In July 2005, I ordered a "root server" at Hetzner.DE, to host mail, web, and DNS services for myself and a few friends. I still use the machine for that purpose two years later. This is a brief summary of my experience.
Hetzner offers a range of dedicated servers.
When I signed up, the entry-level plan was RP2999, for EUR 29/month. I got an Athlon XP 2000+ with 512MB of RAM and 160GB of disk space, with a 200GB monthly transfer limit (which I have never approached). That plan was discontinued in April 2007, and I was automatically shifted to the DS2000 plan (same hardware, 1TB limit) for EUR 39/month.
The new entry-level plan is DS3000, for EUR 49/month (in November 2007). Unfortunately, that is no longer "very cheap", but you get a great deal more for the money: an Athlon64 X2 5600+, 2GB of RAM, 2x400GB disks, and a 1TB transfer limit (if you exceed the limit, your connection is capped at 10Mbit/s, or you can pay EUR 9 for each 100GB at 100Mbit/s after the limit). The DS3000 also includes six IP addresses (a /29 subnet) instead of one, plus a few extras (e.g. 50GB of backup space on another server).
Update (2007-11-23): I discovered that the DS2000 plan (which I was moved to, without notification, earlier this year) is also eligible for the six IP addresses. I applied for them, and they were assigned. The administrative interface allows me to set up reverse DNS for them. Easy as pie.
There is no way to upgrade from one plan to another, other than to order a new server and decommission the old one.
Hetzner also offers inexpensive shared web hosting, as well as colocation and managed servers. I have no experience with any of these.
I had to fax my order, because their web form was not set up to accept my non-German postal code (at that time; the problem may be fixed now). They responded promptly, and my server was online within two days (not in the 24 hours they promised, but nothing to complain about).
My credit card is charged monthly, and I get a PDF invoice by email. Because I'm not in Europe, I don't have to pay VAT, so I'm charged a bit less than the prices on the web site (which all include 19% VAT).
I have not had much reason to contact Hetzner support. On the few (~5) occasions when I have sent them email, their response has been prompt, courteous, and helpful.
I don't speak German. Considering that Hetzner is a German company and targets the German market, they have been very accommodating. The web site and all their communications (email notifications, etc.) are in German, but they respond to my email in English.
It hasn't been a serious problem for me. I can make some sense of the German mail, and I have friends who can help me with the more difficult bits. You might find it painful if you don't know any German at all (but I know someone who managed to lease a server without any German, and is happy). The monthly invoices are all in German, which may or may not be a problem. The administrative interface is also in German.
I notice that they now have an English version of the dedicated server page. I guess that means they have some more non-German customers these days, and that things will become easier for English speakers.
Update (2007-10-08): For the first time, a message from Hetzner (about scheduled downtime; see below) included an English translation following the German text.
Update (2007-11-22): Traffic warnings and other notices are all sent with German text followed by an English translation now. It seems Hetzner has made an effort to translate most of their correspondence.
Update (2009-09-13): I just noticed that the web interface has been translated to English (and made nicer-looking to boot!).
While recovering from a disk failure (see below), I found two useful features of the "Hetzner robot" (the administrative web interface).
The first allows you to ask for the machine to be rebooted. Unless you pay for the "24 hour reboot service" (or your plan includes it, which the new ones all do), this is available only at certain times (0645-2245 on weekdays, 1000-1700 on Saturday, and not at all on Sunday), and is subject to unpredictable delays, because someone apparently does it manually. (It took about an hour both times I was needed to use it.)
The second allows you to activate a "rescue system", whereby the DHCP server instructs your machine to boot off the network (into a minimal Debian-based system) the next time it reboots. A random root password is generated, and you can ssh in to try to fix the problem. The next time you reboot, the machine will boot from the disk as usual. Very handy.
You can apparently even use this to reinstall one of the standard Linux images provided (32/64-bit versions of OpenSUSE, Debian, and Ubuntu in various configurations).
There's a Hetzner wiki with answers to FAQs, system configuration information, and so on. All in German.
In the two years since I ordered the server, there have been (as far as I can remember) three power failures that their UPS couldn't handle; and the machine was temporarily unreachable due to network problems a couple of times. In every case, the problem was resolved quickly. (I can't be more precise, because the outages were infrequent enough that I never bothered to measure.)
Update (2007-10-08): Hetzner provided ten days' notice for two and a half hours of downtime scheduled for maintenance work on their power infrastructure. I hope this improves the power situation in future.
Update (2009-09-13): Since the last noted scheduled downtime almost two years ago, I have noticed no outages (either network or power).
hetzner-status.de has information about any current problems (but no archive of past problems).
An aside: Hetzner blocks outgoing connections to port 6667 (IRC). That doesn't affect me much, but it's annoyed me and a number of others on occasion.
Update (2007-11-22): My server's hard disk failed this morning. I notified Hetzner, and received a response an hour later. They booted the machine from the network so that I could copy the data off it, and asked me to submit a support request through the web form to have the disk replaced. I did so, and the machine was back online with the new disk 4 hours later (although they initially estimated that it would take just half an hour).
I have been very happy with Hetzner, and I hope to upgrade to their new entry-level server someday. I would recommend them to anyone who needs inexpensive and generally reliable hosting.
Abhijit Menon-Sen <ams@toroid.org>