96MB Low End VPS Review Part 62-NECS
As many have said recently, my pace in writing VPS reviews are getting slower and slower. Believe it or not, I am actually just getting as frustrated with my own progress as well as I have received quite a few email politely reminding me their review requests have not been completed for months. NECS is one such example, Ramon from NECS has sent me a review request since June 7, and another reminder last month about it. I have finally got around to them and let’s take a look at their services.
Basic Information and Set Up
I have decided to take advantage of their offer on WHT and unfortunately their lowest plan (Basic) was sold out, so I had to sign up for the Starter 1 Plan, which offers the following amount of resources for 5 GBP (equivalent to slightly above 8 USD at the time of writing) per month:
Sign up page is standard WHMCS on HTTPS protocol (although the entire site is accessible via HTTP as well) and the sign up interface is a pretty straight-forward WHMCS interface:
Strictly a matter of personal preferences, but sometimes I have found graphics, particularly not-so-small ones, take a while to load up on the screen, and if this graphics is reload on every single page, it is quickly becomes an annoyance rather than advertising.
Also, there is not really any discount for long-term payments, even if paid for three years in advance, the price is still 5 GBP per month.
Since the plan is a KVM VPS plan, it has one of the biggest advantage of all KVM plans: the ability to load various types of ISOs and indeed they have a pretty large selection of ISOs even at the order stage. In fact, the selection is so big (50 ISOs in total) that I have to take the shortcut and get the list from the HTML code because it will take quite a few screenshots to get to the bottom of the list. Note that only some of the ISOs can be installed automatically, which was clearly labeled on the drop-down list as well:
CentOS 5.8 64bit DVD (Self Install) CentOS 6.3 64bit minimal (Self Install) CentOS 5.8 64 bit Minimal (Auto Install) CentOS 5.8 32 bit Minimal (Auto Install) CentOS 6.3 64 bit Minimal (Auto Install) CentOS 6.3 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) ClearOS 6.3 64 Bit (Auto Install) ClearOS 6.3 32Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Debian 6.0.5 64 Bit Minimal (Auto Installl) Debian 6.0.5 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Fedora 17 64 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Fedora 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) OpenSUSE 12.2 64 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) OpenSUSE 12.2 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Scientific Linux 5.8 64 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Scientific Linux 5.8 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Scientific Linux 6.3 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Scientific Linux 6.3 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Ubuntu 12.04 64 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) Ubuntu 12.04 32 Bit Minimal (Auto Install) CentOS 5.8 32bit DVD (Self Install) CentOS 5.8 64bit Netinstall (Self Install) CentOS 6.2 64bit Minimal Install (Self Install) LIVE Debain with CD OpenVPN Access Server (Self Install) TinyCore 4.5 (Self Install) Fedora 16 64bit DVD (Self Install) FreeBSD 9.0 64bit (Self Install) FreeNAS 8.0.4 64bit (Self Install) FreePBX 1.812 64bit NetInstall (Self Install) Scientific Linux 6.2 64bit (Self Install) Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (Self Install) Windows Server 2008 R2 Web (Self Install) Arch Linux 2011 (Self Install) Debian 6.0.4 64bit Net Install (Self Install) Debian 6.0.5 32bit Net Install (Self Install) Gentoo 64bit minimal (Self Install) Linux Mint 13 DVD (Self Install) openSUSE 12.1 64bit DVD (Self Install) Slackware 13.37 64bit (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 Lucid Dokuwiki (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 Domain Controller (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 Joomla 16 (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 LAMP (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 Magento (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 phpbb (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 Rails (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 WordPress (Self Install) TurnKey Linux 11.3 Zimbra (Self Install) Ubuntu 12.04 64bit (Self Install) Ubuntu 12.04 32bit (Self Install)
Provision of the VPS was instant and I have received my VPS login information the same minute as I received my payment confirmation. However, there was a little incident happened, basically when the order confirmation was generated, the one-time 50% promo code worked and I was only required to pay 2.50 GBP:
However, when the actual invoice was generated, the amount is back to 5 GBP:
I did not notice this until I paid the invoice (yes, good thing I was not billed for a million dollars), and after raising a ticket at 2am in the morning in the UK time zone, the issue was resolved 6 hours later at 8:50am, and a partial refund was offered, which I think is really not bad since billing tickets are normally answered outside of the business hours.
The welcome email is actually quite elaborate and contains quite a lot of useful information, although majority of it is still based of the standard WHMCS email template, note that the five IPv6 addresses are also given there:
Their WHMCS system is using HTTPS protocol and once logged in, the control panel for the VPS could be found under My Services:
As you can see, there are buttons which controls the basic operations of the VPS and there is also a View Graphs tab which you can click open to see the graphs:
Note that only the traffic graph is available.
The only complain I have is that although there are three links to different control panels on their home page, none of which sent me to their WHMCS system, and other than remembering the URL, the only other method for me to get to the WHMCS login page is to dig out my New Server Information email.
NECS, like many other providers, uses standard SolusVM control panel for controlling the VPS as well, and their SolusVM control panel is on HTTPS protocol, however, the user name and password is not provided in the welcome email, but you have to login to your WHMCS account to find them, and it is assigned by the system.
Once logged in, a pretty standard SolusVM page is shown:
Settings tab appears to be of the common types of controls for KVM VPS:
For the network card, you can choose between the three types of card:
And for the hard drive, you can choose between virtio and IDE:
The reconfigure networking appear to work but not the reinstall tab, and when I clicked on the reinstall tab, here is what I see:
Instead, you will have to go to the CDROM tab to mount the ISO to perform the install via VNC, and here are the list of ISOs that are available for installation:
Arch Linux 2011.08 CentOS 5.8 32Bit DVD1 CentOS 5.8 32Bit DVD2 CentOS 5.8 64bit DVD1 CentOS 5.8 64bit DVD2 CentOS 5.8 64bit Netinstall CentOS 6.2 64bit Minimal CentOS 6.3 32bit CentOS 6.3 64bit CloneZilla Live Debian 6 with OpenVPN AS Debian 6.0.4 64bit Netinstall Debian 6.0.5 32bit Netinstall Debian 6.0.6 amd64 Net Fedora 16 64bit DVD FreeBSD 9.0 64Bit FreeNAS 8.0.4 64bit FreePBX Distro Gentoo 64bit Minimal Linux Mint Mail cleaner community 32bit Mail cleaner community 64bit Mikrotik Router OS 5.21 openSUSE Parted Magic 2012 pfSense 2.0.1 Proxmox VE 2.1 Scientific Linux 6.2 64bit Scrollout F1 email gateway Slackware 13.37 64bit Tiny Core Turn Key Linux DokuWiki Turn Key Linux Domain Controller Turn Key Linux File Server Turn Key Linux Joomla Turn Key Linux LAMP Server Turn Key Linux Magento Turn Key Linux phpBB Turn Key Linux Rails Turn Key Linux WordPress Turn Key Linux Zimbra Ubuntu 10.10 64 bit Ubuntu 12.04 Server 32 bit Ubuntu 12.04 Server 64bit Windows Server Std 2003 R2 DVD1 Windows Server Std 2008 R2 Windows Server Web 2008 R2
Note that here, besides so many different varieties of Linux, we actually see 3 Windows flavors are available as well! Obviously the test VPS that I have is a bit too small for me to try to install Windows on, but it is definitely very interesting to see Windows available on the larger VPS with sufficient memory.
Other than that, everything else is pretty standard and they do not have instant rDNS available:
Test on the VPS
As mentioned above, the test VPS has 4 virtual CPU cores, 256MB of RAM and 15GB of RAID10 hard drive space, the VPS is located in the Redstation DC in Hampshire, UK.
When the VPS was first installed, about 12MB of RAM was used, which is slightly less than a standard OpenVZ installation:
free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 248 30 218 0 4 13
-/+ buffers/cache: 12 235
Swap: 1023 0 1023
Top showing the processes running:
top - 20:24:42 up 54 min, 1 user, load average: 0.06, 0.03, 0.00
Tasks: 84 total, 1 running, 83 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.1%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.9%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 254644k total, 31620k used, 223024k free, 4288k buffers
Swap: 1048568k total, 0k used, 1048568k free, 14104k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1111 root 20 0 8264 2864 2336 S 0 1.1 0:00.06 sshd
1115 root 20 0 4492 1740 1416 S 0 0.7 0:00.02 bash
1030 root 20 0 27452 1560 1032 S 0 0.6 0:00.02 rsyslogd
1123 root 20 0 2436 1144 904 R 0 0.4 0:00.01 top
1077 root 20 0 5500 972 584 S 0 0.4 0:00.00 sshd
400 root 16 -4 2412 852 404 S 0 0.3 0:00.06 udevd
1 root 20 0 2036 712 616 S 0 0.3 0:00.86 init
1070 root 20 0 3788 672 500 S 0 0.3 0:00.00 cron
1083 root 20 0 1708 592 480 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 acpid
1102 root 20 0 1712 572 492 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 getty
1100 root 20 0 1712 568 492 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 getty
1101 root 20 0 1712 568 492 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 getty
1103 root 20 0 1712 568 492 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 getty
1104 root 20 0 1712 568 492 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 getty
1105 root 20 0 1712 568 492 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 getty
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 kthreadd
3 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0
And htop output:
About 300MB of hard drive space was used as well, which is again pretty small compare to many standard OpenVZ templates:
df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1 14G 316M 13G 3% / tmpfs 125M 0 125M 0% /lib/init/rw udev 121M 108K 120M 1% /dev tmpfs 125M 0 125M 0% /dev/shm
And the iNodes are set to pretty standard values:
df -i Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/vda1 854784 15694 839090 2% / tmpfs 31830 4 31826 1% /lib/init/rw udev 30721 492 30229 2% /dev tmpfs 31830 1 31829 1% /dev/shm
When the full LNMP stack was installed, about 40MB of RAM was used:
free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 248 243 5 0 9 193
-/+ buffers/cache: 40 208
Swap: 1023 0 1023
Top showing the full LNMP stack running:
top - 11:45:22 up 3:15, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 95 total, 1 running, 94 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.2%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.8%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 254644k total, 250664k used, 3980k free, 9760k buffers
Swap: 1048568k total, 424k used, 1048144k free, 199532k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
7569 www 20 0 15004 10m 428 S 0 4.3 0:00.01 nginx
7549 mysql 20 0 33948 4620 2020 S 0 1.8 0:00.02 mysqld
7559 root 20 0 24124 4540 1404 S 0 1.8 0:00.84 php-cgi
7560 www 20 0 24124 4132 996 S 0 1.6 0:00.00 php-cgi
7561 www 20 0 24124 4132 996 S 0 1.6 0:00.00 php-cgi
7562 www 20 0 24124 4132 996 S 0 1.6 0:00.00 php-cgi
7563 www 20 0 24124 4132 996 S 0 1.6 0:00.00 php-cgi
7564 www 20 0 24124 4132 996 S 0 1.6 0:00.00 php-cgi
1111 root 20 0 8408 1480 900 S 1 0.6 0:03.65 sshd
1115 root 20 0 4492 1204 876 S 0 0.5 0:00.06 bash
7618 root 20 0 2452 1160 904 R 1 0.5 0:00.02 top
1030 root 20 0 27452 1036 548 S 0 0.4 0:00.05 rsyslogd
7567 root 20 0 4792 712 272 S 0 0.3 0:00.00 nginx
1077 root 20 0 5500 648 304 S 0 0.3 0:00.00 sshd
7447 root 20 0 1752 548 460 S 0 0.2 0:00.01 mysqld_safe
400 root 16 -4 2412 460 280 S 0 0.2 0:00.06 udevd
7577 root 18 -2 2408 460 224 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 udevd
7578 root 18 -2 2408 460 224 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 udevd
1070 root 20 0 3788 404 244 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 cron
1 root 20 0 2024 344 264 S 0 0.1 0:00.95 init
1083 root 20 0 1708 288 176 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 acpid
1102 root 20 0 1712 268 188 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 getty
1101 root 20 0 1712 260 188 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 getty
1105 root 20 0 1712 260 188 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 getty
1103 root 20 0 1712 256 188 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 getty
1104 root 20 0 1712 256 188 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 getty
1100 root 20 0 1712 252 188 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 getty
And htop output as usual:
About 1.8GB of hard drive space was used:
df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1 14G 1.8G 12G 14% / tmpfs 125M 0 125M 0% /lib/init/rw udev 121M 108K 120M 1% /dev tmpfs 125M 0 125M 0% /dev/shm
And the standard iNodes values:
df -i Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/vda1 854784 68599 786185 9% / tmpfs 31830 4 31826 1% /lib/init/rw udev 30721 492 30229 2% /dev tmpfs 31830 1 31829 1% /dev/shm
Uptime shows the VPS is mostly idle:
uptime 07:25:36 up 1 day, 22:55, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
As I am writing this review, I went back and checked on the uptime again and it is still pretty solid:
uptime 07:53:20 up 24 days, 23:23, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
And vmStats shows there is no iowait:
vmstat procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu---- r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa 0 0 416 18096 17204 177932 0 0 1 4 13 8 0 0 100 0
CPUInfo shows there are four CPU cores assigned to the VPS, none of which is throttled:
cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 13 model name : QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 2393.998 cache size : 4096 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 4 core id : 0 cpu cores : 4 apicid : 0 initial apicid : 0 fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 4 wp : yes flags : fpu de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx lm pni cx16 hypervisor lahf_lm bogomips : 4787.99 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 1 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 13 model name : QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 2393.998 cache size : 4096 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 4 core id : 1 cpu cores : 4 apicid : 1 initial apicid : 1 fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 4 wp : yes flags : fpu de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx lm pni cx16 hypervisor lahf_lm bogomips : 4787.99 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 2 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 13 model name : QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 2393.998 cache size : 4096 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 4 core id : 2 cpu cores : 4 apicid : 2 initial apicid : 2 fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 4 wp : yes flags : fpu de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx lm pni cx16 hypervisor lahf_lm bogomips : 4787.99 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 3 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 13 model name : QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 2393.998 cache size : 4096 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 4 core id : 3 cpu cores : 4 apicid : 3 initial apicid : 3 fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 4 wp : yes flags : fpu de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx lm pni cx16 hypervisor lahf_lm bogomips : 4787.99 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management:
And meminfo output:
cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 254644 kB MemFree: 4572 kB Buffers: 5836 kB Cached: 206312 kB SwapCached: 372 kB Active: 58236 kB Inactive: 175504 kB Active(anon): 10144 kB Inactive(anon): 11600 kB Active(file): 48092 kB Inactive(file): 163904 kB Unevictable: 0 kB Mlocked: 0 kB HighTotal: 0 kB HighFree: 0 kB LowTotal: 254644 kB LowFree: 4572 kB SwapTotal: 1048568 kB SwapFree: 1048152 kB Dirty: 4 kB Writeback: 0 kB AnonPages: 21356 kB Mapped: 7540 kB Shmem: 116 kB Slab: 11648 kB SReclaimable: 7224 kB SUnreclaim: 4424 kB KernelStack: 808 kB PageTables: 540 kB NFS_Unstable: 0 kB Bounce: 0 kB WritebackTmp: 0 kB CommitLimit: 1175888 kB Committed_AS: 102736 kB VmallocTotal: 765956 kB VmallocUsed: 6100 kB VmallocChunk: 751636 kB HardwareCorrupted: 0 kB HugePages_Total: 0 HugePages_Free: 0 HugePages_Rsvd: 0 HugePages_Surp: 0 Hugepagesize: 4096 kB DirectMap4k: 12276 kB DirectMap4M: 249856 kB
And time sync output:
time sync real 0m0.112s user 0m0.004s sys 0m0.000s
I am actually fairly impressed with the disk I/O, particularly considering it is not a SSD RAID:
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, 4.16527 s, 258 MB/s
Testing again showed pretty impressive result as well, although a lot less impressive than the first one:
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, 8.33699 s, 129 MB/s
IOPing also showed some quite impressive results:
ioping -c 10 . 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=1 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=2 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=3 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=4 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=5 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=6 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=7 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=8 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=9 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=10 time=0.2 ms --- . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c) ioping statistics --- 10 requests completed in 9005.0 ms, 3695 iops, 14.4 mb/s min/avg/max/mdev = 0.2/0.3/0.3/0.0 ms
Testing again showed similar results:
ioping -c 10 . 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=1 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=2 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=3 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=4 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=5 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=6 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=7 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=8 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=9 time=0.3 ms 4096 bytes from . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c): request=10 time=0.8 ms --- . (ext4 /dev/disk/by-uuid/548e4fc3-9196-46b9-b04b-ec314efcb21c) ioping statistics --- 10 requests completed in 9006.0 ms, 3169 iops, 12.4 mb/s min/avg/max/mdev = 0.2/0.3/0.8/0.2 ms
The network speed might be somewhat less impressive, particularly considering that it is on 1Gbit port:
wget cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2012-12-08 07:27:13-- 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: a€?/dev/nulla€ 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 6.74M/s in 12s 2012-12-08 07:27:25 (8.09 MB/s) - a€?/dev/nulla€
I suspect the 1Gbit port is a shared port and there is some sort of port limiting on each VPS to ensure that each VPS in the node has a decent network speed, rather than having one person using up all the bandwidth.
Testing again showed similar results:
wget cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2012-12-08 07:29:48-- 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: a€?/dev/nulla€ 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 9.16M/s in 12s 2012-12-08 07:30:00 (8.41 MB/s) - a€?/dev/nulla€
For the upload speed, as expected, the speed is much better in Europe than in North America. First is from my test VPS in Quickweb Chicago, IL location:
wget http://37.220.xxx.xxx/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2012-12-07 18:37:18-- http://37.220.xxx.xxx/100mb.test Connecting to 37.220.xxx.xxx:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream] Saving to: `/dev/null' 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 1.20M/s in 84s 2012-12-07 18:38:42 (1.20 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
As you can see, the speed is slightly less than 10mbit per second, which is not that impressive.
Next with my test VPS with Quickweb at their Los Angeles location, and the speed is almost the same as on the east coast:
wget http://37.220.xxx.xxx/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2012-12-08 08:13:38-- http://37.220.xxx.xxx/100mb.test Connecting to 37.220.xxx.xxx:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream] Saving to: `/dev/null' 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 2.36M/s in 80s 2012-12-08 08:14:58 (1.25 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
Finally, the test VPS at Maidenhead, UK, with XenVZ showed a lot better network speed due to the fact that they are both on the same continent:
wget http://37.220.xxx.xxx/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2012-12-08 08:10:45-- http://37.220.xxx.xxx/100mb.test Connecting to 37.220.xxx.xxx:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream] Saving to: `/dev/null' 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 9.52M/s in 11s 2012-12-08 08:10:56 (9.11 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
For benchmarks, in general more CPU cores would indicate better benchmarks and it is definitely the case with this VPS. With 4 CPU cores available, the Unixbench score is close to 2000 points, which is rather impressive.
# # # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
# # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # # #
# # # # # # ## ##### ##### # # # # ######
# # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # #
# # # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # #
#### # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
Version 5.1.3 Based on the Byte Magazine Unix Benchmark
Multi-CPU version Version 5 revisions by Ian Smith,
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
January 13, 2011 johantheghost at yahoo period com
1 x Dhrystone 2 using register variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Double-Precision Whetstone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Execl Throughput 1 2 3
1 x File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 1 2 3
1 x File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1 2 3
1 x File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1 2 3
1 x Pipe Throughput 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Pipe-based Context Switching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Process Creation 1 2 3
1 x System Call Overhead 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 1 2 3
1 x Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1 2 3
4 x Dhrystone 2 using register variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Double-Precision Whetstone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Execl Throughput 1 2 3
4 x File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 1 2 3
4 x File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1 2 3
4 x File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1 2 3
4 x Pipe Throughput 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Pipe-based Context Switching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Process Creation 1 2 3
4 x System Call Overhead 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 1 2 3
4 x Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1 2 3
========================================================================
BYTE UNIX Benchmarks (Version 5.1.3)
System: xxxxxx: GNU/Linux
OS: GNU/Linux -- 2.6.32-5-686 -- #1 SMP Sun May 6 04:01:19 UTC 2012
Machine: i686 (unknown)
Language: en_US.utf8 (charmap="UTF-8", collate="UTF-8")
CPU 0: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
CPU 1: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
CPU 2: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
CPU 3: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
11:28:51 up 3 days, 2:58, 2 users, load average: 0.30, 0.06, 0.02; runlevel 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Sun Dec 09 2012 11:28:51 - 11:56:21
4 CPUs in system; running 1 parallel copy of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 13251232.4 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 2455.1 MWIPS (7.5 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 1733.6 lps (29.9 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 564994.2 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 140868.6 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1150603.0 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 1034831.6 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 135805.2 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 4184.6 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 2967.4 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1109.1 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 961447.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 13251232.4 1135.5
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 2455.1 446.4
Execl Throughput 43.0 1733.6 403.2
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 564994.2 1426.8
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 140868.6 851.2
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1150603.0 1983.8
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 1034831.6 831.9
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 135805.2 339.5
Process Creation 126.0 4184.6 332.1
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 2967.4 699.9
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1109.1 1848.6
System Call Overhead 15000.0 961447.8 641.0
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 761.9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Sun Dec 09 2012 11:56:21 - 12:24:05
4 CPUs in system; running 4 parallel copies of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 45152456.7 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 9390.0 MWIPS (7.1 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 8716.5 lps (29.9 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 441327.8 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 103533.0 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1137124.2 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 3127046.4 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 725818.7 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 20397.1 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 14244.2 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1804.2 lpm (60.1 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 3138885.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 45152456.7 3869.1
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 9390.0 1707.3
Execl Throughput 43.0 8716.5 2027.1
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 441327.8 1114.5
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 103533.0 625.6
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1137124.2 1960.6
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 3127046.4 2513.7
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 725818.7 1814.5
Process Creation 126.0 20397.1 1618.8
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 14244.2 3359.5
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1804.2 3007.0
System Call Overhead 15000.0 3138885.8 2092.6
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 1940.8
Testing again showed similar results:
# # # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
# # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # # #
# # # # # # ## ##### ##### # # # # ######
# # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # #
# # # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # #
#### # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
Version 5.1.3 Based on the Byte Magazine Unix Benchmark
Multi-CPU version Version 5 revisions by Ian Smith,
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
January 13, 2011 johantheghost at yahoo period com
1 x Dhrystone 2 using register variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Double-Precision Whetstone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Execl Throughput 1 2 3
1 x File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 1 2 3
1 x File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1 2 3
1 x File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1 2 3
1 x Pipe Throughput 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Pipe-based Context Switching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Process Creation 1 2 3
1 x System Call Overhead 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 x Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 1 2 3
1 x Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1 2 3
4 x Dhrystone 2 using register variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Double-Precision Whetstone 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Execl Throughput 1 2 3
4 x File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 1 2 3
4 x File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1 2 3
4 x File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1 2 3
4 x Pipe Throughput 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Pipe-based Context Switching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Process Creation 1 2 3
4 x System Call Overhead 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 x Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 1 2 3
4 x Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1 2 3
========================================================================
BYTE UNIX Benchmarks (Version 5.1.3)
System: xxxxxx: GNU/Linux
OS: GNU/Linux -- 2.6.32-5-686 -- #1 SMP Sun May 6 04:01:19 UTC 2012
Machine: i686 (unknown)
Language: en_US.utf8 (charmap="UTF-8", collate="UTF-8")
CPU 0: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
CPU 1: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
CPU 2: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
CPU 3: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) (4788.0 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSCALL/SYSRET
12:35:37 up 3 days, 4:05, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 1.22, 2.96; runlevel 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Sun Dec 09 2012 12:35:37 - 13:03:03
4 CPUs in system; running 1 parallel copy of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 13290180.6 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 2521.4 MWIPS (7.0 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 1705.3 lps (29.6 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 573695.7 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 150033.6 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1161682.6 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 994123.9 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 132820.1 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 4217.2 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 2997.3 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1111.5 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 966103.0 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 13290180.6 1138.8
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 2521.4 458.4
Execl Throughput 43.0 1705.3 396.6
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 573695.7 1448.7
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 150033.6 906.5
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1161682.6 2002.9
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 994123.9 799.1
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 132820.1 332.1
Process Creation 126.0 4217.2 334.7
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 2997.3 706.9
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1111.5 1852.5
System Call Overhead 15000.0 966103.0 644.1
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 766.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Sun Dec 09 2012 13:03:03 - 13:30:40
4 CPUs in system; running 4 parallel copies of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 44710788.9 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 9663.1 MWIPS (7.1 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 10818.9 lps (29.9 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 362996.8 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 112061.7 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1100647.6 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 3515066.9 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 728142.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 21376.5 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 11285.7 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1827.4 lpm (60.1 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 3119237.4 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 44710788.9 3831.3
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 9663.1 1756.9
Execl Throughput 43.0 10818.9 2516.0
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 362996.8 916.7
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 112061.7 677.1
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1100647.6 1897.7
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 3515066.9 2825.6
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 728142.8 1820.4
Process Creation 126.0 21376.5 1696.5
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 11285.7 2661.7
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1827.4 3045.7
System Call Overhead 15000.0 3119237.4 2079.5
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 1945.2
Geekbench scores are over 3000 points, which is in the range I am expecting as well:
System Information
Platform: Linux x86 (32-bit)
Compiler: GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)
Operating System: Linux 2.6.32-5-686 i686
Model: Linux PC (QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6))
Motherboard: Unknown Motherboard
Processor: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6)
Processor ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 3
Logical Processors: 4
Physical Processors: 1
Processor Frequency: 2.39 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 64.0 KB
L1 Data Cache: 64.0 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
L3 Cache: 0.00 B
Bus Frequency: 0.00 Hz
Memory: 249 MB
Memory Type: N/A
SIMD: 1
BIOS: N/A
Processor Model: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6)
Processor Cores: 4
Integer
Blowfish
single-threaded scalar 1094 ||||
multi-threaded scalar 4239 ||||||||||||||||
Text Compress
single-threaded scalar 1924 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 3265 |||||||||||||
Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1907 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 4762 |||||||||||||||||||
Image Compress
single-threaded scalar 1016 ||||
multi-threaded scalar 3820 |||||||||||||||
Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar 926 |||
multi-threaded scalar 2995 |||||||||||
Lua
single-threaded scalar 3057 ||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 5416 |||||||||||||||||||||
Floating Point
Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar 1300 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 4965 |||||||||||||||||||
Dot Product
single-threaded scalar 2060 ||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6621 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 2519 ||||||||||
multi-threaded vector 7067 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar 1414 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 3105 ||||||||||||
Primality Test
single-threaded scalar 3261 |||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6038 ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar 3295 |||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 11101 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blur Image
single-threaded scalar 3142 ||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 10337 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory
Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar 3047 ||||||||||||
Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar 4866 |||||||||||||||||||
Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar 2177 ||||||||
Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar 2530 ||||||||||
Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar 5000 ||||||||||||||||||||
Stream
Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar 3060 ||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 4568 ||||||||||||||||||
Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar 2434 |||||||||
single-threaded vector 4474 |||||||||||||||||
Stream Add
single-threaded scalar 2870 |||||||||||
single-threaded vector 4298 |||||||||||||||||
Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar 3288 |||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 3426 |||||||||||||
Integer Score: 2868 |||||||||||
Floating Point Score: 4730 ||||||||||||||||||
Memory Score: 3524 ||||||||||||||
Stream Score: 3552 ||||||||||||||
Overall Geekbench Score: 3719 ||||||||||||||
Testing again showed even better score, which is close to 4000 points range:
System Information
Platform: Linux x86 (32-bit)
Compiler: GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)
Operating System: Linux 2.6.32-5-686 i686
Model: Linux PC (QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6))
Motherboard: Unknown Motherboard
Processor: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6)
Processor ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 3
Logical Processors: 4
Physical Processors: 1
Processor Frequency: 2.39 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 64.0 KB
L1 Data Cache: 64.0 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
L3 Cache: 0.00 B
Bus Frequency: 0.00 Hz
Memory: 249 MB
Memory Type: N/A
SIMD: 1
BIOS: N/A
Processor Model: QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6)
Processor Cores: 4
Integer
Blowfish
single-threaded scalar 1075 ||||
multi-threaded scalar 4124 ||||||||||||||||
Text Compress
single-threaded scalar 1806 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 4780 |||||||||||||||||||
Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1170 ||||
multi-threaded scalar 4319 |||||||||||||||||
Image Compress
single-threaded scalar 991 |||
multi-threaded scalar 2904 |||||||||||
Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar 894 |||
multi-threaded scalar 2443 |||||||||
Lua
single-threaded scalar 1792 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6615 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Floating Point
Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar 1532 ||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6099 ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dot Product
single-threaded scalar 2283 |||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 7438 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 2401 |||||||||
multi-threaded vector 9438 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar 2207 ||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 5280 |||||||||||||||||||||
Primality Test
single-threaded scalar 2600 ||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 5999 |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar 3491 |||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 9850 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blur Image
single-threaded scalar 5031 ||||||||||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 12281 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory
Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar 3095 ||||||||||||
Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar 4863 |||||||||||||||||||
Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar 2386 |||||||||
Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar 2674 ||||||||||
Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar 5176 ||||||||||||||||||||
Stream
Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar 3175 ||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 4759 |||||||||||||||||||
Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar 2537 ||||||||||
single-threaded vector 4594 ||||||||||||||||||
Stream Add
single-threaded scalar 2924 |||||||||||
single-threaded vector 4596 ||||||||||||||||||
Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar 3158 ||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 3371 |||||||||||||
Integer Score: 2742 ||||||||||
Floating Point Score: 5423 |||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Score: 3638 ||||||||||||||
Stream Score: 3639 ||||||||||||||
Overall Geekbench Score: 3949 |||||||||||||||
Customer Service and Support
I have not had any interaction with the technical support of NECS, in fact, my only interaction with them was through the billing ticket, which could be a good indication of the pace they are responding to the technical support ticket since I have yet to see any VPS providers who answer billing tickets faster than technical tickets and from that perspective, my billing ticket raised at 9:00pm EST was answered by 3:50 EST the next day, not too bad considering it is barely the start of the day over in UK.
Conclusion
Overall, I was quite glad with the KVM service that NECS has offered, in particular, the disk speed is quite impressive for a KVM units and the network speed is also pretty good if you are within continental Europe. Furthermore, the availability of Windows OS template would be a plus for those who require Windows as well. Although definitely not the cheapest in the market, NECS is definitely worth considering as a great option for UK-based VPS for a reasonable price.

Hello, 96mb
I am one of your follower. I use your site to research good providers. I am thankful that there is a site such as 96mb.com.
I have on recommendation. Somehow incorporate feedback on VPS on people who are actually using them. Although you give report on support and server performance, it is my impression that those are only based on few days you are using them. But if conclusion is based on using the VPS for months, that would be very valuable.
Happy New year by the way and more power to you this 2013!
Hi jcaleb, thanks a lot for your suggestions and recommendations, I really appreciate the support I have received from guys like you that keeps 96MB going. As an end user, you currently have two ways to share with the community your own experience, you could either leave a comment on the specific post (say if you have used NECS before and would like to discuss about your experience with them), the second option is a little less known, but you could always post on http://forum.96mb.com/, I know I have never advertised for this forum openly so it is relatively empty now, however you are more than welcome to be the first poster there and if you would like to get a mod role on some of the boards, let me know as well!
Of course, you can always send me your review and I may publish them on 96MB, I can’t promise since it is something that I have never done before (and I have not given too much thoughts about it to be honest), but feel free to email me and we can see how this would work out for us.
Happy New Year to you and your family too! Have a great 2013 and thanks once again for your support on 96MB!
Many thanks again for your review, we are always keen to improve our services and feedback like this is appreciated.
We also provide telephone support and advice if needed.
Ramon
@thanks a lot Ramon for your feedback, may I know if this is the right number that the customers should call for technical support: Existing Business Clients: 0191 213 0055, thanks!
We can be contacted on 0191 285 9999 or 0191 213 0055, )ption 4 for Hosting and VPS
or even use our live chat facility on the website.
Regards
I want a VPS cheap one before 15th FEb 2013 . I daily get 200 Hits . SO suggest me a cheap VPS . ANd also give me tutorial to install ZPanel so that i can manage a few other blogs on same VPS.
Thanks
You could ask nicely and perhaps someone would answer you