We recently joined the Beta for Civo Cloud – the newest UK based Cloud provider specifically for developers. RocketWP runs Plesk, always have and love the ease at which we can use it to host and manage WordPress websites – as we do not operate our own physical servers we are always looking at the fastest, most secure and reliable platform to use. Currently, we use a mix of Digital Ocean and Vultr.
So what do you get with Civo?
Before going any further we must stress that the service is still in Beta – there are still features and/or functions to be brought online. Our test is purely to test the ease to spin up a new server, load Plesk and host a WordPress website.
Instance Options:
- Extra Small instance (their name not ours) with 1GB RAM, 1 CPU, 25GB SSD and 1TB of transfer – £5.00 per month
- Small instance with 2GB RAM, 2 CPU, 50GB SSD and 2TB of transfer – £10.00 per month
- Medium instance with 4GB RAM, instanc4 CPU, 100GB SSD and 4TB of transfer – £20.00 per month
- Large instance with 8GB RAM, 8 CPU, 200GB SSD and 8TB of transfer – £40.00 per month
OS Choices:
- Ubuntu, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 and 17.04
- CentOS, 7 and 6
- CoreOS, Self-updating to the latest version
- Debian, 8 and 9
Locations:
There are no options for location, our test server has a location of LON1.
Networking:
Each server is provided with a private IP and a public IP, there is an option for private network only. The private network is a full class C network, each client gets their own to ensure complete isolation.
Backup:
There is no specific option for backups, snapshots can be taken and the process can be automated to take a snapshot according to a schedule you set. The cost for snapshots is £5.00 per month.
Additional Features
Civo does offer some additional features that we have not included in this initial test. These include:
- Firewall
- Load Balancing
- DNS Servers
- Networks
How easy is it to use?
The control panel is extremely easy to use and well laid out. Spinning up a new instance is simply a case of:
- Providing a host name
- Selecting the number of instances you want to create
- Selecting the operating system and version
- You can then choose some of the additioanl features such as Network, Firewall and ssh key to be used
- You can also enter a Tag if required
You then just click Create. The process takes less than a minute to spin up the session.
Once the process is completed the server is shown in the list of instances:
All the relevant details are shown, and there are simple buttons to take a snapshot, open the console, restore, restart, shutdown and destroy.
Clicking on the instance name displays more information along with usage graphs detailing CPU, Memory and Storage usage.
Installing Plesk and getting a site up and running
All that was left to do was install Plesk and get a demo site up and running and then test the performance. The server was extremely responsive while installing the necessary Plesk components and the site was created with the minimum of fuss. We took a copy of this site and created a clone https://civo.onrocketwp.co.uk, the only difference is we did not setup KeyCDN.
Final Thoughts
As we stated at the beginning Civo is currently still in beta. There are features that are still to be brought online and maybe some need to be added. I personally would like to see things like IPv6, backups, reserve IP’s and 24×7 support before hosting any production servers. One thing that I do want to see more providers offering is DDoS protection, Civo has an advanced DDoS protection system with more than a Terabit’s capacity on their network and this protection is included free of charge. This is a great feature – we have been the target of DDoS attacks, some providers do not offer any protection, other providers offer limited protection but at additional monthly costs.
The current, beta service is easy to use and quick. So if you are currently developing a new application or want a staging site for a website then you can definitely add Civo to your list even if it is just to avoid the exchange rate and charges for paying in dollars. Plus you would be supporting a UK based company.
