I've ordered a VPS from 1and1.com... I was reading the Game Music thread and saw Mark Oates' posts^[1] on hosting and checked out the recommended sites (Adblock was blocking the actual results so I had to look at the page source... ) and recognized 1&1, probably from past discussions here and on IRC. Anyway, I looked into Linux VPSs and the price for the cheapest option seemed doable so I started looking into what was available and liked what I saw. When I saw that they accepted PayPal I just kind of... Did it. I'm currently awaiting my confirmation E-mail.

I got the Linux VPS I package for USD$29/month, which includes 256 MB RAM (guaranteed; up to 1 GB RAM "burst"), 10 GB storage space, and 500 GB monthly traffic. Should be plenty for my purposes for a while, I hope.

The Linux distribution can be one of:

• CentOS 5 + Plesk 9 (64 bit) (Default?)

• CentOS 5 minimal (64 bit)

• CentOS 5 + Plesk 8.x (64 bit)

• openSUSE 10.3 + Plesk 9 (64 bit)

• openSUSE 10.3 minimal (64 bit)

• Debian 4.0 (etch) minimal (32 bit)

• Ubuntu 8.04 LTS minimal (64 bit)

I'm most familiar with Fedora so I should probably stick with CentOS. I would have opted to try out Gentoo if it was available though. I just haven't spent enough time in Debian-based distributions to like them. I would have expected the decision to be made during the ordering process, but I don't remember being given a choice...

For those that have used Plesk, what are your thoughts? Good to have or should I go for a distribution without it? Note that I'm pretty new to administration so it probably wouldn't hurt to have a nice interface to help out, but only if that interface is powerful and secure.

This is the first time I've ever ordered hosting services like this so I'm going a little crazy wondering if it'll do what I want, etc. I'm particularly curious if there are restrictions on what services can be run from it (or how I would enable them). For example, I'd like to eventually get servers running for http, https, ssh, svn, git, sftp, and possibly my own custom servers on custom ports. Anybody familiar with VPSs and 1&1 have some clue what you can and cannot do? Do they just forward all ports to the VPS and entrust you to configure a software firewall or do you need to contact them to open ports?

Any advice or votes of confidence would be much appreciated.

If you're going to spend $30 dollars a month, at least go with slicehost. They're the leaders in the VPS market for a good reason. They have incredible customer service and an amazing community.

With 256mb of ram, you'll want to run a web server with a smaller footprint than apache. Nginx is my personal favorite. It's fast, lightweight, and very easy to set up.

After you get your DNS and domain name set up, think about installing a SFTP daemon. That way, you can just drag and drop your music onto your server.

That said, if all you need is a place to store your music files, take a look at Amazon's S3. It will be much cheaper for what you want to do.

I would go with "Debian 4.0 (etch) minimal (32 bit). I don't think 64-bit will give you anything other than potential headaches. It's not like you have 100GB of RAM to address. Debian is easy to manage. Just use apt-get to install your packages.

Also, I would avoid running control panels and additional services to minimize the amount of RAM you are using. Control panels can be frustrating because they limit the amount of modifications you can make. You'll find that it's really not too hard to manage a server without a control panel.

You can temporarily disable adblock, just so you know...

Real programmers don't use web browsers anyway. What, wget not good enough for you?

I prefer butterflies myself.

Apparently I have to call them from the phone I registered with to confirm identity/citizenship or something...

** EDIT **

Goddamn it. I should have looked at the "Compare the competition" link sooner. Apparently godaddy.com offers the exact same thing for the same price (less if I buy for a year or more). The only difference is 1&1 includes a domain whereas godaddy.com does not (but since I already have 4 registered domain names from godaddy...) and godaddy.com includes an SSL certificate (something I would like to have) and 1&1 does not. I wonder what an SSL certificate would cost from 1&1...

** EDIT **

Hi, I received an E-mail saying I had to call to confirm my account.
What's your customer ID?
[Customer ID]
OK, you'll receive an E-mail in about 5 minutes and your control panel [blah blah blah...]
Cool. Thanks a l...
[Dead line]
...Hello...?

In his defense, I called like 10 minutes before close so I'm sure he was in a let me the fuck out of here state. Still, it would have been nice to ask a couple of questions. I also don't really see the point of requiring the call. He didn't ask for any information to prove citizenship. All he asked for was the customer ID they generated. The only other piece of information they could have from the phone call was the number I called from. Which could be a friend or relative or a random line I've tapped into on the side of the road. Oh well. I'm happy it was a painless call though. I now have access to my control panel and am trying to figure out how to get SSL certificates and point my domain at it (I don't think there's anything to point at yet though... That'll probably have to wait until Monday or later...), etc. On the plus side, apparently the SSL certificate IS included in my package (the table showed it as optional, which seems silly if they give it to you free anyway). So that's cool. Unfortunately, I can probably only get it for a single subdomain.domain.tld whereas it would be nice to get it for different subdomains (albeit, it would be more secure to get a unique one for each, but also more expensive).

Edited of course.

/rant

So I'm attempting to get it set up... And I notice that the firewall is currently not active... So I go to enable it. The option are "normal" which is probably just like HTTP, HTTPS, SSH open. I'm planning to open more than that so I move on. The other options are "accept all" or "deny all". So naturally, I don't want to open my server up to any and everything even for a minute so I choose deny all. Of course, this means the Web site is no longer accessible (I haven't actually added my own yet so no problem). I'll just add a rule. Next screen has an "Add Rule" button! Sigh of relieve. But wait...! It...does...nothing! I don't know if it's a browser compatibility thing or what, but the "Add Rule" button is doing nothing more than refreshing the page and I've essentially denied all ports now (I wonder if this control panel I'm using will be denied as well... ). So yeah, so far it's fun having a VPS.......

** EDIT **

I went back in using the domain name instead of the IP (the IP was how the first control panel told me to get to it) and now the "Add Rule" button is doing something! \o/

Maybe with shady companies. His 1and1 domain name works the same way as if he paid for it, only it is billed at $0. He is still the registered owner, protected under ICANN regulations, and can transfer it out whenever he wants.

Why bother transferring the names?

Transferring a domain = changing registrars. So you used the wrong terminology.

The easiest thing to do is add the domain to 1and1 (when they say the domain is already taken, just say point domain), then set the nameservers they give you at 1and1.

Then again, transferring the domains to 1and1 would beat godaddy. I was very unimpressed with them myself, all of the extra bullshit they tried to shove down my throat, charging for private registration, etc. Seemed really sleazy, not to mention the 15% off coupon only applied to 2 domains for some reason. 1and1 was a much better experience - no hassle, no fuss. Also, all of the horror stories I've heard of godaddy expiring domains -- 1and1 auto-renews so there's no risk there.

Just pointing the domain. Transferring is actually changing registrars.

Yes, it is free with 1and1. They give it on transfers too.

Thats pretty retarded. Normally all it takes is you to "unlock" your domain with GoDaddy, and then start the transfer on the destination registrar's site. Its usually automatic (but not immediate).