Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting Review

Having started at the commercial outset of the internet revolution, way back in 1995, Aplus.Net survived the crash with its customer base intact, and now hosts over 4,000 dedicated servers. This makes Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting one of the larger dedicated server providers in the USA.

Aplus.Net offers a wider variety of dedicated server bundles than you'll probably ever see anywhere else, with combinations of servers, CPUs, processors, hard drives, RAM, data transfer, and other services and budget. In fact, besides its standard offerings, Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting also offers value plans using excess inventory with less capacity and at a lower cost. Dedicated hosting has never before been so accessible for smaller scale outfits. Simply put, if you can't find the right dedicated server package for you here with Aplus.net, then it may not exist.

 
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Unique Benefits
• ALL-NEW hardware and configurations. Premium Intel or AMD processors, all with at least 1 GB of RAM and 250 GB SATA Hard Drive. The industry’s fastest and most responsive configurations, starting at under $100 a month!
• A ton of "smart" add-ons (for monitoring, FTP backup, stats, networking, etc.) allow you to pick-and-choose your extended service options.
• Deep discounts on "value servers" - great deals on excess inventory (on a first-come, first-serve basis).
• First-rate data center facilities in San Diego and Phoenix, with 99.9% uptime guaranteed.
• "Test drive" your server before you commit to a payment with Aplus.Net's free server test drive.

Key Features
• Only the best equipment at Aplus.Net: IBM storage, Cisco network, and Intel and Sun Microsystems based servers
• Unix, Linux, and Windows servers - full spectrum of choice
• Intel and AMD processors - single, dual and quad based processors
• Load Balancing (at extra cost)
• Smart Monitor for keeping tabs on server availability, load, and performance around the clock ($24.95 setup fee + $9.95-$14.90/month)
Aplus.Net Premium set up options, including: initial Control Panel configuration; DNS skeleton configuration; install, upgrade, patch, and add IP addresses; make minor changes to your Firewall, and add YUM systems

 
 

Editors' Comments
Aplus.Net is one of the premier dedicated hosting companies on the market. Its own data center is located in beautiful San Diego, California. (Where else would you want your servers?) Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting provides an array of server and managed support options ideal for those companies with limited IT staff that are looking for assistance when required. The key thing to keep in mind is to map out what support services you think that you are going to use in your specific situation to get a full handle on Aplus.Net's extended support costs. You can also take advantage of Aplus.Net's extended software, monitoring, and back-up options to take full potential of your dedicated server. The good news about the Aplus.Net extended service packages is that you've got some excellent support engineers available at your fingertips when you require help, and you don't have to put them on your payroll!

 

 
 

Uptime Guarantee
Besides a 99.99% uptime guarantee, Aplus.Net also offers a 100% network uptime guarantee. Moreover, Aplus.Net guarantees that its HVAC systems will be functioning running and functioning properly except for regularly scheduled maintenance. For every hour of downtime resulting from an HVAC failure, Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting will give you a 5% discount on your bill that month for each extra hour taken, all the way down to 100%. Finally, Aplus.Net has the add-ons Smart Monitor and Smart Console (at extra cost) to help you minimize downtime and maintain optimum efficiency where you are basically in control and can visualize what is happening in the Aplus.Net network operation.

Basics - What you need to know
DataCenter
Aplus.Net owns its own data center on the campus of San Diego Tech in San Diego, California where 10 major carriers meet, including Level3, MCI, Time Warner, SBC, and AT&T. You'll enjoy the smooth, fast, and consistent connectivity of multi-honed redundant Gig-E and OC-3 backbone connections. Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting guarantees to replace, within 1 hour, any hardware that fails, or give you a 5% discount on your bill that month for each extra hour taken, all the way down to 100%.

Power Management
Your dedicated server(s) will benefit from a military power grid with 2 layers of redundant power systems. Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting uses overhead data cable runways with power cables under the floor plates.

Physical Security
Physical security of the Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting datacenter is maintained by fire and flood protection, a diesel backup generator, access cards, fingerprint identification, and closed circuit video surveillance.

Server Access by Customer
Physical Access: No physical access to the server
Root Access: Root access to the server

Service Offerings
General Managed Services
Basic support at Aplus.Net is free of charge and available 24/7 via phone, email, and a comprehensive library of documentation, known as the Knowledgebase. Higher level technicians are there from 6 am-11 pm for more complicated inquiries. Aplus.Net also offers advanced technical support services for particularly complex operations at $150/hr. Such work includes (but is not limited to):

- Advanced configuration of server
- Installation of software that does not come as standard with the server package
- Scripting
- Custom backup scripts
- Mail server configuration

Service Bundles
The sheer variety of bundles is what makes Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting worthy of its name, with an A+ assortment of packages geared to your needs and preferences. With its standard plans, choose between Intel and AMD processors, Unix, Linux, and Windows servers, 1-2 GB RAM, 160-250 GB hard drive, 1000-3000 GB monthly transfer. And that's just Aplus.Net's standard offerings. Aplus.Net's value plans provide lower cost alternatives for small scale operations. Beyond that, Aplus.Net boosts the performance of all of its server bundles by offering a slew of add-ons that will make server administrator's life inordinately easier -- tools like Smart Stats, for keeping close track of your bandwidth usage, and Smart Networking, for networking two of more servers together.

Security and Updates
Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting is the only web host with VISA CISP compliance, a process for validating credit card transactions that ensures ultimate security. Aplus.Net also has 24x7 NOC monitoring and 24x7 technical support. The add-on Smart Console provides SSH v2 digital encryption security.

Firewall
For a set-up fee of $99 and a monthly fee of $149, you can have Aplus.Net's firewall protection for up to 10 IPs, protecting your servers from attacks as well as from being used (at the expense of your site's optimal functioning) to wage battle against such attacks. What's more, this firewall will be running at the same time as all your applications, by being run on a separate piece of hardware. Stay at 100% efficiency all the time, get personal assistance making the necessary server configuration changes, and enjoy 24/7 support should you ever need additional assistance with your firewall with Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting.

Backup Services
For a $25 set-up fee and $10 per month, you can get Smart FTP Backup, which allows you to schedule backups as you see fit. The backup data is held for you on a separate and secure server in the same data center. Aplus.Net Dedicated Hosting also offers a $50 Reinstall, to return your server to its default condition, a $150 Reinstall + Data Recovery which also temporarily mounts the old drive so that you can perform manual data recovery. Then there's a SmartRecover for $50 which boots your server from a recovery disk and restores system defaults.

Sample Server Plans
Value Server (Aplus.Net's lowest priced offering): Celeron CPU 1.7 or higher, 512 MB RAM, IDE HDD 60 GB or higher, 500 GB monthly transfer, no setup fee for $49/month

Standard Server (Aplus.Net's best seller): Intel CeleronD 1.8 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1000 GB bandwidth for $99/month

Premium Server (rated 'Most Popular' by cNet): Intel Xeon Quad-core E5335 2.0 GHz CPU, 1 GB DDR2-667 ECC RAM, 250 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1500 GB bandwidth for $269.99/month

Customer Profiles
• Data Storage
• Extended IT Operations
• Mission Critical applications
• Application Service Providers
• Gaming Servers

Customer Testimonials
"Aplus.Net has provided me with an excellent service and product. No longer do I have to stay up long nights worrying about a site going down, or being a victim to an unfaithful company - those who promise features and services that cannot fullfill or supply them. I've been with many, and I mean hundreds of web hosting companies in the past, and the service and product, along with the uptime you've provided and given me is by the far the best I have ever experienced during my six years of being a webmaster. Your pricing also played a great factor to me becoming a very satisfied customer of your company. I am able to get such a great dedicated server with all the features and uptime I need at, for once, a price I can afford."
- Justice McCay, Webmaster Corner Forum