What makes a dedicated server from Namecheap better?

Several weeks ago, I introduced our latest dedicated server product – a fully-featured dedicated one for just $58.88/month. Since then I’ve answered a number of questions on forums, on Facebook and Twitter on just why this is such a good deal, and why dedicated hosting from Namecheap is better.

So today, I’m writing this blog post to explain why we’re so pleased with our offerings and why they’re such a good deal for you, the customer.
I’ve written before about our approach to global infrastructure at Namecheap. I’ve written about how we only accept best of breed when it comes to networking, servers, storage, connectivity and even down to component selection. A few of my previous blog posts cover this including my post on our new Namecheap.com infrastructure, our rebuild of our Private Email platform and more.

And now, I’m going to tell you that our approach to our dedicated server product line is just the same. Only accept the very best.

So let’s start with the server hardware itself. As a dedicated server customer, you’re renting all of that hardware on a monthly basis for your sole use.

As a dedicated server customer, you want that hardware, including all of the components, to be available all of the time. You expect and demand reliability as hardware/component failure takes your server, and potentially your business, offline.

That’s why we only use branded Dell or Supermicro hardware. We do not use ‘white box’ hardware that is poorly constructed by untrained technicians. We do not try and save money on using inferior cases with poorer airflow just to save a few dollars. And for the components inside the server, we only use the enterprise versions.

This is particularly important for Hard Drives and RAM. Desktop versions of hard drives are much cheaper; up to 40-50% in some cases for the desktop model of the drive. Some competitors cut corners by offering desktop components in a server environment. But these desktop components have much lower MTBFs as they are not designed to run always on. Nor as they as rigorously tested as the enterprise server versions that Namecheap uses. That age-old adage of you gets what you pay for runs true in server quality.

Similarly, for remote management of dedicated servers, we offer full iDrac enterprise or IPMI 2.0 access. We don’t constrain you through restricted web interfaces or give you no access at all. You get full access to the remote management capabilities including remote reboot, console/KVM, virtual media support and more.

High-quality server hardware isn’t much use if housed in a low-quality datacenter. Our Phoenix facility is built to a Tier IV standard covering high levels of redundancy for power, cooling and security. My previous posts have shown some photos of the datacenter and here are a few more with dedicated servers visible.

Our gold standard approach also includes our network. You can have the best server hardware in the world housed in the best datacenter in the world. But if connectivity, i.e. the network, to the outside world is sup-bar then all of the hard work, and investment, into the hardware and datacenter is truly wasted.

Namecheap’s network is fast, reliable, secure and DDoS resilient. We have multiple upstreams delivered across fiber entering the datacenter at diverse points. The fiber itself is routed diversely meaning no carrier outage or fiber cut could take our network offline. I’ve seen some other server providers have single fiber routes into the building or insufficient capacity across multiple routes that have been taken offline by a single fiber cut. In 2015, that isn’t really acceptable; locate your data center in an area where fiber is in abundance or lay multiple fiber routes into the building.

The connectivity we bring in is then connected to our core network. we use Juniper for our core switching and routing, shown at a high level in the diagram below.

The network is fully 10/40G with multiple 10G delivered on fiber to each top of rack switch. Meshing means the network is fully redundant and can withstand multiple failures. Additionally, we have our own unique DDoS protection within the network with both inline DDoS scrubbing and external, out of network, scrubbing centers. While many providers’ approach to DDoS is purely to null route the IP address, we contain, scrub and clean most DDoS attacks at no charge to our customers.

All of the above is backed up by perhaps what Namecheap is best known for. Our amazing customer service.

Across Namecheap, everyone is 110% dedicated to delivering a second-to-none customer experience. Customers always come first and every day, I’m made proud by examples of our team going above and beyond to support our customers. Our dedicated server range is no different and we offer competitively priced manage and true fully managed service plans for customers wishing to leave the management of the server software to us.