Today we’ll be reviewing an online.net dedicated server, we’ll show you the control panel, what you get for your money such as the control panel and FTP backup. If you want to know which server we are reviewing precisly, it’s the Dedibox® LT 2017 which you can get for 39.99 euros before VAT. It’s a beefy machine, sporting a  Xeon® E3 1240 V6 along with 32GB of ECC memory and 3x 250 GB SSDs. In terms of bandwith it was 300 Mb/s of guaranteed throughput. How good is it? Well, we currently use it to host this website among other things and they all run without a hitch.

Overview

With your 39.99 per month and a 60 euro setup fee, you get a few different features, basic anti DDOS, a control panel, and 100GB of FTP storage. On paper the price and specs you get for the price seem great, but what do you get for the price and how does it perform? Read on to find out.

The Control Panel

The control panel is simple, yet efficient. It is clean, yet is bundled with neatly organized features and is snappy, moreso than for example OVH’s good yet more clunky control panel. The server’s exact location within the datacenter is precised, the reasons for which will be made clear when we move on to support.

The control panel allows the user to install a variety of OS images, from Linux distros to windows, and distributions for virtualization. A nice feature is the ability to partition your hard drives (in this case SSDs) to suit your needs.

Monitoring/Statistics

Online.net servers also have an included  monitoring service that allows admins to recieve notifications va email or SMS (only for french numbers as of writing) allowing users to recieve notifications if a port for a predefined list of services is down. Unfortunately, custom ports can’t be added as of right now.

In terms of performance monitoring, all you get is a series of detailed graphs showing the server’s  network usage, which are good and better thatn OVH’s network monitoring, but there is no CPU or RAM usage monitoring. 

Performance

Altough this review isn’t specificaly targeted towards a particular model of dedicated server, we can still check out the network and bandwith quality as well as SSD performance, as Online.net’s Scaleaway branch with their remote access SSD’s are known for high latency.

This server has disk speeds of 328 MB/S measured using pipebench and network speeds measured with Speedtest-cli a gave us 418 Mb/s download and 611 Mb/S upload speed. These values are above the guaranteed bandwith but using these speeds constantly would require you to upgrade to a higher bandwidth package priced at 79.99 a month. You can check out the story of someone that expierenced this here.

A good thing to know is that between servers with in the datacenter, you get 1 Gb/s bandwith.

Support

Support, as can be expected at this price range is barebones. We’ve never had to use it but you get email or phone support at the included “Basic” tier. A “Business” tier is provided for 35 Euros per month with much quicker support with replies guaranteed within 20 minutes, and 1 hour of hands on technical support, which can be useful as the service also includes physical access to your server as in you can come to the datacenter, take your server and change either disks, RAM, or add peripherals such as PCIe devices.  This service is useful for large companies with multiple services as it allows for higher reactions to problems, as well as cgreater server customizability, without having to invest in your own hardware.

Included Backup Storage

All Online.net servers come with 100 GB of FTP included and up to 100 files stored, although this limitation isn’t a problem if you archive your files in compressed folers which count as one file. This storage is quite easy to use with a service such as backup-manager to automaticaly upload files to the backup server, a process which is detailed here.

The server can be accessed via your normal desktop FTP clients, but files can only be uplaoded through and Online.net server. The default backup space can be upgraded via the control panel to 750 GB for 4.99 a month. A server owner can also setup the FTP server to back itself up into Online.net’s backup storage  service called C-14.

Conclusion

So, are Online.net servers worth it? It’s a great package, with premium quality services and hardware, and it’s great as long as you don’t need support and know what you are doing as there will be little help apart from the documentation, which is quite good, and the community.  Online.net is cheaper than OVH, and their offering is becoming more and more competitive, wich is visible by their servers being constantly sold out as they struggle to expand. If you’re looking for value for moeny, look no further and get one, that is if you manage to find one avaible. Make sure you know what you are doing and be  aware that support isn’t a big part of their service and may not help apart from when there is some sort of critical issue.