Virtual server from MegaFon

When launching any network project, be it a website or file storage, a SQL server or a video surveillance system, the core is server infrastructure. The requirements for it are very simple: the ability to quickly deploy with minimal cost to the customer. If you create the server infrastructure yourself, then you need to order the equipment, wait for its delivery, install, configure and maintain at all stages of the project life. It takes a lot of time and translates into a decent amount. And what to do if the project launch dates are compressed and the budget is limited? Or is the project short-term, for example, seasonal? What to do with the equipment, if the project does not receive development, or it will be necessary to increase the capacity sharply due to the increased load on the server?



If you have encountered or expect to face similar issues, then you should pay attention to the "cloud" services and rent a virtual server. MegaFon now provides its customers with such a service.
')


What are the advantages of renting a virtual server from MegaFon:

• Reduce costs by converting their CAPEX category to OPEX category
• Hourly pay service
• Extensive options for server configuration allow you to choose the settings that best meet your needs.
• The data processing center (DPC), which houses the computing power, corresponds to the high Tier 3 reliability class according to the international standard TIA-942
• Fast disk storage for tasks requiring high performance from storage systems
• The cost of the Windows Server OS is already included in the price.
• Hyper-V hypervisor.

What is important: if you are not sure whether the virtual server is suitable for solving your problems, you can take a three-day test period. When it is finished, the test server will simply stop. For further use, you need to activate the server through your personal account. You can also change the selected hardware configuration, if the capacity is not enough.

Technical details and capabilities of the virtual server service

Fast start
The first thing to do is to register on the site http://server.megafon.ru . The registration procedure takes only a few minutes and consists of 4 steps. Upon completion of the registration procedure, a letter will be sent to the specified e-mail with the data for access to your personal account.

Regardless of whether a test or arbitrary configuration server was chosen, the process of creating a virtual server begins immediately after registering with the site. After 30 minutes, the virtual server is ready to work. Moreover, it is possible to create and manage several servers at once, that is, we are already talking about a full-fledged infrastructure.

To access the created server without a dedicated “white” IP address, you will need a CiscoVPN Client, which can be downloaded from the link in your account. There are also instructions on how to configure the client and the configuration file. After the connection is established, you can connect to the server via remote desktop via RDP



Reliability
Physically, MegaFon's virtual servers are created at the facilities of the MegaFon data center in Samara, corresponding to the Tier3 reliability class according to the TIA-942 standard. This is a high quality class, meaning that it is possible to carry out repair work (including replacing system components, adding and removing broken equipment) without stopping the work of the data center; engineering systems are reserved, there are several power distribution and cooling channels, but only one of them is constantly active. Equipment redundancy is a provider’s area of ​​responsibility, unlike when equipment is placed on a client’s site. After all, having decided to independently host and manage the server infrastructure, you will have to ensure redundancy of hardware components, which will further increase the project budget.

Performance
The cost of renting a virtual server by default includes a channel with a guaranteed bandwidth of 5 Mb / s and an unlimited amount of traffic. Let's try to evaluate the actual speed on the channel, using all known speedtest.net. The testing method is very simple. The test to the selected point was launched 3 times. Then the arithmetic average is calculated. Tested response time and speed to Moscow and London

Moscow:

	ping (ms)	Download (Mb / s)	Upload (Mb / s)
one	20	60.77	74.34
2	18	59.92	75.61
3	18	89.39	50.15
the average	18.67	70.03	66.70

London:

	ping (ms)	Download (Mb / s)	Upload (Mb / s)
one	85	68.65	69.44
2	83	54.27	88.84
3	84	87.95	55.04
the average	84	70.29	71.11

Go ahead. Will the selected number of processors and their power fit your needs? Will there be enough selected amount of RAM? This question can only be answered after testing. To do this, you can use the test server or create the desired configuration and conduct a series of load tests. Since the service “Renting a virtual server” from MegaFon is charged hourly, you will not have to overpay for stress tests. In addition, thanks to the flexible configurator and the ability to change the settings in the on-line mode, you will be able to adjust the server's hardware configuration as accurately as possible to fit your needs. Separately, you should pay attention to the performance of the virtual server disk system. If it is planned to work with databases, then the performance of the disk system of such a server is very critical.

We will test the disk system using the CrystalMark v.3 utility.



By the way, in the on-line mode in your account you can rent licensed software, including Microsoft products. MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, MS Lync Server are available for rent, about 200 software products in total.

Results

We are confident that a virtual server is a worthy alternative to physical servers, which allows you to quickly deploy a reliable, easily scalable server infrastructure with less cost and in the shortest possible time. In the case of short-term projects, you will not have to bear the additional costs of maintaining the infrastructure or puzzling over how to gain some funds for it.

It is no secret that many other companies represent the virtual server rental service. What is the advantage of MegaFon over other players on the market?

• Flexible configurator. You can change and configure any parameter as you like. Many Cloud providers do not allow this, limiting the client in the choice of certain parameters of the configurator. The choice of hardware configuration does not affect the choice of OS.
• High reliability of data storage due to multi-level infrastructure protection and information backup.
• You do not need to bear the additional cost of acquiring an operating system.
• In addition to renting the server itself, you can also use the rental of licensed software. Nearly 200 software products are available, including MS Exchange, MS Lync, MS SQL Server.
• Access via RDP to the Windows server is possible even without connecting the service “Dedicated IP”