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123Systems - $6 512MB OpenVZ VPS in Dallas

123Systems Andrew from 123Systems informed me the other day that they have overhauled their pricing plan on their unmanaged OpenVZ VPS offers. You can see all the offers listed here in WHMCS, including their “$15/year” 192MB OpenVZ VPS and “$10/year” 128MB OpenVZ VPS. I do hope Andrew crammed all the cheap yearly payment users onto the same box — so those paying slightly more would have less contention. Here are two plans that meet my criteria:

  • Linux-256MB (Sign up link)
  • 256MB guaranteed/512MB burstable memory
  • 10GB storage
  • 500GB/month data transfer
  • $3/month
  • Linux-512MB (Sign up link)
  • 512MB guaranteed/1024MB burstable memory
  • 20GB storage
  • 1TB/month data transfer
  • $6/month

OpenVZ/SolusVM based. Servers with Limestone Networks in Dallas TX. How’s everyone’s 123Systems VPS these days? Reports from last time seems to be “getting better”. Still the case?

LEA
Latest posts by LEA (see all)

53 Comments

  1. hc:

    My $21/yr VPS is the most stable that I’ve had. Once they booted all the riffraff off during the first 2-3 months, the performance has been solid!

    xxxx@xxxx:~# curl -o /dev/null cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
      % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                     Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
    100  100M  100  100M    0     0  5445k      0  0:00:18  0:00:18 --:--:-- 5285k
    
    xxxx@xxxx:~# dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/test bs=100 count=1000000
    1000000+0 records in
    1000000+0 records out
    100000000 bytes (100 MB) copied, 2.91675 s, 34.3 MB/s
    
    xxxx@xxxx:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
    processor       : 0
    vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
    cpu family      : 6
    model           : 44
    model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
    stepping        : 2
    cpu MHz         : 2393.999
    cache size      : 12288 KB
    fpu             : yes
    fpu_exception   : yes
    cpuid level     : 11
    wp              : yes
    flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
    bogomips        : 4787.99
    clflush size    : 64
    cache_alignment : 64
    address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
    power management: [8]
    
    processor       : 1
    vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
    cpu family      : 6
    model           : 44
    model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
    stepping        : 2
    cpu MHz         : 2393.999
    cache size      : 12288 KB
    fpu             : yes
    fpu_exception   : yes
    cpuid level     : 11
    wp              : yes
    flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
    bogomips        : 4787.75
    clflush size    : 64
    cache_alignment : 64
    address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
    power management: [8]
    
    May 3, 2011 @ 6:38 am | Reply
    • Please redo your dd test with conv=fdatasync. Without that you’re testing the write-to-buffer speed.

      May 3, 2011 @ 7:47 am | Reply
  2. Hi hc, the same package $21/year ;-)
    i’m one of a happy customer, they’re looking good todays.

    $  dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/test bs=100 count=1000000
    1000000+0 records in
    1000000+0 records out
    100000000 bytes (100 MB) copied, 2.68527 s, 37.2 MB/s
    
    May 3, 2011 @ 7:28 am | Reply
    • *quote*: “Please redo your dd test with conv=fdatasync. Without that you’re testing the write-to-buffer speed.”

      May 3, 2011 @ 1:30 pm | Reply
      • $ dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
        16384+0 records in
        16384+0 records out
        1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 13.8779 s, 77.4 MB/s
        
        May 4, 2011 @ 2:40 pm | Reply
        • @yomero: is this value (77.4) bad? thanks for insight about the minimum disk i/o performance

          May 4, 2011 @ 2:45 pm | Reply
        • I think is pretty good n_n. I will say excelent :P

          Is better than before, but is strange that you got 37.2 without conv=fdatasync

          May 4, 2011 @ 3:17 pm | Reply
        • @Yomero, the parameters used are different. I’m not sure why Ronald changed those though.

          May 5, 2011 @ 6:12 am | Reply
        • Yomero:

          Oh! I see! Hmmm, the first test was just a 100 MB test. Well, anyway, the second test is most accurate and is very good.

          May 5, 2011 @ 7:25 am | Reply
        • rm:

          @Yomero
          > Is better than before, but is strange that you got 37.2 without conv=fdatasync

          Because in the first test he used a buffer size of 100 bytes, which is very inefficient. :)

          May 5, 2011 @ 7:56 am | Reply
  3. Still waiting for their VPS in West Coast :D

    May 3, 2011 @ 7:48 am | Reply
  4. Logain:

    Is the 40% discount on annual plans no longer valid? I know it used to be advertised as ‘STOCK0’ code, but the latest WHT offers do not seem to mention that and the WHMCS page does not seem to imply any discount when paying for a year upfront.

    May 3, 2011 @ 8:36 am | Reply
    • Yes. We can not use that code anymore :D
      I’ve tried it at several package, but it’s invalid.

      May 3, 2011 @ 12:53 pm | Reply
      • If a code says invalid, in any package is invalid. If says expired, or says that doesn’ apply then is valid in SOME package.

        May 3, 2011 @ 1:33 pm | Reply
      • Logain:

        I got a response from their sales department: ‘With the price reduction the STOCK0 coupon was removed, We have no intentions of bringing that coupon back.’
        Pity, no incentive to pay annually/upfront.
        Sadly enough (for me :p) they wouldn’t even consider to extend the free subdomain offer they have with their (freesub123.net) shared hosting plan to a VPS purchase.

        May 3, 2011 @ 4:33 pm | Reply
        • if you need a subdomain just to have one, you can have a free one from jmainguy just email the ip and name you want it forwarded to.

          May 3, 2011 @ 5:29 pm | Reply
  5. I’m on their 256MB yearly plan and I’ve found their performance to be pretty good! I did a full review of them on my website if anyones interested! vpsreviews.info

    May 3, 2011 @ 9:56 am | Reply
  6. For me:

    [root@nway ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
    16384+0 records in
    16384+0 records out
    1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 42.1945 seconds, 25.4 MB/s
    [root@nway ~]#
    

    And

    [root@nway ~]# wget http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
    --2011-05-03 14:23:09--  http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
    Resolving cachefly.cachefly.net... 205.234.175.175
    Connecting to cachefly.cachefly.net|205.234.175.175|:80... connected.
    HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
    Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream]
    Saving to: `100mb.test'
    
    100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 4.84M/s   in 21s
    
    2011-05-03 14:23:31 (4.80 MB/s) - `100mb.test' saved [104857600/104857600]
    
    May 3, 2011 @ 10:23 am | Reply
  7. G:

    Grabbed a $15 last month and would have said it was good. but its been down the past 4 hours. :-(

    May 3, 2011 @ 11:32 am | Reply
    • M.M:

      Only in “last” four hours it has been down :$
      Which node are you in ?!

      May 3, 2011 @ 1:33 pm | Reply
      • G:

        VZ40DLTX, is that the node name in the control panel?

        A ticket has been opened, I guess just have to wait.

        May 3, 2011 @ 1:47 pm | Reply
    • Probably we are in the same node

      May 3, 2011 @ 1:34 pm | Reply
  8. vedran:

    Just got their $15/year thing, and this is how it looks like:

    ###@###:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
    processor       : 0
    vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
    cpu family      : 6
    model           : 44
    model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5620  @ 2.40GHz
    stepping        : 2
    cpu MHz         : 1196.999
    cache size      : 12288 KB
    fpu             : yes
    fpu_exception   : yes
    cpuid level     : 11
    wp              : yes
    flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc ida nonstop_tsc arat pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm
    bogomips        : 4787.99
    clflush size    : 64
    cache_alignment : 64
    address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
    power management: [8]
    
    processor       : 1
    ....
    
    ###@###:~# dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
    16384+0 records in
    16384+0 records out
    1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 43.4804 s, 24.7 MB/s
    ###@###:~# wget http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
    --2011-05-03 15:31:51--  http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
    Resolving cachefly.cachefly.net... 205.234.175.175
    Connecting to cachefly.cachefly.net|205.234.175.175|:80... connected.
    HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
    Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream]
    Saving to: `100mb.test'
    
    100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 19.8M/s   in 5.6s
    
    2011-05-03 15:31:57 (17.7 MB/s) - `100mb.test' saved [104857600/104857600]

    I’m new at this and I got it for learning things, but it could be even used for something.
    The setup was instant (seconds!). The strange thing is, they offer OS installation at the order page, and I wanted Ubuntu, but the highest version was 9.10. They do have 10.04 template, just not on the order page.
    All in all, happy for now (probably because I don’t know better xD)

    May 3, 2011 @ 11:50 am | Reply
  9. I love 123systems, I was one of the lucky few that were not affected by their move to texas so throughout the 5 months I have been with them I have never had unscheduled downtime. I have their $24 a year plan as well as a 2gb minecraft server with them. Feel free to ping em. minecraft.jmainguy.com (2gb server), http://www.jmainguy.com (24 a year server)

    May 3, 2011 @ 12:09 pm | Reply
  10. Never ticket them before, because the VPS is OK, there’s no need.

    May 3, 2011 @ 2:55 pm | Reply
  11. I ordered one of the $10/year VPSs last night, setup was instant and performance is great. It’s perfect for a DNS server.

    May 3, 2011 @ 4:15 pm | Reply
  12. Steve:

    Good to see positive reviews for 123Systems here. They have definitely improved since the start of this year. I’ve had my VPS with them for 8 months now, and it’s probably the most stable OpenVZ VPS I’ve had.

    root@vps3:~# uptime
     20:48:55 up 43 days, 17:23,  1 user,  load average: 0.10, 0.03, 0.01
    

    Would have been longer than that if I didn’t reboot it.

    May 3, 2011 @ 4:49 pm | Reply
  13. Thanks for all the feedback guy’s,

    We re-did a lot of our setups to bring better performance and better uptime and it appears that it has worked for the most part, VZ40DLTX did have some downtime earlier this evening due to some networking issues, Although it did take some time to resolve as when we rebooted the node the first time it wanted to perform and fsck so that had to play out, Everything is currently back online with VZ40.

    All of the newer nodes will be using Adaptec RAID cards so you should see about 100~250MB/s on DD tests, I’m not sure if anyone here is provisioned on those nodes yet, We will be moving the setups over to some of those nodes in the next 45 minutes. If anyone here wishes to be provisioned on those nodes you should halt your order for about 45 minutes.

    -Andrew

    May 3, 2011 @ 5:24 pm | Reply
    • 100~250MB/s!? Can I be moved from VZ33DLTX to that one?

      May 4, 2011 @ 5:40 pm | Reply
      • Tanmoy:

        Hello Andrew, No reply!!!

        May 8, 2011 @ 2:45 am | Reply
  14. macro:

    Everything about 123ystem is good, machine, I/O, etc.
    the only one thing they lack of… is that their support is rude, the most rude personal across the board. I don’t know whether they have family problem(?) or
    whatever, they’re so rude.

    Another thing is that, their techs have no knowledge of coding, php or anything related to OS, if they hire some other knows stuff, 123system could be a great
    provider.

    May 3, 2011 @ 6:14 pm | Reply
  15. john:

    “Everything about 123ystem is good, machine, I/O, etc.
    the only one thing they lack of… is that their support is rude, the most rude personal across the board. I don’t know whether they have family problem(?) or
    whatever, they’re so rude.”
    The same experience there…

    May 3, 2011 @ 8:56 pm | Reply
    • Raj:

      I haven’t had any support be rude to me, but they’re not the friendliest. I interpreted their reaction as “straight to the point”, but not rude.

      I rarely use support though, so as long as they keep the node running smoothly, I’m a happy customer.

      I echo the sentiments from others here that I/O is good, uptime is good (13 days since I manually rebooted), network speeds are good.

      $10/yr VPS quick tests

      $ wget http://cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test
      2011-05-04 00:57:27 (47.5 MB/s) - `100mb.test' saved [104857600/104857600]
      
      $ dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
      12818+0 records in
      12818+0 records out
      840040448 bytes (840 MB) copied, 10.2969 s, 81.6 MB/s
      
      May 4, 2011 @ 5:59 am | Reply
      • Raj:

        I also swapped out a few megs, but can’t complain for $10/yr

                     Total     Used     Free
        Kernel:   2048.00M    2.20M 2045.80M
        Allocate:  128.00M   22.10M  105.90M (128M Guaranteed)
        Commit:    128.00M   15.79M  112.21M (61.5% of Allocated)
        Swap:                 3.65M          (26.9% of Committed)
        
        May 4, 2011 @ 6:01 am | Reply
  16.              Total     Used     Free
    Kernel:   2048.00M    1.01M 2046.99M
    Allocate:  128.00M   16.35M  111.65M (128M Guaranteed)
    Commit:    128.00M    5.61M  122.39M (28.1% of Allocated)
    Swap:                 2.00M          (43.6% of Committed)

    Fail. It can’t even keep 6mb in ram.

    May 4, 2011 @ 4:54 am | Reply
    • LOL, well, that happens to me in some other companies too…

      May 4, 2011 @ 4:55 am | Reply
    • vedran:

      No swapping for me, apparently

                   Total     Used     Free
      Kernel:   2048.00M    1.28M 2046.72M
      Allocate:  384.00M  144.34M  239.66M (192M Guaranteed)
      Commit:    192.00M   23.83M  168.17M (15.6% of Allocated)
      Swap:                 0.00M          (0.0% of Committed)
      

      The only thing that bothers me is high load sometimes with nothing running on my side, but that’s “normal” I suppose.

      May 4, 2011 @ 9:53 am | Reply
  17. hacktek:

    Site’s down for me =/

    May 4, 2011 @ 5:17 pm | Reply
    • Hacktek,

      It was down for quite some time due to yet another inbound attack directed towards our main site, This resulted in our site IP being null routed for the duration. We are currently working to get our main site moved over to Awknet as they have recently released additional stock.

      -Andrew

      May 4, 2011 @ 7:36 pm | Reply
    • Comes right up for me from Charlotte NC.

      I;m assuming you;re talking about the 123systems site and not one that they host.

      May 4, 2011 @ 7:37 pm | Reply
      • hacktek:

        Exactly, it’s back up now.

        May 4, 2011 @ 9:46 pm | Reply
  18. PenguinTux:

    Be careful of these guys, they remove your VPS by “mistake” sometimes…
    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1045211

    May 4, 2011 @ 11:49 pm | Reply
  19. If you use any VPNs or proxy servers, watch out for their billing system. I live in China and run my traffic through a VPN in the US (this, incidentally, is why I want another VPS – it’s good to set up multiple VPN gateways because performance can vary by location and time of day). This was enough to flag the order for fraud. Rather than allowing me to explain the situation and provide alternative billing details (I still own a home in the US and have bank accounts there), they just cancelled my order and said I can resubmit it.

    Only one problem, there is no stock of anything cheaper than $3 per month now. So I can’t really resubmit.

    Admittedly, this is an edge case. However, it’s worth noting. You’d think they’d take the item being ordered into account – if I truly had fraudulent intent, I wouldn’t be ordering the cheapest service they sold. :)

    May 5, 2011 @ 3:36 am | Reply
    • The Kreek:

      At least you got an answer, I submitted 2 tickets and both of them were closed without any explanation. If they don’t want to spend time with this kind of issues, at least they should mention it on their TOS.

      Andrew, sorry to say this, but support just leave me with a bad taste.

      June 13, 2011 @ 7:45 pm | Reply
  20. Steve81:

    Well, after a wait caused by a password that wasn’t accepted by the automatic system, I got my VPS 192 (15$/y) up and running.
    Actually seems enought reactive:

    # dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
    16384+0 records in
    16384+0 records out
    1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 42.404 s, 25.3 MB/s
    
    # vzfree
                 Total     Used     Free
    Kernel:   2048.00M    2.00M 2046.00M
    Allocate:  384.00M   62.92M  321.08M (192M Guaranteed)
    Commit:    192.00M   16.35M  175.65M (22.8% of Allocated)
    Swap:                 0.03M          (0.2% of Committed)
    

    Also the support replies was fast (and, as some other said, they just go straight to the point).

    May 5, 2011 @ 9:31 am | Reply
    • MBGear:

      I can’t really say the same thing about the support.

      May 10, 2011 @ 6:50 pm | Reply
  21. Abyssal:

    Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried their web-hosting package too?

    May 5, 2011 @ 3:51 pm | Reply
  22. Wira:

    Hello,

    Can I upgrade accross the package in the future? I mean for example now I purchase the Lin-512MB package, can I upgrade become 1GB-RAM? Do I still get the same IP for it?
    Thanks…

    May 7, 2011 @ 6:52 am | Reply
  23. Matteo:

    I agree with people stating support is not helpful and rude.
    This is my experience with 123Systems, you should read it before buying a VPS with them: http://gridalo.blogspot.com/2011/06/123systemsnet-my-experience.html

    June 22, 2011 @ 8:52 am | Reply
  24. scorpus:

    Lowcost but this a bulls*it vps…
    if unfortunately you have a DDos attack your server is nullrouted for 24 hours…

    VPS is stoped without any notification….

    Iptables modules are disabled… so you can’t secure your self

    and support is very very slow… you can get your vps after 1 week if you make a new command… 1 to 2 days to get a response if you ask the support… for 5 tickets >> 0 resolved…

    pannel disabled for a time 0 exploit… a big bullsh*t hoster ! as custumer am very disappointed.

    June 21, 2013 @ 8:23 am | Reply

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