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CityNetHost - $21/3 Months 512MB Windows VPS in Egypt

CityNetHost Although there are still a few days left in March, Mohamed from CityNetHost has sent me their new April offer. $21/quarter on the following Windows VPS “VPS-Lite-HyperV-Promo”:

  • 512MB memory
  • 25GB storage
  • 100GB/month data transfer
  • Hyper-V/Windows 2008R2

Direct sign up link here. Servers in Egypt, which had a coup recently that resulted Internet of the entire nation being cut on 26 Jan for a few days. The stability in that area is still questionable, especially now their neighboring country is attracting all the attentions. But hey, cheap Windows. Hyper-V, in a location that’s close to south Europe — what more can you ask for?! :)

Their previous $6.50/month 512MB Xen VPS offer is still available (direct ordering link here), for the rest of us penguin lovers.

LEA
Latest posts by LEA (see all)

54 Comments

  1. Bernardo Andrade:

    I don’t know how they make Windows deals so cheap assuming you have to pay for Windows license to use on the VPS.

    HostRail is another company that just launched their Windows VPS plans starting at 5$ per month i still wonder how can they offer it so cheap.

    March 28, 2011 @ 1:27 pm | Reply
    • With the datacenter edition of Windows all VM licensing is inclusive. So once you pay for the host node, no other licensing is needed for containers, but I am not sure that applies to MSSQL and other products, I think just the OS.

      March 28, 2011 @ 2:43 pm | Reply
      • MyCroft:

        Yep. Having Windows VPS at this price is surely that they have Datacenter license.

        March 28, 2011 @ 3:30 pm | Reply
      • Yeah, just the OS. It costs $3000 per physical CPU though….

        March 28, 2011 @ 4:19 pm | Reply
        • Unless you’re on SPLA, which most providers are. Server 2008 R2 Datacenter is $53/month per processor on SPLA.

          March 30, 2011 @ 4:42 am | Reply
    • fanovpn:

      HostRail actually charges $15/month for a 512MB plan (with the WINDOWSBUYNOW 15% coupon, or $10.79/month if payed annually and using the WINDOWSANNUALLY 40% coupon).

      But HostRail’s bottom-line 256MB windows offering can work out to $3/month if you pay for a full year and use the WINDOWSANNUALLY 40%-off coupon. Presumably they can offer it so cheaply in the same way they can offer Linux for $1/month — badly.

      March 28, 2011 @ 4:18 pm | Reply
    • Quite a few people have sent me the info on HostRail’s new Windows plans, but I decided not to post it yet as it’s just a pre-order. It won’t be ready until the end of this month.

      March 28, 2011 @ 9:53 pm | Reply
  2. rm:

    Interesting how this one has 10 times less transfer than the Xen offer. (or is it a typo?)

    March 28, 2011 @ 1:52 pm | Reply
    • MyCroft:

      I guess this not a typo. This is their promotion.

      March 28, 2011 @ 3:29 pm | Reply
    • Steve:

      Their “Hyper V Lite” plan on the website has 1000GB transfer, so I’m guessing it’s a typo.

      March 28, 2011 @ 3:48 pm | Reply
  3. KLIKLI:

    Is it a good decision to buy it? I’m still worried about their future of politic.

    March 28, 2011 @ 4:01 pm | Reply
    • More than that issues, I am more worried about their freaking slow network xD

      Also, I had a bad experience, in little words, I got hacked and used as a bot for an staff member (almost sure, there is no other posibility).

      March 28, 2011 @ 4:19 pm | Reply
      • Wow first complain of that type slow network and hacking case well as far as I’m concerned you’ve not reported that to us either by support tickets or live chat and seriously talking about a staff member hacking your box to use it as a bot is some sort of a joke to me as it’s pointless as I’m one of the staff if I want to use bots or w/e I would of made my own box :) but we don’t use bots anyway.Feel free to go on your client area submitting a ticket about your case or come for a conversation discussing what happened

        March 28, 2011 @ 5:15 pm | Reply
        • Yes, I didn’t reported it, maybe my mistake, was some time ago.

          But I thought, how can I trust in the staff if someone comes and puts my root password from an IP in a similar subnetwork and gets a shell in the first try? Some day, I logged in the vps and surprise, like 300 ssh processes xD For that reason I just remain silent.

          Also, before that I got a suspended account because “too many ssh connections” or “too many system resources” your staff said (There was some cronjobs to synchronize a file every 5 minutes). When the “bot machine” issue, I didn’t received any complain about hundreds of processes or a lot of connections o_O

          I guess someone copied my /etc/passwd and cracked it (was a good password imho) I just cancelled the service, no more problems. That was my situation, I hope I was the only client with this issue. Sorry for my Eng.

          And about the network, yes, is slow for people who lives in the American continent, but maybe good for european users.

          March 28, 2011 @ 5:30 pm | Reply
        • Snape:

          Yomero, I wouldn’t be super quick to blame the staff per se. On mine, the network interface seems promiscuous, and I can sniff network traffic to/from others’ VPSes, so I presume they can do likewise…

          March 28, 2011 @ 6:35 pm | Reply
        • Bernardo Andrade:

          Thats why you use SSL protocols when you are using sensitive information.

          SSH ( SSH2 ) is a secure protocol

          March 28, 2011 @ 6:37 pm | Reply
        • @Snape SSH goes cyphered. Also, as I said, first attempt, and logged in, according to my logs. Staff is a possibility. Another, the biggest coincidence in the universe, maybe there are others…

          March 28, 2011 @ 6:38 pm | Reply
        • Snape:

          Yomero, I was more suggesting that if your password was ever sent to you via e-mail (or used for FTP, or…), there’s a good chance someone on the same network could have sniffed that and intercepted it – something I’m 99% positive has happened at at least a couple other providers, including to me. (It’s difficult to *prove*, obviously…)

          The whole sniffing-others’-traffic thing is a real PITA, and one of the reasons I’m really cautious about deploying mailservers on VPSes, et cetera.

          March 28, 2011 @ 6:53 pm | Reply
        • @Snape I know, and for that reason, I changed my pass after receiving my vps, like I do with all the providers.

          March 28, 2011 @ 7:04 pm | Reply
        • Snape:

          Doesn’t the Solus serial login use the original Solus password, unless you explicitly change it? Not sure how those logins appear in the logs, but that might explain the “local” IP, and getting in on the first try, even when you’d changed the VM’s root password.

          March 28, 2011 @ 7:14 pm | Reply
        • @Snape The log was in the auth.log file, as an SSH session. The serial console in Solus doesn’t use ssh to your vps afaik (uses ssh only to the physical node)

          March 28, 2011 @ 8:19 pm | Reply
        • Bernardo Andrade:

          @Yomero it uses vztcl i think to login into the VPS.

          March 28, 2011 @ 8:32 pm | Reply
        • @Bernardo Yes, vzctl, and it doesn’t let traces in the syslog of your VPS (I did some experiments now)

          March 28, 2011 @ 8:51 pm | Reply
      • You know an ip from the same range/subnet doesn’t mean it’s a staff member,getting suspended for such a reason is better for your own sake before others immediate quick temporarily w/e you call it before the whole node goes down if you discussed it you could of got better solution different ssh port different ip or w/e but you didn’t uh I remember now my bad I don’t need any bots to crack your ssh password solusvm would do for me but probably you had a brute force attack and that was about the speed situation that’s why in each LEB post location is announced but it doesn’t mean we’ve “a freaking slow network”

        March 28, 2011 @ 5:49 pm | Reply
        • No, the suspension was before the issue.

          And yes, about the IP, I know that no implies an staff member was the cracker, but with this circunstances, I don0t have another explanation.

          My root password is exposed by SolusVM? As far as I know, it can change it only. My pass wasn’t changed.

          I don’t want to continue the discussion, just I am exposing my case, if someone want to take it, or not, just my 2 cents. Old issue. Last comment.

          March 28, 2011 @ 6:09 pm | Reply
    • It’s up to you generally but everything is stable on here now..Our pleasure to be one of our clients.

      March 28, 2011 @ 6:08 pm | Reply
    • M.M:

      From my close monitor to their place, and actually to the whole middle east politics in general, I can tell you that Egypt is a very stable places in Arab world, it has a very important army in the region, plus actively working (currently) local police of large scale, adding to that the revolution did what they where asking which (should) bring the time for stability. So, the place is really stable now, and also after what looked like a collective walkout for police several days, during their revolution. But security is all back I believe specially with the army fully involved in that. A side question though (going back to real topic) , is it possible in ALL windows virtual servers, to remotely connect to desktop? Or it has any limitations or minimum specs for the server to have in order to run desktop? And sorry to be silly question as I really lack experience with virtual servers under Windows. Thanks.

      March 29, 2011 @ 9:16 pm | Reply
  4. Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

    I think we should call Windows lovers, Broken Glass Lovers

    March 28, 2011 @ 4:25 pm | Reply
    • I know you hate Windows, but frankly speaking it’s not that bad.

      March 28, 2011 @ 5:26 pm | Reply
      • Linux Rocks. Windows is ok And mac is just crap!

        March 28, 2011 @ 9:27 pm | Reply
        • cd:

          Everyone has their own opinion – ultimately it’s just end-user preference, not whether something is “better”.

          March 29, 2011 @ 2:21 am | Reply
      • Pretty post n_n

        March 28, 2011 @ 6:29 pm | Reply
      • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

        Cars break down much more then bicycles.

        Using Linux is like using a Hydrogen Car, and using Windows is like using a guzzly petrol car thats polluting the environment.

        Many Windows users say “I’ve never got a Virus”, but the truth is they have got one and they’ve just not known about it, plus according to that blog post Windows has more hard-drive support, sure if you install 100000000s of the drivers out there, but only one OS has most of them built into Generic Drivers in the core, and thats Tux.

        March 28, 2011 @ 7:29 pm | Reply
        • “I’ve never got a Virus” n.n
          Well, some time ago yes :P

          March 28, 2011 @ 8:52 pm | Reply
        • Probably that’s another bad analogy – hydrogen car does cost lot more than a petrol car.

          Well, in regards to virus, I guess it’s only fair if you also consider the amount of exploited/hacked tux-based machines. After all it’s the user behind the machine that counts.

          March 29, 2011 @ 9:03 am | Reply
      • I don’t think that’s a good analogy, at least for the most part.

        Just staying with the author’s perspective… if you don’t know how to fix bike problems, then, you should probably not be riding a bike.

        March 28, 2011 @ 8:23 pm | Reply
        • M.M:

          The sad (and true fact) is that the article is correct. Problem is not every one has the time needed, and efforts needed, to learn and to work completely Linux, that is a fact after all and Linux needs a LOT of hard and serious work, specially at the very beginning with it. While Windows and also the likes OSs, suits any person that even only knows how to operate his TV and works 16 hours a day ha can still learn Windows in few hours, and even get going as a Windows and applications expert in next several days!!! While Linux BEST suits programmers!!! professionals in that field!!! Not at all the mainstream person. That is the sad fact about the HARD, MOSTLY MORE TIME CONSUMING, Linux OS. And sorry to Yomero for the previous comment regarding his issue that is described above.

          March 31, 2011 @ 12:57 am | Reply
      • fugoki:

        Riding a bike is eco-friendly & keeps you fit; you just have to watch out for all the crazies driving the cars…

        March 30, 2011 @ 11:18 pm | Reply
  5. M.M:

    Reading through comments, I think it is clear that this company must be providing really slow service/support! Since all the staff are concerned in the first place, by running bots/inventing new methods, to hack Yomero’s VPS, which also ran the network down and you can tell how much bots they employ for that.

    March 29, 2011 @ 9:43 pm | Reply
    • I have to admit that the issue that Yomero raises has to be taken with a grain of salt. No offense to Yomero but there’s no proof offered in what he or she says. Having said that though, Yomero is a fairly active member of the forums and shouldn’t be blown off either.

      My concern is more for the stability of the area. If I was looking for a new host, picking one in such a troublesome area of the world wouldn’t make me sleep soundly at night. Knowing that the entire country can be shut off with the flick of four switches is a concern.

      March 30, 2011 @ 8:45 pm | Reply
      • Thanks Mike, as I said, just my 2 cents, 100% agree.

        March 30, 2011 @ 8:52 pm | Reply
      • Snape:

        I actually kind of enjoyed it in a perverse way when the Egyptian internet was cut off. All I host there is a nameserver, so it had no significant effect on my sites or customers, and I was able to invoke the whole “Force majeure” clause of my TOS, which, let’s be honest, is a pretty rare event in the hosting industry. :)

        Geographic latency aside, I’d rather host something of value with CityNet than with, say, That Hippy In Chicago, and both have lost my data or ripped me off… multiple times. Difference is, CityNet provide a reasonably decent service and have made measurable improvements over many months, whereas THIC… has not.

        March 30, 2011 @ 9:01 pm | Reply
      • Spirit:

        Good point Snape and I completely agree with you here. What’s the use to have “mega stable” Hetzner vps from some wanna-be scandinavian host which need 2 weeks of downtime and agony for simple migration between nodes in same DC. CityNet have known flaws, most of then out of their control, but we mostly know where we are with them while with That Hippy In Chicago or This Host from Denmark we can’t be ever sure… CityNet deliver me service which I expect from them.

        March 30, 2011 @ 9:52 pm | Reply
      • M.M:

        As I said (sorry posted that when responding to another comment!) sorry for intervention in the problem, as I thought Yomero is just spammer/unknown poster :) Just forgot his name, it was in my RAM, not HDD grrr

        March 31, 2011 @ 1:02 am | Reply
  6. John:

    Website is down now. Dont know if this is temporary or permanent, but presume everyone with vps has a problem too.

    April 18, 2011 @ 3:18 pm | Reply
    • John:

      It was down for approx 2hours. But it meant my sites were down too. Will see if its just a one-off or a trend.

      April 19, 2011 @ 3:50 pm | Reply
  7. Bazza:

    Have a Windows 2008 VPS there for over a month now, no real problems, system is stable and support is OK. Network can be slow, and throughput isn’t great. Latency is an issue. Averaging around 2Mbps up/down on speedtests within Egypt.

    May 18, 2011 @ 3:59 pm | Reply
  8. alaa kaduora:

    Dear Sir,

    i had purchased a windows VPS 8 Hours ago, but didn’t received any email from your side,
    I even opened a support ticket but still no response, although the money was deducted from my card

    please update me

    August 18, 2011 @ 11:05 pm | Reply
    • alaa kaduora:

      Still no reply

      so i asked for refund from 2co, i don’t know what is going own with these guys ?????

      but i don’t think i will recommend them for any body

      August 19, 2011 @ 3:53 pm | Reply
  9. Scrambleground:

    Avoid these joke artists, placed my order, they would never respond to your tickets, will close it without even care to respond, will set the order for pending forever and at the end mark it as fraud and never refund you, i dispute it on paypal, its a crappy service without even deliver, glad i didnt it buy it yearly.

    October 15, 2015 @ 12:35 am | Reply

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