Do you tell a customer your server specs if he asks?

[Minmeo]

Hi I am wondering if a customer submits a ticket to you for sales and asks what the specs of the server is if you tell them or not. I asked one of my providers and was told they couldn't give me the exact specs and said only that they use genuine intel processors and use hardware raid10. I was just curious of the details (CPU, memory and hard disks) but was wondering if it is normal to not tell this information if a customer asks.

 

[fizzyjoe908]

That behavior is not normal. Communication is key.

 

[TekStorm - Walter]

If you asked then they should know, that is just weird and it would make me ask questions. Because what if its not up to pare for your needs. Another question i would ask if i go with them and it doesnt meets my needs will i get a refund, i bet not.

 

[SGC-Hosting]

I'll give a customer the exact specs of the server they're hosted on and I'll give a potential customer the minimum specifications of live servers.

 

[drmike]

I am not a provider, I am a customer and a customer who at times consults with hosts on their communications.

That said, there is ZERO reason to mask the details of your servers (CPU, CPU series, release, disk type, etc.). The only reason folks get naughty and uber strange about such, in my experience, is they are using old gear that is underwhelming and customers MAY fail to see value in paying as much for services on degenerated, and long ago paid for gear.

When customers ask for such, existing customers, one has to expect they are either performing comparisons to a new provider they are considering or that they are experiencing service related slowness / problems.  There are always a few random folks who just ticket for discovery purposes both good and bad, as well as annoying.

 

[DomainBop]

The only reason folks get naughty and uber strange about such, in my experience, is they are using old gear that is underwhelming and customers MAY fail to see value in paying as much for services on degenerated, and long ago paid for gear.

...or they don't want to tell the customer with the 2GB RAM plan that the 32GB RAM E3 they're using has been slabbed into 4 8GB RAM slabs...not pointing fingers at anyone, but...

 

[devonblzx]

Unless it is a new host or a large corporation, I would suspect a single host does not have one default configuration.  I know for a fact we build different configurations every 6-12 months and usually have servers in service for up to 3 years.  How do we compensate?  We provide users more CPU resources on older servers than newer servers to balance it out.  So answering that question specifically would require me manually assigning your server to a node.

Just my two cents.  Choose a host with a money back guarantee, test out the performance before you go live, and have reasonable expectations for your budget.

 

[Sam]

We reveal the hardware we use. It's included in a number of advertising threads. #transparency 

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

We list our deployments in our Wiki.  A provider not wanting to disclose what hardware they're using means they have a reason to hide it.  And that reason is typically bad news for the client.

 

[zed]

Is there a valid reason to hide the server specs? I can't think of one (but I'm not a provider, so..).

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

Valid, yes.  Ethical, no.  The only reason you'd want to hide what hardware you're using is to keep your clients from finding out that you have them hosted on shoddy gear.

 

[Epidrive]

Transparency is key. I cant see any reason to hide server specs in the first place.

 

[MannDude]

I guess I am lone wolf in this then...

Some companies don't deploy the same hardware in all their nodes so each build may vary either slightly or greatly depending on what it's designed to do and how many people it's built to accommodate. Also, the person you're asking may not actually know, as with large companies the sales people aren't the same people who are going to have access to just quickly check the specs on whatever node was setup last and most likely going to be used for your VPS if you order it that day. Could they ask? Sure, but keep reading.

I've actually never given the exact answer to that question when asked in any job of mine. It's not a 'shame' thing, it's a "Does it really even matter?", thing. Is what I say today going to be true if they place the order two months from now? I see they have a service active from 2 years ago, but that node is 'less powerful' than the one launched earlier this week... Will they complain when they learn the specs of the new node and then demand an 'upgrade' of their old VPS, even if they've reported no issues in the past but think they're missing out on something better? Etc, etc.

What's the difference between using spec A and spec B? If Spec A looks better on paper but is oversold to shit, Spec B server would still likely give you better performance even if the node is 'less powerful' than the oversold Spec A server, right? It's just not an important metric and shouldn't be used to determine the worthiness of a service, in my opinion. I'd rather be hosted on a server with less powerful hardware with less customers on it than a massive node with a ton of customers on it. Maybe that's just me though.

Genuine Intel CPUs, quality server grade hardware, gobs of RAM, hardware RAID10 and servers built specifically to handle the load we intend to place on them. If you're curious if the VPS you may buy is 'good', go read reviews. The hardware means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

 

[bpsRobert]

........

Genuine Intel CPUs, quality server grade hardware, gobs of RAM, hardware RAID10 and servers built specifically to handle the load we intend to place on them. If you're curious if the VPS you may buy is 'good', go read reviews. The hardware means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I certainly wasted alot of money on hardware then

 

[MannDude]

I certainly wasted alot of money on hardware then

I'm just saying that the best hardware in the world in the hands of a host who overloads it to hell isn't going to give the end-user better performance or reliability than a host utilizing hardware that "isn't as good" with a more reasonable number of containers on it.

I'm not saying that newer, better hardware isn't "better", I'm just saying that hardware specs alone shouldn't be a measurement of what's good and what's not good. For that, just read reviews. The best hardware, if in the hands of someone trying to push it to it's limits in terms of how many containers can be crammed on it, won't be as good as to the end-user.

Sorry. I've just had my fair share of VPSes in the past that were on 'good hardware' that were oversold to hell and back. Provider A and Provider B may use the exact same node specs but one give better performance than the other, just because it's managed better.

 

[OSTKCabal]

The hardware can still mean something if you have an honest host. I say this because not all VPS hosts oversell. (I know I certainly don't oversell any of our services, even at our relatively low prices.)

I believe that hosts should be transparent about the hardware they use. At the least, they should offer an example of their configs if they have deployed different configurations over time but keep older servers in service. As an example, we use a mixture of E3-1230v2, E3-1270v2, and E3-1230v3 for our game server and VPS nodes. All of our nodes use the same storage config (2x 128GB Samsung 840 Pro in SW RAID-1 for Minecraft; 2x 500GB 7.2k WD RE4 in SW RAID-1 for Source; 4x 250GB Samsung 840 Evo in LSI 9271-4i HW RAID-10 for our current-gen VPSs, etc.)

Just my personal view on things. TL;DR - No reason to keep that information a secret.

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

Hardware builds tend to be a competence marker for the host, as well.  There have been quite a few hosts I was interested in signing up with - until learning what hardware configs they were using destroyed my faith in them actually knowing what they were doing.

But, to play devil's advocate, there have also been a couple of hosts that bragged about having specific setups, but once you look at the spec list you realize that particular configuration isn't possible and the host was lying out of their ass.  So aye, a host simply claiming what hardware they use means next to nothing if the client doesn't know how to interpret said data.

 

[msp - nick]

Yes - Tell the customer the specifications and do not go around the bend with lying - telling them other things, ignoring the ticket.

Just remember that customer may turn from a $2 hosting account to a contract worth $50-100 down the road.

 

[Serveo]

We use standardized hardware for our nodes, though this can be different for our HV's. Giving your total setup price is not a goal seen competition might copy a setup (i.e. storage setup), but we reveal the hardware spec's without any problem.

 

[drmike]

Oh no!

"Genuine Intel CPUs"

I see that crap all the time from newbish hosts in mass.

Is there some black market out there for counterfeit Intel CPUs?  Do we have hosts running non-genuine CPUs?  I know, folks are running big VPS servers on ARM servers  (well they will in the future).

What I see in MannDude's example of not spilling the beans are shops where the customer support likely is insulated from the nodes / servers themselves and can't get at the data.

See there is a whole business model for paid off old and steady nodes and the customers lingering on such, versus stiffing them, and ... charging them excessively perhaps compared to others who ordered last year instead of them 2 years ago.  But such requires integrity and customer care vs. autopilot entitlment dissing of the customers folks take usually for granted.

When I see / hear of resistence to such at hosting companies [to disclosure of details]   I know they are cooking the nodes, selling BS, embarassed, etc.

Yeah oversell is some shit common rip off lots of hosts don't deal with proactively or even reactively proper (i.e. migrating containers as needed, eyeballing abuse on node, etc.).  But claiming RAID10 with 12 drives when running RAID1 with 2 drives is a bigger issue and fraud.  Lots of point blank liars in this space and it's going on at some of the biggest and most well known hosting outfits owned by BILLION dollar companies too.  So little guys need not jump and feel I am pointing my laser anywhere

The whole oversell on a 32GB limited E3 just needs to die in a fire already. E3's never were intended for this.   Overselling 32GB of RAM, well, doesn't take much to fill that and go stupid on ratio.  But me, folks running 16GB and 32GB RAM nodes, yeah I have to wonder WTF they are doing and all big picture [limited reasons to run such nodes in my opinion - niches].   Not enough resources to write down / justify / ROI the build with proper controller and enough drives.

I see E3 + SSD + cache crap and I see a midget with a Porsche to compensate.

Spare me the E3's are capable, they are.  But I don't use them and I won't buy VPS services running them.