What is a Virtual Private Server?
A Virtual Private Server is designed for customers who need access to a full Linux installation, but are unable to justify the costs of having an entire dedicated server. It involves partitioning resources from a full server, e.g. RAM, hard disk space and bandwidth, so that it appears as multiple servers. As each GigaTux VPS runs its own copy of an operating system, you will have superuser-level (root) access and can install any software you wish. A more detailed explanation is available here.
As VPSs are unmanaged, we recommend that you have Linux experience with the distribution of your choice. However, GigaTux will provide limited ad-hoc support for simple queries.
Summary of our VPS Setup
- Our servers use Intel Core 2 Quad or Duo processors with at least 2 hard drives arranged in RAID1 for redundancy. All systems are monitored to ensure sufficent CPU time for each user, and all four cores can be made available for free on request.
- Network connectivity is provided by a several connections for 'fail-over'.
- Servers are in a secure location in Maidenhead on one of the fastest networks in the world, according to speedtest.net. Feel free to download sample files from two of our servers, Legion and Emohawk.
- Virtualisation technology is provided by Xen 3.2, a well proven solution for managing virtual server isolation and partitioning of physical resources.
- Each virtual machine has its own dedicated RAM and hard disk space. This is not shared with anyone and is not oversold.
- You choice of Linux distribution and full root access.
Available Packages
| New offers available! |
| Package Name | Uno E | Duo E | Trio E | Quad E | Pro E | Enterprise E |
| Memory | 128 MB | 256 MB | 384 MB | 512 MB | 768 MB | 1024 MB |
| Disk Space | 20 GB | 40 GB | 60 GB | 80 GB | 120 GB | 160 GB |
| Data Transfer per month | 100 GB | 200 GB | 300 GB | 400 GB | 300 GB | 800 GB |
| Setup fee | £9.99 | £9.99 | £9.99 | FREE | FREE | FREE |
| Price per month | £11.99 | £21.99 | £31.99 | £40.99 | £60.99 | £78.99 |
| Price per month (year in advance) | £9.99 | £17.99 | £25.99 | £33.99 | £49.99 | £64.99 |
| Order | Order | Order | Order | Order | Order | Order |
Important points to note:
- Our lead time is very short at present, but please be prepared to wait for 24 hours for your order to be processed.
- No V.A.T. is payable - GigaTux is not a V.A.T. registered company.
- The VPS that you will be assigned is unmanaged. You will be responsible for maintenance and management of your VPS. It is particularly important to have a suitable firewall and to remain vigilant to hacking attempts and exploits. You will have full root access via SSH but support for software within your virtual machine is not contractually provided (although we can help occasional issues).
- Your VPS will be set up with a small boot partition, swap space equal to that of your allocated RAM and the rest of the partition space as root. Please let us know if you have specific partitioning needs as we can usually accommodate.
- Unless you are hosting simple, mostly static web pages, or merely using your virtual account as storage, we recommend you consider a package of at least 256MB RAM in order to improve performance. You may start with a 128MB VPS and upgrade at a later point if you wish.
VPS Details
Available Linux distributions:
- Debian Lenny (can be downgraded)
- Ubuntu 9.04 (or latest version)
- Fedora Core
- Gentoo
- Centos 4
- Mandriva Linux (Free Edition)
- Freespire OSS Edition
- Ubuntu 8.10 or earlier
- Turnkey Linux Joomla
- Turnkey Linux Drupal 6
- Turnkey Linux Drupal 5
- Turnkey Linux Django
- Turnkey Linux Core
- Turnkey Linux LAMP Stack
- Turnkey Linux LAPP Stack
- Turnkey Linux MediaWiki
- Turnkey Linux MySQL
- Turnkey Linux phpBB
- Turnkey Linux PostgreSQL
- Turnkey Linux Rails
- Turnkey Linux Tomcat
- Turnkey Linux Wordpress
- If you require any other distribution, or later/earlier versions of one above, we can accommodate. Please contact us.
Payment methods:
- All major credit and debit cards via PayPal and Google Checkout.
- BACS transfer to UK bank account.
- Personal cheque.
- Cash (sent through the post at your own risk).
Additional costs:
- Extra bandwidth is charged at 4p per GB, chargeable monthly in arrears.
- Extra hard disk space can be arranged for £1.50 per month for every 5GB. This must be done when your account is set up.
The service may not be used for:
- Any illegal activities, including offences relating to copyright.
- 'Spamming' or otherwise sending unsolicited commercial email.
- Any activity that potentially could harm our network or any other network.