[HCoop-Discuss] VPS only looks cheap compared to NYC

[Adam Chlipala]

Adam Megacz wrote:
>
>>> I host gentzen.megacz.com with rackmounted.com for $55/month.  My
>>> machine has 16GB of ram; slicehost wants $800/month (!?!?!) for that
>>> and linode doesn't even offer it.
>>>       
>
>   
>> Do they provide the server, or did you buy it?
>>     
>
> I bought it for $700, which comes to $41/mo over the past 17 months.
>
> That figure goes down with each passing month; 30-36 months seems to
> be the useful lifespan for a server, so I estimate it will be under
> $20/month by the time I retire it.
>
> I still claim that $75 < $96 < $800.  You may have trouble convincing
> me otherwise :)
>   

What happens if some component of your hosted server fails?  How long 
does it take to get the part replaced, and how much does that cost?  I'm 
perfectly willing to believe that you have a solid quantitative argument 
for why your scheme is superior to Slicehost's for beefy machines, but I 
don't think the numbers you're comparing include all of the costs.  As 
we grow, hardware failures will become more and more part of our regular 
routine.