VPC server on IBM Cloud usage review
We need some insurance enrollment applications with nearly 4K users once in a year for around 3 months and we find it extremely useful to …
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPCFormerly IBM Cloud Virtual Servers
Starting at $0.01 per hour
View PricingOverview
What is IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC?
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers are customizable, public or private, cloud-based servers available from IBM. User can launch applications and software across blended, hybrid environments as the servers integrate with all cloud models.
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How IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC Differs From Its Competitors
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Popular Features
- Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime (81)8.383%
- Monitoring tools (84)8.383%
- Pre-defined machine images (78)8.383%
- Operating system support (84)8.282%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (dedicated host)
starting at $0.22
Cloud
per hour
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (dedicated host)
starting at $149.00
Cloud
per month
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (multi-tenant)
starting at $0.038
Cloud
per hour
Entry-level set up fee?
- Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://cloud.ibm.com/vpc…
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Features
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Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC?
IBM Cloud® Virtual Server for VPC offers
fast-provisioning compute capacity—also known as virtual machines—with high network speeds and secure, software-defined networking
resources available on the IBM Cloud. Built on IBM Cloud Virtual Private
Cloud (VPC) and featuring 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon®
processors, this developer-friendly infrastructure helps drive modern
workloads faster and easier with pre-set instance profiles, rapid
deployment and private network control in an agile public cloud
environment. Choose multi-tenant or dedicated, add GPUs, and it is pay-as-you-use by the hour.
IBM Cloud virtual server environments deliver cloud-native solutions that work across public, private and hybrid
deployments. Boasting cost-savings, control, and visibility that is needed with a variety of flexible provisioning and pricing options, including single and multi-tenant environments, hourly and monthly pricing, reserved capacity terms and spot billing. Its elastic infrastructure, globally distributed data centers and premium services aim to bring data to life no matter where it resides.
Smart provisioning
Customize with a variety of virtual server instances and billing options. Rapidly
scale up or down, on-demand. Stay open with no vendor lock-ins, and reply on
complete integration with new and traditional architectures.
Highly distributed
Access a globally distributed network of modern data centers with built in high-availability
and security, inbound public bandwidth and high-speed private network options, public and
private network ports, fast data ingest offerings, geographically redundant
DNS, and dual-stack IP capabilities.
Advanced essentials
Used to build blended hybrid environments
with more predictability and confidence, and to create new solutions that interact with existing infrastructure and applications. A variety of network choices are available with AI solutions designed to put data to work.
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC Features
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Features
- Supported: Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
- Supported: Dynamic scaling
- Supported: Elastic load balancing
- Supported: Pre-configured templates
- Supported: Monitoring tools
- Supported: Pre-defined machine images
- Supported: Operating system support
- Supported: Security controls
Additional Features
- Supported: Remote management
- Supported: Virtual GPU support
- Supported: Suspend billing
- Supported: Flexible instance options
- Supported: Spot pricing
- Supported: Placement groups for high-availability
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC Integrations
- VMware ESXi
- VMware vSphere on IBM Cloud
- McAfee Total Protection (discontinued)
- Microsoft SQL Server
- MongoDB
- Veeam Data Platform
- FreeBSD
- NetApp ONTAP Select
- OSNEXUS QuantaStor
- Virtuozzo Application Platform
- Ubuntu
- CENT OS
- CloudLinux
- Debian
- Microsoft
- Red Had
- Vyatta Virtual Router Appliance
- Citrix XenServer
- Microsoft Hyper-V
- APF Software Firewall
- Microsoft Windows Firewall
- Basho Riak
- IBM Cloud Analytics
- My SQL
- Fantastico
- RVSkin
- Softaculous
- R1Soft Server Backup Manager Enterprise
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC Competitors
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux |
| Mobile Application | Mobile Web |
Frequently Asked Questions
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers are customizable, public or private, cloud-based servers available from IBM. User can launch applications and software across blended, hybrid environments as the servers integrate with all cloud models.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Google Compute Engine, and Azure Virtual Machines are common alternatives for IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC.
Reviewers rate Security controls highest, with a score of 8.9.
The most common users of IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(119)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-5 of 5)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
This is our main server that our company uses to provide services to our libraries. It is being used as a website, email server, database, and mobile app server. The email serving part is unique to cloud servers. Most other major cloud providers (Google, AWS) don't allow creating email servers on their virtual servers. This is a key issue for us since we send email to library patrons to help them keep track their library circulations.
- An email server is allowed, and in particular, on port 25.
- Able to create a backup server and power it off until needed.
- Reasonably priced compared to the other major cloud services.
- Has lots of different locations to choose from around the world.
- Don't know if this is possible, but I'd like to make a snapshot of my current server for backup purposes. Unfortunately a snapshot takes too long (too many hours), and our server can't be off for more than a few hours at a time.
- Not be charged if the server is turned off. Other companies (e.g. Microsoft Azure) does not charge if server if not actually on. I do realize that IBM only charges 25% of the normal fee but I think that’s still too high.
65%
6.5
- It has kept our small business going over 20 years at a reasonable cost. And allowed us to add more CPU power as we grew. So we weren't too concerned about having to change to a different platform or vendor as our list of libraries grew.
We have a pretty regular load so don’t need this feature yet.
Neither of those servers allows for creating an email server that can send out on port 25. IBM is easier to set-up than Amazon. And perhaps a little easier than Google. Also IBM can handle domain names for .com and .net. And changes made to their IP addresses take affect fairly quickly.
Yes
I had problems with one provisioning and got a response that was ok but still didn’t resolve so I just started a new provisioning on at a location.
We use IBM Cloud Virtual Servers to host different web-based systems. It is used across the whole organization and we deploy solutions for customers/third parties on it. We mostly use virtual servers and also utilize some of the IBM Watson services.
- API for creating/managing services
- Datacenter location variety
- Risk of total virtual server loss due to failures
71.25%
7.1
- Decreased cost of cloud infrastructure compared to other providers.
Transient pricing allows us to use the capacity we need when we need it, without commitment in the future.
We have not used instance reservations.
We have not used dedicated hosts.
- Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Microsoft Azure
We mostly use IBM Cloud Virtual Servers. IBM provides a better choice of locations, easy to use interface and APIs for management, and better pricing compared to similar providers.
- IBM Cloud Foundry
- IBM Cloud Databases
Besides hosting in-house developed systems, we use some off the shelf softwares for which turned out to be good candidates for cloud foundry + managed databases in terms of cost efficiency.
It went as expected without any unforeseen issues.
No
Basic (free)
We have in-house competency that helps us solve most of the issues we encounter.
Cannot provide particular example, but is often that the support agent would put extra effort to really dog into your problem and point you to the right docs or solve the issue for you directly.
We did indeed reduce cloud costs for all our deployments/project by about 15% which we were able to reallocate for further product improvements.
I don’t know how much time was saved, but I know time was definitely saved
We have some automated test pipelines that do E2E integration test, including infrastructure provisioning. Hourly billing is a great fit that optimizes costs for this type of usages.
N/A
N/A
10
Technical staff, developers, devops.
3
Linux administration, networking expertise, cloud expertise.
- hosting production systems
- hosting internal development environments
- access to multiple datacenters in different countries/geo areas
- convert some of the on-premise workstations to cloud for more flexibility
No
- Cloud Solutions
- Scalability
- Ease of Use
Datacenter availability in some of the markets we work on.
Would not really change, IBM works good for us.
- can’t think of any
- No Training
Yes, very easy, no training required.
- on premise networking equipment
Relatively easy, we had to connect our on premise networking equipment to the IBM virtual cloud networks.
- no
N/A
- File import/export
- Single Signon
- API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
N/A
Nothing special or IBM specific.
No
We mainly rely on IBM Cloud Virtual Services as a webs server and DNS for our client's websites, as well as our own, main company website. We also rely heavily on the Virtual Server for testing new features and finding bugs before deployment.
- Manageable control of individual servers and DNS settings
- Creating different profiles or identities so users can work on separate projects
- The IBM Cost Calculator is a nice feature that shows the people at IBM have tried hard to think of extra features that B2B customers could benefit from
- Developer-friendly infrastructure
- We have not had a great experience with support. Other devs will know that it can be very nerve-racking to have clients bombarding you because of an issue that you need support's help to fix.
- Documentation could definitely be helped. Maybe a better onboarding guide?
- Dashboard is a bit slow and clunky
77.14285714285714%
7.7
- As far as ROI goes, I think it's been a great investment. Our deployments are smoother and our clients are happy with their websites' functionality.
- As I mentioned before, getting in touch with Support can be a headache and so if you have angry clientele like we do, waiting on Support to get back to you (while you wait as the unfortunate middle man) can be frustrating.
- Pay-as-you-use by the hour is useful for keeping costs low.
The transient pricing model is amazingly helpful. It is very helpful to be able to set up simulations for testing and get them running, and then step away for a break or lunch and it was at a very competitive price. As a smaller business, I appreciate when we can spend less if we use less and that's exactly how this pricing model is set up. Win-win! The "pay-as-you-use by the hour" model is appreciated.
We have not had to use this capability yet.
We have not yet used the more advanced settings for provisioning control, security, isolation on IBM Cloud Dedicated Virtual Servers.
This is our first foray into the Virtual Servers world, so I cannot give an accurate comparison to any other services yet.
We do not currently use multiple IBM portfolio products together.
Implementation went relatively smoothly. The implementation is slightly different and placement is either to a dedicated host or dedicated host group. If the placement for the classic virtual server instance is manual, then the VPC+ tools honors the placement and provisions the virtual server in IBM Cloud VPC as such.
I don’t know
Advanced
We wanted to try out the system before fully committing to a Premium subscription. We're at the Advanced level currently, and may upgrade in the future if the system continues to help aid us in our business goals.
We have not had to use a one-on-one support ticket, per say, but we have used public forums to help troubleshoot common issues. In that sense, other users have been more helpful than customer service technicians or representatives.
- Chat with Watson
The IBM Watson Assistant uses natural language understanding (NLU) to better understand our customers in context so that we can deliver fast, consistent, and accurate solutions without dedicating human capital (and money) to this section of our virtual servers. We are able to seamlessly integrate with CRM and back-end systems that our business needs to deliver true customer self-service and full functionality. We are also able to track progress across the entire buyer’s journey to drive real outcomes and ensure our customers’ needs are met.
Lowering costs of course is always a plus for any business, so the pay-by-the-hour model that IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC operates on is very helpful for keeping costs to a minimum and allowing us to divert those funds elsewhere.
9-12 hours time saved per person per week
We only pay for the time that we're actually utilizing IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC, meaning that we're not draining money or essentially throwing it out the window when we're paying for time that we're not using the product. The pay-by-the-hour model is very helpful for keeping costs to a minimum.
No
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers are being used by me as a freelance developer hosting personal projects as well as clients. It solves my hosting situation. When you are a developer, like myself, it's easy to create a hosting environment and have it ready to deploy when needed.
- Fast hosting solutions
- Cost efficient
- Easy setup
- Flexibility
- Customer Support
- Recommended upgrades based on usage
- Faster upgrade options for Ubuntu - usually takes a while before the new versions are available to upgrade to
91.25%
9.1
- Hosting is very well priced right now so my return was positive
- Setting up multiple servers if needed does not cost a fortune like it did in previous years
- The ability to copy an image of a server and redeploy at any time on a hourly virtual server is very convenient, useful, and cost effective
Before I was spending a lot more with hosting on dedicated servers before switching to virtual servers. I love the pricing. It's really easy to budget for my hosting needs. I love having hourly and monthly usage and options. The hourly is great for deploying projects in development modes that do not need to be billed monthly. This is how I was able to cut down my server costs. I can create server images, deploy them quickly, get billed hourly, and end at any time while having my main server billed monthly.
I think it's great to be able to select the location of the server or multiple servers since some projects might be focused on a particular region.
I have had a dedicated server for 20 years. The last company, Softlayer, got bought out by IBM, and the transition has been a very good one. When I started using IBM for all my hosting solutions, I became a really big fan. Everything has been a user-friendly experience. The products have been really easy to work with.
ROI is an extremely important factor with cloud computing. It's important to identify the right service for your products. Being able to add or remove services based on the server's needs makes it more cost efficient for any organization. Since I do pay-as-you-go services it's very beneficial to adjust these services environment according to the peak usage. For example, I reduce the environment during off season to increase my ROI and increase the resources when needed.
I don’t know how much time was saved, but I know time was definitely saved
As mentioned in my earlier comment, it's important to use the hourly flexibility to your advantage. Use resources when they are needed and reduce them when they are not. If you run a business that is more used during the winter time, you can reduce your server resources to save money throughout the year. Increasing your resources during peak and prime seasons would be beneficial. This wouldn't be very efficient to adjust every day, it would be more recommended in the long term approach spread out throughout the year based on off seasons. An example would be a landscaping business that has a long stretch of off season through the fall and winter. You could reduce your resources throughout fall and winter to save your annual server fees.
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No
November 13, 2019
If you have a need for high IOPS, the IBM cloud is probably your most cost-effective option
All of our servers are on the cloud, and that is IBM's cloud. As of today, we have 102 virtual servers, along with the associated required storage. In our case, storage is our largest cloud investment since our business is to host a data-crunching application to help our clients and utilities, make sense and act upon their customers' incoming smart meter data.
- Storage that provides high IOPS at a cost-effective rate. We evaluated other offerings this summer, in particular, AWS and Microsoft, and their high-IOPS disks were more expensive than IBM's.
- Automated deployment of new virtual servers and their storage is simplified by an API which we leverage using Ansible.
- In our tier, support is timely.
- Billing is complicated and unclear. It can be difficult to determine exactly how much each instance costs, and grouping them is also difficult (we need to charge different machines to different internal departments, and while we have resorted to using labels in the server names, we are not able to do that with storage).
- Their firewall options are not user-friendly nor very cost-effective. We use their Vyatta offering and, though it is an operating system rooted in free software, it is expensive. It is difficult to manage as well as its mgmt is done exclusively via a hard-to-learn text-only hierarchical configuration.
35%
3.5
- Positive: High IOPS storage is quite cost effective.
The complexity of our application has prevented us from being able to split it off into bite-sized applets that could perform data crunching on servers without a guaranteed uptime. This is unlikely to change in the near future.
This is probably something we would be interested in if we were able to better understand its potential benefits and pitfalls.
- Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
Amazon's high IOPS storage devices are more expensive than the ones on the IBM cloud, per singular IOPS (input/output operation per second) so it makes much more sense for us to stick with IBM even if the other services that amazon offers are somewhat less costly, all things considered.
Yes
Yes
Unfortunately, it wasn't. The bug resulted in our losing data, and it took much, much back and forth just to get their support team to admit the issue was caused by their side. In the end, our data was irretrievably lost, our project was delayed as a result, and the bug is still present. Only now, we know how to work around it and avoid it.
Sorry but, no. Their support is adequate at best.