Simple Review of Online.net Start-2-XS-SATA 4.99€ Dedicated Server

Online.net offers relatively affordable dedicated servers. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for; budget servers naturally have average performance and are mostly assembled from second-hand hardware. Additionally, the purchasing process on Online.net can be cumbersome, so it is not recommended for beginners.

Online.net recently released a batch of 4.99€ dedicated servers, and I managed to grab one. The model is the Start-2-XS-SATA. This article serves as a simple record and review to provide a reference for those who may need it in the future.

About Purchasing

Account Registration: Online.net releases special offer machines from time to time. It is recommended to visit https://console.online.net in advance to register an account. Otherwise, the registration process alone can take a long time, and by the time you finish, the stock will likely be gone.

Billing and Payment: Newly registered accounts only support credit card payments. I used a China Merchants Bank multi-currency Visa card successfully. It is advisable to prepare a credit card in advance. The initial setup fee for the Start-2-XS-SATA is 10€. Online.net bills are calculated by the natural month, and I paid a total of 11.93€ when placing the order.

Machine Configuration

• CPU: Intel C2350 1.70GHz (Dual-core)
• RAM: 4GB
• Hard Drive: 500GB
• Bandwidth: 1Gbit/sec

The Start-2-XS-SATA offers two data center options: DC2 (France) and AMS1 (Netherlands). I chose DC2. As seen from the configuration above, the CPU performance is poor, and it is indeed discarded second-hand hardware, so do not have too high expectations.

Basic Tests

Since the data center is located in Europe, the network situation is not very optimistic. The following images show the SuperPing test and a local ping test from Sichuan Telecom.

The following image shows the test results using the bench.sh script. The average disk I/O is 76.3MB/s. For the same machine, disk I/O may vary; with good luck, you might reach speeds over 100MB/s, while with bad luck, it could be as low as 20MB/s. If the speed is too slow, you can submit a ticket to customer service to check if the hard drive can be replaced.

Using the command smartctl -A /dev/sda to check disk usage time, I was shocked to find it had been running for over 19,892 hours.

Disadvantages: Start-2-XS-SATA has low CPU performance and low disk I/O.

Advantages: Large hard drive capacity, cheap price, and high bandwidth (1Gbps unlimited traffic).

Conclusion

As of now, the Start-2-XS-SATA (4.99€) is sold out. As for when the next special offer will be released, we can only stay tuned. From the simple review above, it is clear that the Start-2-XS-SATA does not have good CPU performance and is not suitable for hosting websites. However, after installing Google BBR, the network speed is quite decent.

OVH's subsidiary, kimsufi, also occasionally releases cheap dedicated servers. If you are interested, you can check them out: https://www.kimsufi.com

Online.net Official Website: https://www.online.net/en