Based in Canada in 1996, iWeb is a succesful supplier of enterprise and enterprise-level web hosting. It is now owned by Internap, the large US IT infrastructure firm behind the primary commercially obtainable OpenStack-based cloud computing service.

Looking iWeb’s web site reveals a large alternative of high-end merchandise: cloud servers, non-public clouds, virtualization, devoted plans, server clusters, colocation and extra. However do not be intimidated – though the service is focused at knowledgeable customers, the baseline costs are affordable.

The cloud servers, as an example, are a VPS-like product primarily based on cloud internet hosting. You get sooner efficiency and a extra scalable server, whereas a number of copies of your web site enhance catastrophe restoration. There aren’t any visitors limits, but costs begin at solely $43.80 (£32) a month for 1GB RAM, 1 CPU and 50GB storage. The server is managed by root entry through SSH, although, moderately than cPanel, so you may want loads of expertise to set it up.

The devoted server plans additionally embrace some bargains, together with an 8GB RAM, 1TB storage and 12TB bandwidth Montreal-based server for a mere $95 (£70) a month. This has a fundamental spec – a restricted Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU, a single commonplace exhausting drive (not SSD) and a 100Mbps community connection – however there are many upgrades for anybody who wants extra. You possibly can handle your devoted server by SSH, however different choices embrace the common cPanel and Plesk management panels, Distant Desktop or KVM/IP.

The prices do start to mount for those who’re searching for any type of add-ons. Server monitoring past essentially the most fundamental Ping method prices $49 (£35) a month, as an example, and the $75 (£55) Managed On Demand assist plan will get you two hours of system administration a month.

Whereas that sounds costly, iWeb does have a considerable assist system to keep up. You do not simply get a single telephone quantity, as an example – the corporate has a number of toll-free numbers throughout 5 continents, and offers assist in English, French and Spanish. We have not seen one other host that compares on this respect.

There’s additionally a shock inexperienced bonus in iWeb’s Montreal-based knowledge heart, which will get free cooling for 5 months of the yr because of Canada’s freezing winters, and makes use of hydroelectricity for 98% of its different power necessities.

Should you resolve to enroll, you are protected by a 30-day money-back assure. Or at the least that is the speculation. The present document says that you will need to shut your account and request a refund by sending a fax, and the corporate will get round to processing it inside 10-15 days, which is not precisely handy or environment friendly. Nonetheless, it is good to know the choice is there, even when it may be tough to make use of.

Account setup

The iWeb web site has an array of plans and configuration choices, however they’re usually nicely introduced and it is simple to seek out what you want. We determined to order a cloud server, anticipating to be arrange inside a couple of minutes, nevertheless it turned out to be somewhat extra difficult.

Creating an account with iWeb did not simply require coming into our title, bodily handle, e-mail handle and telephone quantity. The corporate additionally requested for a scan or picture of a government-issued photograph ID to confirm our account. We are able to see the safety advantages for the agency, however clients could have safety issues of their very own pertaining to sending photos of such delicate paperwork to another person. It is also inconvenient if you do not have quick access to an appropriate doc.

We despatched a scan of our driving licence anyway, and had been instructed it may take as much as 24 hours to be verified, one other potential inconvenience for those who’re in a rush. Perhaps this was a most time and in actuality, our account can be opened in an hour or two, we questioned? Effectively, no: it took 4 days earlier than we lastly obtained a ‘Welcome to the iWeb Cloud’ e-mail telling us we may now deploy cloud servers.

This does not essentially imply you may expertise the identical delay. We may have been unfortunate – and we did not strive contacting assist to ask what was happening, which could have sped up the method. Nonetheless, this was poor service, particularly as we did not obtain any emails previous to verification to elucidate what was happening. We have by no means come throughout one other net host so apparently reluctant to signal us up.

Making a website

Logging on to iWeb takes you to the iWeb Management Centre, a stripped-back net console the place you may view, handle and deploy your merchandise.

This was rather more easy than we have seen with many hosts. There is not any on-screen muddle, no try and promote you add-ons, only a easy sidebar with a fundamental product tree.

We selected the Cloud Server possibility, clicked Deploy, and had been provided plans starting from 1GB RAM and 1 vCPU to 8GB RAM and eight vCPUs. All plans are charged primarily based on utilization, starting from $zero.04 (£zero.028) to $zero.27 (£zero.193) an hour.

SSD storage is priced individually, from 50GB at $zero.021 (£zero.zero15) per hour, to 250GB for $zero.103 (£zero.074).

Our working system decisions had been Centos 7, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or 14.04 LTS free of charge, with Home windows Server 2012 or 2016 obtainable for $zero.02 an hour (£zero.014).

After coming into a bunch title and agreeing to the terms and conditions, an internet alert mentioned our server was being provisioned and can be prepared in simply two minutes. Simply in case that wasn’t spectacular sufficient, it truly took lower than a minute, with a second pop-up offering our SSH login credentials. There is no such thing as a cPanel, so configuring your server should at the least begin on the command line.

Should you’re unfamiliar with Linux, you possibly can equip your server with Home windows Server 2012 or 2016. We created a Home windows-based cloud server, logged in and had been in a position to view and management the server’s desktop from our browser. Will probably be a extra comfy working surroundings for a lot of, however you may nonetheless want some experience to seek out your method round Server Supervisor, arrange and safe your website.

The online console offers some helpful instruments to assist handle your undertaking. There are buttons to rename, clone or delete a cloud server, reboot it, create a quantity snapshot (a full copy of your storage system), or resize the server so as to add or take away assets (RAM, CPU, storage).

Select a devoted server plan and you may get extra commonplace administration together with entry to the cPanel, WHM or Plesk management panels (relying on the working system you are utilizing). Skilled customers ought to really feel at dwelling immediately, and inexperienced persons will at the least get all of the core instruments they want.

Efficiency

iWeb’s assist service begins with a Suggestions & Assist panel on the appropriate of its net console. The panel pops out with a click on, gives a Data Base hyperlink and a Search field, and a separate My Tickets tab.

Whereas this seemed good, we shortly noticed just a few issues. The search field reported ‘no articles discovered’ for each search we tried, together with fundamental key phrases resembling iWeb, cloud, server, cPanel. And after we clicked the Data Base hyperlink to manually browse its articles, the location opened a brand new browser tab and instructed us ‘the web page you had been searching for would not exist’.

Remodeling the damaged hyperlink took us to the true Data Base web page, though it actually wasn’t well worth the effort. A information headline reporting that Home windows 2003 product assist would finish on April 18, 2013, suggests the articles aren’t up to date fairly often.

This has an impression on the content material, as as an example the Home windows articles all relate to Home windows 2012, with Home windows 2016 not getting a point out. The remaining guides have some helpful data, however there’s additionally quite a lot of extra trivial articles, alongside the traces of: ‘How do you delete a cloud server?: 1) Choose the server, 2) Click on Delete.’

If you cannot discover what you want, clicking the My Tickets tab shows a easy type the place you are in a position to enter the main points of your drawback, and optionally connect a file. Subscribe to the $75 (£55) Managed On Demand plan and you may rise up to 2 hours of consideration a month. You may as well select to pay as you go, however the fee rises to $75 (£55) an hour.

We accomplished our exams by utilizing Bitcatcha to evaluate the velocity of our cloud server. Connection instances from the UK had been higher than we anticipated for a Montreal-based knowledge heart, and obtain speeds had been persistently excessive from the US and UK. That is spectacular for a cloud internet hosting product with a 100Mbps port, and choosing a devoted server, possibly with a 1000Mbps connection, may ship even sooner outcomes.

Ultimate verdict

iWeb is not a bunch for the novice consumer, but when you already know what you are doing you may discover the service gives stripped-back speedy cloud and devoted companies. Add-ons like monitoring and assist can bump up the value, although, so test the main points of each plan before you purchase.