Time for dedicated hosting?

[weismana81]

This seems to be a common question, so let me say first... I apologize for the redundancy.

I'm trying to decide if it is time for dedicated hosting. I'm a new (ish) designer, and I've starting managing hosting accounts for my new clients. I have a reseller account with hostgator that, for the price, I've been happy with overall. I've read all the posts and I've seen the recommendations that you really need quite a bit of traffic or specific application requirements before you really consider dedicated hosting. This is not me, and I don't have any false views of the size of my design business, or my place on the web. I am working on small sites that get very little traffic, and I'm building a custom cms that I'm implementing on my new projects.

Here's the thing...

While I'm working my butt off on all these small projects and on my cms application to try to get experience and get my name out there, I don't want to rob my clients of the service that they deserve. I have a few sites on my reseller account, and I manage a few others hosted by other companies. It seems like at different times of the day, these sites are almost inaccessible. There is this crazy lag before the pages begin to download, and I don't know what the problem is but I get the feeling this is a hosting issue.

The three concerns I have about dedicated hosting...

This resller account is the first experience I've had with server management, and it's been a little sketchy for me. I know this is probably simple for many of you, but this has been a little foreign to me although I'm getting pretty comfortable with it now. So my question here is, what is the learning curve like? Is it irresponsible for me to get involved with a dedicated server when I have no experience with one?

The second issue is... Is this my problem, and will dedicated hosting solve my problem? I know it's difficult to answer without looking at the actual sites, but I get the feeling that some of you must know what I'm talking about. These sites aren't getting much traffic, and there can't be any bandwith issues, but, like I said, theres this crazy lag before they even begin to download. And it's becoming increasingly clear that it's "hosting company A" at this time, and "company B" at another time. I've been putting this off for a while thinking that I'm just getting ahead of myself, but this is a clear problem that I can't ignore any longer.

And the last issue... This is not really a negative, but I want it to be know that the price of the introductory dedicated hosting account doesn't concern me. To me, the value is well worth the price, and I'm comfortable with the investment if it will solve my problem. I'm not one to waste money, but it seems like this is money that needs to be spent and if that's the case, I'm ok with it.

I know this is probably a difficult to post to respond to without more specifics, but any help is much appreciated!! Thanks so much!!!

[Chimpie]

First issue... server management: This comes from a guy who has never touched a dedi server, but offers this advice based on life's experiences. Learning to manage a dedicated server is going to take time. If you have other large commitments, other jobs, house full of kids, nagging wife demanding you take her out every night, learning something new like this probably is not right for you. However, if webdesign is your sole job, then do it. From what I've read and heard it's a lot of fun to learn.

Second issue... solving your problem. Whether sites are on shared hosting or reseller (still shared), you have to remember that they are on the same server as, possibly, thousands of other sites. Odds are some of them are not up-to-date or coded properly. This will bog things down on the server, causing everyone's site to lag.

Yes, a well tuned/managed dedicated server should solve this.

[ixape]

Originally Posted by weismana81

This seems to be a common question, so let me say first... I apologize for the redundancy.

I'm trying to decide if it is time for dedicated hosting. I'm a new (ish) designer, and I've starting managing hosting accounts for my new clients. I have a reseller account with hostgator that, for the price, I've been happy with overall. I've read all the posts and I've seen the recommendations that you really need quite a bit of traffic or specific application requirements before you really consider dedicated hosting. This is not me, and I don't have any false views of the size of my design business, or my place on the web. I am working on small sites that get very little traffic, and I'm building a custom cms that I'm implementing on my new projects.

Here's the thing...

While I'm working my butt off on all these small projects and on my cms application to try to get experience and get my name out there, I don't want to rob my clients of the service that they deserve. I have a few sites on my reseller account, and I manage a few others hosted by other companies. It seems like at different times of the day, these sites are almost inaccessible. There is this crazy lag before the pages begin to download, and I don't know what the problem is but I get the feeling this is a hosting issue.

The three concerns I have about dedicated hosting...

This resller account is the first experience I've had with server management, and it's been a little sketchy for me. I know this is probably simple for many of you, but this has been a little foreign to me although I'm getting pretty comfortable with it now. So my question here is, what is the learning curve like? Is it irresponsible for me to get involved with a dedicated server when I have no experience with one?

The second issue is... Is this my problem, and will dedicated hosting solve my problem? I know it's difficult to answer without looking at the actual sites, but I get the feeling that some of you must know what I'm talking about. These sites aren't getting much traffic, and there can't be any bandwith issues, but, like I said, theres this crazy lag before they even begin to download. And it's becoming increasingly clear that it's "hosting company A" at this time, and "company B" at another time. I've been putting this off for a while thinking that I'm just getting ahead of myself, but this is a clear problem that I can't ignore any longer.

And the last issue... This is not really a negative, but I want it to be know that the price of the introductory dedicated hosting account doesn't concern me. To me, the value is well worth the price, and I'm comfortable with the investment if it will solve my problem. I'm not one to waste money, but it seems like this is money that needs to be spent and if that's the case, I'm ok with it.

I know this is probably a difficult to post to respond to without more specifics, but any help is much appreciated!! Thanks so much!!!

I don't think you need a dedicated server. I think a VPS will good for you. I would recommend VPS level 4 with cPanel - It's $80 monthly and is a lot cheaper than a dedicated server whilst being a lot more powerful than the shared/reseller hosting you currently have.

You don't need to worry about server management as HostGator will manage it for you - Any problems just open a ticket and it will be fixed like they do for you with your reseller package at the moment.

Any more questions just ask

[GatorLhebert]

Its hard to determine what the best options are for you without seeing the performance of the sites on the environment you would prefer. We do work to balance the loads on our shared systems and use a variety of methods to cuve resource allocation into acceptable levels across our systems, but that is not always optimal or obtainable without human intervention. We do not recommend moving from a shared hosting solution to a VPS unless you want more control over your hosting environment. The resources available to you in a shared hosting environment are far more powerful than those you can obtain on low level Virtual servers.

We do not recommend moving from a shared hosting environment to a Virtual Server for performance reasons unless you are prepared to maintain at least a level 5 VPS or higher. Keep in mind that a Virtual Server is a slice of a Hardware node, which still creates a certain level of shared resource allocations. If you want control and performance you should seriously consider dedicated solutions. The recurring cost of a Level 5 vps with cPanel is $104, the recurring cost of basic dedicated solution is 174. Dedicated solutions will be a system that is completely yours. A physically racked systems in our data center that belongs to you and your customers only.

We recognize that this is not a small decision to make and these systems are managed though not monitored. We will work with you to ensure that your systems is configured in a way that provides you with the performance you are looking for and assist you with task on demand so long as they are within the scope of support. However unlike shared hosting solutions you will be solely responsible for monitoring your system and ensuring that backups of your data are available in the event that recovery is required. If you have questions about our dedicated solutions you can contact our sales team and someone that works specifically with our dedicated systems should be able to assist you.

[weismana81]

Great advice! Thanks for the responses!

Is it relatively simple to have multiple domains and sites set up on vps? WHM makes this so simple on my reseller account.

The lack of reseller services is why I haven't really considered vps. I don't need automated services as I manage these accounts for my clients anyway so I don't need WHMCS or auto pilot. I guess now that I look at it again, it looks like I can have WHM on vps?

We recognize that this is not a small decision to make and these systems are managed though not monitored.

Does this mean that hostgator takes on the responsibility of security and software updates etc...? The fact that it's not monitored... does that just mean that's on me to make sure my server is up etc...?

Thanks again for all the help! I really needed this!!!

[GatorLhebert]

Originally Posted by weismana81

Great advice! Thanks for the responses!

Is it relatively simple to have multiple domains and sites set up on vps? WHM makes this so simple on my reseller account.

The lack of reseller services is why I haven't really considered vps. I don't need automated services as I manage these accounts for my clients anyway so I don't need WHMCS or auto pilot. I guess now that I look at it again, it looks like I can have WHM on vps?

You can have cPanel/whm installed on a Virtual solution when it is provisioned. Our dedicated solutions come with cPanel/whm when they are racked.

Does this mean that hostgator takes on the responsibility of security and software updates etc...? The fact that it's not monitored... does that just mean that's on me to make sure my server is up etc...?

Thanks again for all the help! I really needed this!!!

That is correct, we will not monitor the uptime of your dedicated serve, however we will assist you with software installations and other operations so long as your request is within the scope of normal support.

What does Fully Managed mean?

The HostGator accounts which get fully managed support are:

• Shared webhosting
• Reseller hosting
• VPS hosting if it includes cPanel or Plesk
• Dedicated server purchased online

For our clients who purchase fully managed account types, here is the support you get. Fully managed support means that we will handle just about any issue or configuration request you may have with your server outside of custom software/script installations (ex: ffmpeg+mplayer+mencoder). Some examples of things covered by our fully managed support may include but are not limited to:

• Security audits.
• Load problems or sluggishness.
• Network related issues.
• Failure of server to boot.
• Hardware failures
• Package installations via package manager (yum,rpm).
• DNS Configuration
• Troubleshooting script configurations and/or website errors.
• Task automation.
• Firewall setup & troubleshooting.
• E-mail configuration.
• Software upgrades & migrations. (php, mysql).
• Custom apache configurations (mod_python, mod_ruby, mod_wsgi)*
• Perl/PECL module/extension installations.
• Backup configurations.
• Google Apps setups.
• And much more.

[weismana81]

Ok I think I'm leaning towards a high level vps. But I just had one more quick question...

You can have cPanel/whm installed on a Virtual solution when it is provisioned. Our dedicated solutions come with cPanel/whm when they are racked.

Is the provisioning something that you/hostgator handles? Once this is done, do I add accounts/domains in WHM similar to how I add them with my reseller account?

And I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but just to make sure, could a better reseller account improve performance?

Thanks again!!!!!

[GatorLhebert]

Originally Posted by weismana81

Ok I think I'm leaning towards a high level vps. But I just had one more quick question...



Is the provisioning something that you/hostgator handles? Once this is done, do I add accounts/domains in WHM similar to how I add them with my reseller account?

And I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but just to make sure, could a better reseller account improve performance?

Thanks again!!!!!

Provisioning is the process of container configuration and resource allocation, so this part of the purchase process and it is handled by us automatically. If you choose the cPanel option you will have to wait approximately 90 to 100 minutes before the container is completely ready for use. Do not attempt to access the system or restart the system during this window of time. Once the system is online you can begin using WHM and cPanel normally. If you have accounts on one of our reseller servers you can request a free content transfer of those accounts, as is up to the limits as specified on the below article. Please review the entire article for information on our content transfer policy.

http://support.hostgator.com/article...tent-transfers

Selecting a higher tier reseller package will not increase the performance of your accounts on those systems, it will only increase your disk and bandwidth allocations. Your accounts on reseller systems already have access to the maximum resources available under the normal resource limits as found on the comparison pages.

http://support.hostgator.com/article...mparison-chart

[eurgbp]

if sites don't get much traffic and cpu load then start slowly with VPS, otherwise you might overpay for resources you are not using, and it's a shame to do that I had dedicated, very powerful one, loved it, but at the end of the month,when bills come in, it is not an optimal value for money ratio