> I'd be taking out the £41/quarter option until I get a good feel for the
> service.
>
> Although I run Linux at home as well as maintain and update my own
> PHP/Apache/MySQL etc I'm new to the whole concept of UML. Things I'm
> wondering are:
> How close is this to actually connecting to a dedicated server by SSH?
`Reasonably' -- enough that you would notice, but not so
much as to get in the way of the vast majority of
applications. Specifically...
> By that I mean....
> + Can I add/delete user accounts?
> + Can I set up "Virtual Servers" in httpd.conf so that I can provide
> websites for clients too?
> + Can I maintain my own IMAP server?
> + Can I install software which would require root access?
Yes to all of these.
> + Not important, just a bonus but, could I have x-VNC access or is
> an X desktop environment not installed?
There's nothing to stop you running X or VNC, though I
don't think any of our images would have them installed by
default. With modern packaging tools installation should
be pretty painless.
> Also, I'm curious if you are able to install SuSE 9.2 on such a setup
> (installs straight off the FTP)?
I'm afraid we don't have any SuSE images at the moment.
Creation of a new image should, in principle, be pretty
easy, but there are often unexpected incompatibilities,
and I have not yet looked at the SuSE distribution to see
how painless an installation would be. I will get back to
you on this if you especially want to run SuSE.
> I'd be happy to go with FC2 if this
> will mean significantly quicker setup time. What is a rough timescale
> from the point of application to obtaining server access by the way?
Should be same working day, though usually quicker.
> When I get access will anything other than the base packages be
> installed or do I need to set this up myself? i.e. Could it
> theoretically run as a webserver with PHP/Python/Perl/MySQL before I
> even install anything? - on another thought, I'd quite like to have
> CPanel running on the server too so it could be an advantage to have a
> clean install anyway since the install for this recommends starting from
> a fresh install of linux.
The images we provide are typically quite minimal
configured.
> Until now I've been on shared hosting plans with poor security (I've had
> applications vandalised by other users residing on the servers).
>
> I'd be grateful if you could clear up the points I'm unsure on and I'd
> then be very happy to apply for a hosting account straight away and hope
> for a long-term business relationship with yourselves.
No problem. Please get back in touch if you have any
further questions. If you'd like us to set up an account
for you it would be helpful if you could complete the
application form at,
https://secure.mythic-beasts.com/cgi-bin/newvdsapp