LuxSci - Reliable Email & Web Services

Server Environments

LuxSci offers two different server environments for shared and dedicated customers. These are "Business Class" and "Enterprise Class" and they balance price, reliability, and performance needs.

Business Class

What are they? Business Class servers are virtual machines in the public cloud. They are inexpensive, commodity virtual servers which share their host machine (hypervisor) with virtual servers owned by other companies unrelated to LuxSci.

What are their characteristics? These servers reside on a single host machine which is not redundant. I.e., if there is a hardware issue on the host, then the business class server will be "down" until that hardware issue is resolved. These servers use very fast SSD storage in RAID 10 for high disk-level redundancy.

Why use one? Business class servers are ideal if your goal is to minimize the cost of the server or service.

Enterprise Class

What are they? Enterprise Class servers are virtual machines in a LuxSci private cloud hosted by Rackspace, behind LuxSci's redundant hardware firewalls and using LuxSci's premium server IP address space. This private cloud is a cluster of host servers which are all linked together (using VMWare and vMotion) to provide a redundant hardware environment which is only for use by LuxSci and its customers.

What are their characteristics? These servers reside on LuxSci's Enterprise cluster which is redundant. I.e. if there is a hardware issue on a host machine, then all of the virtual servers that were using it are immediately rebooted on to another host machine — minimizing any downtime to a matter of seconds.

The disk storage used by these servers is located on a dedicated, private, encrypted storage area network which uses RAID 5, SAS drives for storage, and SSD drives for cache acceleration. This is very fast, very secure, and very redundant.

Why use one? Enterprise class servers are ideal if you want to maximize your security, privacy, and server uptime and are willing to pay a little more for the extra hardware infrastructure that is involved.

Compare Business and Enterprise

(+) show all descriptions

Compare	Business RS	Business AWS	Enterprise
Location	RackSpace	Amazon	RackSpace
Business Rackspace: Rackspace public cloud but networked behind LuxSci's dedicated, redundant hardware firewalls and load balancers Business AWS: Amazon Web Services public cloud. However, outbound email is routed through LuxSci servers and IPS in Rackspace to avoid AWS public cloud IP reputation issues. Enterprise Rackspace: Dedicated private VMWare cluster attached to a dedicated SAN at Rackspace.
Server location used for	Bulk email & smart hosting	everything else	anything
There are two different kinds of business class servers: Business class Rackspace (RS): For dedicated solutions involved in sending large quantities of email such as smart host relaying and premium high volume Business Class AWS: Used for all other dedicated solutions such as web and database hosting, business email services, etc.
HIPAA-compliant accounts permitted?
Redundant hardware firewalls?
Virtual network firewalls?
These refer to AWS "Security Groups".
Private address space (NAT) and secure networking?	*
Unless your order a Business Class server outside of the USA.
Premium IP address space	*
Public cloud IP addresses are often grey-listed and not good for sending email reliably. All of LuxSci's IPs (unless you request a Business Class Server outside of the USA) are solid and not in the tainted public cloud space. Email from Amazon servers is routed out through premium IP addresses.
Storage system	SSD RAID 10	SSD EBS	SAS RAID 5 + SSD SAN
Encrypted Storage (disk-level encryption)	Available*
Dedicated RackSpace business class servers can have disk level encryption if they purchase additional blocks of disk space and request that these be setup as encrypted drives. Due to the nature of the Business Class servers, the main drive can not be encrypted on the disk level.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)	Good	Good	Excellent
Ultra-reliable: proof against hardware failure?
Host server (hypervisor) dedicated to LuxSci?

Compare Business and Enterprise: Shared Services

Compare	Business	Enterprise
Account price starts at	$10/mo	$25/mo
Disk Space included with account	50 GB	50 GB
Disk Space upgrade increments	50 GB blocks	25 GB blocks
Disk Space upgrade cost	+$0.30/GB	+$0.60/GB

Compare Business and Enterprise: Dedicated Services

Compare	Business	Enterprise
Server price starts at	$60/mo	$400/mo
Minimum RAM	1 GB	2 GB
Disk Space upgrade increments	100 GB blocks	50 GB blocks
Disk Space upgrade cost	+$0.20/GB	+$0.40/GB
Server setup fee	$100	$300

What People Say About LuxSci

I wanted to congratulate you on your service; the reduction in Spam is incredible, and the speed of delivery is stunning. I am recommending you to all of my friends and associates! You can quote me on that!"

As a dentist, I'm glad I found LuxSci to walk me through the process of becoming HIPAA-compliant! Once I signed up, Connie and Peter both helped me setup get situated with my secure email service. Getting my Business Associate Agreement also a snap. Thank you LuxSci. Now I can concentrate on treating patients!"

We use your High Volume SMTP service for our automated invoicing and purchase confirmations, so it is a critical part of our business. Your bulk SMTP has been the most reliable and cost effective I have used. The technical and sales support have been timely, efficient, and effective. I highly recommend."

LuxSci is a very unusual company in the respect that if you ask support for a technical help, NOTHING is ever insurmountable to them. From a 1 to a 10, they are twelve!"

The difference between a quality service provider and the rest is how they respond when things are not working. Being able to get someone on the phone after hours to sort out issues promptly is key. LuxSci delivered on their support promises in every respect."