Friday, July 18, 2014

Big RamNode news update - new location, billing changes, and more!

RamNode has released a very large email ~1 day ago, and I thought I should write about them because the news they have is quite large.


Billing Changes

One of the first obvious changes made was the billing.


One of the first things that caught my eye is that coupons are gone. The new billing changes have gotten rid of coupons for new orders, and instead have been replaced with flat-rate VPS pricing. RamNode's homepage has been redesigned, and a new VPS page has been added that lists their plans. New 8 GB RAM plans have been added.

All SSD and SSD-Cached plans come with more storage. Their email gave a few directions on how to get the upgraded storage. Here is what the email said, direct:

  • SVZ(v2) and CVZ clients - You will not need to do anything to receive the upgrade. We will upgrade all SVZ(v2) and CVZ VPSs within the next week or so automatically. If you need more space immediately, you can open a ticket in the Client Area.
  • SKVM and CKVM clients - You will need to open a ticket to request the additional space and will need to use a tool like GParted (available in our control panel) to resize your partitions once you receive it. We may not be able to accommodate all SKVM upgrades in particular immediately, but we can discuss this on an individual ticket basis.
  • Clients with retired plans - If you are on an older SVZ(v1), CKVM-E3, or CVZ-E3 VPS, the space increase will not be readily available to you. You can see which host nodes this applies to here: https://clientarea.ramnode.com/announcements.php?id=367 We are currently in the process of moving all SVZ(v1) VPSs to SVZ(v2) nodes. We will email you before the move is made, and you will have the new disk space afterward. If you urgently need more disk space, you can open a support ticket. CKVM-E3 and CVZ-E3 clients will need to request a migration to our new CKVM/CVZ systems in order to take advantage of the increased storage. You can open a support ticket for that.

Backups

RamNode is temporarily disabling their monthly/weekly backup systems. They "plan on reinstating backups in the not too distant future with a better system". RamNode is currently pondering what the new system will be replaced with. They are waiting on the next SolusVM major update, because it is supposed to offer a more flexible backup system, or their new custom control panel system they are developing.

New Plans

RamNode says that they are launching new SSD plans in the coming weeks, for both OpenVZ and KVM. They say to stay tuned to their Twitter account for updates.

New Location

RamNode has expanded to New York City, with this being their latest location. With this move, RamNode now offers locations in Seattle, Atlanta, Amsterdam (NL), and NYC (of course).

RamNode has also introduced optional DDoS-filtered IPs for all regions. Previously, this was only offered in Seattle. These filtered IP addresses are offered for an additional fee, and are not provided by default (sadly).

Custom Control Panel

Perhaps one of the biggest announcements on this email sent to all clients is the new custom control panel announcement.
We do not have many details to share at this time, but work on this project will begin within the next couple weeks. It will be done entirely in-house by full-time RamNode staff. The focus will be ease of use and automation.
RamNode says to keep an eye on their Twitter for updates.

Wrap up

Are you interested in the latest announcements by RamNode? I am most certainly interested in looking at their custom control panel. I hope it is as intuitive and gorgeous as Centarra's control panel.

If you take a look at RamNode, would you mind using our affiliate link? I'd appreciate it a lot :)