We’re pleased to introduce a special
promotion to FSF readers - a 10 - 17% discount on Xirvik seedboxes
for the first month. The seedbox landscape has certainly changed over
the past year or so - and Xirvik has evolved to become a trailblazing
competitor in the marketplace. If you’re unfamiliar with Xirvik boxes,
you’re really missing out on some of the best features ever to be
created by any seedbox provider. We’re so impressed by their unique
WebUI/control panel that we opted to document what Xirvik brings to the
table. You simply won’t find a more complete, robust set of features on
any other seedbox - period.
Xirvik/FSF Promo Seedboxes
Dedicated Servers — It’s just you on the box; dedicated 100 Mbit pipeline, 400-500 GB storage (2 HDDs in RAID), 2 GB RAM. Regular price: $75-$80/mo. FSF discount: 10%-12.5% off for the first month.
Semi-dedicated & Power Series — Shared with just 3-4 total users; storage space ranges from 125-450 GB. Each user has his own IP address and partition on the server. Regular price: $30-$55/mo. FSF discount: 10%-16.5% off for the first month.
Promotional Link: http://www.xirvik.com/fsf-deals.html
Features/What You’ll Get (Through This Offer)
- • 100% fully unmetered plans - no hidden costs or limitations. No OVH!
Push 1TB or 100TB per month - these servers are
truly
unmetered
- • No torrent limits (add as many as you want)
- • Plenty of disk space (125 GB to 500 GB)
- • 100 Mbit line (this is not shared with anyone else on their dedicated seedboxes)
- • Shared servers delivered within 12 hours; dedicated servers within 24 hours.
- • Your own IP address for privacy, anonymity and security
- • Proxy server (use your seedbox IP to surf anonymously)
- • VPN (Virtual Private Network) for your home or local PC
- • The latest version of ruTorrent 3.0 (which they sponsor) with exclusive plugins
- • 3 rtorrent GUIs available at the same time, no need to pick - you can use any or all of them at all times
- • TorrentFlux-b4rt & uTorrent WebUI are also included on dedicated servers
- • HTTPS only access (all encrypted) to their unique WebUI Control Panel
- • Access to files via the web (HTTPS downloading from the server)
- • Newsgroup/Usenet downloading to the server
- • File transfer via FTPS and SFTP (all encrypted) for extra privacy
- • Mobile access in your Android phone using Transdroid (which they sponsor)
- • Forums; email support & live support via IM (MSN and Jabber/Gtalk)
- • Your choice of server location (US, Germany or Luxembourg)
- • Satisfaction guaranteed: If you’re not happy with your server for any reason you can cancel within 24 hours of account activation for a full refund.
The Xirvik ‘Welcome Message’
After subscribing to a Xirvik seedbox, you’ll receive a
welcome email which provides you with your seedbox URL (web
interface), login credentials, FTP, proxy info and other details. Shown
to the right is an actual ‘welcome’ message - simply click on your URL
to take you to the WebUI (note that it is HTTPS using a self-signed
certificate).
1. Xirvik’s Server WebUI/Control Panel
There is a lot of information to cover here, but we’re absolutely convinced that you’ll be blown away by what Xirvik has to offer. After logging into the seedbox (ie. https://dediXXX.xirvik.com) users are presented with a customized WebUI panel. Here is where members can access most of the seedbox features by navigating through the menu tabs at the top.
‘Server’
The Server tab displays your seedbox hostname, IP, uptime, server load and disk usage statistics.
‘File Access’
File Access provides your own specific account details for connecting via FTP, FTPS & SFTP in order to transfer files to/from your server. Naturally FTP is the protocol of choice for most seedboxers, but File Access also contains an extraordinary feature: users are able to download files from the server via the web without
FTP (see Direct Web Access below).
Schools & Seedboxes — Many colleges & universities will aggressively block FTP access, proxies, VPNs, tunnels, or anything else that students are doing to try keep the torrents flowing. While using any seedbox will definitely allow you to torrent on campus, it’s only truly effective if you can use it *to download your completed torrent files back to your dorm-room
*. One sure-fire method to outwit your school is to download from your seedbox through encrypted https - this is never blocked. For this, Xirvik is the perfect seedbox provider to bypass anything, anywhere, anytime.
In the File Access tab, click on the ”Access Files” link to bring up your /downloads/ directory in a web browser. Everything you’ve added and/or uploaded to your server (FTP, SABnzbd, torrents) is mirrored in this downloads folder in real-time (be sure to refresh the page to reflect any recent changes to the server). From here, all files can be downloaded via SSL (HTTPS).
**TIP:
** This is not a recommended option for downloading multi-file releases (ie - scene releases with 50+ individual RAR files, since the DL procedure needs to be done one file at a time - unless, of course you’re using a download manager). But it’s viably efficient for single files (ISO, MKV, AVI) in the absence of FTP access (say, you’re accessing your Xirvik seedbox from work, school, etc). Having said that, there are methods to overcome this by repacking a release through Xirvik’s ruTorrent plugin Explorer into one archive, or even extract the contents of a rarset directly to the server beforehand (again, using Explorer). Otherwise just use FTP/SFTP, if possible. Another crazy option exists - upload files to filehosters Rapidshare, MegaUpload, ZShare and 2Shared - and download it ‘anonymously’ through http from these links you generated (we’ll get to all that further down the article).
‘BT Client’
Unique to Xirvik, subscribers are able to launch their seedbox in the BT Client tab according to a desired BitTorrent client and/or WebUI. Currently there are 3 different BT clients/UIs to choose from (TorrentFlux-b4rt, uTorrent WebUI and rTorrent) - and rTorrent comes with 3 different available GUIs (ruTorrent 3.0, wTorrent & rtGUI).
Users can even launch their seedbox simultaneously across multiple platforms and switch back and forth. rTorrent + ruTorrent is highly recommended, which we’ll outline extensively in a separate section. (Below, note that the torrents are the same throughout all three rTorrent UIs).
| ruTorrent |
| wTorrent |
| rtGUI |
 |
 |
 |
For those who opt for a dedicated server will also receive access to uTorrent WebUI and TorrentFlux-b4rt:
| uTorrent WebUI |
| TorrentFlux-b4rt |
 |
 |
‘Newsgroups’
Not only do Xirvik seedboxes support torrents, but it also comes with a built-in web based Usenet/NZB client - SABnzbd.
Click the ”Access SABnzbd” link to launch. Note
: Xirvik does not provide Usenet access - you’ll either need to use your Usenet account from your ISP, or else purchase one from a reputable Usenet binaries supplier.
Binaries/NZBs that have finished downloading can be found in the “Access Files” tab, and even through Xirvik’s one-of-a-kind file explorer ruTorrent plugin which connects any & all server downloads through the BT interface.
‘Proxy’
Subscribers are able to use their seedbox URL as a web proxy - typically this is done in a browser, but it can also be used in almost any Internet application (mIRC, MSN, AIM etc). When applied to a browser, you’ll be able to surf the web anonymously through the IP address of your seedbox. You can also login to your private tracker accounts using the same IP address as the seedbox itself, something that is necessary to get ‘ratio credit’ on certain passkey-less trackers such as Demonoid.
‘VPN’
Akin to the proxy option, you can also use the server as it’s own VPN (Virtual Private Network) on a local machine through OpenVPN client software. In short, you’ll be routing all of your Internet traffic on your home PC through your seedbox IP. Specific key files are provided by Xirvik for each seedbox (server) account. The VPN option is only available on Xirvik’s dedicated servers, which includes seedboxes found through this FSF offer.
As well, upon purchasing, subscribers
can select from different countries in which the server is located. This
can be beneficial to those who are outside of the United States but want
to use an American IP address to access certain websites like Hulu that
block non-US visitors. [TIP: The proxy option will also work in a
browser to unblock US-only websites, just as long as your server is
hosted in the US.]
‘Services’
The Services tab is your gateway for controlling various seedbox functions, such as restarting services (rTorrent, uTorrent, your proxy, your webserver, SABnzbd & FTP). As well, users can even reboot the server (but use this option as a last resort after trying individual service restarts).
‘Mobile’
There’s a great tool to control your seedbox from your Android phone - it’s called Transdroid. You can use it for other seedboxes of course, but if you want a seamless setup, there’s a special Xirvik Configuration option embedded into the app. Xirvik has a sponsorship agreement with its author, which ensures that all their seedbox configurations are supported and work out of the box.
‘Tools’
Firefox Addon — This plugin adds a Xirvik context menu item (right-click… select “Upload to… <your server>”) so that users can upload/add torrent files directly to their seedbox without having to download them to the harddrive first. Simple; yet so convenient & it saves a ton of mouse-clicks.
To install the addon (found in Xirvik’s
Forums here), unzip the archive to a temp
location and in Firefox go to File > Open File… and then browse
to the xirvik.xpi file. Restart Firefox after installing. To
configure the addon, go into Firefox’s Tools > Add-ons menu and
select Xirvik seedbox
(click Options, see image right). Here you can either manually add a server yourself, or else just use the Server Wizard option (it works great). Click the Test server button to confirm that it’s indeed working as planned. You may need to restart Firefox one more time after configuring the box through the wizard.
2. Customized ruTorrent Installation & Plugins
Xirvik is proactive in sponsoring ruTorrent development, which includes exclusive ruTorrent plugins available only to Xirvik customers. Unlike some other rT/ruT seedbox providers, Xirvik offers nearly the entire suite of ruTorrent plugins, and even a few new ones.
We won’t delve into what each individual plugin does (see ruTorrent on GoogleCode for a complete list) but instead we’ll look into Xirvik’s exclusive plugins, addons & custom ruTorrent options.
‘News’
This plugin adds a “News” tab (see image above) to ruTorrent’s interface, where all of Xirvik’s news announcements are displayed. Not all that exhirarating compared to this next plugin:
‘Explorer’
Finally - a new ruTorrent plugin to get excited about! Essentially what Xirvik’s exclusive Explorer plugin does is allow you to access all files/folders on the server through ruTorrent’s friendly GUI. It’s similar to the “Access Files” WebUI feature, but with some serious muscle and extended BitTorrent functionality. Users can pack/unpack, delete files, check mediainfo and manage just about everything through ruTorrent’s visual interface. Shown below is a look at the Explorer tab - this is broken down into 2 distinct “panels” (left & right - only the left panel is shown below) which allows for file browsing on two different hierarchies. In short, Xirvik’s Explorer plugin offers the same management features as found in an FTP client, yet all tasks are conducted directly through ruTorrent itself.
By default there are two directories contained within Explorer;
newsgroupsand watchdir
. Everything else that shows up here has been added by you, the user.
Newsgroups [directory] — Everything downloaded through SABnbzd will appear in the ‘Explorer’ tab in the newsgroups folder. From here, all context menu features can be performed: Users can make and upload torrents from releases/files downloaded from Usenet; unpack or create RAR/ZIP archives. Usenet and seedboxes have never been so closely related!
Watchdir [directory] — All torrents added here will automatically start in ruTorrent. Useful for RSS feeds, or even manually uploading torrents through FTP to this dir.
Context Menus (in ‘Explorer’ Tab)
Loads of great stuff to cover; this is exactly why Xirviks’s File Explorer and context menus really outshine the competition. For instance, right-click on a file/folder in the Explorer (tab) to view the options - here’s a complete recap of the features…
**1. Open
** — Opens the directory for the chosen torrent/folder. Use the [ .. ] to go back up one dir level. Torrents without a directory (ie - single-file torrents) are obviously displayed in the “root” of the Explorer, sans folder.
**2. Copy…
** and **Move…
** — Users can copy files/folders to new locations, as well as relocate them to a new directory on the server. Can also be used to move .torrent files to /watchdir; move Usenet downloads to a specific directory; or relocate folders/files uploaded via FTP to proper directories for seeding/uploading.
**3. Delete
** — Files & directories can be removed from the server via the Explorer panel using Delete. Not advisable to do on active seeding torrents - but it’s a convenient option for removing unwanted files, rar archives that have already been extracted, and dupe content.
**4. Extract all…
** — This is really cool; users can extract the contents from RAR and ZIP archives to a chosen path (on the server) by using the ”Extract all…” feature. ”Extract here” will simply extract contents to the currrent directory, whereas Extract all… offers an option to specify a certain location.
**5. Syncronize Panels
** — Self-explanatory; use this to re-sync both left & right panels to display identical path structures in the Explorer tab.
**6. Refresh
** — Server paths and updates in Explorer are not necessarily refreshed in ruTorrent in real-time when changes are made to dirs, new torrents, moved files/dirs etc. No need to reload the web browser, though - just use the “Refresh” option at the bottom of the context menu.
**7. Check SFV
** — Here’s a useful option to hash-check files in torrents. It’ll roll through rarsets or anything else that has a .sfv file — right-click on an SFV file to activate and select ”Check SFV” (either ones you’ve already downloaded, or from torrents that you created yourself) to verify the integrity of the source files.
**8. Media info
** — This is a sweet feature: Highlight and right-click on a media file (AVI, MP3, MOV, MKV, etc) and select “Media info”. You’ll get a gamut of information about the file, all from Xirvik’s ‘mediainfo’ addon that’s conveniently integrated into the service.
- This neat feature uses mediainfo built into the seedbox to obtain technical and tag information about a video or audio file (see the example below). The generated output can then be copied [CTRL + C] and pasted into a text file, NFO file or a torrent description.
**9. Create
** — The create context menu allows users to create new directories, rar & zip archives, and SFV files.
Create > New Directory… In addition to changing paths and moving files & folders on the server through the Explorer tab, users can create new directories or sub-dirs whenever required.
Create > rar archive… Users have the ability to create RAR archives from files & folders on the seedbox. To do this, simply right-click on a file/folder and select the option “Create > rar archive…” (here you can browse to a direct path, or leave it as-is to create the rar - or set of rars - in the same directory). For RARs, piece size can also be selected in order to create multiple archives from a single large file (handy for uploading to Rapidshare - ie: keeping the file sizes limited to 200MB each, or for recreating ’scene-format’ archive sets). Leave the “Volume size” blank (unchecked) to create a single rar file.
Below - An Example of the RAR command.
Create > zip archive… Zip archives can also be created from files & folders on the server. By default, there is no option to select/create multi-part zip archives - for this you’ll need to use create > rar archive instead.
Create > SFV file… This is a useful option to create SFV files from your content. Say, for example, you downloaded a single AVI file and want to repack it into a multi-part rar archive in order to upload it to a tracker. The SFV file will verify that the archive set is free of errors and intact; this is something you may want to include with the torrent.
**10. Upload to
** — Here’s a feature you won’t find elsewhere - you’re able to upload files from your seedbox directly to filehosters (rapidshare, megaupload, zshare and 2shared are supported). This is nothing short of amazing, especially when combined with RAR/unRAR capabilities, autotools, auto-extract, using a watchdir to automatically start torrents, and private tracker RSS feeds. Think of all the possibilities here (download ’scene releases’ from good private trackers, unrar them on the server, re-rar them as 200MB filesize and upload them to RS, MU etc. - and lastly, start posting the links to release blogs, warez forums… even send DDLs to yourself for http downloading at a later time or from a different location, or simply share them with friends privately). And because you’re uploading directly from your 100Mbit server, upload speeds to the filehosters will most likely be considerably faster than if you were uploading from your home PC.
Better still, users can even specify their own account details on a premium service for Rapidshare & Megaupload in order to gain credit through these created links. Go into ruTorrent > Options… and click on the Fileshare tab.
Upload to > megaupload… After a file has been successfully uploaded to Megaupload, you’ll notice a new Megaupload link
in the command box (this is the new working link to the DDL file - see image below). By default, email notifications are turned off - but if you set a “Recipients e-mail” in the Fileshare options tab (see above), the recipient will receive an email with the direct link inside.
Upload to > rapidshare… No notifications, but after uploading to Rapidshare there’s a link to the uploaded file (as well as a killcode link to remove the DDL). Take a look at the upload rate below - 845 KB/s. It took just 7 seconds to upload a 7,773 KB file to Rapidshare.
Upload to > zshare & 2shared… Zshare has a 500MB filesize limit; 2Shared limit is 2GB. At present, there is no option to link your premium accounts when uploading to these two filehosters. No matter; you’ll still generate authentic direct download links to share wherever & with whomever you wish.
Unpack
Similar to the “Extract” context menu, you can also use the Unpack option to unarchive releases directly through ruTorrent. Highlight a torrent in the main ruTorrent index panel & then right-click on a rar file and select “Unpack”. This can also be found in the Files tab in ruTorrent.
Well, that’s about it for now - until Xirvik decides to turn the seedbox world upside-down again and re-reinvent how seedboxing should really be done. With all these features, we’re convinced you’ll enjoy your Xirvik seedbox.
sharky Says:
Please folks, refrain from spamming useless negative drivel about Xirvik. Over the past 12 months we’ve tested multiple Xirvik boxes and been thoroughly satisfied each and every time. Take it up with Xirvik if you have any issues, not here. They have forums and tech support. Bashing Xirvik publicly in this post only shows you are an inferior competitor or a career troll. Such comments will be promptly deleted, as there are other sites/forums for which seedbox discussion can be conducted. And we’ve checked - you won’t find any negativity aimed towards Xirvik there, either.
Dark Says:
Thank you for the great article and great work Sharky! nice to see your back.
Soulnova Says:
Great write up. Glad to see more top notch seedboxes out there. Its the only way to go.
WHO Says:
can we at least have a review about what really matters in seedbox, speed ?
all of the mentioned above are wonderful extras, but what about the speeds, the review doesn’t mention that, and the post obviously has an advertisement tone in it0
sharky Says:
@ 04 - WHO - Speeds: Good question, but a complicated answer.
On dedicated servers, you’ll get 12MB/s download/upload (or a tad higher) capability, since it’s just you on the server. For popular torrents (ie - SCC’s freeleech category, and on new TL torrents - I witnessed sustainable upload ‘bursts’ in excess of 10MB/s, but I wasn’t really watching it all that carefully. The 100Mbit line is dedicated, so the point is somewhat moot - I tested 2 ‘dedicated’ servers for this article, and consistently hit a 12/13MB/s ‘download’ rate 24/7. Upload rate, however, has too many factors to be included into such a review (peering, the country you chose to have your seedbox set up in, the trackers you’re using, number of leechers on the torrents, how early - or late - you got into ‘the swarm’ on a new torrent). Because of these varying elements, it’s completely impossible to express a valid opinion or review of a seedbox provider’s “upload rate” (unless of course, the server has been oversold - then you can really tell, especially in the DL transfer rate).
For semi-dedicated and Power - You share these with 2 (or 3) other users, and thus the 100 Mbit line is also shared among all 3 or 4 total members. In a worse-case scenario - If all users are online on their boxes at the exact same time, each trying to forcibly ‘max out’ their boxes simultaneously, then you’ll only receive 1/3 or 1/4 of the 100Mbit (that’s roughly 3MB/s or 4MB/s). The reality is; this never happens - think of it this way: How many times have you sat in front of your monitor, continuously loading in new torrents into your seedbox WebUI over a sustained 24-hour period? People need to sleep, work, and live in different timezones. 90% of the time, you’ll probably get the vast majority of the shared seedbox bandwidth anyways.
FTP Speeds - FTP transfer speeds always vary; purportedly OVH has terrible peering to North America (BTW, Xirvik is phasing out their old OVH boxes, and none are available through this offer). But again, it can also depend on where you are, your ISP, and where the server is located in relation to you. Xirvik itself endorses the usage of FTP clients that support segmented downloading, and Xirvik’s FTP speeds easily max out my home connection, time & time again.
HTTPS Downloading (via the WebUI) - I originally thought about including my findings within that section; but declined due to the many factors involved. Through each of my 2 European servers I was able to achieve HTTPs transfer rates (for a single file) in excess of 550KB/s (to Canada), which is about 1/2 of my ISP’s DL potential. I didn’t use a download manager for multi-threading; it was a straight transfer via the browser.
Hope this answered some of the questions.
Random Says:
Changed alot since I last used them. Maybe I’ll try em again.
Thanks for the review!
A_person Says:
So do you get like shell access?
RIAAtarded Says:
not to nitpick but you say under features “no OVH”, but the IP in the server tab is clearly an OVH range.
inetnum: 91.121.0.0 - 91.121.31.255
netname: OVH
descr: OVH SAS
descr: Dedicated Servers
descr: http://www.ovh.com
country: FR
sharky Says:
@ 07 You can get shell (root) on the dedicated servers, but only if you choose the option “Plain server with root”. It goes without saying: you won’t get any of these exclusive extras if you decide to do that. But you’ll be able to build a DIY seedbox or do anything else with it - you’ll have total control just as if you bought it from a provisioner yourself.
@ 08 - OVH? Indeed; I tested two boxes, one was from OVH. I never intended to hide that fact, or else I would have properly edited out IPs in the screenies, as I normally do. I left IPs and URIs intact for this article. Xirvik does still have some older OVH servers, but none are being used for this new round of boxes. They’ve wisely moved on.
Ramiel Says:
I’ve had my semidedi box from Xirvik for almost 3 months now… IT’S GREAT!! Only thing I can warn about is that certain private trackers block different seedboxes, including certain Xirvik boxes. I originally had a German hosted Xirvik box and connected to a certain tracker no problem, when I switched to a US hosted Xirvik box I could no longer download torrents from that tracker. When I gave the IP and inquired in that site’s forums, I was told it was blocked.
But, I’ve since moved on to a larger, better tracker anyhow so I don’t care so much about the other tracker.
Murray Says:
Now your removing comments that point out this is an add and that you will censor comments critical of xirvik? Good job sharky
Sharky edit: You are spamming for no good reason. You are a career troll. Try this on a private tracker forum, and you will surely be disabled. Why does this article displeasure you so? Because we’re offering an opportunity for seedboxers to get a deal on a great provider? These are discounts - and next time try to read the actual article first. I’m not censoring posts that are critical of Xirvik; on the contrary - what Xirvik is doing is the wave of the future. I’m actually answering valid questions. Try to view the article as something positive for Xirvik, FSF, private BitTorrent, seedboxes and development of future seedbox technology - instead of dismissing this, in your weak mind, as some ‘conquer the world’ money scheme via one article. I’ve only had to remove 2 comments so far - both from your IP. Grow up, child.
Murray Says:
“Treated as such” means that readers need to understand that you are getting paid to say things like
“best features ever to be created by any seedbox provider”
“We’re so impressed by their unique WebUI/control panel”
“You simply won’t find a more complete, robust set of features on any other seedbox - period.”
Quite simple really, I definitely don’t have anything against good specials.
Toto Says:
Do you disagree about what he said ?
Because for me, he is right. I tested 3 different seedbox providers theses last months and they are (very) far from these kind of features.
And if your are not dumb, of course u know that sharky gain something with this ad and i don’t care.
Djxcqtion Says:
I dont post much.I had to take on this one though!
Murray : How long have you been reading this blog?It disturbs me to think that you think Sharky’s making anything out of this.Sharky’s done a lot for the world of private torrenting and I think he deserves a little more respect for his relentless passion.I would seriously doubt he would promote something mindlessly.I would change my name if you find a more dedicated blog.Seriously try posting a link to any other blog ( Im sure sharky wont mind cause they aint none!).
On the other hand,I think its a tad expensive even after the discount.They seem like great providers with great specs but its a fiercely competitive seedbox world up there where the line is thin.Setup up times,Monthly rates and After-service seem to be integral in decisions on seedboxes.These guys seem to know what they are doing though.
Sharky : When did you start throwing flames at us mortals?The Rogers affair might have really got to u huh?(hehehe)
On a serious not though I felt it was unnecessary to post that initial message on the comment section mate.As much as I try to agree with the reason as why its been done (Damn they are a lot of trolls around here these days…), I dont think its a sign of respect to your readers.I don’t think all us get swayed by the negative publicity some services get on the comment section(the hardcore experienced readership at least).If the service is good and it deserves to succeed,It will.Besides I think thats one of the reasons the blog has succeeded over the years.The open relationship you have with your readers and the fact that they can express what they want.Restricting that could be dangerous.
I hope that this has been useful in some way.
Wish the best of luck to all. Xirvik ,Sharky and strangely even Murray!!
I
G Says:
[quote]including new trackers that paid me thousands of dollars to write about[/quote]
lolz nice touch
rendez2k Says:
Does anyone know if the bill date could be changed to the 24th for subsequent if I sign up to today? Already have a semi-dedicated from them but fancy one of those dedicated beasts. Is the German Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz a good deal? Is that a normal processor these days for a seedbox? Seems a little old?!
Edo Says:
Sharky is right, these guys are amazing.
I can assure you I have tested many, many seedbox providers over the last 12 months, and the only box I have kept is the Xirvik box. I have the dedicated on the German server. Speeds constantly excellent, of course this depends on the torrent. Support excellent, you don’t always get an answer straight away, but they usually get back to you in less than 24 hours, which I think is excellent. I have had my box with them for 9 months, and had NO problems whatsoever. Good value for money in my opinion.
One point to note, is that on the dedicated servers, they do not update the software automatically like they do on their semi-deds, but all you have to do is drop them an email, and tell them what you want updated, and they do it no probs.
For info, I have 2 seedboxes, xirvik, server.lu (diy).
ki Says:
and i thought a forum was there to discuss the good and the bad…i tink a admin interjecting with everyones negative opinion is very unprofessional, theres many seedboxes out there with advantages and disadvantages. jus sayin
boni Says:
I’ve been using xirvik for almost 1 YEAR. It’s the best service you will get. amazing tech support, amazing plans and systems.
thisone Says:
no shell access = useless!
TiTAN Says:
So there is no way to gain these features and also have root access?
Random Says:
Great great & great features~. too bad there’s no SSH access, which means I wouldn’t be able to run IRSSI.
Btw, when will savvyseed get a review? IMHO they have some nice features as well.
LOL Says:
The reason they dont allow SSH access is that they do not want anyone to get hold of their source code for their ’special’ addons.
Well sold sharky, you must have been payed a lot for that.
A ‘dedicated’ is not entirely dedicated when you cant even get a terminal from it.
serious question Says:
in the screenshot under the “features” section it shows the webserver is active
is this a php/sql webserver i could run drupal installations on and actual websites?
Xirvik Says:
You guys can believe us or not but Sharky explicitly said from the start that he wanted a good discount for their readers than a cut of sales.
On SSH: You CAN get SSH. You cannot get it on a fully configured served though - we believe that shell access is for people that know what they are doing and thus are able to maintain their own sever. Many many times people ask for shell, root, etc, only to ask the next day to have everything setup for them. So if you think you can do things yourself, go ahead… you can get a server from us at a cheaper price than you’d get from the datatacenter directly, we give you the root password and on you go.
stoner Says:
To get all the added extras on a dedi you would expect to have bits locked.. Come one the amount of work that would of gone into having all the added extras they wont let people get access to that. Looks like a good deal though.. Have a dedi server with the extras if you want them or take full root and set it up on your own.. Some bits of the extra look good but for me not all of it would be needed.. XIRVIK out of interest how much of a hit does that put on a server. I’m sure for a single user it aint much but on a multi user setup having all the GUI’s running if the user choose to do so.. Do u find server load is higher than a light wieght seedbox with just the standard rtorrent/rutorrent install?
Xirvik Says:
More on shell access since some people are vocal about it. Many users ask strangers in IRC to help with their seeedboxes, and even give them their user/pass. Lots of times we’re asked to change the password to help reclaim ownership.
The fact is that allowing anyone to run uncontrolled processes in servers where other users exists is a liability and we decided to not do it. Sure, most of the reasons people want to launch scripts and small programs are reasonable and would be harmless, but if I was sharing a server with someone and I had sensitive data in the server I wouldn’t like at all that any other user could be running unsupervised stuff.
Anyway we know that some of our competition allow that, and we respect their decision. Ours is not to do so except in dedicated servers that are user managed.
Since we are a very open source friendly company most of the stuff you see in our seedboxes will make it to the mainstream versions of rtorrent/rutorrent/etc in case you decide to build your own seedbox eventually.
Stoner: Load is the same as long as you don’t use the new features. Of course if you unrar/rar in the server the load is going to be high for a while. Except for that there is no difference.
Guest Says:
Bells an whistle are cool, but as a student I go with the cheapest available.
I have 110gb rtorrent+rutorrent on a 100mbit shared line (I get 30MB/s down and 20MB/s up, for some reason) with ssh access. I can install openvpn/mysql or any other frontend for rtorrent.
All this for 10 pounds a month.
panchobrilla Says:
got a seedbox from xirvik from almost 4 months now and so far so good…i get great speeds (10mbps Down and 6-8mbps Up on a 100mbps line semidedi server) and with ruTorrent v3.0 is even better!!!! i highly recommended.
nt Says:
I was drooling over that 6tb Server lol. I never went to buy a seedbox because I never thought I could upload stuff to Rapidshare.. Those features are freaking SICK! I’m going fo ra 6tb one lol, I wont get it full in a month or so but would be nice to neve rhave to delete seeding torrents. I love to share.
Thelen Says:
Pies are good.
ken Says:
nice server , i’m using xirvik ,good service too
cheapskate Says:
Excellent writeup Sharky. With all those features, Xirvik seems like an outstanding service. My only complaint is the price. If they could offer all this, including VPN, for $15/month or less, I’d jump on it.
Also, what is their privacy policy? Do they log IPs like Rapidshare does? Will they rat you out immediately upon getting that first email from the MPAA?
Adam Says:
Interesting. Lots of features.
Cheapskate has a good question. Can we trust this company?
Haven’t had a lot of luck w/ ruTorrent.
Like the newsgroup downloader.
sharadh Says:
wow thank u sharky for this offer..i had used xirvik before and the service was really good!!guys grab it before the offer ends
Xirvik Says:
Cheapskate, we are based in Spain.
By law (the one that applies to us, not the US one which is meaningless here)we can’t disclose any information to 3rd parties without a judge (again, a Spanish one) requiring us to do so.
We follow the law completely including paying taxes, etc and strictly abide to Spain’s strict privacy policies.
Notification from MPAA or whatever are forwarded to our users to delete things if they have to, same as the datacenter do when they get a notification.
About logs, we keep as minimum as possible to provide support.
Wyreflyer Says:
I swapped to Xirvik on the 14th may using a link on this site (from santrex 70gb for $19 a month, also linked from this site). I have to complement Xirvik, their semi-dedicated seedbox (125gb for $29.99 a month) has been stable (santrex box crashed repeatedly and lost all my torrents), their support is fast, 1 or 2 hours (questions on encrypting FTP with a Mac) and the options (although I don’t know how to use them all yet) are fantastic.
The biggest difference I have noticed is the speed that the server processes commands, only 3 users, so no waiting whilst the server is tied up.
Shame I missed this offer, but very pleased with this choice so far.
Jay Says:
Signed up this morning (15-16 h ago). and i have not heard anything from them yet.
“Setup in less than 12 hours or first week free!”
Guess its my lucky day
I signed up for a dedicated box, cant wait.. Hurry up Xirvik!
Dean Says:
They do run a good service and there customer support/service is the best by far .
BUT they are overpriced especially on there dedicated boxes/power servers there are a lot more seedbox company’s around offering better deals.
some also with ruTorrent ver 3 maybe not all of the plugin’s though.
David Says:
Does anyone know what network the american dedicated plans are on, I suspect FDC, still very cheap for $75
Jay Says:
Still waiting…….
Jay Says:
Got it today!
But sadly the speeds were insanely slow, and i bought a dedicated.
Bad routing, so i will ask for a refund.
boni Says:
lol, bad routing. i’ve been using it for SCC, TL, waffles and what.cd. always 6mb/s+
JAY Says:
No problems with torrent speed..
Was the FTP that sucked!
Got 360-700 kb/s tops! (im on a 25 mbit line)
David Says:
If your FTP speed was bad thats probably more of a routing issue with your ISP,
Dean Says:
@ DAVID sounds to me like you work for Xirvik ?
$75 for the american dedicated is not a bad price.
BUT $80 for the German or France 500 Gb dedicated is not such a good price or $50 for the power server shared between 4 users .
Objective and Neutral Says:
Yeah really objective & neutral journalism Sharky. You highly honor yourself as sooo objective and neutral…. Yeah right, how much did Xirvik pay you?
No negativity about Xirvik? Yeah right ….
No negative comments allowed? Hmmmph, was no prob in any other posting.
@DAVID or at Xirvik. Consumer ISPs, or any other ISPs tend to be really precise and particular about their routing, it’s more likely to a DC having the probs than an large-scale ISP.
I wonder how much Sharky got paid for this blogpost?????
Paid blog posts Says:
@TOTO: The problem is not this being ad, like many have pointed out, the problem is that it’s not clearly stated that this is an advertisement. Sharky needs to eat too and got to make sum cash with fsf, but theres no statement that this is infact an ad while it clearly is an ad
LOL Says:
Such comments will be promptly deleted, as there are other sites/forums for which seedbox discussion can be conducted. And we’ve checked - you won’t find any negativity aimed towards Xirvik there, either.
===============================================
LOL, I personally have nothing against xirvik. Shell access and routing and whatever aside, they are more expensive than other people who offers the same plan, based on the same provider, and has the same upload speed. In the end, you get more bang for your bucks from many other reputable seedbox providers, even with this discount.
LOL Says:
And frankly, many of the “rings and bells” can be easily achieved with a shell access. Rar, check sfv, mktorrent, and much more. There are a lot more that you can easily do with shell access but xivirk does not provide. (Speaking of which, there are scripts to max out the connection all day long, or at least most of that. I am sure SHARKY certainly knows about it)
David Says:
A tracert would provide the answer to where the problem with slow FTP speed lies.
@ DAVID sounds to me like you work for Xirvik ?
Funny no I dont actually work for xirvik
lmao Says:
overpriced shit
eRr0r Says:
I feel it as lil bit expensive..
xihporo Says:
This is better..
http://pulsedmedia.com
10 euro a month for 115GB HD and 256MB ram on a 100mbps line…
Yogy Says:
I heard posotive reviews about Xirvik. many people said that the service was excellent and they are the best in the business. But I think thier prices are high for a single individual like me.
I suggest Xirvik to reduce their prices so that even students like me can be their customers.
Thelen Says:
@David yea US server are FDC, german server are netdirekt, lux are server.lu, and french are OVH.
Xirvik achieves much better averages by having less users, but you obviously do pay for the privilege of having only 2-4 users per server.
The SSH question is a very good one, but with the plugins they provide it does become less of an issue. Xirvik is very much a mainstream seedbox provider, whereas others provide more options, for cheaper, but more users per server.
You get what you pay for.
Dean Says:
There are many providers i could list that are cheaper than Xirvik and have a low user to server ratio ..
All i have done is just search through the reviews that sharkey has provided .
The provider im using at present is easily just as good as Xirvik and Much Cheaper ..
http://www.seedbox4u.com/
JustMe Says:
Interesting article and clearly the folks at Xirvik have put a lot of effort into their control panel, however you seriously degrade the quality of this website by a) being so biased and b) not stating that you are being sponsored to write/post the article.
zefyx Says:
Signing up now.. who cares about the slightly higher pricing; look at all of those features WITHOUT resorting to transmission and b4rt!
Johnny Says:
Good thing they GUARANTEE a 12 hour set up as I paid 22 hours ago exactly without ANY word. I also emailed them about 10 hours ago (when the 12 hour window had expired) and I’ve yet to get a response.
Thus far, this is absolute garbage. I can’t understand all the praise they are getting.
John Says:
Our pricing is lower than Xirvik and we specialize in uTorrent WebUI seedboxes.
We provide elegant seedbox solutions based on uTorrent/uTorrent WebUI. All seedboxes are located in France with full 100mbit duplex connections for fast speed. All plans have unlimited bandwidth! You can use as much bandwidth as you need.
You can download and upload with speeds up to 12.5 MB/s!
Example Package:
Starter Box
30 GB Space - Unlimited Bandwidth - 4 Active Torrents - 100Mbps - France Location
uTorrent WebUI access + FTP account (on request)
$13.99/per month only!
View more packages at http://fibersb.info TODAY
DIPSHIT Says:
@ JOHNNY
make sure you look at typical setup time in the description if its dedicated like i get its a 24hr wait. Also i believe the semi dedicated is 24hr wait time to. Just be patient its worth it.
I order from these guys I run a dedicated server from them and not had a problem yet (fingers crossed lol) FTP speeds are great for me. The upload speed ive seen as high as 10 MB/s so far. But I only go to private trackers so the swarm is not as high as a public trackers, and everyone else runs seed boxes as well.
@John
Well you should not compare yourself to Xirvik they blow you out of the water with there features alone. Plus the highest HD space you have is 125 GB I can only run 15 active torrents and its priced at $59.99. You can get those specs with Xirvik for $29.95 and you can run unlimited torrents with them. Sounds like you bought a server some were broke it down and trying to make a killing at over selling it.
Martin Says:
I’ve used a 1TB dedicated server from xirvik for over 5 months with very good luck. I configured the server my self using the “plain server with root” option. Even though I don’t have every one of the neat features the pre-setup ones offer, I share my box with 5 other friends using the Rutorrent multi-user interface. The server has never been rebooted and the speeds are quick (13MBps down / 9MBps up). My only complaint is the FTP speeds from France to USA are sometimes annoying (200-400KBps), but I guess I have to blame OVH for that.
The few times I’ve contacted support using Google Talk, they have responded within 2 hours.
Overall, I would recommend Xirvik to anyone looking for a powerful seedbox.
Dan Says:
Get a weekly or monthly seedbox @ http://superseeder.eu
No 12 month subscription. Box prices start at $11 USD
Fast speeds & 24/7 irc help. Servers hosted in europe so speeds are guarenteed.
Coolio! Says:
Great job and thanks for all the info (Sharky & everyone who posted comments!) I’m a newbie to seedboxes. I’ve gotten 2 emails from my ISP recently because of the BayTSP trolling torrents. Time to step up to a seedbox.
Kayos Says:
I have beed tesing 6 semi dedi seedboxes this month from a number of suppliers with a view to going with the best next month. While I would agree that Xirvik is not the ‘best deal’ on paper the Xirvik server has been by far the best and I intend to upgrade to a dedi server from them.
NOTE MY POINT OF VIEW IS FROM A USER IN THE UK.
From a technical point of view I have NO idea why but……
1) On the NL sever I get much better upload/download speeds with Xirvik (even compared to other leaseweb providers).
2) The torrent completes at the same time the download finishes. With 4 of the other providers torrents seem to finish downloading a long time before they reach 100% (is this a resource thing on the server? This is most noticable when I download a few torrents at a time so I guess it may be).
3) I have not had to restart the Xirvik Server. I have had to do this with every other provider (or mail them to do it for me).
4) FTP speeds from the UK are far faster (again even compared to the other leaseweb providers). This is most noticable on single large files.
5) Even if you put all the other features aside the Firefox plugin is priceless.
Again I would point out that my opinions are based on a UK user using the Xirvik NL semi dedi and I would guess that costomers elsewhere will have different expiriences.
My only real complaint would be that I wish that I could get a bit more disk space on the NL dedicated servers. Other providers offer up to 3 times the space for a simlar price. Dispite this my money next month will be going to Xirvik.
Kayos Says:
Quick addition:
While my money is going to Xirvik two other very good providers out of the 6 I tested which I feel merit a mention :
Feral Hosting: Very good UL/DL speeds and very good deals. Not as in your face ‘easy to use’ as some of the others but nothing 10 mins on the excelent help pages won’t sort out. For me the only downside was the FTP speeds, I took one of the leaseweb offerings but just could not get the download speeds. I will be sure to give them another go if managed dedicated leaseweb servers get added to the list (I’m not technical enough for a plain server with root access).
Seed Unlimited: 1500GB’s of Disk on a 1GB NL connection with many of the nice extras Xirvik offers. Had a few problems (my own doing mostly) but they sorted them out very fast. Seems they have dropped the package I have now. Much better deal than Xirvik but again I just could not get the FTP speeds on single files. On multi file downloads I could max my home connection.
Melvin Newlan Says:
What’s your opinion on the “Golf Digest Hot List”? (Might include your response in our article) LET”S HEAR IT!