Not sure if HG Dedicated Fits me !!

[Blue]

Hello all,,

I run a sort of small-medium size VB Forums..and that includes image hosting as a service for my members !! and it's all now on Yahoo! webhosting which i wanna move out of ...

i don't care about how much i pay as long as i'm getting all i need ..

My Forum Business is growing kinda fast and that means more and more visitors coming onto it ..

Question 1: whould it really make a big difference ( speed of my sites loading ) if i move out from my hosting plans that i have now to HG dedicated servers plan ?

Question 2: would i be allowed to host images as it's part of the forums business !

Question 3:would i have a very strong anti-viruses and firewall on my server?


Question 4: did any one of you guys really feel a difference when moved from a hosting plan within/outside of HG and into a Dedicated server on HG ??and can i have examples of sites running on a dedicated server on HG to check it out ??

Thanks

Blue..

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Blue

Hello all,,

Question 4: did any one of you guys really feel a difference when moved from a hosting plan within/outside of HG and into a Dedicated server on HG ??and can i have examples of sites running on a dedicated server on HG to check it out ??

Thanks

Blue..

I moved from the shared hosting to a dedicated server with Hostgator when my account was suspended for taking up too many resources (I don't blame HostGator at all and was actually surprised it took them so long to suspend it). Now that I'm on the dedicated I can say that it runs about the same, but obviously you never have to worry about some other site bringing down the whole server that you're hosted on because of a bad script or a digg attack.

My site is 24fans.net if you want to test it out. And also, this is on a celeron processor with 1 gig of ram, so it's not a high end server like what you are probably looking at.

[slapshotw]

I was a reseller with another host, then I became a reseller here, then got a dedicated here. Yes, you do see the difference...the speed when it's your own box is amazing as are the resources. You can of course host images because the box is yours.

The majority of people with dedicated servers here (and a lot of people I know with servers elsewhere) get the cPanel + Mailscanner package from configserver.com. It's excellent and has great anti-spam, anti-virus, and firewall software.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by Eric

I moved from the shared hosting to a dedicated server with Hostgator when my account was suspended for taking up too many resources (I don't blame HostGator at all and was actually surprised it took them so long to suspend it). Now that I'm on the dedicated I can say that it runs about the same, but obviously you never have to worry about some other site bringing down the whole server that you're hosted on because of a bad script or a digg attack.

My site is 24fans.net if you want to test it out. And also, this is on a celeron processor with 1 gig of ram, so it's not a high end server like what you are probably looking at.

Hey Eric ,

Thanks a lot ..i've checked your website ..it feels fast for me ..but don't know how many visitors would you have at peak or let's say at average !!
one more thing ..are the videos on your site hosted on the same server " your server " ??

Thanks again ..

Originally Posted by slapshotw

I was a reseller with another host, then I became a reseller here, then got a dedicated here. Yes, you do see the difference...the speed when it's your own box is amazing as are the resources. You can of course host images because the box is yours.

The majority of people with dedicated servers here (and a lot of people I know with servers elsewhere) get the cPanel + Mailscanner package from configserver.com. It's excellent and has great anti-spam, anti-virus, and firewall software.

Hey slapshotw,

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience..
i'm no expert on servers really ..as it's my first time to PLAN to have one
what are other things would i need apart from anti-viruses firewalls and mail scanners to start ??

and yeah ..i'm not planning to run my mail on the same server ..so that means ..i don't need a mail scanner ..would i ??

Thanks again

Blue

[TeeJa]

Originally Posted by Blue

i'm no expert on servers really ..as it's my first time to PLAN to have one
what are other things would i need apart from anti-viruses firewalls and mail scanners to start ??

and yeah ..i'm not planning to run my mail on the same server ..so that means ..i don't need a mail scanner ..would i ??

Thanks again

Blue

I have been on a dedicated for a few years now. I only host my own business clients and a few misc. fun & business ones. I can never go back to anything but a dedicated. You have COMPLETE control over your server. Set it up any way you want. It is almost like having it sitting next to your home computer, only you can not physically touch it. You have one of the largest bandwidth pipe lines in & out of it.
Why you would not want complete control over your Email does not make any sense?? All my clients switched over to the servers Email on their own domains and have never been happier. They have control over spam, news letters, black/white lists, banning, forwarding, etc. When their out of town, they can check their email from any computer via a web browser, etc.
The main thing is you are the boss/administrator over everything that pertains to that server. You make the rules. You are your own Yahoo so to speak.....
Support at HG is good, and I also have the mailscanner, firewall package installed from configserver. Their support also is fantastic.
BTW, I do run the Pro dedicated.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Blue

Hey Eric ,

Thanks a lot ..i've checked your website ..it feels fast for me ..but don't know how many visitors would you have at peak or let's say at average !!
one more thing ..are the videos on your site hosted on the same server " your server " ??

Thanks again ..

According to awstats, I received 29,504 unique visitors in August, with 1,796,464 hits. The average daily visits were 1,836.26 with 57,950.45 hits.

Once 24 starts getting closer (probably November or December when previews start coming out) I should see tons more traffic.

Yes, everything on the site is hosted on the same server.

Also, back when I was on shared hosting, on Mondays right after a 24 episode aired, I was the first 24 site to get next week's preview up (I work fast) and there would be probably over one hundred people trying to access the preview at that one time. It basically slowed the shared server down really bad... especially after episode 18, which is when my account was suspended.

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by Blue

i'm no expert on servers really ..as it's my first time to PLAN to have one
what are other things would i need apart from anti-viruses firewalls and mail scanners to start ??

and yeah ..i'm not planning to run my mail on the same server ..so that means ..i don't need a mail scanner ..would i ??

You should think about having your mail on your server...you're already paying for the capability!

The configserver package with or without mailscanner is pretty strong. They give an awesome firewall which includes something that boots people out with too many logins (you should see how often I get an email report of people trying to login as abe, alex, andy, anna, etc...going down all common names until they're blocked.

A lot of us also use extra mod_security rules from gotroot.com or some other source.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by TeeJa

I have been on a dedicated for a few years now. I only host my own business clients and a few misc. fun & business ones. I can never go back to anything but a dedicated. You have COMPLETE control over your server. Set it up any way you want. It is almost like having it sitting next to your home computer, only you can not physically touch it. You have one of the largest bandwidth pipe lines in & out of it.
Why you would not want complete control over your Email does not make any sense?? All my clients switched over to the servers Email on their own domains and have never been happier. They have control over spam, news letters, black/white lists, banning, forwarding, etc. When their out of town, they can check their email from any computer via a web browser, etc.
The main thing is you are the boss/administrator over everything that pertains to that server. You make the rules. You are your own Yahoo so to speak.....
Support at HG is good, and I also have the mailscanner, firewall package installed from configserver. Their support also is fantastic.
BTW, I do run the Pro dedicated.

Hey TeeJa ,

Thanks for your support..

looks like ..i'm gonna consider having my e mail on then ..

I might start with the basic dedicated one ,

Originally Posted by Eric

According to awstats, I received 29,504 unique visitors in August, with 1,796,464 hits. The average daily visits were 1,836.26 with 57,950.45 hits.

Once 24 starts getting closer (probably November or December when previews start coming out) I should see tons more traffic.

Yes, everything on the site is hosted on the same server.

Also, back when I was on shared hosting, on Mondays right after a 24 episode aired, I was the first 24 site to get next week's preview up (I work fast) and there would be probably over one hundred people trying to access the preview at that one time. It basically slowed the shared server down really bad... especially after episode 18, which is when my account was suspended.

Hey Eric,

Thanks again ..

good good ..so you run all what you have on the same server ..that's a good news for me ..

your site is cool by the way ..

Originally Posted by slapshotw

You should think about having your mail on your server...you're already paying for the capability!

The configserver package with or without mailscanner is pretty strong. They give an awesome firewall which includes something that boots people out with too many logins (you should see how often I get an email report of people trying to login as abe, alex, andy, anna, etc...going down all common names until they're blocked.

A lot of us also use extra mod_security rules from gotroot.com or some other source.

Hello slapshotw ,

Thanks thanks ...the reason why i was thinking of having my e mail on some other server is that some of my friends told me that it might be some sort of security hole for the server .." me have no idea " ..i said to myself ..if we know it's a security hole. .then we can block it ..but looks like you guys are all happy to have the e mail on the same server..

thanks a lot ..


good luck everyone ..

Blue

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by Blue

Thanks thanks ...the reason why i was thinking of having my e mail on some other server is that some of my friends told me that it might be some sort of security hole for the server .." me have no idea " ..i said to myself ..if we know it's a security hole. .then we can block it ..but looks like you guys are all happy to have the e mail on the same server

IMO, it would be safer to have the web stuff and the email on your own dedicated server than having the web stuff on your dedi and your email on another, shared server.

While having one dedi for your web stuff and another dedi for your email might be safer than keeping everything on one dedi, much of the security concerns about email become moot on your own dedi, because:

• you're not sharing the server with potential spammers
• you can institute your own controls, monitoring, blocks, precautions without being at the mercy of a host who's trying to achieve a happy mean for all the customers on a shared
• with root access, you can install security applications that are not allowed in a shared environment
• with access to logs and root, you're in a position to see any attempts immediately, and take appropriate action
• you have the ultimate option of turning things off if you have to

An analogy might be your own yard vs a public park. You can put up high fences, barbed wire, electric shock coils, viper pits, booby traps, and so on.

Moreover, you've got a stronger motivation to keep your yard safe than the maintenance guys have for the park--and even if it's not stronger, you can focus your attention. You can decide if sharpening the spikes on top of the fence is your priority, or fine-tuning the spotlight turret.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

IMO, it would be safer to have the web stuff and the email on your own dedicated server than having the web stuff on your dedi and your email on another, shared server.

While having one dedi for your web stuff and another dedi for your email might be safer than keeping everything on one dedi, much of the security concerns about email become moot on your own dedi, because:

• you're not sharing the server with potential spammers
• you can institute your own controls, monitoring, blocks, precautions without being at the mercy of a host who's trying to achieve a happy mean for all the customers on a shared
• with root access, you can install security applications that are not allowed in a shared environment
• with access to logs and root, you're in a position to see any attempts immediately, and take appropriate action
• you have the ultimate option of turning things off if you have to

An analogy might be your own yard vs a public park. You can put up high fences, barbed wire, electric shock coils, viper pits, booby traps, and so on.

Moreover, you've got a stronger motivation to keep your yard safe than the maintenance guys have for the park--and even if it's not stronger, you can focus your attention. You can decide if sharpening the spikes on top of the fence is your priority, or fine-tuning the spotlight turret.

gwyneth ...thanks a lot ...

that helped me understand more

good luck