Solution to suspending customers for exceeding limits

[danny]

I'm just about to move to Host Gator from 1and1 (who are awful btw, please anyone reading this do not even consider 1and1, even if they offer you lifetime hosting for free!!!!!).

One of the concerns I have regards the risk of being suspended at some point in the future for putting extreme loads on the server.

Please don't get me wrong, I understand that there is a need to protect the many other users of the server.

Anyway, here's the situation (and then the solution!)

At the moment we are relatively small, and shared hosting is definately the right choice for us. But at some point in the future (hopefully) we'll exceed this and will need a dedicated server.

Fingers crossed we'll have sufficient warning, and we'll be able to handle the transfer before we end up putting extreme load on a shared server. However, we may not see this coming (as it could quite literally happen overnight!), and the last thing we would want is for our site to be down for an extended period whilst we resolve it, just as our site takes off!!!

So what are the solutions?

1) ensure there is sufficient reporting, so that in the case of gradual build up of traffic (which is normal for most sites), the admin can clearly see when they are approaching the limits, so they have sufficient time to take steps to avoid breaching (a warning email at 80%, 90% etc would be amazing!)

2) offer customers the option for an "automatic upgrade". I would happily pay a deposit of 1 month dedicated server, so that in the case of exceeding limits, HG can automatically migrate my account to a dedicated server, contact me and make arrangements for going forward! Of course this would be opt in, so anyone who doesnt like it can ignore it!

This would need careful monitoring, so customers aren't upgraded incorrectly (i.e. if the breach is due to a rogue script going wild then it's probably best not to upgrade, and to suspend and get the customer to fix the script, but if it's due to legitimate (i.e. not DOS) traffic increases then it's probably best to upgrade!)

This offers a solution for customers who know they're going to outgrow shared hosting at some point, but don't know when that's going to happen!

Just my 2 cents!!!