VPS/Semi-Dedicated

[britbob]

Has Hostgator ever considered VPS or even semi-dedicated services? I was just curious, because there seems to be no happy medium between shared resellers and full on dedicated. I`m sure you find a good market in this?

[fuzzfree]

I have also request this product!! The market on this field is huge, more and more are interesting on VPS - especially those who have overgrown their shared plans and have no money to afford a dedi!

HG ???

[Stef]

Check the Semi Dedicated plan here.

Stef.

[gtgeorge]

Can a reseller account be moved the semi dedicated plan?

[fuzzfree]

Stef, the semi-dedi plan you have is just a shared account, you do not have root access, whm to create account...

[britbob]

Originally Posted by Stef

Check the Semi Dedicated plan here.

Stef.

I noticed that yesterday, how many accounts are generally on your semi-dedicated plans?

Anyhow, I was talking about VPS and semi-dedicated as a stepping stone for resellers. Something between shared and full on dedicated.

[Stef]

This plan indeed offers only cPanel access, not WHM, so it's not a "real" semi-dedicated for resellers.
There are 2-3 accounts on a semi-dedi plan.
Semi-dedicated or VPS may be offered in the future, but not at this time.

Stef.

[gtgeorge]

Well put me down for one when and if it is available!

[David]

I (and both of my companies) would be very interested in this if you decide to offer it. Please consider this after current upgrades are completed and things have stablized. Thanks.

David

[Fernis]

I would be definetly interested in a VPS account.

[Serra]

Wouldn't we all...

[maven1]

we were just thinking about this...

[tomowa]

I have no knowledge good or bad about VPS, but here is a post from a thread from another hosting company (that I 'pay attention' to). This is from the companies owner. If anyone wants the whole thread, PM me, and I'll send the link.

To be really honest there are hosts that are setup better for VPS than we are. We are geared up more to cater to the fully dedicated client and shared market. We are not really a VPS company.

There is a small niche for VPS. Some people say it works well others do not. My view is this:

Take a server.

Give root access to say 15 people.

Let them use a set amount of RAM and CPU cycles.

What does all that equal. A overloaded server. Are their companies not overselling their VPS? I am sure of it.

Look at it this way.

You are moving to a VPS server for a reason right? You need more power right? Just make sure the company your moving to has a good rep for not over loading the VPS boxes. Just do the math. If you see a host that says. 5 VPS clients per server for only $29.99 per month be scared, very very scared.

VPS is just filled with to many demanding clients. Their expectations are wrong from that start in most cases.

It is my feeling if you need dedicated, than you need dedicated.

Bill

[Serra]

Originally Posted by tomowa

I have no knowledge good or bad about VPS, but here is a post from a thread from another hosting company (that I 'pay attention' to). This is from the companies owner. If anyone wants the whole thread, PM me, and I'll send the link.

Yea, but this is the wrong answer to the right question. Everything he says is correct, you are no more likely to get a good VPS than you are to get a good shared account. If someone needs a dedicated box, then a VPS isn't a good solution, because all in all, it is still a shared box. VPS eats more resources than a shared account, so the price is higher to cover the overhead.

However, there are some advantages. A VPS a removes any 777 permission problems, because 777 is only for that reseller. Users in one VPS account, can't access another account's 777 folder.

VPS keeps hackers on one reseller account from accessing things on another reseller. In other words, if the other guy is an idiot, it doesn't effect you (as much). 777 is still a problem for accounts inside the VPS.

Given the added security, a VPS seems like a really great idea. It does not solve the problem of over usage of the CPU or bad scripts run amuck. Those things are just as much of a problem on a VPS as they are in a shared account.

Why is VPS better than HG's semi-dedicated account? Well, only one small group of reasons. The security is better and users can configure the Apache, PHP and mySQL as they see fit. Want max uploads of 100gig? No problem, need PHP5, no problem. Want to run mySQL 3.0? (If you can find it) no problem. Need 60 mySQL connections, no problem.

Why would it be worse? Well, it might be more expensive, but not massively so, still half the price of a dedicated box. It might be slower than a semi-dedicated box and will be much slower than a dedicated box.

Overall, I really don't feel that VPS is a niche market as that guy says. It is only a niche because everyone knows that it is MUCH harder to oversell VPS accounts than it is shared accounts. Plus, it is far easier for a VPS user to tell they have been oversold because they have access to more info than a shared user. What makes it a niche market is the marketplace. A company like HG couldn't offer VPS accounts for $5.00-$7.00 a month. They couldn't sell a ton of them at $100.00 a month. People see hosting for $5.00 a month and they jump on it. 90% of them are clueless to the danger they face, the problems they will encounter and the performance they will end up with. If they knew as much about web hosting as they did about phone servce, you'd sell a much higher demand for VPS accounts.

[cjnoyes]

Originally Posted by Stef

This plan indeed offers only cPanel access, not WHM, so it's not a "real" semi-dedicated for resellers.
There are 2-3 accounts on a semi-dedi plan.
Semi-dedicated or VPS may be offered in the future, but not at this time.

Stef.

Until you have VPS, what Gator calls semi-dedicated is just a big shared account?

[Serra]

Originally Posted by cjnoyes

Until you have VPS, what Gator calls semi-dedicated is just a big shared account?

Yes and no. It is a big shared account without any shared account restrictions on it. (max connections and things like that).

Keep in mind that VPS isn't any different than a semi-dedicated, with the exception that it is a virtual server that runs in its own envronment, instead of just being a virtual Apache server on a machine with other virtual accounts.

The value of a VPS server is that no one on the server can access your 777 folders except you and your users, you have control over PHP.INI and the ability to run things on your VPS without causing as much trouble to other users. Again, CPU conserns are actually greater on a VPS because the VPS itself takes more processor to run.

Mostly VPS is just a buzz-word used by those of offer it to make it seem really cool. It is NOT a replacement for a dedicated server and is not much of a step up from a shared account.

[esl]

I personally think HostGator offering VPS would be a great idea and seller. I would really like the option to sell reseller accounts without having to resell HG's. It seems to be a nice step between reseller and dedicated servers.

[vtrain]

Originally Posted by esl

I personally think HostGator offering VPS would be a great idea and seller. I would really like the option to sell reseller accounts without having to resell HG's. It seems to be a nice step between reseller and dedicated servers.

If in a dedicated server account one could create reseller accounts (whm,etc) then some of the shared resellers could join and "share a dedicated"...

nice phrasing hehe ;-)

Vt.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by vtrain

If in a dedicated server account one could create reseller accounts (whm,etc) then some of the shared resellers could join and "share a dedicated"...

I have reseller accounts on my dedcicated box with people reselling from them.

[esl]

Serra,
Do you find that more of your clients by reseller or shared accounts?

[Serra]

Shared. I'm not really after the reseller crowd. I have two resellers right now and I'm not looking to get any more.