CHOON.NET is now ready to launch its XEN-based Virtual Private Server (VPS) product line with the Xen Hypervisor Engine as the underlying technology. This allows CHOON.NET to partition the usual commodity server hardware into smaller virtual private servers. Detail information with regards to XEN and its underlying technologies can be obtained from XenSource.com and University of Cambridge.

The overhead of running a Xen Virtual Private Server is typically very low and often considered negligible. This makes it potentially more efficient than the excellent User Mode Linux (UML) in the very competitive virtual hosting environment. User Mode Linux uses emulated system calls and disk drivers which make it slower during context switches and disk I/O. Xen, on the other hand, is a "hypervisor" with the host operating system being a Virtual Machine (VM). This makes for extremely low single digit overheads.

The other common VPS software that one might encounter is Virtuozzo. Perhaps the most talk about facility of Virtuzzo to a hosting service provider would be the fact that the file system is entirely quota based which allows "overselling" of resources such as RAM or Disk Space, similar to typical "virtual hosting" environment. However, it has been noted that there are some hardware limitations within Virtuozzo. The Virtuozzo kernel does not support the wide range of hardware as the "standard" Linux kernel does, although its producers, SW-Soft have noted to be ready to produce special versions for large customers, to extend support for AMD processors and/or specific RAID devices.

CHOON.NET has considered and review a number of other VPS solutions but only XEN meets the specific needs for businesses of our nature. Linux VServer is probably as popular as the proprietory Virtuozzo but it too has its limitations. Perhaps for the interested, the following article provides some good reading in the comparison of various VPS softwares. Click Here.

• How much RAM are you actually getting from your provider?
  Unknown. Some VPS providers might resort to overselling RAM but in the CHOON.NET XEN VPS solution, RAM allocations are dedicated and guaranteed.
• How much Disk Space is your provider overselling?
  Unknown. Similar to RAM, some VPS providers might be inclined to oversell but in the CHOON.NET XEN VPS solution, Disk Space allocations are also dedicated and guaranteed.
• No unlimited or unmetered Data Transfer.
  You pay for what you use. Data Transfer and Bandwidth is one of our biggest cost and it is impossible for CHOON.NET to oversell bandwidth and overpromise.
• No more kernel upgrade worries
  CHOON.NET will handle all kernel related upgrades. You can run safely your own firewall rules and/or network related applications. Other VPS softwares have extreme limitations in this area.
• Managed CPU usage
  CHOON.NET will monitor all CPU usage agressively. Via Xen Scheduler, CHOON.NET is able to monitor the CPU usage for each VPS and carry out the required CPU Management tasks. Accounts using extensive CPU resources are typically not suitable for hosting on any VPS solution. Should these accounts exists, customers will be advised to upgrade to dedicated server accordingly.

• No more worries about having a spammer or abuser hosted on the same IP. You get your own dedicated IP
• Gain complete control of your hosting solution. You have full root access to your VPS. You manage your own processes and are able install applications, tweak settings, add users etc.
• Your applications are stored on their own virtual "disk" image on a seperate partition. This results in a greater level of file system security and this can never be obtained on a typical shared hosting server (especially if the users have shell access). Additionally, your processes have greater protection against the crashed applications of other users resulting in greater security and stability

• 10GB Disk Space
• 512MB Swap
• 256MB RAM
• 1 Dedicated IP
• 100% Fully Unmanaged
• 50GB Monthly Total Data Transfer (Inbound + Outbound = Total)
• SGD$50 Setup
• SGD$125 Monthly

• Additional IP: SGD$5/IP/Month (according to APNIC Justification)
• Additional 10GB Data Transfer: SGD$30/month
• Additional 100GB Data Transfer: SGD$200/month
• Additional 500GB Data Transfer: SGD$800/month
• Additional 256MB RAM: SGD$20/month
• Local Area Network (LAN) FTP Backup Space: SGD$10/10GB/month
• cPanel VPS License: SGD$30/month
• DirectAdmin VPS License: SGD$20/month
• Tech Support: SGD$30/hour charge in block of per hour

• Data Transfer Overage: S$5/GB/month in block of per GB

• CentOS 4.3
• Slackware 10.2
• Debian Sarge
• Debian Etch
• Ubuntu Breezy 5.10
• Ubuntu Hoary 5.04
• Gentoo
• Fedora Core 4