Sharktech Review: Security-focused Colo, Dedicated, and VPS Hosting
Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. Learn more
Our overview of Sharktech…
Expert Opinion
Hear from our web hosting expert, Frank Moraes.
Best Reviews
See what 2 Sharktech customers have to say.
Hosting Plans
Compare the best Sharktech hosting plans and their prices.
FAQs
Most asked Questions about Sharktech – answered!
SharkTech Introduction
Sharktech Internet Services operates out of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded in 2003 – specifically to provide DDoS filtering to the existing web hosting community. But they soon expanded to become a full service high end web hosting company themselves, offering colocation, dedicated, and cloud hosting services. They also provide hosting for a number of Chinese companies who want to have servers located in the US.
Services & Specializations
Sharktech does not offer traditional shared hosting and domain registration. Their focus is on the needs of more demanding customers – with a special focus on security.
Customers can host one or more of their own servers with Sharktech’s colocation services at any or all of their three datacenters. All services come with 100 Mb/s internet port with 3 Tb outgoing transfer per month. Rack space is available in sizes 1U (1.75 inches) up to 4U (7 inches).
Additional services are available such as extra IP addresses, backup storage, and enhanced power. Rack colocation is also available. With it, customers can rent up to 40U of space with 4,000 W of power.
Dedicated hosting is available at the Denver and Los Angeles datacenters. Servers are hosted different kinds of hard, starting with the Atom D525 up to Xeon E5-2603 (Quad 1.8GHz). The servers can be variously configured with different amounts of memory and disk space.
They offer three operating systems: Linux, FreeBSD, and Microsoft Windows Server (license costs extra). As with colocated servers, dedicated servers are connected to 100 Mb/s internet ports with 3 Tb outgoing transfer per month. This transfer can be increased to 30 Tb for an extra fee. Sharktech will also build completely custom servers for customers.
With Sharktech’s Cloud, customers can choose from a number of standard plans that provide virtual private servers (VPS) where they can effectively have a dedicated host that is distributed over multiple hardware devices. This provides redundancy in computation, disk storage, and networking for greater stability and reliability. And the prices are very competitive – for the most basic VPS, not that much more expensive than a good shared hosting plan.
Sharktech Reviews by Our Community
Overall Rating from 2 Reviews by Sharktech Customers
| Support | |
|---|---|
| Quality | |
| Features | |
| Value |
Most Helpful Reviews
Steve Rusta imnotgoingtogetattacked.com
Aug 17, 2017
Winston John
Jul 23, 2019
Sharktech set up a custom layer 7 firewall for my website which had been going down due to ack/syn attacks. My website is now stable and I don’t worry about the attacks anymore. The whole team was responsive in getting the firewall up. The Los Angeles network is excellent for my site.
Infrastructure / Datacenters / Network
Sharktech hosts its servers in datacenters in three US cities: Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles.
The Chicago datacenter is located in the Board of Trade building, which provides redundant power from ten electrical feeds via six substations. It connects to the internet through Equinix via multiple Tier-1 10 Gb/s network connections from Comcast, Cogent, and Zayo.
The Denver datacenter is located in the middle of the city’s tech center, near to the CoreSite Neutral Data Center. It connects to the internet through CoreSite via the same multiple Tier-1 10 Gb/s network connections.
The Los Angeles datacenter is located at One Wilshire, with CoreSite interface to multiple 10 Gb/s Comcast, Cogent, and GTT internet streams. All the datacenter servers are fed into five transit providers: HE.NET, XEEX, XO, TISCALI, and NTT/VERIO.
All the datacenters are equipped with specialized firewalls that can filter up to 48 packets per second. They also provide an intrusion detection system designed by Sharktech. It monitors network traffic and routes it to the firewall for correct filtering. Basic layer 2 switching is done in a distributed manner so as to be reliable as possible.
Support and Customer Service
Sharktech provides 24/7 technical support via telephone, email, and a ticketing system. On dedicated and colocation servers, they also provide free reboots and operating system installations. For dedicated servers, they even provide troubleshooting, while leaving routine maintenance to the customer.
Security & Backups & Server Monitoring
The physical safety of the servers is provided by many mechanisms at all of SharkTech’s datacenters. These include biometric entry systems with 24-hour onsite personnel, as well as closed circuit cameras. The datacenters provide fully redundant power to all servers. They are climate controlled with fire detection and extinguishing systems.
All Sharktech services include DDoS filtering. Their system offers filtering at different points in the data delivery system. It provides proactive filtering at three stages: upstream, core router, and distribution router. And then it dynamically filters at the firewall and distribution router. Their network intrusion detection system also checks packet protocols to detect and eliminate malicious requests.
Backup is available for all services. Costs depend upon space requirements. And all backups are stored offsite.
Uptime Guarantee
Sharktech provides no uptime guarantee or service level agreement. They do, however, say their uptime should never be less than 99.9%.
Billing & Payment Policies
Sharktech accepts the standard kinds of payment – and more if you contact them directly. They provide one-month discounts for customers who pay for a year ahead of time on dedicated servers, and two-month discounts for cloud customers. There are no discounts for colocation services.
Summary
Sharktech provides high level hosting services worldwide for customers who target the US market. They use three datacenters across the US to provide colocation, dedicated, and cloud/VPS servers – all at very competitive prices. They also provide a strong security infrastructure and 24/7 monitoring and technical support.
Most Popular Sharktech Hosting Plans
| VPS with DDoS Protection | Colocation 1U | Game Server Quad 3.3GHz | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disk Space | 40GB | 2TB | |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | 3000GB | 30TB |
| Price | $19 / mo (Billed as $19 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! | $79 / mo (Billed as $19 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! | $116.67 / mo (Billed as $19 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! |
| Visit Sharktech Now | Visit Sharktech Now | Visit Sharktech Now |
Most Popular Sharktech Alternatives
Starts at:
$5.47
per month
(Billed as $19 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate.
Usual price: – Get % off!
Starts at:
$144
per month
(Billed as $19 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate.
Usual price: – Get % off!
Sharktech is the only host I have found who can actually defend the layer 7 ddos attacks I’m getting. My site had previously been taken down by a former customer upset with my service. I had no proof, of course, and just had to live with the attacks until I found ST.