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HostRail - $5.96 384MB Windows Virtuozzo VPS in Switzerland

Updated July 2011 — HostRail is now officially HostFail. Domain is no longer resolving. See this thread on WHT for discussions there.

HostRail Wish everyone a great weekend so far. Over the last week or two, a few people have sent me info on HostRail‘s new Windows VPS line of products. They also currently have special promotion — until 3rd of April (i.e. today). Promo code WINDOWSBUYNOW will get you 15% recurring discount on their Windows VPS, and longer payment cycles also have larger discount. For example up to 40% off if you purchase annually. Their “2 Power Units Server” would be $5.94/month after the discount is applied. Direct order link here.

  • 384MB memory
  • 60GB storage
  • 800GB/month data transfer
  • Virtuozzo/Windows 2003/2008

This has also been discussed on LowEndTalk. Servers in Switzerland (test IP: 46.19.136.1). I believe that it is Virtuozzo-powered Windows VPS, which is very different from Hyper-V or Xen HVM powered Windows VPS (such as this CityNetHost and this Thrust::VPS offer). It’s a container based virtualization with shared kernel — yes shared Windows kernel which you can’t update if I remember correctly. So like OpenVZ, it might not run everything you throw at it especially when the program requires dedicated-server like environment.

HostRail’s previous offers have received huge number of responses — both over 500+ comments. HostRail is based in Cyrpus, been in business since 2004. They must have done something right to get that many responses — at least they are very hard to beat price-wise.

LEA
Latest posts by LEA (see all)

186 Comments

  1. BluePanda:

    I look forward to see the replied this post will get. In the past when i had my VPS with HostRail they were pretty bad in terms of everything but price.

    Lets see if they are doing it right this time around on windows.

    Honestly “shared kernal with windows” just does not seem like a good idea – to me at least when i read that..

    April 3, 2011 @ 2:10 pm | Reply
    • Jason:

      It’s just not explained too well. Virtuozzo has been a common way for Windows for quite some time. VPSLand have been doing it for a long time, as have many others.

      April 3, 2011 @ 3:04 pm | Reply
    • Hello BluePanda, We’re improving as time passes, we have already improved a lot i believe. In terms of server uptime we’re stabilized (not counting DDOS Attacks here), Abusers are no longer using our Services or very few still use or try to use our Services. Support might be a bit slow still on some occasions however we’re working to continuously improve this.

      April 3, 2011 @ 6:42 pm | Reply
      • BluePanda:

        It is great to see you here replying to our worries and queries here. Just thought i would start off with that.

        In the time i was with you, i experienced two FSCK’s each taking over 5 hours making me wait and tell all my clients that we will be back soon and one DDOS attack on your node (not my VPS). I am now with a different company, the people i was originally with and in the 1 year and 3 months i have been with them, the VPS has NEVER gone down.

        I just hope it has improved since i have been away.

        April 3, 2011 @ 8:28 pm | Reply
        • Hello,
          Yes it has certainly improved – we haven’t done any FSCK’s for a long time – Abuse has been decreased substantially. When did you have a service with us? in the period of December?

          April 3, 2011 @ 9:15 pm | Reply
        • BluePanda:

          I believe so, during the end of December to the end of February i would say. All the tests i would normally perform were pretty slow and it was not improving either.

          I will probably be trying one of your Windows VPS’s if this thread comes back with positive reviews :)

          April 3, 2011 @ 9:51 pm | Reply
    • Dicarsio:

      They still suck. Lots of downtime. I was using it for backups and can’t anymore. Leaving this month. Very cheap buy extremely unreliable. this months downtime causes were kernel issues. You receive at least one maintenance email per month!

      April 27, 2011 @ 4:07 pm | Reply
  2. Tom:

    This will be a useless VPS once people starts running Xrumer’s on it.

    April 3, 2011 @ 2:16 pm | Reply
    • Hello, We are monitoring the VPS’s for any CPU Abuse however due to the low number of VPS’s in each Windows Server we don’t anticipate that VPS’s will affect each other too much.

      April 3, 2011 @ 3:17 pm | Reply
      • Mike Hat:

        When can we expect the VPS accounts to be activated? I ordered a few days ago and haven’t heard anything yet.

        April 3, 2011 @ 3:21 pm | Reply
  3. Hello everyone,
    For those that don’t know me, my name is John and i am a Level 1 Support Engineer here at HostRail.
    In order to help the CEO a bit as he is busy these days i have been assigned the task of replying to comments here.

    April 3, 2011 @ 3:27 pm | Reply
  4. dd:

    I signed up for a linux box today and got it in a few hours, but the centos 64 bit image is not loading. Its corrupted. In the end I settled for a 32 bit centos 5.5.

    The CPU 1PU is throttled to about 10 times slower compared to my other VPSes, but I am happy with the VPS (with the size of the HD).

    April 3, 2011 @ 3:37 pm | Reply
    • Mike Hat:

      I fail to see how any of this is relevant in a topic about their WINDOWS VPS offer.

      April 3, 2011 @ 3:41 pm | Reply
      • dd:

        I fail to see how your comment about my post is relevant.

        I was commenting about the VPS provider, which definitely is relevant here. Gtfo.

        Windows? Bleh…

        April 3, 2011 @ 3:51 pm | Reply
      • General feedback about the provider? You have a lot of that on this blog.

        April 3, 2011 @ 5:10 pm | Reply
        • dd:

          So what? I will add my two bits.

          April 4, 2011 @ 1:31 am | Reply
        • dd, I was agreeing with you, dummy.

          April 6, 2011 @ 7:41 pm | Reply
        • dd:

          “dd, I was agreeing with you, dummy.”

          Sorry. My mistake.

          April 9, 2011 @ 7:53 pm | Reply
        • Not a problem. We’ll blame the funky threaded comments. :)

          April 9, 2011 @ 9:46 pm | Reply
    • Did you submit a ticket, if not please do so.

      April 3, 2011 @ 6:25 pm | Reply
      • dd:

        I have no problems. I am happy with the VPS. Thank you.

        April 4, 2011 @ 1:22 am | Reply
      • dd:

        If you are referring to the 64 bit problem, I have already installed everything as 32 bit. You see I place great emphasis on being self reliant. So I will ask for support only when I can’t find any way to do it myself.

        April 4, 2011 @ 1:30 am | Reply
  5. Bob:

    Why not a Linux/BSD offer?

    (I don’t really see the point in a windows VPS)

    April 3, 2011 @ 4:00 pm | Reply
    • Steve:

      Hmm, well let’s think of the useful things a Windows VPS could do…

      Hmmmmm…. maybe run Windows-only applications? :|

      April 3, 2011 @ 4:02 pm | Reply
      • I think some people just need a Windows VPS due to its GUI (i know Linux offers that also).

        April 3, 2011 @ 6:32 pm | Reply
        • Bob:

          Yeah, I guess some people think it’s more easy – but the whole point with lowendboxes, imho is getting a good opportunity to learn some stuff about networking & GNU/Linux :D

          And maybe after a couple of months or years administrating a LEB the people will feel like “well, I have some control over this thing, could be cool to have some control over my desktop”! (And then “could be cool to take back control over my life” (who knows?))

          April 3, 2011 @ 11:28 pm | Reply
    • dd:

      Me too. I don’t see what advantages a windows VPS can give except requiring more memory. Mind you, windows is great for desktops, I use it all the time, but for a server, no.

      April 3, 2011 @ 4:04 pm | Reply
      • Well, someone can run a MSSQL server in Windows :P Is another database commonly used in servers. Some ASP sites maybe.

        I am curious about how Windows VPS’s works. Maybe I must give it a try :D

        April 3, 2011 @ 4:14 pm | Reply
        • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

          Don’t forget you like have to pay for MSSQL. MSSQL has no general advantage over mySQL apart from being overpriced and closed source and only runs on limited platforms.

          April 3, 2011 @ 6:02 pm | Reply
        • @Yomero: Daniel is correct that MSSQL is not free – there is however MSSQL Express Edition which is free and does the job perfectly in my opinion in comparison with the paid version of MSSQL.

          April 3, 2011 @ 6:30 pm | Reply
        • Yes, I was just talking about the sense of having a Windows machine, not about cost :P indeed isn’t cheap.

          April 3, 2011 @ 8:35 pm | Reply
      • circus:

        It’s quite popular among traders (forex, etc) because of apps for that purpose are mostly windows only.

        April 3, 2011 @ 4:16 pm | Reply
        • Snape:

          Also, a number of frequently-used spambots / mass-mailing software are windows-only.

          April 3, 2011 @ 4:25 pm | Reply
        • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

          The stock exchanges now run on Linux.

          April 3, 2011 @ 6:01 pm | Reply
      • Comfort zone as well. You’re used to windows and are lost outside of that zone. Kind of like me and *shudder* Macs.

        Plus I see a lot of “Hey, I’m a computer expert because I know Windows!” in my day to day.

        April 3, 2011 @ 5:08 pm | Reply
        • Hahaha, honestly, I like all, I play with all :D

          Well, except Solaris and *BSD, but they are only flavors of the same candy n_n

          April 3, 2011 @ 5:11 pm | Reply
        • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

          Mac is a flavour of *BSD

          April 3, 2011 @ 6:01 pm | Reply
        • mmm candy

          April 3, 2011 @ 6:01 pm | Reply
        • I was talking about all the other OSs are Unix style.

          April 3, 2011 @ 7:09 pm | Reply
        • Bob:

          @Yomero: If you find time for that, you might enjoy to play with *BSD – pretty simple and straight forward system. I love it :)

          April 3, 2011 @ 11:26 pm | Reply
        • Yep, maybe I will take a look on it =P

          Maybe I will start with a newbie system with X. PC-BSD seems good for that.

          April 4, 2011 @ 1:37 am | Reply
      • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

        I don’t really think Windows is a good desktop OS either.

        April 3, 2011 @ 6:02 pm | Reply
        • Bob:

          Yep, windows is a big waste of ressources.. I do believe that they work with the people who try to sell more powerfull CPUs and new computers every few years… Windows is still as slow as it was in the 90s, but now to run it you need more than 1 gig of ram and a dual core CPU… That’s fucked up…

          My Debian & FreeBSD desktops still use the same amount of RAM than it did few years ago and are really solid, pretty secure and without the backdoor probably designed in Windows…

          MacOS X is theft but well, that’s the BSD License and that’s fine :)

          April 3, 2011 @ 11:24 pm | Reply
        • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

          Well yeh.

          Microsoft purposely make their OS need upgrading or need new hardware. They do this on purpose so you need to go out and buy hardware from their partners. To get a secure OS on Windows you actually need to buy a OS upgrade or to buy anti-virus software (You get this free with Linux). The only reason most security companies (Norton) want to try and promote Windows, is that if everyone went to Linux, their business would be ruined, because most Linux users with common sense simply don’t need it.

          Mac OS X has its advantages and disadvantages, but in terms of security, stability and performance, its UNIXness does show.

          April 4, 2011 @ 6:48 am | Reply
        • @Daniel,

          I don’t think that is the reason – do you have references to the points you made?

          Anyway, I’ve seen quite a number of exploited linux, as a result of ignorance by simply believing that it is the safest OS in the universe.

          April 4, 2011 @ 7:26 am | Reply
        • dd:

          “The only reason most security companies (Norton) want to try and promote Windows, is that if everyone went to Linux, their business would be ruined, because most Linux users with common sense simply don’t need it.”

          I have not needed ANY virii scanner since windows 2000 came out. And the collective motto of the cracking community is “SEZ WHO?”. The only reason linux has escaped their attention is because it is not as big a target as windows, so don’t boast too much.

          April 4, 2011 @ 10:18 am | Reply
        • Daniel @ LowEndTalk:

          Linux’s user and permission system is much more mature then Windows, it had it from day 1 (compared to Windows which multi-users was originally an addon!)

          Washing Machines could be made to last 100s of years, but manufacturers make them so they break after ~5 years so you have to buy a new one.

          April 4, 2011 @ 5:11 pm | Reply
        • @Daniel,

          May I know when was the last time you touched Windows Servers?

          April 4, 2011 @ 5:39 pm | Reply
        • dd:

          “Washing Machines could be made to last 100s of years, but manufacturers make them so they break after ~5 years so you have to buy a new one.”

          You mean to say unlike windows, linux doesn’t require upgrading? Are you still using linux 1.0? Just because you have to pay for it doesn’t mean that the upgrade requirement is a conspiracy to make you pay more. Every thing needs upgrading time to time, even washing machines. I don’t think any machine with movable parts like a washing machine can be made to last 100s of years. Its just that the cost of fixing something is becoming more and more compared to just replacing it.

          April 9, 2011 @ 8:41 pm | Reply
      • IMHO there’s really no point in fighting which is better – different people have different needs. And as long as MS is still alive, you’d need to know their products, being ignorant is not a good option, especially in the commercial world.

        April 4, 2011 @ 2:42 am | Reply
    • @Bob: Well you never know what could come next :) – I don’t know what’s coming next either for the time being :) We do have a 30% recurring discount currently for Linux VPS’s (promo: VPSBUYNOW)

      April 3, 2011 @ 6:26 pm | Reply
      • Bob:

        Ok, thanks, will thing about it :)

        I find it pretty expensive for OpenVZ though… Do you have a fully redundant architecture?

        April 3, 2011 @ 11:34 pm | Reply
        • Windows licensing is one factor. Can’t think of a cheaper off I’ve seen for Windows… although I generally don’t remember Windows on purpose :)

          April 4, 2011 @ 3:27 am | Reply
  6. M.M:

    Well they were really good -to me- with their Linux VPS offers. At least the uptime have been great, and it does the job without lack. So, Windows shall be promising too, ASP pages all the way :) But many hates Microsoft, this isn’t good.

    April 3, 2011 @ 6:21 pm | Reply
    • Its true that there are people hating Microsoft but demand for Windows VPS’s is still a lot.

      April 3, 2011 @ 6:34 pm | Reply
      • M.M:

        I say that knowing that myself is a big hater too!! They are burglars we all know.

        April 3, 2011 @ 7:53 pm | Reply
      • M.M:

        I mean Microsoft, of course :)

        April 3, 2011 @ 7:56 pm | Reply
  7. A small announcement: We’ve decided to increase this promotion until the 10th of April 2011 in order give some time to LowEndBox Readers to view and act on this promotion.

    April 3, 2011 @ 6:28 pm | Reply
  8. Steve:

    Hi Constantinos,

    Any idea when Server 2003 will be available?

    Thanks.

    April 3, 2011 @ 6:37 pm | Reply
  9. Arthur:

    I am wondering where is the 40% off code?

    And I wonder if there is any point of an off-shore VPS if the company holding the customer data is not off-shore.

    April 3, 2011 @ 6:55 pm | Reply
    • Bob:

      It all depends of their politics – but I guess it would be more easy for the american government to ask for your private information to a US company than to an ukranian one…

      April 3, 2011 @ 11:32 pm | Reply
    • @Arthur: Our head offices are in Europe so we’re Offshore as well

      Currently for Linux VPS’s the promo is VPSBUYNOW, it gives 30% recurring discount

      April 4, 2011 @ 11:34 pm | Reply
  10. Steve:

    WINDOWSANNUALLY is the 40% off code. Only applys if you pay annually, of course.

    April 3, 2011 @ 7:01 pm | Reply
  11. Joe Merit:

    Against my better judgement I’ve signed up for a windows package. Will report back.

    April 3, 2011 @ 8:16 pm | Reply
    • Turn to the Dark Side. You know you want to.

      You know, it’s really nice to see a provider come here, answer questions, be professional and courteous, and not attack folks. I wish more providers were like this.

      April 3, 2011 @ 9:23 pm | Reply
      • Snape:

        Is it nice, or have our expectations simple been lowered beyond imagination by the subhuman efforts of a few other hosts? :)

        April 3, 2011 @ 9:38 pm | Reply
      • I can think of one recent example of what NOT to do :)

        Honestly I think it is sad if we have gotten to that point. “It’s nice to have a company be professional and do their job” … maybe we should bring out a banhammer for bad hosts. Have a “LEB block list” which is publicly available and they have to prove themselves worthy before being taken off. Any thoughts on how to prove worthyness? I call for a three strike rule.

        April 4, 2011 @ 3:31 am | Reply
        • Snape:

          Problem is, that’s very subjective, Pat. Three strikes, sure – but what constitutes a “strike”? How long do “strikes” last, if not forever? Can anything be done to remove “strikes”? And are all “strikes” created equal?

          I mean, work out a three-strikes system whereby the idiots behind BlazeVPS are forever banned from playing for explicitly specified transgressions, and I’m all ears. :)

          I think I’ve said this before, but IMO, if LEA wants to raise the standards here:

          1, no hosts demonstrably run by teens or pre-teens;
          2, no hosts with sequential/non-redundant/borked DNS;
          3, no hosts with anonymous/fake/private WHOIS data;
          4, no hosts with domains less than 90 days old;
          5, no Burst/Virpus resellers…

          …and I expect others can come up with additional restrictions.

          April 4, 2011 @ 3:41 am | Reply
        • M.M:

          Also maybe it is no where wrong to be cheated SOMETIMES during your hunt for ultra low budget VPS in LEB, since it’s part of the nature of this area in webhosting, like everything else. Also sometimes experiments ON YOU by some webhosts, and other times it is just for “collect money and run” kids business.

          April 4, 2011 @ 12:14 pm | Reply
        • @Snape: I think we meet all 5 of your standards :)

          April 4, 2011 @ 11:48 pm | Reply
        • I’ve suggested the banhammer a couple of times now and I don;t think LEA wants to do it. Which is fine. Afterall it is his site.

          It is very subjective. I don’t really have a problem with the 5 items up there. (I fail the third one and I think most hosts who include DNS for clients probably would also.) I’m more concerned about hosts who prove over and over again that either don’t have a clue as to what they’re doing or clearly are of the “I’m right, everybody else is wrong and if you don’t agree, f-u and your data too.” mindset.

          April 5, 2011 @ 2:00 pm | Reply
  12. Jorge:

    Hello, i like to comment about hostrail, at the bigging they where very profesional whit my account, i have 3 vps testing, first month, but for my 3 vps i havent get the tecncal support that i spected, i have not use the other 2 vps, but if they can help me with one i wander what happend for the 3!, great price, but they need more personal i think. 2 weeks and many problems.

    April 3, 2011 @ 8:49 pm | Reply
  13. Getto:

    1. 256 Ram is not enough to run a windows
    2. 2008 only. They are having issues with 2003
    3. Because it’s OpenVZ-like shit, you can’t use virtual memory. Meaning 256MB is all you have
    4. If you really want to use your VPS? Sorry, you just have to restart it, and RDP it again. Wants to RDP again? Sorry, no rams, you just have to restart it.

    April 3, 2011 @ 11:35 pm | Reply
    • Steve:

      256MB is more than enough to run Windows. I bought it ro run 2 applications, and it’s doing it perfectly. Sitting at 195MB RAM in use. Plenty left.

      April 3, 2011 @ 11:51 pm | Reply
      • Steve:

        *to run

        April 3, 2011 @ 11:52 pm | Reply
      • Getto:

        Nope, it’s BS. After the initial setup, RDP it, 256MB, 0MB free

        April 4, 2011 @ 2:04 am | Reply
        • Steve:

          That’s strange. Mine is still sitting at 195MB with those 2 applications running.

          April 4, 2011 @ 2:32 am | Reply
        • @Getto: Can you open a ticket if you have not yet done so?

          April 4, 2011 @ 11:29 pm | Reply
        • @Getto: Can you please submit a ticket so we can check your VPS?

          April 4, 2011 @ 11:30 pm | Reply
  14. Rasmus:

    Is it possible to get Windows XP ?

    April 4, 2011 @ 3:35 pm | Reply
    • @Rasmus: I will bring Windows XP to the attention of Constantinos in tomorrows meeting.

      April 4, 2011 @ 11:36 pm | Reply
      • Arthur:

        I personally think getting 2003 sorted is a higher priority than getting Windows XP.

        April 4, 2011 @ 11:58 pm | Reply
    • It will only run whatever Virtuozzo would run, and I don’t think Win XP qualifies. Otherwise can I have Win98SE2 as well? :)

      Moreover, like OpenVZ only your apps count against your memory usage. So 256MB can be quite usable.

      April 5, 2011 @ 1:10 am | Reply
      • M.M:

        I wonder who will get brilliant enough in first place to use a regular Windows system to host websites?! While all these guys are bundled: blue screen of death, fatal error, freeze, fry!, stuck, crash, ….etc etc etc, that in terms of stability without looking at security (no need to mention)! Some takes what Microsoft develop for that matter (i.e. Windows Server) with some of these issues still questionable! What about someone…goes with…with.. XP :/

        April 5, 2011 @ 12:01 pm | Reply
  15. Hey guys. Please don’t turn this into an anti-Microsoft/anti-Windows keyboard wars. Personally I don’t desire to develop and host on Windows. However many do — just google the term “Microsoft ecosystem” and you’ll see the sheer size of IT&T depending on it. I even have friends working at Symantec managing publishing Norton’s virus definition, that have a job thanks to Microsoft :)

    April 5, 2011 @ 1:15 am | Reply
    • Yes, in that sense…

      If all the software is completely free, the programmers (like me) will get unemployed. And here some people doesn’t think about that ¬_¬ We need money to EAT and to get the LEB offers lol.

      For that reason, Microsoft, Oracle, Symantec, Apple, etc exists.

      April 5, 2011 @ 5:39 pm | Reply
    • Most of the forums I involve myself in have an automatic closure when the OS wars start. I think more forums should do such as crap like this just eats up time and creates sore feelings.

      Plus we all know FreeBSD is the way to go. :D

      April 6, 2011 @ 7:44 pm | Reply
  16. Ztc:

    Ordered with extra RAM, just couldn’t let a server in Switzerland go.

    April 5, 2011 @ 12:57 pm | Reply
    • Ztc:

      I can see there is no instant activation :)
      For how long have you guys waited to receive your supply?

      April 5, 2011 @ 1:34 pm | Reply
      • Joe Merit:

        Im on 48 hours now, I’m regretting putting my order through.

        I see the Hostfail staff have time to come and post on in this thread
        but they don’t have the time to setup my vps.

        April 5, 2011 @ 4:59 pm | Reply
        • M.M:

          Maybe they are having:
          1- Some type of issues related to Windows VPS as newly released packages. Hope it get solved soon!
          2- Really big demands!
          3- Ordering/Setting up new nodes!
          This is only guessing and since getting Linux VPS was instant as what I can recall.

          April 5, 2011 @ 5:33 pm | Reply
        • Mine is still pending.

          I have received a mail about the lack of IP’s yesterday, but I don’t know. They will solve it surely.

          April 5, 2011 @ 5:36 pm | Reply
        • M.M:

          IP, AHAAAAAAA.

          April 5, 2011 @ 5:38 pm | Reply
        • Hello,
          As what M.M also said we had two issues:
          1) IP Addresses run out, and since we use our own IP Address Subnets in Switzerland the procedure is a bit more time-consuming however thankfully RIPE assigned us with additional Subnets quite quickly this time.
          2) We were out of space at our current Windows Servers so we were waiting for additional Servers to be setup.

          We setup many Windows Orders yesterday, we are setting up additional Windows Orders continuously.

          April 6, 2011 @ 11:25 am | Reply
        • @Joe Merit: I’m in charge of communicating with clients on websites such as lowendbox.com, our Facebook Page, our Twitter Page, forums and any other sites as required. As of some weeks ago we have a dedicated Activations Team that is responsible for the provisioning of the VPS’s and other orders. And another team is working on Sales/Billing/Support Tickets.

          April 6, 2011 @ 11:28 am | Reply
  17. Does this offer include ipv6 addresses too?

    April 5, 2011 @ 1:41 pm | Reply
    • Hello,
      Yes IPv6 for these VPS’s will be added beginning of next week, we’ve concentrated on releasing the platform and we’ll start with routing our own IPv6 subnet now.

      April 5, 2011 @ 6:19 pm | Reply
  18. Wish everyone a great weekend so far.

    Just curious. Did I miss a holiday in there some where?

    April 5, 2011 @ 2:00 pm | Reply
  19. tvbangs:

    @Ztc: yes, there is no instant activation :(
    I have been waiting for 2 days :(

    April 5, 2011 @ 3:10 pm | Reply
  20. An update to everyone, we’re setting up all remaining Windows VPS orders now – we apologize for the delay.

    April 5, 2011 @ 6:20 pm | Reply
  21. pj1s:

    Mine got set up after two days. I wasn’t expecting anything else… that is, until they emailed me after 24 hours, excusing for delay and telling setup was on the way.

    Anyway. I ordered the free Websitepanel a long with it – although I’m not sure if the 384MB ram can handle it (they haven’t delivered with any login to WSP).

    I had trouble RDPing in, support was quick to fix… next thing: trying to install IIS. Until now I’ve just gotten heeps of dreaded “not enough resources are available to complete”… so guess I’ll have to find a way to cut down on processes. Only used to low end linux boxes, and buff Windows servers, but for the price it’s worth trying out.

    I’ll update again when I have something worthwhile to tell.

    April 6, 2011 @ 1:28 pm | Reply
    • Ztc:

      Mine is setup now, everything’s looking good :)

      April 6, 2011 @ 6:34 pm | Reply
    • Today I played with the windows services, and saved around 10% of RAM. Also, maybe you can kill explorer and try to install with the taskmgr or from the cmd :P

      Almost fu***d up my VPS, because virtuozzo didn’t let me restart my VPS =( But now is working.

      April 6, 2011 @ 6:43 pm | Reply
      • Ztc:

        I Ordered extra RAM, so no problems there.
        However I can connect to my server but can’t use internet explorer to download some things — seems not to be able to use internet at all?

        April 6, 2011 @ 7:35 pm | Reply
        • pj1s:

          If you can’t ping at all, try setting up DNS manually for your network (just use Googles 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) see if that works. The container is pretty secure – so it’s annoying surfing and you probably won’t be able to download stuff.

          April 6, 2011 @ 7:53 pm | Reply
        • Yannick:

          Do send a ticket to support mine too get this problem and was resolve by support quickly.

          April 6, 2011 @ 7:54 pm | Reply
        • Oh yeah, the default template doesn’t have dns configured. Also that Internet Explorer is very weird.

          Replaced with a firefox…

          April 6, 2011 @ 8:19 pm | Reply
        • For some weird reason despite in Virtuozzo having set the DNS they are not being saved it seems in the VPS.
          Here are the DNS for anyone needing them, otherwise you can open a ticket:
          46.19.140.194
          190.211.253.4

          April 9, 2011 @ 8:28 pm | Reply
  22. Ztc:

    All my issues are resolved and I’d like to thank the Hostrail support over and over again for their great help.

    Thanks a lot guys!

    I recommend this host.

    April 7, 2011 @ 10:23 am | Reply
  23. kas:

    I can’t even install .NET without anything else running. Not sure what the deal is. Ram is only at 50%…

    April 7, 2011 @ 5:59 pm | Reply
    • pj1s:

      Same here.

      I noticed some install issues in the Virtuozzo creation logs. Opened a ticket a couple of days ago – no answer, except one 24hours ago, excusing the long response time, and they would look into it asap.

      Perhaps there has been some overall issues. The lack of support could point to this.

      April 8, 2011 @ 8:29 am | Reply
      • kas:

        I opened a ticket as well a few days ago with no response. I get bad CRC errors all over the place. Most of my downloads fail to open with bad CRC errors. I didn’t expect much from this, but I did expect to at least download and install some software.

        April 8, 2011 @ 5:49 pm | Reply
      • What is your ticket id if you haven’t yet received a response?

        April 9, 2011 @ 8:30 pm | Reply
    • If you’re on 1 Power Unit then the problem is lack of RAM. Otherwise the problem is something else, what is your ticket number in case this hasn’t yet been replied to?

      April 9, 2011 @ 8:29 pm | Reply
  24. PenguinTux:

    I picked me up one of these yesterday.

    I had the password issue – the password in the welcome email did not allow me to login. A support ticket and it was fixed within 5 minutes.

    So far, I’m pretty happy, I mean… it’s $5 :D

    April 9, 2011 @ 7:00 am | Reply
    • pj1s:

      And you are able to install roles and features via the GUI?

      April 9, 2011 @ 7:59 pm | Reply
    • Regarding the password issue, thats due to Windows and its policies – it needs a difficult password in order to accept it.

      April 9, 2011 @ 8:26 pm | Reply
      • John:

        would you answer Ticket #312237 ?
        I have been waiting since 4-14th.

        April 22, 2011 @ 9:07 pm | Reply
      • macro:

        wow, my ticket is sitting there since 14th, must’ve been a record!

        April 25, 2011 @ 2:47 pm | Reply
  25. Ztc:

    I’m having problems installing stuff myself aswell, got 640mb memory.
    Managed to install .net frameworks, however I’m still struggeling to install a simple SQL server.

    Seems impossible to get WebSitePanel installed.
    same for Umbraco.
    I’m creating a ticket right now, I’ll let everyone know here or in at LET how it goes.

    April 11, 2011 @ 4:26 pm | Reply
    • pj1s:

      I got the answer.

      Support said that I’d need 1GB RAM min for Websitepanel. I saw that coming though.

      Since not being able to install IIS, I also asked in that regard. Answer was that I’d need at least 1GB ram.

      Shame they don’t offer Windows Server Core installation, then the product might be a bit useful.

      Just to make it clear that it’s possible, I have a Xen HVM box with Windows Server 2008 running a couple of Umbraco sites from ThrustVPS. With 512.

      Anyway. I’ve asked about offers to upgrade to useable ram (1GB) – through ticket, since they don’t have a straight upgrade path for that.

      What are people using these boxes for?

      April 11, 2011 @ 5:56 pm | Reply
      • M.M:

        That is the problem in OpenVZ when some UBC limits reached, new process will get killed and installations fails, that is why you will find dificulties with minimal plans (talking btw about Linux VPS which I have) to install anything (big) like a control panel for instance.

        You may need to upgrade your plan and install everything you need, then after no new (big) installation is needed anymore, you can adjust your services and see how much RAM you need to keep the VPS (running) – with these applications already (installed) and finished. If you found by then that (just an example) 250 MB is used idle and 384 MB is fine with your needs, you can ask for downgrade later on (the next month).

        April 11, 2011 @ 6:28 pm | Reply
  26. Mohammad Raashed:

    I didn’t give my server yet !!!!

    April 22, 2011 @ 6:50 pm | Reply
  27. John:

    I was the same as you mohammad. 1 Week wait no server! Will escalate to paypal as support dont answer you and always “offline”.

    April 23, 2011 @ 2:19 pm | Reply
  28. ATM don’t buy @ hostrail!

    April 23, 2011 @ 3:08 pm | Reply
  29. I just got a VPS from them setup 2 days ago. So far i i have had no problems with my VPS except the root password that was wrong, got quickly fixed with a ticket though.

    i only have 1 power unit with 386MB ram and i have no problems with its usage, sitting at 100-120MB ram used idle, so far i’m happy with this.

    April 24, 2011 @ 10:57 pm | Reply
    • I meant Administrator password, damn Linux.

      April 24, 2011 @ 10:58 pm | Reply
      • Spirit:

        New re-created fremont VPS as replacement for erased one? I didn’t get any notification lately from them, it’s just… down.

        April 25, 2011 @ 12:07 am | Reply
        • Spirit:

          Ah, not.. my mistake (as you’re also nordicvps user and your vps is also down there, I think).

          April 25, 2011 @ 12:08 am | Reply
        • Yeah i also have a VPS from NordicVPS but unfortunately its downtime is way more then uptime so i no longer use it.

          April 25, 2011 @ 1:08 am | Reply
    • How you managed to get 100-120 MB idle? In other words, how you know that is at 100-120 MB if you are not in a rdesktop session?

      April 25, 2011 @ 12:23 am | Reply
  30. macro:

    Nordic is not down, they lost server, didn’t pay the bill.

    April 25, 2011 @ 5:17 am | Reply
  31. macro:

    ya.

    April 25, 2011 @ 2:45 pm | Reply
  32. The Freebie:

    Still waiting for my VPS to be setup, been nearly 24 hours now, no response on ticket.

    April 28, 2011 @ 3:03 pm | Reply
  33. The Freebie:

    Still waiting..

    April 29, 2011 @ 7:31 am | Reply
  34. ben:

    want to know if anyone got cachefly dl tests? TIA

    April 30, 2011 @ 8:53 pm | Reply
  35. Hello I just purchased a VPS with WHM and cpanel. I have VPS running fine but do not have WHM and cpanel
    I have aticket in and waiting. The control panel I have is Kloxo not WHM and cpanel please fix thanks

    May 6, 2011 @ 6:40 pm | Reply
    • Update no cpnael but my forum is lightning fast I highly recommend Hostrail VPses. I waited around 13 hours
      then submited ticket and it was setup right away.

      May 6, 2011 @ 8:34 pm | Reply
  36. I had to cancel why server ( I could not log in).

    did they get any better since they announced they would move?

    May 9, 2011 @ 7:39 pm | Reply
  37. pegasus:

    This is the SHITTIEST VPS SERVICES i have ever used. I have never been able to log in my vps since i ordered it.

    The support is extremely low.

    Don’t bother about their cheap offer

    May 11, 2011 @ 12:38 am | Reply
    • Joe Merit:

      Totally agree. Already cancelled. Another service that the owners should be embarrassed to be providing.

      These guys consistently make even 123systems look like a good provider.

      May 11, 2011 @ 1:51 am | Reply
    • Have to agree and I don’t even have a box with them. Had one of their clients DDoS’ing one of my clients a few weeks ago and Hostrail was unresponsive. Had to go up a level to limestonenetworks.com to get a response.

      Been meaning to mention that.

      May 11, 2011 @ 11:51 am | Reply
      • We didn’t receive any Abuse Complaints directly to us.

        May 11, 2011 @ 6:26 pm | Reply
      • And neither have we received any Abuse Complaints via LimeStoneNetworks regarding any DDOS Attacks.

        May 11, 2011 @ 6:42 pm | Reply
  38. pegasus:

    have a look at their customer service

    http://image.bayimg.com/caihoaada.jpg

    May 11, 2011 @ 5:19 pm | Reply
    • LOL! Honestly… is funny. This time I can’t defend Hostrail :|

      May 11, 2011 @ 5:57 pm | Reply
    • Well we contacted Parallels for this which is why we asked that question. You are unable to start your VPS due to an error as below:

      “Error invoking external utility:
      ERROR:Parallels Virtuozzo Containers API function call ‘VzkrnlStartVps’ failed dwErr=0x000003EE” – that error is caused after the installation of Microsoft Updates within the VPS. I am personally working on that ticket and will update it shortly.

      May 11, 2011 @ 6:25 pm | Reply
    • By the way: Your ticket was flagged by my new QA staff and has already forwarded to my Support Manager as i did notice some issues with the replies given by the Techs.

      May 11, 2011 @ 6:31 pm | Reply
  39. In light of the feedback received both here and via our Support Portal we have now decided to discontinue the Windows VPS’s: please find the full announcement below:

    I will appreciate the feedback we receive regarding this move, i am more interested to continue our Linux VPS Offerings and expand on them rather than offering a service that is not satisfying neither my clients and neither myself.

    ——————————
    Dear Client,

    You are being sent this email as you currently have an active Windows VPS Service.

    We would like to inform you that as of 11th May 2011 HostRail has officially withdrawn the Windows VPS Packages. This decision was a difficult decision to take however we are not satisfied with using Parallels Virtuozzo as our Platform due to countless limitations it provides. We will continue our research into offering Windows using the XEN Platform within Q3 2011. For now we will concentrate on our Linux VPS Platform and we will further expand on that.

    For clients with an Active Windows VPS we are offering some options:

    You can cancel your Windows VPS and we will credit your account with the amount you paid so that you can purchase any other service from our website.
    You can continue using your Windows VPS, we are stopping to accept new orders however the servers that the Windows VPS’s are on will remain active for years if necessary.
    Thank you for your support, we do apologize for any inconvenience this will cause however using Parallels Virtuozzo is not possible at the current stage and it will benefit all us to stop providing these services.

    I want to be clear however that this by no chance means that HostRail is closing, we will announce a new 65% recurring discount promo within the next hours that can be used on all our Linux VPS Packages.

    Best Regards,

    Constantinos Coudounaris
    Chief Executive Officer
    HostRail.com

    May 11, 2011 @ 7:38 pm | Reply
    • john:

      Please answer ticket #596312 #155138

      June 7, 2011 @ 7:42 pm | Reply
  40. My linux package rocks and I can’t believe these people complaining.
    My tickets are answered right away and my VPS has 99.9 percent uptime.

    May 12, 2011 @ 12:35 am | Reply
    • You’ll have to forgive me since you provide no evidence of such and the site you link to is a Softlayer site.

      May 12, 2011 @ 12:46 am | Reply
  41. Dino Oliver:

    Hi , is there something wrong with your website? I am able to go to the main page however as for the cart , it will not load at all.

    May 12, 2011 @ 3:50 am | Reply
  42. Got a chuckle over this:

    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1048424

    I’ve been the victim of having our management software go nuts and we’ve been hard pressed to figure out why it’s doing something.

    May 29, 2011 @ 12:13 pm | Reply
  43. These guys ripped me off. Once they got my early payment on second month, my Site would take 5 monutes to load and they would not even reply to my support tickets. Now the month I never used and paid early they will
    not refund my 32 dollars and had to start a paypal dispute, SO BEWARE PEOPLE, They will rip you off too…

    June 7, 2011 @ 8:38 pm | Reply
  44. TheLinuxBug:

    So How about this for a good chuckle: (I must also say, HORRIBLE Business practice and they obviously plan on going out of business soon).

    To Paraphrase the following, the CEO has made a fuck-up in his budget calculations, so now the customers must PAY for his fuck-ups. All customers received the following e-mail in the past day. If the business owner thinks this is good business practice, he is SADLY mistaken. You can not fuck up your money and then fuck your customers by making them pay more for a service they already purchased at a set price.

    On Friday 24th June 2011 our Providers have informed us of a 60% upcoming price
    increase that is taking effect from the 28th June 2011, this was an extremely short
    notice for us and completely unexpected – as small of a short notice as it was we
    had to take action immediately in order to be able to continue providing service to
    our clients, i have had meetings with every single HostRail Staff Member as we
    needed to take a decision and we have taken our decision which is provided below.

    Due to the current economic crisis that is affecting all companies in the planet we
    are unable to deal with this 60% price increase using our currently approved budget
    for 2011 and we are unable to approve a further budget for 2011 at the current
    stage, this means that we will be forced to pass on this 60% price increase to all
    clients as of tomorrow evening. Tomorrow evening we will be sending Invoices to
    every single customer with the 60% price increase, unfortunately this price increase
    will have to be paid by Tuesday morning so we can cover the 60% price increase our
    providers are asking.

    We have tried all possible alternatives and solutions however the only solution is
    to pass this price increase in full to our customers, this is not something i want
    to do, this is not something i like to do, this is something that i have fought for
    2 days now to try to avoid at all costs however its not on my hands anymore so i am
    unable to do something more.

    —————————————

    IMPORTANT NOTE

    For the customers that will not be able to pay this 60% price increase i recommend
    that you proceed to the immediate cancellation of your services as we will be
    suspending all Services on Tuesday morning that have not paid this price increase. I
    should clear that this price increase willl be applied to all of our customers, even
    to customers that have ordered their service today.

    —————————————

    I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause however i am unable to
    do anything and the people that know me personally know that i have given a large
    battle to try to cover up this price increase myself but this was impossible.

    Hostrail, you have not only lost me as a customer, but you are going to find out real quick that this is a FAILED business practice you are choosing to use and that you are going to lose any confidence you once had from your customers in your ability to run a business.

    Constantinos Coudounaris, grow up and honor your promises you made to your customers, and if you can not do that, close down your business and save what face you have left.

    June 26, 2011 @ 10:20 pm | Reply
    • TheLinuxBug:

      On a side note, I wanted to point out this e-mail came days after sending out e-mails like the following to the customer, still boasting a 65% discount for new customers and the fact that they are working to “Improve” their currently mundane service quality.

      Recieved: Thu, June 23, 2011 @ 6:29 pm
      ————————————————————————————

      Welcome to our June 2011 Newsletter, we have a couple of things to announce today.

      ——————-

      Upgrades / Service Quality

      We’ve been working quite hard over the past weeks in upgrades, we have added
      additional hard disks on quite a few servers as well as we have upgraded the RAM on
      several servers, in addition we have a couple of new Staff Members that have joined
      us to improve our Ticket Response Times as some of you have probably already
      noticed.

      We are investigating to add stronger DDOS Protection on our Servers in Switzerland
      and the US in an effort to mitigate DDOS Attacks within 5 minutes.

      ——————-

      DirectAdmin Price Reduced

      We’ve substancially reduced the price of DirectAdmin to $7/month, the price was
      previously at $15/month. This was requested by customers a few times so we are happy
      we are able to provide this reduced pricing.

      ——————-

      HOSTRAILMAY Promo

      A few days ago we extended our HOSTRAILMAY promo for another 500 uses as it was
      requested by customers. This promo only applies to new orders however.

      (The May Promo is pasted below)
      This is a quick announcement that we are are still running our 65% recurring
      discount, HOSTRAILMAY, we’ve just added an additional 400 uses for the promo code
      HOSTRAILMAY – we expect the promo to run out quite quickly so the quicker you order
      the better!

      Only thing I can say is, THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT!

      June 26, 2011 @ 10:27 pm | Reply
  45. I suspect Hostrail is about to eat its own head over the next few months based on the above comments from thelinuxblog and similar ones on WHT, interesting exit strategy though.

    Cant say I am sorry to read this I was actually getting sick or reading posts on WHT about peoples dissatisfaction with Hostrail, it was only a matter of time and its good news for hosts who took more than 10 minutes to consider a workable business model!

    June 26, 2011 @ 10:45 pm | Reply
  46. macro:

    I paid invoice 24hours ago, and they said I have to pay 60% more by tomorrow.
    What a jerk, this is the exact reason Greece is going bankrupt, jerks.

    June 26, 2011 @ 11:01 pm | Reply
  47. john:

    Hostrail officially ran…

    June 27, 2011 @ 10:21 pm | Reply
  48. they ran away~~

    June 28, 2011 @ 4:14 pm | Reply
  49. uZero:

    http://check-host.net/check-dns?host=hostrail.com ;( One more my VPS ran away. Availablevps, hostrail, breathost… I’m not lucky. :)

    June 29, 2011 @ 4:07 am | Reply
  50. enlightened:

    I just read this: http://hostingcritics.info/hostrail-raises-price-60/183

    That thread at web hosting talk is very interesting. I hope everyone checks it out :)

    July 7, 2011 @ 3:00 pm | Reply
    • Adam:

      Its old news. HostRail is no longer in business.

      July 7, 2011 @ 3:37 pm | Reply
  51. Adam:

    hostrail.com now redirects to hostingaddicts.com …

    July 7, 2011 @ 3:36 pm | Reply
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