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YardVPS - $6.76 512MB Xen VPS

YardVPS YardVPS launched their Xen VPS last week, and Jimmy has just sent me an email that they are currently having a yard sale! Use promo code YARDSALE to get 15% off TREE 1 package (which you can order using this sign up link). You get

  • 512MB memory/1024MB swap
  • 15GB storage
  • 1500GB/month data transfer
  • Xen/SolusVM

YardVPS, together with PhotonVPS, are part of Profuse Solutions which has been in business for a few years. They are running their servers in Los Angeles.

I actually got one of their Xen VPS (a few days ago before this promotion, damn!) It runs a single Xeon E5620 core at 2.4GHz, and pretty fast IO at the moment.

# 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, 2.83477 s, 379 MB/s

Good connectivity to Asia Pacific.

LEA
Latest posts by LEA (see all)

74 Comments

  1. I have one of their $15/yr OpenVZ “Leaf” plans from the previous offer. 100% uptime so far and performance seems good enough.

    November 17, 2010 @ 4:22 am | Reply
    • noweb:

      That’s sounding good. Its $15/yr thread is silent too. I hope it’s still available after few more months, then I’ll consider it.

      November 17, 2010 @ 7:19 am | Reply
  2. terii:

    Is the server on any kind of RAID?

    November 17, 2010 @ 4:26 am | Reply
  3. The price is very reasonable. I look in their Xen page and see some features such as “RAID10 w/ BBU”, “PPTP”, “Guard Dog”. What do these mean?

    November 17, 2010 @ 7:58 am | Reply
    • Bob:

      @Bent

      RAID 10 w/BBU means RAID (Redundant array of inexpensive disks), the 10 is a type of backup and striping, and BBU means Batter backup Unit, so the cache isn’t lost in a power outage. PPTP is a type of VPN connection, and usually isn’t supported with OpenVZ.

      November 18, 2010 @ 4:49 am | Reply
  4. Yeah, I saw that. I wanne to buy one to open a PPTP VPN.

    November 17, 2010 @ 8:09 am | Reply
  5. ibk:

    What differentiates between yardvps and photonvps ?
    Uptime ? Tech support response time?

    November 17, 2010 @ 8:28 am | Reply
    • YardVPS is our completely unmanaged brand.

      November 17, 2010 @ 5:56 pm | Reply
    • indoc0der:

      actually i’m customer of photonvps. i’m use their service since 3 months ago and very happy with them. excellent support and excellent server.

      i think it’s just different support (unmanaged) and some feature of their packages. like beam on photonvps use 8 cores server and leaf 3 on yard vps “just” 2 cores. but, since yardvps and photonvps is same from Profuse Solution, i think they will give their customer the best server.

      * ps : i’m just their customer and not affiliate with them :)

      November 18, 2010 @ 9:03 am | Reply
  6. Gene:

    Have native IPv6 support?

    November 17, 2010 @ 8:50 am | Reply
  7. superbarney:

    I’ve tried Debian 5 and Ubuntu 10.10 32 bit, can’t seem to login to both of them. Wiping and replacing them with Cent OS 5.5 32 bit finally enables me to login via ssh. Explains why CentOS 5 was automatically chosen as my OS even after choosing Ubuntu 10.10 32 bit during signup.

    Tempted to ask for my money back.

    November 17, 2010 @ 10:22 am | Reply
  8. Hanh:

    Mine too, it seems Debian OS images having problems.

    November 17, 2010 @ 10:23 am | Reply
  9. Hanh:

    Waiting for their support-staff getting up…. blah) blah) blah) They have many OS images for the same OS image, ex Debian 5.0 64bit and Debian 5 64bit;
    why they let them like that blah) blah)

    November 17, 2010 @ 12:29 pm | Reply
    • There’s a bug with SolusVM showing multiple images as we removed and updated it a few times. This stayed on the OS dropdown menu for some reason and is scheduled to be fixed in the next update.

      November 17, 2010 @ 5:57 pm | Reply
      • Hanh:

        After many times of reloading OS (for XEN TREE), I’ve picked just one working well.

        November 17, 2010 @ 11:11 pm | Reply
  10. Good thing I didn’t pull the trigger yesterday. Debian is the only Linux distro I use. Please let me know if YardVPS/PhotonVPS ever gets Debian OS template fixed. Thanks!

    November 17, 2010 @ 4:16 pm | Reply
  11. Hanh:

    I have tried Ubuntu 10.10 64bit iso, this is only iso I have succeeded to get my works going on; although it’s not my preferred OS, but something like one.

    November 17, 2010 @ 4:50 pm | Reply
  12. Hanh:

    But even with working Ubuntu, they have still had a problem, look at this:

    # fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/sda1: 16.1 GB, 16106127360 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1958 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x00000000
    
    Disk /dev/sda1 doesn't contain a valid partition table
    
    Disk /dev/sda2: 1073 MB, 1073741824 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 130 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x7c820a2e
    
         Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    
    

    Their OS templates in general have bugs

    November 17, 2010 @ 4:55 pm | Reply
    • Sorry I have to delete a few of your “duplicated” comments.

      I am using Ubuntu 10.04 amd64 and it works fine for me. Your “fdisk issue” is normal — Xen boxes boot with the root/swap partitions fixed on the boot params and might not match what’s in fstab. What are you trying to do anyway with fdisk?

      November 17, 2010 @ 10:35 pm | Reply
      • Hanh:

        Finally I use Ubuntu 10.10 with default settings, the only one can have rebooted within 1 minute [the ‘upper’ Ubuntu 10.10 64bit, not the ‘lower’ Ubuntu 10.10 64bit]

        November 17, 2010 @ 11:07 pm | Reply
  13. Wow, for some reason this host really makes me want to host a tribes II server. Perhaps its the “YARD SALE!” I keep hearing in my head.

    Man, I had 34 flags too!

    November 17, 2010 @ 5:13 pm | Reply
  14. Debian5 is workable, you need to select PyGrub as kernel then reboot it.

    November 17, 2010 @ 5:55 pm | Reply
  15. Not a bad deal for a 512MB Xen box. Might look into getting one! How far away is Xen HVM?

    November 18, 2010 @ 7:49 am | Reply
  16. The promotion code entered does not exist

    November 18, 2010 @ 11:44 am | Reply
    • cpa:

      me to.. :( does the offer has been ended!?

      November 21, 2010 @ 6:19 pm | Reply
  17. superbarney:

    32bit Debian 10.10 is still unusable. Support has been slow compared to others. =(

    November 18, 2010 @ 12:15 pm | Reply
    • Jim made it clear that it is completely unmanaged so of course support will be slow – look at how much you are paying. I picked one of these up, works like a treat :)

      November 19, 2010 @ 10:01 am | Reply
      • Hanh:

        Unmanaged, but they should manage their SolusVM if they provide it as add-on of service, or their clients must have the way to install custom iso.

        November 19, 2010 @ 4:11 pm | Reply
    • Hanh:

      There is no Debian 10.10 :)

      November 19, 2010 @ 4:09 pm | Reply
  18. superbarney:

    I have unmanaged VPS accounts with FiveBean (now BlueMile Cloud), and 2Host (about the same price range) and really, they’re not this slow . I’m not complaining over nothing, the Ubuntu 32 bits really doesn’t allow me to login.

    November 19, 2010 @ 11:48 am | Reply
    • @ Superbarney

      I’ll have someone look into the Ubuntu 32bits it appears that pygrub are not being honored on some images.

      However these actually work if you need a reload to this just let us know. Please note that all resolution from support is up to 24 hours.

      We give the client the ability to reload, terminate their VPS at their disposal. Any down nodes are take care of immediately from our 24/7 support team.

      The two companies mentioned our prices are much lower. Our services are stable with no downtime since our inception…If you require rapid support this service is not for you since we do not recommend using this for production environment.

      November 19, 2010 @ 4:13 pm | Reply
      • ibk:

        What will happen if host node down?
        Will the support also slow ?

        November 19, 2010 @ 5:24 pm | Reply
  19. Hanh:

    @Jim
    Your OS images on SolusVM is not our part of issues, but your part, right?
    I didnot know why a rebooting OS taking long time (except Ubuntu 10.10).
    @Jim and LEB: Sorry for writing this here, but your support staff’s reply did not make me satisfied.

    November 19, 2010 @ 5:02 pm | Reply
  20. Stefano:

    Can someone with YardVPS do some benchmarks (llike unixbench)?

    November 19, 2010 @ 6:07 pm | Reply
  21. Bummer, promotion code didn’t work.

    @Jim, is the deal over?

    November 19, 2010 @ 6:19 pm | Reply
    • N/M…. just chatted with Jimmy on livechat. It is over. *shopping*

      November 19, 2010 @ 6:22 pm | Reply
  22. This was a limited time offering, we’ll have more similar sales in the future :)

    November 19, 2010 @ 7:37 pm | Reply
  23. Jack:

    After purchasing and getting activated, I installed Ubuntu 10.04 32Bit on the VPS.

    Memory usage is 100-300MB on idle with very little processes running! I installed Mysql and the VPS runs out of memory and starts to use SWAP. They refused to send refund for this and told me that the memory consumption is normal! Let me repeat this: They find it normal that a VPS uses 300MB of memory on idle! LOL.

    Maybe they are overselling memory using the ballooning method.

    Really bad company.

    Don’t buy from these scammers guys…

    November 22, 2010 @ 4:23 am | Reply
    • Xen does not let you oversell so there is no way to scam a user from their resources. No idea what “ballooning method” is.

      As for your resources your paying a very low price for 512MB where you will be paying double for services else where.

      The issue of memory consumption on the OS usually 50-100MB idling is average unless you tune / optimize the OS template your self where you can get the value to a lower value. This involves tweaking and re-compiling your kernel to load less modules.

      November 22, 2010 @ 6:24 am | Reply
      • Little Birdie:

        From a provider standpoint, I sincerely hope that you’re playing dumb, pretending to not know about self-ballooning.

        November 22, 2010 @ 7:37 am | Reply
    • ibk:

      Hi Jack,
      Please copy paste :
      – ps aux
      – free -m

      I’m affraid that you don’t understand memory usage in Linux

      November 22, 2010 @ 7:58 am | Reply
  24. Jack:

    Hey,

    @PhotonVPS-Jim

    It’s your job to make good templates for your clients. I have worked with various Xen providers and I have never felt the need to create my custom kernel. I only use VPSes to host web apps and websites, why the hell will I need to know how to create custom kernels? I may be an experience linux user but I am definitely not a hardcore geek or administrator.

    To be honest, I would gladly pay $20+ for a quality VPS than pay $7 and get the most crappy VPS on the planet. Your VPSes should be given away for free because they are not worth any money.

    No OS template should take more than 30MB memory on idle, yours takes 100-300MB. Sometimes it even goes to 500MB! It just varies everytime.

    At least you guys should have the decency to refund me my money! Very bad, I hope that you get forced out of business very soon. That’s why businesses like yours just stay small forever or even die sooner or later.

    @Little Birdie

    The moron is just pretending to not know. He knows exactly what’s going behind the scenes but he’s too keen to scam people right now.

    @ibk

    Of course I understand memory usage.

    Dude, take a look at the data from my Terminal below:

    ———————————————————————————–
    root@ws:/# free -m
    total used free shared buffers cached
    Mem: 527 502 25 0 30 279
    -/+ buffers/cache: 192 334
    Swap: 1023 0 1023

    ————————————————————————————-

    root@sv:/tmp/linux-2.6.36# ps aux
    USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
    root 1 0.0 0.2 2580 1548 ? Ss 11:08 0:00 /sbin/init
    root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [kthreadd]
    root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [migration/0]
    root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
    root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [watchdog/0]
    root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [events/0]
    root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [cpuset]
    root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [khelper]
    root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [netns]
    root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [async/mgr]
    root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [xenwatch]
    root 12 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [xenbus]
    root 14 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [sync_supers]
    root 15 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [bdi-default]
    root 16 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [kintegrityd/0]
    root 17 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [kblockd/0]
    root 18 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [kseriod]
    root 20 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [khungtaskd]
    root 22 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [kswapd0]
    root 23 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [aio/0]
    root 24 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [jfsIO]
    root 25 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [jfsCommit]
    root 26 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [jfsSync]
    root 27 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [xfs_mru_cache]
    root 28 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [xfslogd/0]
    root 29 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [xfsdatad/0]
    root 30 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [xfsconvertd/0]
    root 31 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [glock_workqueue]
    root 32 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [delete_workqueu]
    root 33 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:08 0:00 [kslowd000]
    root 34 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:08 0:00 [kslowd001]
    root 35 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [crypto/0]
    root 38 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [net_accel/0]
    root 39 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [sfc_netfront/0]
    root 40 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:08 0:00 [kstriped]
    root 149 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:09 0:00 [kjournald]
    root 188 0.0 0.2 2644 1152 ? S 11:09 0:00 upstart-udev-bridge –daemon
    root 196 0.0 0.1 2244 688 ? S<s 11:09 0:00 udevd –daemon
    syslog 357 0.0 0.2 33320 1372 ? Sl 11:09 0:00 rsyslogd -c4
    102 383 0.0 0.1 2596 824 ? Ss 11:09 0:00 dbus-daemon –system –fork
    root 389 0.0 0.1 1728 548 tty4 Ss+ 11:09 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty4
    root 394 0.0 0.1 1728 548 tty5 Ss+ 11:09 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty5
    root 397 0.0 0.1 1728 552 tty2 Ss+ 11:09 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty2
    root 398 0.0 0.1 1728 548 tty3 Ss+ 11:09 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty3
    root 402 0.0 0.1 1728 548 tty6 Ss+ 11:09 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty6
    root 404 0.0 0.1 2316 820 ? Ss 11:09 0:00 cron
    root 419 0.0 0.1 5484 920 ? Ss 11:09 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
    root 440 0.0 0.1 1728 552 tty1 Ss+ 11:09 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty1
    root 441 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:09 0:00 [flush-8:1]
    root 454 0.0 0.5 8736 3112 ? Ss 11:11 0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
    root 458 0.0 0.6 19696 3400 ? Sl 11:11 0:00 /usr/sbin/console-kit-daemon –no
    root 536 0.0 0.3 2996 1680 pts/0 Ss 11:11 0:00 -bash
    root 13957 0.0 0.1 1792 636 ? Ss 11:43 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 hvc0
    root 13958 0.0 0.1 2440 972 pts/0 R+ 11:43 0:00 ps aux

    ————————————————————————————————–

    Data is from a clean reload of Ubuntu 10.04 32Bit. As you can see, 502MB of memory is already gone!

    I'm telling you, YardVPS is the worst experience EVER!

    November 22, 2010 @ 4:51 pm | Reply
    • JockTwo:

      “-/+ buffers/cache: 192 334” – means that 192 is used out of (192+334=526MB) not 502. That 502 is provisioned but not used. So you’re actually wrong.

      Another thing: all of yardVPS’s images (atleast the leaf1) has a lot of programs (like apache etc) running. maybe you need to un-install them. 30MB is a on tweaked image; not standard.

      As far as money back: man that’s really unfortunate. I feel ya.

      November 22, 2010 @ 5:31 pm | Reply
    • I think… the used ram should read 192MB instead of 502MB. I’ve no experience on Ubuntu so can’t comment if it’s normal.

      November 22, 2010 @ 5:40 pm | Reply
    • ibk:

      Dear Jack.
      You must see this page : linuxatemyram.com
      192 MB is still quite high for clean installation.

      November 22, 2010 @ 6:16 pm | Reply
      • Jack:

        ibk,

        I didn’t know about that. Right now:

        free -m
        total used free shared buffers cached
        Mem: 527 82 444 0 14 18
        -/+ buffers/cache: 49 478
        Swap: 1023 0 1023

        It looks like linux is using 49MB for disk caching and 33MB is used by other stuff. IMO this looks good. I’ll try to deploy my blog on this server and see how it goes.

        November 22, 2010 @ 6:28 pm | Reply
  25. Jack:

    Hey you know what. I will even give you guys my root password and stuff.

    Password : password1

    IP : 216.24.196.21

    You guys can do whatever you want with it. I’m done with them…

    November 22, 2010 @ 5:02 pm | Reply
    • JockTwo:

      Bro: no matter how upset you are this is NOT a good idea. Anyone can f*ck with your VPS to do crazy stuff like child porno/terrorist stuff and YOU’ll be blamed for it. You can land yourself in a serious mess. I hope you joking here…

      I were you I’d just shut down the vps and move on ….

      November 22, 2010 @ 5:33 pm | Reply
  26. We resolved the memory leak within 10.04 by optimizing the OS a bit.

    root@sv:~# free -m
    total used free shared buffers cached
    Mem: 527 81 445 0 14 18
    -/+ buffers/cache: 48 479
    Swap: 1023 0 1023
    root@sv:~#

    Just like most out of the box system it is up to the client to optimize their OS. This is why clients are given PyGrub where they can modify their kernel by unloading unnecessary modules to use minimal memory.

    Clients are all welcome to modify their template in any form or way they choose. We’ll be reporting this memory leak to our vendor later today. Glad for pointing this out and will roll a fix once we hear from them.

    In the future its advisable to open a ticket so we can tackle issues together by coming up with concrete solutions.

    November 22, 2010 @ 5:38 pm | Reply
  27. Jack:

    @JockTwo

    It’s impossible to run a website on the server lol :p

    November 22, 2010 @ 5:58 pm | Reply
    • JockTwo:

      Bro I get you…. shit happens. I’ve had some funny experiences…but to give out your VPS details like that is a recipe for disaster. That VPS could be used for anything – go change the password in solusVM. :D

      Why don’t you try another OS? like centOS or maybe even another ubuntu LTS? or perhaps debian. Debian and ubuntu are very similar.

      November 22, 2010 @ 6:06 pm | Reply
  28. Jack:

    @JockTwo

    Yea I guess you’re right! I already changed the PW.

    Tried all of them. All BS.

    November 22, 2010 @ 6:17 pm | Reply
  29. Jack:

    Hey,

    Looks like my VPS is running fine now. I have NginX, php-fpm and Mysql up an running. Memory leak issue has been fixed.

    The Speed is really badass. I am starting to love this server :p.

    @Jim

    Thanks for taking my issues into consideration.

    -Jack

    November 23, 2010 @ 11:22 am | Reply
    • JockTwo:

      :D see its better to be patient… photonVPS is a reputable provider so yardvps will, to say the least, be upto the mark.

      November 23, 2010 @ 1:33 pm | Reply
  30. Tiago Ilieve:

    I have rented this TREE 1 package (sadly, without the 15% discount) on tuesday (11/23).

    All was going fine before yesterday when the VPS started to reboot randomly. Less than 1 hour (very fast for a unmanaged plan) after opening a support ticket, my problem was solved by one of their “Level 3 Engineer” and my server is rock solid again.

    One problem that I found (and I don’t know if it is a Xen, OS template or Ubuntu issue):
    There is no “/dev/hvc0” device, which lead to tons of error logs (50MB+/day) and made any log audition nearly impossible. I’ve solved this by simpling making a symbolic link which points to “/dev/tty1”.

    Their performance and support is just great. 1.5 TB is almost “unlimited bandwidth” (if you don’t use any p2p network, which is prohibited by TOS/AUP) compared to other providers and $7.95 is the cheapest (without discount) Xen VPS (had some trouble with OpenVZ in the past) that I’ve found. Response time is over 200ms where I live (some “little” country in South America), but that is ok.

    The only thing I miss in this plan is a DNS service. Something like ns1.yardvps.com and ns2.yardvps.com for customers would be very much appreciated.

    November 26, 2010 @ 11:38 pm | Reply
  31. shearerc:

    Tiago,

    Please to know you’re happy with things. How’s the I/O responsiveness? Do simple commands like “ps -ef” and “ls -la” take a long time to output?

    November 27, 2010 @ 2:20 am | Reply
  32. Tiago Ilieve:

    shearerc,

    I don’t have anything to complain about performance (I/O, CPU or network).
    “ps -ef” and “ls -la” output are both instantly.

    November 27, 2010 @ 2:35 pm | Reply
  33. YARDSALE is active again for the next 24 hours!

    December 14, 2010 @ 6:14 pm | Reply
  34. You can kill the hvc0 errors by deleting /etc/init/hvc0.conf. It’s not used by the serial console and is simply to log into the host from the host. I suppose support might want it back at some point but considering getty wasn’t able to attach anyway….

    December 15, 2010 @ 1:37 am | Reply
    • Tiago:

      Thank you! Linking it to /dev/tty1 bring me some bugs when logging in from serial console, but deleting the /etc/init/hvc0.conf is much more simplier.

      January 8, 2011 @ 1:58 am | Reply
  35. shearerc:

    Interestingly, using YARDSALE at time of this post only gives 10% recurring discount.

    December 22, 2010 @ 4:34 pm | Reply
  36. It’s another special we’re having at the moment, however it ends in 24 hours and applies to our GRASS plans as well.

    December 22, 2010 @ 4:37 pm | Reply
  37. LOL ich liebe es hier hehe. Noch genialer als bei Flirts-and-more.de – da sind die Leute irgendwie voll pervers.

    July 16, 2011 @ 7:38 pm | Reply

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