I’ve been using GoDaddy VPS servers for a few years now and they’ve been OK up until Godaddy Server number 5.

I currently have two Godaddy VPS servers online, a 2GB Centos 6 VPS and a 3GB Centos 6 VPS.

GoDaddy Unmanaged Virtual Private Server Review
GoDaddy Unmanaged Virtual Private Server Review

I’m in the process of reducing the size of my network of domains (currently over 100 domains), pretty much plan to let anything not making much money to expire and concentrate on a core set of profitable domains (probably around 50 domains: too much hassle managing 100+). I should only need one VPS server for around 50 domains, though want to upgrade the RAM to 4GB.

Update: currently have a Godaddy VPS (I did reduce the size of my network to around 50 domains).

Godaddy Deluxe 4 GB Virtual Private Server Specifications

Back in 2016 it was cheaper to buy a new Godaddy Deluxe 4 GB VPS server plan than pay for upgrades to an old server, also a new server will probably have newer components and the option for more recent versions of Linux (I wanted Centos 7, PHP 7 etc…).

Godaddy VPS Plans
Godaddy VPS Plans

4 GB memory
120 GB storage
Unmetered bandwidth
3 dedicated IPs (though only 1 IP if you select unmanaged!).
Free 1-year SSL certificate

$29.99 a month (paid 12 months in advance) if managed
$19.99 a month (paid 12 months in advance) if unmanaged
On sale – Save 57%
$69.99 a month when renewed

I’m in the UK, so 20% VAT :-(

It’s cheaper than the 3GB Godaddy VPS I currently pay for.

Hmm, just realized they overcharged me!

I was charged
Deluxe 4 GB Virtual Private Server – 1 Year: $479.88 USD (~$40 a month)
VAT: $95.98 USD
Total Amount: $575.86 USD

Should have been
Deluxe 4 GB Virtual Private Server – 1 Year: $239.88 USD (~$20 a month)
VAT: $47.98 USD
Total Amount: $287.86 USD

Godaddy VPS Server
Godaddy VPS Server

Godaddy VPS Setup Problems : It All Went Wrong With Centos 7

Anyway, got access to the server quite quickly (no issues with that) and the server had an awesome Destroy and Rebuild feature.

Godaddy VPS Destroy and Rebuild
Godaddy VPS Destroy and Rebuild

Which meant in a space of 10 mins if you messed up you could start again from scratch and even choose a different version of Linus: Centos 6, Centos 7, Fedora 23 (I think) and a version of Ubuntu.

I’m familiar with Centos, so tried Centos 7 and 6 only.

I use the control panel Virtualmin, so after a quick “Yum Update” command to update the server to the latest version of Centos 7 I installed Virtualmin: done this at least half a dozen times before with other servers, it’s easy.

Unfortunately that’s when the problems began.

Web Hosting Support Disaster Management
Web Hosting Support Disaster Management

Important information: the server starts with all ports closed other than ports 22 (SHH access) and port 80 (HTTP access). To access other services you need to manually open ports using iptables and/or firewalld.

I couldn’t log in to Virtualmin because port 10000 was closed (Virtualmin opens this port via iptables/firewalld at installation). Weirdly port 20000 (Usermin: part of Virtualmin) and some other ports (MYSQL and others) were open, though others you’d expect to open during a Virtualmin install (POP3 and FTP for example) are closed. Didn’t figure out how Virtualmin opened those ports with iptables not active and firewalld disabled.

After a LOT of research and Destroying and Rebuilding the server over half a dozen times tracked the issue down to the server being run under an OpenVZ container and this can cause problems with iptables/firewalld.

The Godaddy Deluxe 4 GB VPS server started with iptables NOT setup correctly, it was enabled at boot (so it tried to run), but failed to activate due to an error on line 14 of the default iptables file (line 14 was the commit line). I could get iptables to activate by saving iptables with no default rules, but no matter what I tried I couldn’t open a single port via iptables (or firwalld, tried them both).

The problem is this line within the default iptables file:

-A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

when trying to add this rule manually via

iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

The result it:

iptables: No chain/target/match by that name.

I’m far from a server expert, I can manage the day to day running of a dedicated server with no major problems (being managing dedicated servers and VPS servers for over a decade), I can fix server problems as long as I can find the solution online. I hate using the command line, so most of my server activity has been under a control panel (Virtualmin), with this issue it was ALL command line as I couldn’t get Virtualmin to run, so made progress slower.

Wasted days trying to get iptables and/or firewalld to work with no joy.

Three Godaddy support requests, first I got someone who knew nothing about servers, second knew about servers and offered to charge $80 to setup iptables or a link to an article on using iptables.

Third I Destroyed and Rebuilt the server (so was a fresh server, I changed nothing so Godaddy support could check the server at the initial setup stage). I was on support for over an hour, he said his admin was looking at the server, but based on the responses I don’t think they did anything: end result was I cancelled the server and asked for a full refund: still waiting on the refund, apparently takes 3-7 days to make a refund at Godaddy (update: I got the refund).

Clearly the default server setup was faulty. Iptables and/or firewalld should be enabled AND active at first boot (iptables was enabled, but not active) since they are required to manage ports. Either Godaddy support couldn’t or wouldn’t activate iptables.

Godaddy support is next to useless for anything difficult in my experience.

Update: got it working by selecting the Centos 6 version. I would have rather gone with Centos 7, but nothing I tried worked. See my GoDaddy VPS Review for that VPS server.

David Law

Dedicated Server Reviews

Used a number of companies for dedicated servers between 2005 and 2019, here they are in chronological order. The last link is the review of the company I’m using in 2019.

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David Law : Technical SEO Expert with 20+ years Online Business, SEO, Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing experience... Creator of multiple WordPress SEO Themes and SEO Plugins. Interests: wildlife, walking, environmental issues, politics, economics, journalism, consumer rights.

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