96MB Low End VPS Review Part 68–CatalystHost 2GB
CatalystHost was recently reviewed on 96MB by one of the readers, jcaleb, and normally it is not customary for me to review VPS that has been reviewed not very long ago. However, I made an exception to this one partially because jcaleb was focusing on the customer service aspect of CatalystHost and I would focus a bit more on the “objective” aspects of it, and also because it is rare to see a relatively “new” provider receives almost nothing but positive reviews on major forums on the low end VPS community. Therefore, when they have made the 2GB RAM plan available (yes, it seems to me almost every single major providers is now running this plan), I have decided to get one myself and check it out.
Basic Information and Setup
As per their advertisement on LowEndTalk, here is what you get for 7USD per month:
Note that even though many providers offer the 2GB plan, the plan offered by CatalystHost is slightly more generous than the others as it has 60GB of storage (versus 50GB in most other cases) and 2TB of bandwidth. Furthermore, the plan is on 1Gbps port, which is great (at least in theory) as well.
The sign up page is standard WHMCS system on secured HTTP protocol (interestingly, their entire website seems to be on HTTPs protocol). However, it basically does not offer any customization option other than input the hostname:
You can also select the billing period, however there is no incentive for people to choose longer periods:
It is also interesting to note that click on the Client Area link on both top and at the footer are not working, when I click on any of them, I just get to the home page.
The provision was instant and I was able to receive the VPS the moment I have received the receipts from Paypal. As an addon service, they allow a single domain to be hosted via their DNS. This might be useful if you are in need of finding a DNS hosting quickly for a single domain. However in most of the cases, I prefer to separate the DNS provider with my VPS providers, and there are many DNS providers that have free plans available such as Hurricane Electric and Cloudflare.
Once logged into their WHMCS system, you would find the details about the VPS under My Services:
Note that the domain of the VPS was automatically assigned based on the first letter of the first and last name of the user and as a subdomain of catalysthost.com. However, I do not think the subdomain is actually “active”, i.e., you can’t really visit the websites hosted on this VPS using this subdomain, it is merely just to get around with the fact that SolusVM now requires FQDN as the name of the VPS.
Also, note that CatalystHost uses pro-rated billing, and therefore my first bill was slightly higher than the recurring price and my monthly bills is always due on the first day of the month.
The integrated control panel was placed at the bottom of the page, where you can perform basic tasks on the VPS:
I actually tried to reveal the graphs of the VPS but unfortunately they seem to have been disabled:
Catalysthost uses SolusVM as their VPS control panel, and it is logged in via unsecured HTTP interface. Once logged in, the standard Bootstrap interface can be seen:
On the Settings tab, you can turn on the TUN/TAP interface and the PPP interface, which is useful for those who would like to use the VPS for VPN purposes (although I personally would consider it a waste to run VPN only on a VPS with 2GB of RAM).
The OS templates available are mostly the standard OS distributions, however there is a few turnkey templates available:
Instant rDNS is available, even though the IP itself is from Incero:
Test on the VPS
As mentioned above, the VPS that I have ordered for testing comes with 2GB of dedicated RAM and 512MB of Swap space, 30GB of hard drive space and 600GB of RAM. It is located in Incero datacenter in Dallas, Texas and I have used Debian 6 32 bit for testing purposes.
When the OS template was first loaded, 7MB of RAM space was used, which is pretty standard for the Debian 6 OpenVZ template:
free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2048 21 2026 0 0 13
-/+ buffers/cache: 7 2040
Swap: 512 0 512
Top showing the process running:
top - 20:21:14 up 26 min, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 15 total, 1 running, 14 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni,100.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 2097152k total, 22568k used, 2074584k free, 0k buffers
Swap: 524288k total, 0k used, 524288k free, 14396k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1408 root 20 0 8764 3116 2464 S 0 0.1 0:00.12 sshd
1099 root 20 0 5136 2420 1172 S 0 0.1 0:00.03 apache2
1103 www-data 20 0 5136 1836 580 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 apache2
1410 root 20 0 2960 1600 1284 S 0 0.1 0:00.00 bash
1330 root 20 0 10000 1552 520 S 0 0.1 0:00.03 sendmail-mta
1418 root 20 0 2328 1076 884 R 0 0.1 0:00.00 top
1174 root 20 0 5488 972 584 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 sshd
1162 root 20 0 2288 868 680 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 cron
1169 root 20 0 2392 844 680 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 xinetd
1078 root 20 0 8668 784 452 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 saslauthd
1 root 20 0 2028 700 608 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 init
1055 root 20 0 1736 612 504 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 syslogd
1079 root 20 0 8668 380 48 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 saslauthd
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd/744
3 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper/744
Htop output:
About 405MB of hard drive space was used:
df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/simfs 60G 405M 60G 1% / tmpfs 1.0G 0 1.0G 0% /lib/init/rw tmpfs 1.0G 0 1.0G 0% /dev/shm
And 1% of iNodes were used:
df -i Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/simfs 15360000 25772 15334228 1% / tmpfs 262144 4 262140 1% /lib/init/rw tmpfs 262144 1 262143 1% /dev/shm
When the full LNMP stack was loaded, close to 100MB of RAM was used:
free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2048 1363 684 0 0 1265
-/+ buffers/cache: 97 1950
Swap: 512 0 512
Top showing the processes running:
top - 08:51:39 up 56 min, 1 user, load average: 0.21, 0.74, 0.67 Tasks: 23 total, 1 running, 22 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni,100.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st Mem: 2097152k total, 1396352k used, 700800k free, 0k buffers Swap: 524288k total, 0k used, 524288k free, 1296076k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 7148 www 20 0 15008 10m 424 S 0 0.5 0:00.00 nginx 13598 mysql 20 0 33948 4620 2020 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 mysqld 7124 root 20 0 22624 4544 1404 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 php-cgi 7128 www 20 0 22624 4132 992 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 php-cgi 7130 www 20 0 22624 4132 992 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 php-cgi 7131 www 20 0 22624 4132 992 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 php-cgi 7132 www 20 0 22624 4132 992 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 php-cgi 7135 www 20 0 22624 4132 992 S 0 0.2 0:00.00 php-cgi 1408 root 20 0 9080 3516 2464 S 0 0.2 0:01.22 sshd 1410 root 20 0 2960 1640 1320 S 0 0.1 0:00.01 bash 1330 root 20 0 10000 1552 520 S 0 0.1 0:00.09 sendmail-mta 13495 root 20 0 2676 1204 1000 S 0 0.1 0:00.01 mysqld_safe 7195 root 20 0 2328 1080 884 R 0 0.1 0:00.00 top 1174 root 20 0 5488 972 584 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 sshd 1162 root 20 0 2288 868 680 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 cron 1169 root 20 0 2392 844 680 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 xinetd 1078 root 20 0 8668 784 452 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 saslauthd
And htop output:
About 1.6GB of hard drive space was used:
df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/simfs 60G 1.6G 59G 3% / tmpfs 1.0G 0 1.0G 0% /lib/init/rw tmpfs 1.0G 0 1.0G 0% /dev/shm
And the inodes limit, being set so high, was almost having no impact percentage-wise:
df -i Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/simfs 15360000 68808 15291192 1% / tmpfs 262144 4 262140 1% /lib/init/rw tmpfs 262144 1 262143 1% /dev/shm
Uptime shows the VPS is quite stable:
uptime 22:05:14 up 16 days, 7:32, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
VMStat 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 0 272 502392 0 1564128 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 100 0
Beancounters shows no failure count, which is good:
cat /proc/user_beancounters
Version: 2.5
uid resource held maxheld barrier limit failcnt
xxx: kmemsize 80239147 82427904 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
lockedpages 0 0 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
privvmpages 18128 53256 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
shmpages 1282 1938 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
dummy 0 0 0 0 0
numproc 26 87 400 400 0
physpages 519056 524276 0 524288 0
vmguarpages 0 0 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
oomguarpages 5707 15593 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
numtcpsock 8 20 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
numflock 4 10 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
numpty 1 7 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
numsiginfo 0 63 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
tcpsndbuf 298792 538592 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
tcprcvbuf 131072 36031720 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
othersockbuf 9248 26672 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
dgramrcvbuf 0 4624 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
numothersock 73 77 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
dcachesize 77561098 77719754 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
numfile 397 565 9223372036854775807 9223372036854775807 0
dummy 0 0 0 0 0
dummy 0 0 0 0 0
dummy 0 0 0 0 0
numiptent 24 24 300 300 0
I somewhat inclined to think vzfree is no longer useful in the new OpenVZ set up because every time I run it, it is giving me some outlandish result like the following:
vzfree
Total Used Free
Kernel: 8796093022208.00M 15.00M 8796093022193.00M
Allocate: 36028797018963968.00M 72.94M 36028797018963896.00M (36028797018963967M Guaranteed)
Commit: 36028797018963968.00M 29.95M 36028797018963940.00M (20.5% of Allocated)
Swap: -1249.54M (-8356.3% of Committed)
The CPU this VPS is running on is the fairly new E5-2620 and there are four cores assigned to the CPU and it appears that none of the cores is throttled:
cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 45 model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz stepping : 7 cpu MHz : 2000.123 cache size : 15360 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 12 core id : 0 cpu cores : 6 apicid : 0 initial apicid : 0 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 13 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm dca sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes xsave avx lahf_lm arat epb xsaveopt pln pts dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid bogomips : 4000.24 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 46 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 1 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 45 model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz stepping : 7 cpu MHz : 2000.123 cache size : 15360 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 12 core id : 1 cpu cores : 6 apicid : 2 initial apicid : 2 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 13 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm dca sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes xsave avx lahf_lm arat epb xsaveopt pln pts dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid bogomips : 4000.24 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 46 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 2 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 45 model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz stepping : 7 cpu MHz : 2000.123 cache size : 15360 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 12 core id : 2 cpu cores : 6 apicid : 4 initial apicid : 4 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 13 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm dca sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes xsave avx lahf_lm arat epb xsaveopt pln pts dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid bogomips : 4000.24 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 46 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management: processor : 3 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 45 model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz stepping : 7 cpu MHz : 2000.123 cache size : 15360 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 12 core id : 3 cpu cores : 6 apicid : 6 initial apicid : 6 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 13 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm dca sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes xsave avx lahf_lm arat epb xsaveopt pln pts dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid bogomips : 4000.24 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 46 bits physical, 48 bits virtual power management:
Meminfo results:
cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 2097152 kB MemFree: 1024676 kB Cached: 1063932 kB Active: 11412 kB Inactive: 1057488 kB Active(anon): 1748 kB Inactive(anon): 3220 kB Active(file): 9664 kB Inactive(file): 1054268 kB Unevictable: 0 kB Mlocked: 0 kB SwapTotal: 524288 kB SwapFree: 524288 kB Dirty: 0 kB Writeback: 0 kB AnonPages: 4968 kB Shmem: 2624 kB Slab: 3536 kB SReclaimable: 2008 kB SUnreclaim: 1528 kB
And time sync:
time sync real 0m0.019s user 0m0.000s sys 0m0.002s
For the download test, I was able to push close to the line speed of a 100mbit port when trying to download from Cachefly:
wget cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2013-04-30 08:54:03-- 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: `/dev/null' 100%[=======================================================================================================================================>] 104,857,600 11.5M/s in 8.8s 2013-04-30 08:54:12 (11.3 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
However, the second time, the speed really amazed me, when the speed was almost close to 1Gbit line:
wget cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2013-04-30 09:05:50-- 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: `/dev/null' 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 74.6M/s in 1.3s 2013-04-30 09:05:51 (74.6 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
Note that the time was far apart to make sure it wasn’t the node “caching” the data.
I decided to do another test just for the sake of seeing how the speed is in general, as I was writing this. And this time, the VPS did not disappoint me:
wget cachefly.cachefly.net/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2013-07-20 14:36:54-- 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: `/dev/null' 100%[======================================>] 104,857,600 82.5M/s in 1.2s 2013-07-20 14:36:56 (82.5 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
Since it is pretty obvious that this is a gbit port, I’ve decided to use aget to test the multi-thread downloading and try to push the port to the full speed. The frist test is done using a 1GB test file from ThinkBroadBand, which is not typically a very fast connection:
aget -n 10 http://ipv4.download.thinkbroadband.com/1GB.zip Attempting to read log file aget-1GB.zip.log for resuming download job... Couldn't find log file for this download, starting a clean job... Head-Request Connection established Downloading /1GB.zip (1073741824 bytes) from site ipv4.download.thinkbroadband.com(80.249.99.148:80). Number of Threads: 10 .. ... . [4% completed] [4% completed] [4% completed] ..... [9% completed] ....... [14% completed] .......... [19% completed] ............ [24% completed] ............... [29% completed] ............... [29% completed] ................. [34% completed] .................... [39% completed] ...................... ...................... [44% completed] [44% completed] ......................... [49% completed] ........................... [54% completed] .............................. [59% completed] ................................ [64% completed] ................................... [69% completed] ..................................... [74% completed] ..................................... [74% completed] ........................................ [79% completed] .......................................... [84% completed] ............................................. [89% completed] ............................................... [94% completed] .................................................. [99% completed] .................................................. [100% completed] Download completed, job completed in 28 seconds. (37449 Kb/sec) Shutting down...
As you can see, the test speed for this 1GB file download is close to 40Mb/s, which is pretty reasonable.
Testing again generated even better results:
aget -n 10 http://ipv4.download.thinkbroadband.com/1GB. zip Attempting to read log file aget-1GB.zip.log for resuming download job... Couldn't find log file for this download, starting a clean job... Head-Request Connection established Downloading /1GB.zip (1073741824 bytes) from site ipv4.download.thinkbroad band.com(80.249.99.148:80). Number of Threads: 10 .. [4% completed] ..... ..... [9% completed] [9% completed] ....... [14% completed] .......... [19% completed] ............ [24% completed] ............... [29% completed] ................. [34% completed] ................. [34% completed] .................... [39% completed] .................... [39% completed] ...................... [44% completed] ......................... [49% completed] ........................... [54% completed] .............................. [59% completed] ................................ [64% completed] ................................... [69% completed] ..................................... [74% completed] ........................................ [79% completed] ........................................ [79% completed] .......................................... [84% completed] .......................................... [84% completed] ............................................. [89% completed] ............................................... [94% completed] .................................................. [99% completed] .................................................. [100% completed] Download completed, job completed in 14 seconds. (74898 Kb/sec) Shutting down...
As you can see, in the second test, the speed is pretty much twice as the first one, which is great.
Second test is done using the HostDime test file located in Florida, which shows pretty good speed as well:
aget -n 10 http://72.29.70.131/1gbfile.tgz
Attempting to read log file aget-1gbfile.tgz.log for resuming download job...
Couldn't find log file for this download, starting a clean job...
Head-Request Connection established
Downloading /1gbfile.tgz (1023410176 bytes) from site 72.29.70.131(72.29.70.131:80). Number of Threads: 10
.. [4% completed]
..... [9% completed]
....... [14% completed]
.......... [19% completed]
............ [24% completed]
............... [29% completed]
................. [34% completed]
.................... .................... [39% completed]
[39% completed]
...................... [44% completed]
......................... [49% completed]
........................... [54% completed]
.............................. [59% completed]
................................ [64% completed]
................................... [69% completed]
..................................... [74% completed]
........................................ [79% completed]
........................................ . ... .......... .......................... [79% completed]
[79% completed]
.......................................... [84% completed]
............................................. [89% completed]
............................................... [94% completed]
.................................................. [99% completed]
.................................................. [100% completed]
Download completed, job completed in 22 seconds. (45428 Kb/sec)
Shutting down...
Testing again showed somewhat better results as well:
aget -n 10 http://72.29.70.131/1gbfile.tgz Attempting to read log file aget-1gbfile.tgz.log for resuming download job ... Couldn't find log file for this download, starting a clean job... Head-Request Connection established Downloading /1gbfile.tgz (1023410176 bytes) from site 72.29.70.131(72.29.7 0.131:80). Number of Threads: 10 .. [4% completed] ..... [9% completed] ....... [14% completed] ....... [14% completed] .......... [19% completed] ............ [24% completed] ............... [29% completed] ............... [29% completed] ................. [34% completed] .................... [39% completed] ...................... [44% completed] ......................... [49% completed] ........................... [54% completed] .............................. [59% completed] .............................. [59% completed] .............................. [59% completed] ................................ [64% completed] ................................... [69% completed] ..................................... [74% completed] ........................................ ............................. .[79% completed] .......... [79% completed] .......................................... [84% completed] ............................................. [89% completed] ............................................... [94% completed] ............................................... [94% completed] .................................................. [99% completed] .................................................. [100% completed] Download completed, job completed in 17 seconds. (58789 Kb/sec) Shutting down...
After testing the download speed, it is also necessary to test the speed of the upload. As usual, we have used three different VPS to test the upload, one at ChicagoVPS in Los Angeles, CA, representing the west coast locatopm, one at Quickweb VPS in Chicago, IL, representing the east coast location and finally a Prometeus VPS from Milan, Italy, representing the connection to the European continent.
First is the result using the ChicagoVPS LA unit:
wget http://23.29.xxx.xxx/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2013-04-30 09:06:53-- http://23.29.xxx.xxx/100mb.test Connecting to 23.29.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 1.48M/s in 58s 2013-04-30 09:07:52 (1.72 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
At 1.72MB/s, the speed is by no means impressive. However the second test using my Quickweb VPS at Chicago, IL, really surprised me:
wget http://23.29.xxx.xxx/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2013-04-30 01:08:25-- http://23.29.xxx.xxx/100mb.test Connecting to 23.29.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 233K/s in 8m 10s 2013-04-30 01:16:35 (209 KB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
A traceroute seems to reveal that it took a while for the packets to travel in the NLayer network:
traceroute to 23.29.xxx.xxx (23.29.xxx.xxx), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets 1 chi-ipv4.neodelphi.net (216.107.xxx.xxx) 3.172 ms 3.313 ms 3.481 ms 2 edge.ch1.serverdeals.co (173.243.120.173) 0.674 ms 0.737 ms 0.786 ms 3 gige-g11-16.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.253.1) 1.233 ms 1.291 ms 1.353 ms 4 * ge-0-0-12.ar1.ord1.us.nlayer.net (69.31.111.109) 5.109 ms equinix.xe-4-0-0.cr1.ord1.us.nlayer.net (206.223.119.97) 1.703 ms 5 * xe-3-3-0.cr1.dfw1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.142.5) 25.347 ms 25.309 ms 6 xe-3-3-0.cr1.dfw1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.142.5) 24.161 ms ae1-50g.cr2.dfw1.us.nlayer.net (69.31.63.185) 26.356 ms xe-3-3-0.cr1.dfw1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.142.5) 24.325 ms 7 ae1-50g.cr2.dfw1.us.nlayer.net (69.31.63.185) 25.234 ms 24.127 ms 24.326 ms 8 ae2-11g.ar2.dfw1.us.nlayer.net (69.31.63.187) 26.096 ms 25.744 ms 26.165 ms 9 198.47.104.74 (198.47.104.74) 24.829 ms 25.176 ms 25.782 ms 10 sc-side-from-r1.inceronetwork.com (192.211.63.2) 27.893 ms 23-29-122-66-customer-incero.com (23.29.122.66) 25.360 ms sc-side-from-r1.inceronetwork.com (192.211.63.2) 27.919 ms 11 23-29-122-116-customer-incero.com (23.29.xxx.xxx) 25.088 ms 25.311 ms 23-29-122-66-customer-incero.com (23.29.122.66) 26.283 ms
The final test is done on the Prometeus VPS at Milan, Italy:
wget http://23.29.xxx.xxx/100mb.test -O /dev/null --2013-04-29 21:18:48-- http://23.29.xxx.xxx/100mb.test Connecting to 23.29.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 9.97M/s in 14s 2013-04-29 21:19:02 (7.26 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [104857600/104857600]
As you can see, connection to Prometeus representing the best uploading speed.
The disk I/O for this VPS is probably too “good” for a HDD set up, even for RAID10 set up, which lead me to believe that it is at least SSD-cached.
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, 2.55024 s, 421 MB/s
The second test shows only half of the speed as 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, 4.0187 s, 267 MB/s
Just for curiousity I decided to do another round of dd test as I am writing this article, and this is what I can see:
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, 2.87874 s, 373 MB/s
As you can see, the speed is not exactly very consistent, however the speed is extremely fast for a HDD-based VPS.
I have also done some ioping tests to see how well the disks are responding. Initially I was using version 0.6 of ioping, which gives the results in milliseconds:
ioping -c 10 . 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=1 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=2 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=3 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=4 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=5 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=6 time=0.2 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=7 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=8 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=9 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=10 time=0.2 ms --- . (simfs /vz/private/***) ioping statistics --- 10 requests completed in 9002.5 ms, 7513 iops, 29.3 mb/s min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/0.1/0.2/0.0 ms
Testing again showed even better results:
ioping -c 10 . 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=1 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=2 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=3 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=4 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=5 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=6 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=7 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=8 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=9 time=0.1 ms 4096 bytes from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=10 time=0.1 ms --- . (simfs /vz/private/***) ioping statistics --- 10 requests completed in 9002.3 ms, 8382 iops, 32.7 mb/s min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/0.1/0.1/0.0 ms
As I have completed the tests, I noticed version 0.7 is also made available, which is counting the ping roundtrip in microseconds, which is 1/1,000 of a millisecond. The results is more clear this way:
ioping -c 10 . 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=1 time=90 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=2 time=139 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=3 time=178 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=4 time=143 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=5 time=116 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=6 time=214 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=7 time=135 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=8 time=124 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=9 time=134 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=10 time=154 us --- . (simfs /vz/private/***) ioping statistics --- 10 requests completed in 9.0 s, 7.0 k iops, 27.4 mb/s min/avg/max/mdev = 90 us / 142 us / 214 us / 32 us
As you can see, there is one ping that is slightly above 0.2ms, however on average, the ioping is 0.15ms, which is really good.
ioping -c 10 . 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=1 time=97 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=2 time=143 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=3 time=137 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=4 time=130 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=5 time=160 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=6 time=96 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=7 time=115 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=8 time=190 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=9 time=164 us 4.0 kb from . (simfs /vz/private/***): request=10 time=146 us --- . (simfs /vz/private/***) ioping statistics --- 10 requests completed in 9.0 s, 7.3 k iops, 28.3 mb/s min/avg/max/mdev = 96 us / 137 us / 190 us / 28 us
Once again, the second ping showed even better results.
Finally, the benchmarks.
# # # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
# # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # # #
# # # # # # ## ##### ##### # # # # ######
# # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # #
# # # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # #
#### # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
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: xxxxx: GNU/Linux
OS: GNU/Linux -- 2.6.32-042stab076.5 -- #1 SMP Mon Mar 18 20:41:34 MSK 2013
Machine: i686 (unknown)
Language: en_US.utf8 (charmap="ANSI_X3.4-1968", collate="ANSI_X3.4-1968")
CPU 0: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
CPU 1: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
CPU 2: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
CPU 3: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
09:27:52 up 1:33, 1 user, load average: 0.02, 0.15, 0.14; runlevel 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Tue Apr 30 2013 09:27:52 - 09:55:46
4 CPUs in system; running 1 parallel copy of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 12247101.7 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 1971.5 MWIPS (10.2 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 2737.1 lps (29.9 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 347864.9 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 87970.4 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 906207.4 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 581550.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 75594.2 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 6329.5 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 4631.7 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1522.6 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 490031.5 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 12247101.7 1049.5
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 1971.5 358.5
Execl Throughput 43.0 2737.1 636.5
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 347864.9 878.4
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 87970.4 531.5
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 906207.4 1562.4
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 581550.8 467.5
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 75594.2 189.0
Process Creation 126.0 6329.5 502.3
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 4631.7 1092.4
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1522.6 2537.7
System Call Overhead 15000.0 490031.5 326.7
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 661.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Tue Apr 30 2013 09:55:46 - 10:23:42
4 CPUs in system; running 4 parallel copies of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 48134107.3 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 7867.7 MWIPS (10.2 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 11600.7 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 374677.8 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 110787.7 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1404832.2 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 2326082.1 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 496842.5 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 19697.0 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 13104.4 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1870.5 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 1701363.5 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 48134107.3 4124.6
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 7867.7 1430.5
Execl Throughput 43.0 11600.7 2697.8
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 374677.8 946.2
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 110787.7 669.4
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1404832.2 2422.1
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 2326082.1 1869.8
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 496842.5 1242.1
Process Creation 126.0 19697.0 1563.3
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 13104.4 3090.7
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1870.5 3117.5
System Call Overhead 15000.0 1701363.5 1134.2
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 1773.6
The score is close to 1800 points, which is pretty good. The second test showed even better score:
# # # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
# # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # # #
# # # # # # ## ##### ##### # # # # ######
# # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # #
# # # ## # # # # # # # ## # # # #
#### # # # # # ##### ###### # # #### # #
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: xxxxx: GNU/Linux
OS: GNU/Linux -- 2.6.32-042stab076.5 -- #1 SMP Mon Mar 18 20:41:34 MSK 2013
Machine: i686 (unknown)
Language: en_US.utf8 (charmap="ANSI_X3.4-1968", collate="ANSI_X3.4-1968")
CPU 0: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
CPU 1: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
CPU 2: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
CPU 3: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (4000.2 bogomips)
Hyper-Threading, x86-64, MMX, Physical Address Ext, SYSENTER/SYSEXIT, SYSCALL/SYSRET, Intel virtualization
12:32:50 up 4:38, 1 user, load average: 0.07, 0.02, 0.00; runlevel 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Tue Apr 30 2013 12:32:50 - 13:00:43
4 CPUs in system; running 1 parallel copy of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 12266757.5 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 1968.4 MWIPS (10.2 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 2709.3 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 341615.6 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 88257.7 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 915587.2 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 593924.4 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 75985.6 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 6225.4 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 4615.5 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1514.2 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 491161.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 12266757.5 1051.1
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 1968.4 357.9
Execl Throughput 43.0 2709.3 630.1
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 341615.6 862.7
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 88257.7 533.3
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 915587.2 1578.6
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 593924.4 477.4
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 75985.6 190.0
Process Creation 126.0 6225.4 494.1
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 4615.5 1088.6
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1514.2 2523.7
System Call Overhead 15000.0 491161.8 327.4
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 660.9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benchmark Run: Tue Apr 30 2013 13:00:43 - 13:28:39
4 CPUs in system; running 4 parallel copies of tests
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 48346539.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Double-Precision Whetstone 7865.9 MWIPS (10.2 s, 7 samples)
Execl Throughput 11595.5 lps (29.9 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 442884.3 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 115793.1 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 1360110.0 KBps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Pipe Throughput 2263481.3 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Pipe-based Context Switching 499975.5 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
Process Creation 19787.3 lps (30.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 13178.8 lpm (60.0 s, 2 samples)
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 1866.6 lpm (60.1 s, 2 samples)
System Call Overhead 1665242.8 lps (10.0 s, 7 samples)
System Benchmarks Index Values BASELINE RESULT INDEX
Dhrystone 2 using register variables 116700.0 48346539.8 4142.8
Double-Precision Whetstone 55.0 7865.9 1430.2
Execl Throughput 43.0 11595.5 2696.6
File Copy 1024 bufsize 2000 maxblocks 3960.0 442884.3 1118.4
File Copy 256 bufsize 500 maxblocks 1655.0 115793.1 699.7
File Copy 4096 bufsize 8000 maxblocks 5800.0 1360110.0 2345.0
Pipe Throughput 12440.0 2263481.3 1819.5
Pipe-based Context Switching 4000.0 499975.5 1249.9
Process Creation 126.0 19787.3 1570.4
Shell Scripts (1 concurrent) 42.4 13178.8 3108.2
Shell Scripts (8 concurrent) 6.0 1866.6 3110.9
System Call Overhead 15000.0 1665242.8 1110.2
========
System Benchmarks Index Score 1795.7
Geekbench score is somewhere close to 6000 points:
System Information
Platform: Linux x86 (32-bit)
Compiler: GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)
Operating System: Linux 2.6.32-042stab076.5 i686
Model: Linux PC (Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz)
Motherboard: Unknown Motherboard
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz
Processor ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 45 Stepping 7
Logical Processors: 4
Physical Processors: 1
Processor Frequency: 2.00 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 0.00 B
L1 Data Cache: 0.00 B
L2 Cache: 256 KB
L3 Cache: 0.00 B
Bus Frequency: 0.00 Hz
Memory: 2.00 GB
Memory Type: N/A
SIMD: 1
BIOS: N/A
Processor Model: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz
Processor Cores: 4
Integer
Blowfish
single-threaded scalar 1297 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 5524 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Text Compress
single-threaded scalar 1741 ||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6670 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1830 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 7626 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Image Compress
single-threaded scalar 1459 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 5711 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1428 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 5684 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Lua
single-threaded scalar 2456 |||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 7868 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Floating Point
Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar 1669 ||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6768 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dot Product
single-threaded scalar 2743 ||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 11554 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 3268 |||||||||||||
multi-threaded vector 14946 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar 1974 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 7883 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Primality Test
single-threaded scalar 2919 |||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 9214 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar 6632 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 25986 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blur Image
single-threaded scalar 5232 ||||||||||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 20920 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory
Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar 4411 |||||||||||||||||
Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar 8351 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar 3052 ||||||||||||
Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar 2627 ||||||||||
Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar 5246 ||||||||||||||||||||
Stream
Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar 4480 |||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 5432 |||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar 4437 |||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 5159 ||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Add
single-threaded scalar 5968 |||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 7617 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar 6435 |||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 5884 |||||||||||||||||||||||
Integer Score: 4107 ||||||||||||||||
Floating Point Score: 8693 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Score: 4737 ||||||||||||||||||
Stream Score: 5676 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Overall Geekbench Score: 5994 |||||||||||||||||||||||
Testing again showed approximately the same score, which means the results is pretty consistent.
System Information
Platform: Linux x86 (32-bit)
Compiler: GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)
Operating System: Linux 2.6.32-042stab076.5 i686
Model: Linux PC (Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz)
Motherboard: Unknown Motherboard
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz
Processor ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 45 Stepping 7
Logical Processors: 4
Physical Processors: 1
Processor Frequency: 2.00 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 0.00 B
L1 Data Cache: 0.00 B
L2 Cache: 256 KB
L3 Cache: 0.00 B
Bus Frequency: 0.00 Hz
Memory: 2.00 GB
Memory Type: N/A
SIMD: 1
BIOS: N/A
Processor Model: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz
Processor Cores: 4
Integer
Blowfish
single-threaded scalar 1295 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 5557 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Text Compress
single-threaded scalar 1736 ||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6734 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1846 |||||||
multi-threaded scalar 7505 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Image Compress
single-threaded scalar 1469 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 5550 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1411 |||||
multi-threaded scalar 5631 ||||||||||||||||||||||
Lua
single-threaded scalar 2474 |||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 7697 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Floating Point
Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar 1670 ||||||
multi-threaded scalar 6770 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dot Product
single-threaded scalar 2736 ||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 11567 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 3271 |||||||||||||
multi-threaded vector 14835 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar 2022 ||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 8065 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Primality Test
single-threaded scalar 2918 |||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 9237 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar 6639 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 26048 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blur Image
single-threaded scalar 5202 ||||||||||||||||||||
multi-threaded scalar 20867 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory
Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar 4585 ||||||||||||||||||
Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar 7979 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar 3124 ||||||||||||
Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar 2677 ||||||||||
Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar 5277 |||||||||||||||||||||
Stream
Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar 4837 |||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 8390 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar 4991 |||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 8222 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Add
single-threaded scalar 6093 ||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 9012 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar 6895 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
single-threaded vector 5496 |||||||||||||||||||||
Integer Score: 4075 ||||||||||||||||
Floating Point Score: 8703 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Score: 4728 ||||||||||||||||||
Stream Score: 6742 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overall Geekbench Score: 6092 ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overall the performance of this VPS is great, and both disk I/O and networking are pretty impressive.
Customer Service and Support
Some providers offers really solid VPS but probably the client care is a little lagging behind, others offer really good support but probably the service is less than satisfactory (I won’t name any here but I am sure everyone has a few names in mind). However when it comes to Catalyst Host, I am glad that they have both on the offer.
Unlike most of the cases that I have had, my first interaction with CatalystHost was actually initiated by Ryan himself, when he noticed that I didn’t pick up any OS immediately. The second ticket was sent in by me on some SolusVM issues. I sent the tickets 18:29, received the first response at 18:33 and none of the replies from their end took more than 10 minutes as Ryan was trying to do all the magic on his end.
If I have to pick the bone from the egg though, I would say the time they left their clients to respond to the tickets before closing them automatically was a bit too short at 12 hours. Of course I can see that people are normally eager to get issues resolved and won’t take more than 12 hours to send in a reply, and one can always re-open the tickets relatively easily. However sometimes it might take people more than 12 hours due to time differences and/or other commitments, I would say perhaps a 24 hour window would be nice.
Conclusion
I would not completely deny that I do have my reservations and doubts when jcaleb sent me his review, which is almost nothing less than very positive comments. However now that I became a customer of CatalystHost myself, I am truly impressed as well. It is rare for a VPS provider to offer good VPS with great disk I/O and yet very pro-active customer support, and yet managed to keep the price well-within the low end market. I certainly hope Ryan and his team would continue with the hard work and given time, I won’t be surprised if they become one of the top providers within this market.
I was skeptical too at first. I don’t believe in what they brag about quality and support. But having tried them anonymously, and being able to communicate with them changed my mind. They are still a small company, but I hope they do well.
Thanks for the review. I guess I was too busy during the move to Dallas to notice this one. Excellent write up and glad to see our track record remains in good standing since JCalebs review. I believe that the server your on is actually all HD Based with 8 500GB Enterprise drives in Raid 10. Keep watching, it is about time we post a promo. 🙂
This one slipped past me as well. Ryan and myself found ourselves quite occupied this summer and both had to work a little harder to maintain the quality we aim for. While I’ve left Catalyst due to my day job requiring a non compete, the company will always be important to me. I appreciate the balanced review and certainly notice there were some areas where we fell short. Ryan and Don are even more focused on excellence now than ever before, and I’m still very excited to be a bystander as two friends that I hold in the highest regard continue to perform at their best.