Hey folks, I have been using a dedicated server now for some time. However, I am on a managed plan because it is free with my hosting. So far, its been awesome with hardly any problems at all and when I need something installed to the server, my host is quick about doing it for me. However, for you dedicated server users... Do you think I should consider going unmanaged and doing it myself or should I stay managed as it is working for me? What would be the bigger benefit(s) for me if I go unmanaged? What do you all think?
When you say it's awesome, I can't imagine why you would want to make a change. If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it.
If you're happy with managed I'd stay with it. I like doing things myself as much as the next guy but a managed plan is what I want as long as I'm free to come a long and do what I need to do on the server. There are days when I can't be around, on those days its good to know someone is there keeping an eye on my baby for me. There are really no benefits to going unmanaged in my opinion. If you want to learn how a server works you can always set-up a simple one at home and play with it. Even with a managed dedicated server you can log-in and play all you want. The only difference is when something goes wrong you either have help or you're on your own. I'll give you a good example of why you don't want to manage the server yourself. My friend decided to co-locate his server at a local datacenter. Local meaning 30 minute drive from his home. All was well until one day he had a hardware failure, and unable to access it remotely he had to drive over there and figure out what was wrong with it (HDD died, it was a cheapo server so it only had one no RAID array). Then he had to drive 30 more minutes to pick up a replacement part, drive back, fix the machine, re-install the OS and load the backups and get it back up in running order. He drives back home, can't log-in remotely. He forgot to configure something correctly, had to drive 30 minutes back to fix it. If he would had been on a managed plan this would have been a phone call and maybe an hour or two of down time, tops. Instead he lost an entire day.
Unmanaged doesn't necessarily mean that the host is completely hands off. I have an "unmanaged" dedicated box and I'm still able to contact the datacenter for issues (they provided the server). We recently had a motherboard failure on ours and the host had it fixed under 4 hours. Pros of running your own box. 1. Timely updates. 2. You fully control what's installed and what isn't. 3. You don't have to worry about some other pudknocker doing something on their account that compromises the security of the entire server. Cons (and these are some big ones) 1. Security. You're responsible for it. Screw something up and leave a gaping hole on the box, it's your head in the noose. 2. See #1 3. You have to have an above average grasp of the OS being used. (Although why anyone would contemplate hosting a site on a Winderz box is beyond me.) 4. See #1 5. Sometimes updates break something else. This is where #3 comes into play, because now you have to fix the boo-boo. 6. See #1 I spend an hour each morning going through the security and audit logs on the server to make sure everything is as it should be. On average, there are 5-10 brute force attempts to SSH into the server each day, 3-5 attempts to brute force pop3, and 1 or 2 attempts to brute force FTP. I won't even get into the script kiddie attempts on the forums themselves. Running your own box has its own rewards, but it's also a pain in the arse. There are days when I'm up to my butt in alligators and then something happens on the server that requires my immediate attention. Those are the days when I wonder about my sanity and why I initially volunteered to do this. Too late now. I've been the admin for over 10 years now, and recently became the site owner.
If you are happy with managed, I would stick with it. But unmanaged does give you experience managing it yourself, which can help later on.
I run Managed on all of our boxes, 1. because although i know my fair share of how to manage a server i would rather have someone to it that does it full time, The company im with has actually dedicated an account manager to us now too which is great because it means not going to the normal flunkies on the support desk, I can go straight to him with a problem and he sorts it. 2. lack of time to go unmanaged, I barely have time to keep our sites up to date let alone a server too
I use a mix of servers between ServInt & Linode Depends if i need managed or unmanaged for the particular project.
