Hosting Recommendations

Wesker

Wesker

Well-known member
We're looking to switch hosts in 2020 here. We're looking for suggestions here:

  • We need a host who specializes in uptime / ddos protection. They need to be well equipped in handling ddos attacks.
  • We need a host with a good network
  • We get DMCA complaints every other month. We need a host that is flexible on working with companies on these complaints.
  • We need a host that can do basic server management and paid advanced search management and hopefully custom development work.
  • A host that responds to tickets right away so if the server needs a reboot in recovery mode that can handle that immediately as an example.

Big hosting companies could be an issue because of DMCA complaints and small hosting companies typically don't have the infrastructure / network in place to handle our type of business. Why we're looking for likely one in the middle that has a good amount of customers
 
Wesker said:
We need a host who specializes in uptime / ddos protection. They need to be well equipped in handling ddos attacks.
Click to expand...
What kind of attacks and size do you encounter? Are you using Cloudflare?

Wesker said:
We get DMCA complaints every other month. We need a host that is flexible on working with companies on these complaints.
Click to expand...
As long as you respond within 24 hours almost every host should be fine with this, or do you need more time in handling complaints? What kind of content are you hosting?

Wesker said:
We need a host that can do basic server management and paid advanced search management and hopefully custom development work.
Click to expand...
I think you'd be extremely hard pressed to find a host that is also experienced with Xenforo development at a reasonable price. I'd suggest finding someone else for the development work.

Wesker said:
A host that responds to tickets right away so if the server needs a reboot in recovery mode that can handle that immediately as an example.
Click to expand...
As a side note, the majority of providers offer power management with VPS and dedicated servers.

Are you looking for shared/vps or dedicated? Budget? Any required location/continent?
 
Sam9 said:
What kind of attacks and size do you encounter? Are you using Cloudflare?
Click to expand...

Yes we use cloudflare. CF does a solid job but they're bypassing cloudflare. In fact last week, CF reviewed everything and we have already pretty much peaked all we can do with CF. They can't really recommend anymore. Either by botting the forums directly, hitting the IPs or hitting other areas. The attacks keep changing. Eventually we figure out what they're doing but would be nice to have a host well equipped at aiding us rather than being a semi problem themselves.

Sam9 said:
As long as you respond within 24 hours almost every host should be fine with this, or do you need more time in handling complaints? What kind of content are you hosting?
Click to expand...

We're not looking for any hosts that "could shut us down". Won't even take the risk. We'll try to respond within 24 hours but we may not necessarily comply with the DMCA complaint maybe 2%-10% of the time especially if it's a bogus complaint. If the host isn't flexible to work with their clients on DMCA complaints, we aren't interested. If the host receives fines at all for any issues, we will 100% cover them.

Sam9 said:
I think you'd be extremely hard pressed to find a host that is also experienced with Xenforo development at a reasonable price. I'd suggest finding someone else for the development work.
Click to expand...

Basic development work. 3rd parties outsourcing is fine. Just for very basic stuff not necessarily XF related.

Sam9 said:
As a side note, the majority of providers offer power management with VPS and dedicated servers.
Click to expand...

Dedicated servers only.

Sam9 said:
Are you looking for shared/vps or dedicated? Budget? Any required location/continent?
Click to expand...

$400-$1000 per month for dual server setup. US or EU.
 
The DDOS attacks are quite advanced. As mentioned, they keep changing up their strategy. They even found another domain we had attached to the server that wasn't live or on the same IP or IP block as the main domain and started hitting that domain.

On our end, we have done all we can to filter these but we're tired of the downtime, tired of getting 0 help from our host who overall has an inconsistent network and relies on a 3rd party. We need better.
 
Wesker said:
Yes we use cloudflare. CF does a solid job but they're bypassing cloudflare. In fact last week, CF reviewed everything and we have already pretty much peaked all we can do with CF. They can't really recommend anymore. Either by botting the forums directly, hitting the IPs or hitting other areas. The attacks keep changing. Eventually we figure out what they're doing but would be nice to have a host well equipped at aiding us rather than being a semi problem themselves.
Click to expand...
When using Cloudflare, the most important thing is making sure that you shut down any methods for attackers to find your server IP, see my post here for the most popular methods. If you're able to get Cloudflare working for you by locking down your server, then that is likely going to be the best solution as it'll mean a much wider range of hosts to choose from.

However, here are some options to investigate, all of these hosts offer DDoS protection:
  • blazingfast.io - They use Voxility for DDoS protection, are known to be more on the DMCA "friendly" side of things. I can't vouch for their support, haven't used them first hand.
  • nforce.com - Decent NL based host with a good reputation, decent support, should work with you over any DMCA issues. Haven't used their DDoS protection before.
  • Zare - UK based, with a Voxility uplink, pretty good support, unsure on their DMCA policies, however they host a lot of VPN nodes so I imagine it's quite favorable.
  • Flokinet - Iceland based but they have space in Voxility's DC in Romania, very very pro freedom of speech, unsure about support.
  • OVH - Dirt cheap, good hardware, very good DDoS protection as standard, awful support.
  • Steadfast.net - Highly reputed host in Chicago, they used to use Staminus for their DDoS protection, I'm not sure who they use now. Very good support, very good management options, they work with you over any DMCA issues, expensive.
  • Reliablesite - Decent budget host, haven't used their DDoS protection, pretty good support, unsure about DMCA handling.
I can't comment on most of these hosts management options, other than Steadfast.
 
Wesker said:
We're looking to switch hosts in 2020 here. We're looking for suggestions here:

  • We need a host who specializes in uptime / ddos protection. They need to be well equipped in handling ddos attacks.
  • We need a host with a good network
  • We get DMCA complaints every other month. We need a host that is flexible on working with companies on these complaints.
  • We need a host that can do basic server management and paid advanced search management and hopefully custom development work.
  • A host that responds to tickets right away so if the server needs a reboot in recovery mode that can handle that immediately as an example.

Big hosting companies could be an issue because of DMCA complaints and small hosting companies typically don't have the infrastructure / network in place to handle our type of business. Why we're looking for likely one in the middle that has a good amount of customers
Click to expand...
You might try this site for your needs https://www.webhostingtalk.com/
 
Sam9 said:
When using Cloudflare, the most important thing is making sure that you shut down any methods for attackers to find your server IP, see my post here for the most popular methods. If you're able to get Cloudflare working for you by locking down your server, then that is likely going to be the best solution as it'll mean a much wider range of hosts to choose from.

However, here are some options to investigate, all of these hosts offer DDoS protection:
  • blazingfast.io - They use Voxility for DDoS protection, are known to be more on the DMCA "friendly" side of things. I can't vouch for their support, haven't used them first hand.
  • nforce.com - Decent NL based host with a good reputation, decent support, should work with you over any DMCA issues. Haven't used their DDoS protection before.
  • Zare - UK based, with a Voxility uplink, pretty good support, unsure on their DMCA policies, however they host a lot of VPN nodes so I imagine it's quite favorable.
  • Flokinet - Iceland based but they have space in Voxility's DC in Romania, very very pro freedom of speech, unsure about support.
  • OVH - Dirt cheap, good hardware, very good DDoS protection as standard, awful support.
  • Steadfast.net - Highly reputed host in Chicago, they used to use Staminus for their DDoS protection, I'm not sure who they use now. Very good support, very good management options, they work with you over any DMCA issues, expensive.
  • Reliablesite - Decent budget host, haven't used their DDoS protection, pretty good support, unsure about DMCA handling.
I can't comment on most of these hosts management options, other than Steadfast.
Click to expand...

Good recommendations? Any others?
 
Wesker said:
Yes we use cloudflare. CF does a solid job but they're bypassing cloudflare. In fact last week, CF reviewed everything and we have already pretty much peaked all we can do with CF. They can't really recommend anymore. Either by botting the forums directly, hitting the IPs or hitting other areas. The attacks keep changing. Eventually we figure out what they're doing but would be nice to have a host well equipped at aiding us rather than being a semi problem themselves.
Click to expand...
You need to ensure you aren't leaking server ips.

This includes;
  • XenForo's URL unfurling/title behaviour
  • image proxy
  • outbound email
  • webserver being configured to accept connections from non-clouldflare IPs.
The unfurl/image proxy can be handled by setting up a proxy, same for outbound email. But ensuring your webserver isn't answering random port requests is very important and requires some scripting to ensure your firewall is kept up to date.

But it is critical you apply this for every domain being used.
 
Wesker said:
Good recommendations? Any others?
Click to expand...
I've used a ton of different providers either first hand or indirectly over the years, but those are the ones I'd suggest looking at first based on your criteria. The issue of DDoS protection and DMCA friendly-ish are the main hurdles when finding a suitable host for you.

However, if you want more options to investigate: Worldstream in NL, Serverius in NL (although not listed on their website, they do lease servers), Psychz, Gigenet.
 
Had a fairly large site that was hosted by Wiredtree, they were awesome and very reliable at the time but that was about five years ago. Would love to find the web's current iteration of wiredtree.

OP didn't mention cloudflare but it's mentioned many times, are they the current default hosting company if you want well protected and reliable hosting?

Thanks
 
Have you tried DigitalOcean? The last time I got an abuse complaint was around 2013 and they were quick to accept my reply and close the ticket. Was running a Tor Exit and they made me switch to non-exit. I imagine if you just reply with your regular we removed X post they’d be fine with your site.

As for DDoS protection Cloudflare and hiding the origin IP should be enough.
 
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