RackBank Datacenters Pvt Ltd may only have been around since 2013 but they already own the fastest growing data center in India which currently spans 35,000 sq. ft. and serves over 1500 customers.
Their data center is centrally located in a low-cost region, easily accessible by transport, runs on green technologies, and is always kept updated with the latest hardware and infrastructure. They provide a number of server leasing options, such as dedicated, managed, and colocated servers.
Features and Ease of Use
As they are focused on providing premium server space and not website hosting as such, they don’t provide all the services or features you would usually expect to find, such as domain registration and SSL certificates. However, they do offer the following that people who are looking for this type of hosting would prefer:
- 24/7/365 server monitoring
- Custom hardware configurations
- Hardware/Infrastructure/Data/Backup as a Service
Their best features are undoubtedly their top-end server infrastructure:
- Premium Infrastructure and Network: From RAID redundancy to KPN over IP to ECC memory and IPv6 compatibility, everything about RackBank servers is premium.
- Large Selection of OS: RackBank offers one of the largest lists of OSs that I’ve seen. They include Windows, Linux, BSD, etc.
- Latest Technologies: Their servers already run on the latest Intel Xeon processors. However, they also upgrade their hardware from time to time so they can always offer the best.
There is no effort involved on your part to spin up your new server. However, as this isn’t web hosting, you’ll need to install your own website management software, etc. You can always rely on their expert technicians and support staff, but you will largely be on your own managing your hosting (unless you go with the fully managed server option).
You do get either Plesk or cPanel as a management console, which is a good feature.
Pricing and Support
The main products offered by RackBank are their dedicated and bare metal server packages. They also offer a range of services that tie in with those products, such as colocation, backups, infrastructure/hardware as a service, etc. Their power servers are divided into the more affordable Value Dedicated Servers and higher-end Power Dedicated Servers.
- Value Dedicated Servers: These come with a 99.98% uptime guarantee, 24/7 support, and Plesk/cPanel management console. They don’t require a setup fee. There are 12 configurations that provide 5 TB of bandwidth, 1 TB of disk space, 128 GB of SSD storage, and 1 IP. Plans differ in the max speed of their Intel Xeon CPUs and their amount of RAM (8 GB to 32 GB)
- Power Dedicated Servers: These solutions do come with a setup fee. However, they have the same support, uptime, and management consoles. There are five configurations that all provide 10 TB bandwidth, 1 TB of disk space,128 GB of SSD storage, and 1 IP. The main difference is the CPUs which are Intel Dual Xeon 2705 Octo Cores with eight cores.
You have the option to choose either of them and add on fully managed services for an additional monthly fee. These services include a variety of premium support services. Additionally, you can apply to colocate these servers.
You certainly won’t have a shortage of ways to contact support as they provide technical support over the phone (India), email, live chat, and even WhatsApp. They have specialized teams for each aspect of hosting (such as security, monitoring, technical) to make sure that you really are given an expert to help you solve your issue. Their support is fantastic and they respond quickly and are highly skilled.
The fact that there are premium support services doesn’t mean you don’t get amazing support with a normal package, these are just great added-on services.
Summary
If you want premium server space running on premium hardware using the latest technologies and standards and be supported by a great support system, then RackBank is one of the best options. However, they don’t offer much in terms of web hosting-specific features so you’ll need to take care of this on your own.
Pros:
- Fantastic support for free and in English
- Top-end server infrastructure and hardware
- Good range of server configurations
- Fully managed server options
- They claim 99.99999% (seven nines) uptime
Cons:
- Only one data center located in India
- No web hosting features