask for almost any whim that is not included in the basic package.
IPv6 support
Already that year the information appears on the Internet that IP addresses of the 4th version are coming to an end, and a global catastrophe is about to begin. But now that year nothing cardinally changes, and IPv4 for some reason appear from nowhere. Everything seems to be good, but for the client there is one problem: due to the shortage of IP addresses, getting additional addresses is either very difficult or simply impossible. And if they can be obtained, the price for them is unreasonably high. IPv6 comes to the rescue, a shortage of addresses of this type is not expected in the near future, and getting a block of addresses is not a big problem for a hoster. However, hosters are in no hurry to implement this version of the protocol and provide it to the client. From the hoster's side, the situation is clear: you can earn money for IPv4, and you can’t take money from a client for IPv6, but you’ll get more worries. As a result, it was decided to encourage those hosters who issue IPv6 addresses, and each tariff with its support will have this badge to attract attention:
In connection with the appearance of additional parameters, it became possible to view more detailed information about the tariff. Detailed information on each of the tariff parameters appears in the pop-up window.
Looking glass
Another big innovation on the site is Looking Glass .
In this section, the user has the opportunity to check the speed of downloading files from servers hosters, as well as execute commands ping , traceroute and mtr from the point. At the moment, 23 servers have been added to the map, and all of them were donated by hosters, for which many thanks to them! By the way, for hosters that support IPv6, there is also a big plus: points with IPv6 are highlighted in a different color. When you click on each point, a pop-up menu appears in which you can select the file size to check download speed or execute one of the commands to check the network from the server.
Discounts
The site has a section with discounts and promotions from hosting companies. Users can subscribe to the newsletter about new discounts , and for hosters there is a convenient form to add discounts . We try to keep the discount section up to date, so the maximum “lifetime” of the promotion is three months. But, if the action is still relevant, we are happy to extend its action at the request of the hoster.
Monetization
I’m sure that I’m not surprised anyone, saying that the easiest way to monetize such a project is to use hosters' affiliate programs. In order not to load the site with banners, it was decided to follow this path. For users, this does not represent any inconvenience, especially if the project has helped in finding the right server. However, not everyone loves affiliate links, so an option has appeared especially for such users, when enabled, the referral links will be disabled. The option is available to all registered users and is activated in the settings . I hope that there will be no dissatisfied after that.
Slight changes
A section with news appeared , tariffs have information about the speed of the port, currency rates are updated daily on the Central Bank and prices are adjusted. At the time of this writing, the database has added information about 182 hosters and 1464 tariffs.
I will be glad to hear feedback and comments about the innovations!
PS Thank you andorro for editing the text.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/210722/
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