Would a VPS help???

[binbowler]

Hi guys,

I could do some advice...

I've been with hostgator now for 2/3 years -- and they are amazing. Never had any problems. My last host i was lucky if it went a week without some downtime.

Anyway,

My main website now get's about 3million/4million hits a month. And is using 300GB of bandwidth. It's basically static. So i've had no problems with processes, etc.

This site means a lot to me - so im looking into ways to make sure it stays running. I wanted to know if a VPS would help in any way.

Would it offer better security?
Better uptime?
Faster access to my users?
My site is used a LOT in schools - if a dodgy site is hosted on the same IP on my shared account, and get's the shared IP blocked - it could effect my access to my site. So does the VPS seperate you from more "adult" or risky sites?

I really know nothing about servers, so do not know if a VPS would help at all. Maybe the shared account i have is fine.

But if a VPS would be good for me - i'd love some advice on which package i need. As i really dont understand. (Such as number of IP addresses?)

The live chat advice has been great - but just wanted a forum post i could refer back to.

Thanks everyone for reading this long message!

[GatorChrisN]

VPS plans offer you the ability to have more control over how your server operates and to add additional features/modules/software that we do not allow on our shared servers, however it is not recommended that you upgrade to a VPS with the intention of having better performance unless you move to one of our upper-level VPS plans, as our shared/reseller servers are very powerful and you may actually see a performance degradation if you move from them to a low to mid-level VPS plan. In instances where you want better performance it's recommended you consider moving to a dedicated server.

As for the security aspect, out of the box the VPS will have a similar firewall to what we run on our shared/reseller servers and similar configuration (VPS Level 3 and higher), so it would not be any more secure by default, however having a vps gives you the ability to tweak security settings to harden security even further, though the same can be said for a dedicated server.

As for IP reputation, with VPS and dedicated servers you receive your own dedicated IP addresses so only your sites determine reputation.

Hope this helps you in your decision!

[Chimpie]

Great post Chris.

[c3mtech]

I was able to get a significant performance gain when I moved to a VPS. Most of was due to the ability to enable GZip compression. I have also been monitoring my vps with pingdom and only had 5 minutes of downtime last month.

[alemcherry]

Originally Posted by GatorChrisN

In instances where you want better performance it's recommended you consider moving to a dedicated server.

That is actually right. Due to overselling, most hosts ends up giving more resource to a small shared hosting account, than a basic VPS. You are getting 3/4 millions page views, which means it is a large site. Even though it is more of static pages, a VPS may not be god enough. I recommend using a top config VPS or a reasonable dedicated server.

The best thing to do now is to do nothing. Unless and untill HG ask you to move, do not think of anything else. Shared hosting always work on shared IP, unless someone have a reason to use a dedicated IP. Most people understand this and you need not worry about sharing an IP with someone.

[runemusic]

Couldn't you just order a dedicated IP address separately? Or, am I thinking of something else. I believe it is about $2.00 per month.

[wyredwing]

Originally Posted by Chimpie

Great post Chris.

I second this

[eurgbp]

"Would a VPS help???"
What is that question?
Ofcource VPS would help you, Me love VPS long time, perfect balance between stability+speed versus money
shared hosting is not good enough, but private dedicated server is waaaaay an overkill and over expensive toy to play with, so VPS is golden middle