[tomupton]

Great guide Andy, for defo you deserve a comment and a pat on the back for your work! I must say its certainly helped me understand OVH a bit further and is bring me closer to part with my money with a new dedi!

With regards to setting up a server, im UK based and trading as a Ltd company, what is the process of setting up a server? Will ID's be required, and contracts needed to be signed?

Also is it wise to order the server this side of xmas? as in if contracts needs to be signed, will their offices be open?

Thanks in advance?

Tom

[amaru007]

RapidLeech I dont know what that is.

rapidleech is a php app, that allows people to download rapidshare/megauplod/etc files onto the server.
if setup correctly (using premium accounts) you can download as much as you want.
it works on the majority of file sharing sites (4share, mediafire, rapidshare, megaupload, etc etc) and even allows you to download youtube vids (flv) to the server too.

[wackomoo]

Don't forget.

You MAY need to send a copy of your driving license or passport before OVH will set up your server.

All I had to do was accept the snail mail letter verification.

[Lubos]

Good guide, thanks for explaining. I was looking for 'fair use terms' on ovh and could not find them. Now I know why
This seem to be too good to be true, however it seems to be true
And I did not had to send my driving licence
Oh yeah, and I do use torrent legally - to download ISOs of Linux distributions and other open software.

[Andy.]

Don't forget.

You MAY need to send a copy of your driving license or passport before OVH will set up your server.

[Andy]

Hey there guysI want to ask,can I host adult,proxy sites?Also what about warez linking (Not hosting!),RapidLeech and TorrentFlux?Thanks

Adult content is fine as long as its not violent etc. It has to be within the rules of what you would see at other hosts.

Proxy sites I am not sure about.

Warez linking you should be careful.

RapidLeech I dont know what that is.

Torrents you should be careful with. Legal only.

You are best e-mailing customersupport@ovh.co.uk for definitive answers.

[Syndrome]

Hey there guysI want to ask,can I host adult,proxy sites?Also what about warez linking (Not hosting!),RapidLeech and TorrentFlux?Thanks

[VBulletin]

Very informative post Really love your guide. I am not from UK but i am trustworthy and want to use you dedicated server. Please give me companies paypal ID.

[IainK]

Nice one Andy very informative and unbiased
Good to see it stickied too hopefully this should help answer a lot of frequently asked questions!

[lafkon]

Well when was the last time you found an all legal torrenting site? I can bet never. I doubt there is any written fact to state 99% but its definitely unwritten.

Sorry, I don't want to seem like I'm trying to one up you, i considered replying privately but I think its worth noting for future reference that BitTorrent can, and is frequently used legally.

I used to use http://bt.etree.org/ for legal bootlegs, they've been around for years.

I just typed in legal tracker torrents into google and found a site which linked to the following legal bit torrent trackers

# Legaltorrents.com
# Public Domain Torrents
# Legit Torrents
# Bittorrent
# SXSW.com
# Etree
# Zudeo
# Revision3.com
# Linuxtracker.com

There is a huge user base that use BT to download illegitimate content, I don't deny that for a second-- but, as an analogy, I wouldn't warn people about the consequences of killing someone when they were buying a knife.

I think my copyleft heart is showing through

Great work on the guide, though. Its easy to be critical, but It's hard to write a good cohesive guide like that-- it should prove to be very useful, thankyou!

lafkon

[undisclosedp]

Not to get into a pissing contest or anything, but three completly legit torrent sites spring to mind with no effort, http://www.legaltorrents.com, http://www.linuxtracker.org, and most shocking of all, the Official Bittorrent Website. But those sites aside, theres no denying that the majority of bittorent traffic is illegal, however there are still some perfectly legal uses for the system, and its completely unnecessary and uncalled for to paint all torrent activity with the same brush, and at the end of the day, its up to the user whether they wish to take the legal risk, be that on an OVH box, their home connection, or somewhere else.

[Andy]

Well when was the last time you found an all legal torrenting site? I can bet never. I doubt there is any written fact to state 99% but its definately unwritten.

Your points are valid and I guess it could leave that sour taste in a new customers mouth. However its pretty common knowledge from many members (even those on this forum) that OVH's servers are used for illegal BT.

I'll change the document to remove "harsh" legal comments and leave it at what you have suggested.

[lafkon]

Its pure fact that 99% of torrenting is illegal use.

I can't find anything to back that statistic up, could you cite something?

5. Torrents aren’t always great for speeds (and I doubt you’re downloading/uploading a legal torrent anyway if you are doing torrents! Beware, OVH will crack down on this soon enough!). You have to consider the number of seeders and leechers, the number of connections you have to them, the upload rate you’re using, the ratio you have… I could go on. There are too many variables that will affect torrent speeds. Be thankful you get anything at all. It is after all illegal in 99% of cases…

If people are using bittorrent to disseminate illegal material, and are knowledgeable enough to have an unmanaged "seedbox" I doubt this would have a great impact on their efforts.

What it does do is encourage the misnomer that BT is only used by people wishing to illegally distribute material. This is the same misnomer that is perpetrated by content controllers wishing to make file sharing illegal (hah!), or wishing to demonize what is otherwise a legitimate and highly effective means of content distribution.

If I want to get my next viral blockbuster out tomorrow without breaking the bank, BT is probably the only way to do it.

Anyway, I'm getting way off course now. I don't think a "help document" is the place to lecture users who are probably already educated on this subject. The paragraph makes subjective assumptions about usage habits and then gives the user a verbal slap on the wrist for something that he or she may not even be contemplating. If I was a new customer (Heh, actually, I am), it'd leave a sour taste in my mouth.

5. The speed of a BitTorrent download is reliant on many variable factors, including your ratio, the availability of seeds, and network conditions. It is worth noting that you are not permitted to use OVH based servers to illegally share copyrighted material.

lafkon

[undisclosedp]

Personally for me, those sections turn a very useful and informative document into a somewhat preachy (however brief, and tounge in cheak) piece about legal issues, that aren't really appropriate for a FAQ (especially not from a user and not an employee). I understand the last ditch attempt at dissuading people from torrenting, but if someones reached the point of opening up a user FAQ in the forums, then they will almost certainly be aware that if they choose to do illegal torrenting activity on their box then its a decision they can make for themselves, moraly, and face the consequences... again my opinion only... and i'll leave it up to you and the consensus of the forums.

[Andy]

The reason for me mentioning torrents is because this will become true as it begins to grow larger and start to affect the network. Its pure fact that 99% of torrenting is illegal use. Very few people use it for the reason bittorrent was originally made for.

The tone of the section is to make people aware once again that torrents are illegal, as a last ditch effort to make them not do it. Remember OVH is a French company, and torrents are being highly cracked down on there, so its right to assume a company as big as OVH would have to do their share of cracking down as well.

I won't remove it just yet. We'll see what other members have to say and whether OVH have something to say about it as well. I showed this document to several people before I posted it, of which all of them have OVH servers and they never mentioned the illegal torrents bit.

[undisclosedp]

Very nice document Andy, will certainly help out some of the newbies. I would make one small suggestion. You mention torrents initially, and i'll quote

5. Torrents aren’t always great for speeds (and I doubt you’re downloading/uploading a legal torrent anyway if you are doing torrents! Beware, OVH will crack down on this soon enough!). You have to consider the number of seeders and leechers, the number of connections you have to them, the upload rate you’re using, the ratio you have… I could go on. There are too many variables that will affect torrent speeds. Be thankful you get anything at all. It is after all illegal in 99% of cases…

A bit presumptuous of you I think to discuss legality. What evidence do you have to back up your figure of '99%' of cases? What evidence do you have that OVH are gonna crack down on torrents illegal or otherwise? I appreciate your concern of the (mis)use of the OVH network for a large amount of torrent traffic (legal or otherwise) but i'd suggest removing your discussion of legality in this document, its not your place to make these calls for OVH nor to preach to users about what they want to do with their boxes (legal or otherwise), and although my servers aren't used for torrents, I don't appreciate the tone of that section. I notice you do apologise later on, but honestly, in my opinion, you should steer clear of discussing torrents completely in this document, or if you do want too discuss them, remove your own feelings on legality.

Of course that might just be me who feels that way, I don't know.

[JALZOO]

Good work Andy you slug :P

[spoonzzzzz]

quite an interesting read. thanks very much!

[Andy]

Hello all OVH customers (and customers to be!),

I have taken the time to write a small document containing useful information about OVH's services and frequently asked questions. I hope it will prove useful to everyone.

The file can be downloaded here:
OVH Dedicated Server Help and FAQ.doc (approx 30KB)
Last updated: 06th June 2008 @ 17:17
Updated information regarding SLA and noSLA to make it clearer, something which was overlooked on previous versions of the document.

Please leave your comments/suggestions about the document in this thread. I'll try to update it as often as possible and correct any errors that may be found.

Thanks to the OVH staff posting useful information that has made this document possible.

P.S Can an OVH staff member please sticky/announce this? Thanks.