A Few Questions

I have a client that has a site built on Wordpress and an SMF forums of which the forums are fairly active. Not overly so but especially before any events, the traffic picks up.

The specs on the site are presently:

Disc space roughly 775 Gigs
MySQL Disk Space 55.45 Megabytes
Monthly Bandwidth Transfer showing today 10499.11 Megabytes
PERL version 5.8.8
PHP version 4.4.7
MySQL version 5.0.27-standard

I read the specs from the shared plans page but want to make sure of a few things before going further.

Will Hostgator move the account over from the present host and if so, will it be completely set up or will I have some work to do before the domain propagates? Will I be able to work on the site before propagation? Including the databases?

My client would prefer for any transfer to be seamless as would I but we all know that sometimes there's a glitch. In these days of overselling, I need to make sure that my client isn't going to experience issues resulting from a spammer on the same shared server, a porn site using up too many resources or other occurrences of this type.

They are a non-profit organization that holds events periodically for various charities. Close to these events, traffic picks up. Not to the point of needing a VPS or Dedi box mind you, but it does pick up some.

I'm aware of the Holiday discount and have looked at the Baby plan for their site. It appears to be what they would need to me but I'm a bit skeptical now a days due to the over-selling thing that's prevalent now pretty much host-wide. It's worrisome at best.

Thanks for reading.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Merlinslair

Disc space roughly 775 Gigs
MySQL Disk Space 55.45 Megabytes
Monthly Bandwidth Transfer showing today 10499.11 Megabytes
PERL version 5.8.8
PHP version 4.4.7
MySQL version 5.0.27-standard

775gb space??

Will Hostgator move the account over from the present host and if so, will it be completely set up or will I have some work to do before the domain propagates? Will I be able to work on the site before propagation? Including the databases?

Yes you can work on the site before propagation by using http://ip/~username

My client would prefer for any transfer to be seamless as would I but we all know that sometimes there's a glitch. In these days of overselling, I need to make sure that my client isn't going to experience issues resulting from a spammer on the same shared server, a porn site using up too many resources or other occurrences of this type.

HG are good at finding whats causing a high load and supending the account quickly

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by Merlinslair

I

Disc space roughly 775 Gigs

Gee, that's one big account.

Will Hostgator move the account over from the present host and if so, will it be completely set up or will I have some work to do before the domain propagates? Will I be able to work on the site before propagation? Including the databases?

If you're moving to cpanel, you can request hostgator do the move. Under shared hosting, even if HG moves you, normally you'll have to do the database config changes yourself, in your config files, and set up the username for the db you're using in cpanel and attach it to the proper db in your cpanel, under the mysql section. and yoy may want to check to see if your current host is running under phpsuexec, which may require tweaking in your configs as well. if you run into any issues, either ask on the forums or get support to help.

you'll be able to set up the new site before propogate and do some work, but some things won't work properly (such as some of your scripts, most likely).

My client would prefer for any transfer to be seamless as would I but we all know that sometimes there's a glitch. In these days of overselling, I need to make sure that my client isn't going to experience issues resulting from a spammer on the same shared server, a porn site using up too many resources or other occurrences of this type.

On seamlessness, usually I allow about a week overlap between hosting accounts. That's always been enough to clear out any glitches.

From my experience, HG is good about trying to address blacklisting promptly and they are working with a new mail gateway to try to get around it, but on a shared server, this is a potential issue whoever the host. The only way to have significant control over this yourself is dedi.

They are also good about not overloading their boxes. Read the HG blog where Brent talks about the overselling plans. (from support page links to blog) - very informative read.

They are a non-profit organization that holds events periodically for various charities. Close to these events, traffic picks up. Not to the point of needing a VPS or Dedi box mind you, but it does pick up some.

Bandwith is much less likely to be an issue that CPU. I don't know how clean SMF runs, but I don't think Wordpress should be bad with increased traffic. You'd really have to get hit very hard for that to be an issue. If it were me, I'd monitor it around the time you're expecting increased load, or even contact support and ask them for help monitoring it if you're expecting to be hit a lot more than normal...

I'm aware of the Holiday discount and have looked at the Baby plan for their site. It appears to be what they would need to me but I'm a bit skeptical now a days due to the over-selling thing that's prevalent now pretty much host-wide. It's worrisome at best.

I've been with HG for several months now, and I've been very happy with the quality of the server and solid support overall. A few tips: One issue per ticket, don't reply to tickets asking for an update, as that tosses you back to the end of the line, and be patient. Support is taking longer with HG growth, but they still are the best of what I've had with about a dozen hosting "experiments" over the years.

And welcome to the Swamps!

Nuts1 Where's the embarrassed emote at? That should have read 775 Megs not Gigs.

Hmm, seems I haven't been activated or something. Can't edit my previous reply. Well, thanks for your input. It's much appreciated.

Signed up today after talking to some folks in the Sales Dept. again and reviewing some more things about Host Gator. Hope to be up and running soon.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Merlinslair

Signed up today after talking to some folks in the Sales Dept. again and reviewing some more things about Host Gator. Hope to be up and running soon.

to hostgator

[gwyneth]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/16.gif

[smp]

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/9499/welcome38gk.gif

Regards, Steve Xx