Instead of the preface
or how it happened that this article appeared
which tells why and why this testing was carried out
It is useful to have a small VPS server on hand, where it will be convenient to test some things. It usually requires that it also be available around the clock. This requires uninterrupted operation of the equipment and a white IP address. At home, it is sometimes quite difficult to provide both of these conditions. And given that the cost of renting a simple virtual server is comparable to the cost of issuing a dedicated IP address by an Internet provider, renting such a server may well justify the costs. But how to choose from whom to order such a VPS? There is little trust in reviews on various kinds of resources. Therefore, the idea arose to choose the best provider of such services according to a simple criterion - the performance of a rented server.
Configuration selection
Market analysis showed that the minimum configuration available for ordering from most VPS / VDS services corresponds to the following characteristics:
Number of CPU cores, pcs
CPU frequency, GHz
RAM, GB
Storage capacity, GB
1
2,0 – 2,8
0,5
10
There are different drive configuration options available. Typically offered: SATA HDD, SAS HDD, SAS/SATA SSD, NVMe SSD.
Participant selection
I did not read any reviews and reviews at all in order to find out in personal practice which service offers what. As it turned out, there are services for selecting virtual servers, for example:
- searchvps.ru
- vds.menu
- vps.today
- hosting101.ru
- hostings.info
- hosters.com
- hostadvice.com
Each such service offers to set the necessary filters (for example, the amount of RAM, the number of cores and the frequency of the processor, etc.) and sort the results by some parameter (for example, by price). It was decided to divide the participants into two groups: the first group will include proposals with hard drives, and the second - on flash memory. It is clear that there are more types of drives and the speed performance of drives with a SAS interface will differ from those of drives with a SATA interface, and the performance of NVMe SSDs will differ from those of other SSDs. But then we, firstly, will have too many groups, and secondly, the performance of HDDs from SSDs generally differ more than the performance of different HDDs among themselves and different SSDs among themselves.
Lists of test participants
Servers with HDD
number
Hosting
Logo
Country
CPU
Диск
Wirt-i
Price
1
2,8
5 SAS
QEMU
49
2
2,0
10 SAS
OpenVZ
90
3
2,4
10 SATA
KVM
100
4
2,2
10 SATA
Hyper-V
130
5
2,2
20 SATA+SSD
OpenVZ
149
Hard drives are becoming a thing of the past, and there are noticeably fewer offers with HDD in the virtual server hosting market.
Servers with SSD
number
Provider
Logo
Country
CPU
Диск
Wirt-i
Price
1
2,0
10 SSD
Hyper-V
30
2
2,8
10 SSD
KVM
50
3
2,6
10 SSD
OpenVZ
90
4
2,3
7 SSD
KVM
55
5
Not specified
10 SSD
Not specified
$2 (130 ₽)
6
2,4
10 SSD
KVM
150
7
2,4
10NVMe
KVM
150
8
2,2
5 SSD
KVM
179
9
2,2
10 SSD
Hyper-V
190
10
Not specified
10 SSD
KVM
$3 (190 ₽)
As we can see, the amplitude of the spread of prices for VPS servers with SSD, and for servers with HDD turned out to be the same. This once again suggests that SSDs are firmly entrenched in the server segment.
Testing technique
Each server was tested for a week. The CPU, RAM, disk subsystem and network were under load. The tests ran on schedule, placed in cron.
The results were collected and processed by summarizing the values in tables and constructing graphs and (or) charts. The following tools were used.
Synthetic tests:
- sysbench
- cpu, general test:
sysbench --test=cpu run (meaning:total time) - memory, general test:
sysbench --test=memory run(values: total time) - file i/o, tests and commands (block size in all tests is 4k; values: transfer speed):
- Single-threaded sequential read with simulated queue depth 32:
sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=seqrd --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=32 - Single-threaded sequential write with simulated queue depth 32:
sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=seqwr --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=32 - Eight-thread random read with simulated queue depth 8:
sysbench --num-threads=8 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=rndrd --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=8 - Eight-threaded random write with simulated queue depth of 8:
sysbench --num-threads=8 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=rndwr --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=8 - Single-threaded random read with simulated queue depth 32:
sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=rndrd --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=32 - Single-threaded random write with simulated queue depth 32:
sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=rndwr --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=32 - Single-threaded random read with simulated queue depth 1:
sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=rndrd --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=1 - Single-threaded random write with simulated queue depth 1:
sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=fileio --file-test-mode=rndwr --file-total-size=2G --file-block-size=4K --file-num=1
- Single-threaded sequential read with simulated queue depth 32:
- hard info:
- CPU blowfish
- CPU CryptoHash
- CPU Fibonacci
- CPU N-Queens
- FPU FFT
- FPU Raytracing
The speedtest test (speedtest-cli) was used to test the network speed.
Register and order servers
Inoventica
When registering, you need to specify an email address, the following will be sent to it:
- Link to confirm registration
- Login (which in my case turned out to be truncated to 8 characters entered during registration email)
- Generated password
Change password on first login not offered. Data centers available for order:
And OS:
When ordering a server of any configuration, it is indicated that a one-time fee of 99 ₽ is charged. Whether it is included in the cost of the server or not is still a mystery.
When you try to order a server with a zero balance, you will be offered to replenish it, moreover, by 500 ₽, regardless of the selected configuration.
It turned out that the service uses different control panels, in which you need to register separately. The above panel does not have our 49 ₽ tariff (it has the address lk.invs.ru), so we will never find out what happens to the “setup payment”.
So, there is another panel based on ISP Manager (and it is available at bill.invs.ru). When registering, enter your email, come up with a password, and immediately get into the panel. You don't even need to verify your email. By the way, the login and the password generated by the service are sent to the specified mail. And then we are offered to switch to a new interface. Switching, we get into Billmanager.
The list of available OS is shorter here:
Available methods of crediting funds:
The service provides IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. IPv6 had to be configured manually. To use the services, the email still needs to be confirmed. There is access to the server screen.
FirstVDS
After registration, we get to the ISP Manager panel (You need to provide a name, email and come up with a password by entering it without a chance of error - the password field one), after which we are prompted to confirm the email.
List of available OS:
Available payment methods:
The service does not provide IPv6, at least at the selected tariff. To be able to use the services, you must confirm your email and phone number. There is SSH access from the LC.
Ihor
When I try to register I get an error:
We switch the language of the site interface to Russian and ...
I had to change the password. List of available OS:
The service provides both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address. I also had to manually configure IPv6. I would like to separately note the fact of a very long installation of the packages necessary for testing. The time was not measured on purpose, but unlike a couple of minutes, which was enough on all other hostings, here it took an order of magnitude more time - about 20 minutes.
The server screen can be accessed:
RuVDS
To register, you must enter your email address and solve the captcha. The list of available OS is as follows:
Available payment methods:
IPv6 address service does not provide, at least at the selected tariff. There is access to the server screen.
RegRu
To register, just enter your email. List of available OS:
And the list of available payment methods:
The service provides both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. IPv6 earned, as they say, "out of the box." Those. after creating the server, I was immediately able to connect to it by IPv6 address. There is access to the server console.
Hosting Russia
When registering, you must provide an email address and a password. To pay for services, you must confirm your phone number. List of available OS:
And payment methods:
It is possible to upload your own ISO. There is access to the server screen.
FirstByte
To register, you must specify your email, phone number, desired password and country. You need to confirm your email to enter. List of available OS:
And the list of available payment methods:
There is access to the server console.
There is an option to upload your own ISO.
Ionos
To register, you must specify gender, first name, last name, city, street, desired password and phone number. Here is a list of available OSes:
When registering, you must confirm the possibility of payment. The service writes off and then returns one dollar.
I haven't been able to register for a while. During the registration process, at one of the steps, the page was updated and the same page appeared inside, with the first step.
At some point, I first received an error message, then I was still able to complete the registration.
There are not so many payment methods available.
By default, the server is issued with IPv4, but you can add one IPv6 for free.
There is access to the KVM console.
cPanel Hosting
To register, you must provide an email address and create a password. List of available OS:
List of payment methods:
Ramnode
List of available OS:
And the list of payment methods:
IPv6 worked out of the box. Access to the console is present.
Test results
In each test, the results of the participants were sorted from best to worst, with first place awarded 12 points, second place 10, third place 8, fourth place 6, and one point less for each place below. Those who took places below the ninth points were not awarded.
Scoring table:
Place
Points
1
12
2
10
3
8
4
6
5
5
6
4
7
3
8
2
9
1
Table with test results (clickable)
Final score table (clickable)
Podium
All places went to hosting with SSD. RuVDS won the first place in a fierce battle. AdminVPS finished second, and REG.RU and American Ionos (1&1) shared the third place. All other hostings on the pedestal represent Russia.
Conclusion
Among all the test participants, the first place was taken by the tariff with SSD from RUVDS. The best processor performance and good disk performance allowed their tariff to take first place. Congratulations to the winner. I would also like to note hosting adminvps, ionos and regru, they fought with dignity. AdminVPS showed excellent disk performance, but lagged behind in CPU performance. REG.RU showed quite good processor performance, but not everything is going smoothly with disk performance. Ionos showed quite balanced results. The rest of the participants have much worse results. Ihor showed outstanding results in its own way. Both of their tariffs were at the very “bottom” of the table, when using their service, low performance is noticeable “by eye”.
Source: habr.com