Making the jump to VPS

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Soldato
Joined
27 Jun 2006
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Hello folks,

Not sure if this is the right place, but here goes. :)

I've had a quick search and most of the results are people asking for recommendations for a VPS. Thankfully I am very happy with my current host but am only on a shared package - with increasing numbers I'm starting to feel a bit more grunt/reliability will be needed.

I would like to know people's experiences or even knowledge of making the step from shared hosting to the likes of VPS.

I'm happy enough to put a bit of effort into learning the ropes of a VPS but don't want it to be too overwhelming or too much to swallow - at an important time for the site I don't want it to be completely run like an amateur setup. At the same time, something like managed hosting beyond shared would blow my budget completely out of the water.

I understand I'll be expected to install and update things but is there anything else I should take on board?

Any books or websites where I could get advice on this (if needed) would be great.

Thanks for any help. :)
 
If you are just looking for reliability/performance then your current virtual hosting provider should be able to provide this. You really shouldn't be experiencing downtime or excess slowdowns if you are remaining within your resource allocation (disk, bandwidth, requests/sec).

A VDS isn't really the answer in my opinion. In terms of performance you're extremely limited compared to a site on a good shared hosting setup. A VDS is useful if you want to run custom software or require abnormal bursts of CPU time but if you just want to host websites and have them work then what you need is a quality reseller/multidomain/bulk package from a quality hosting provider.

HTH :).
 
Not sure if I can post to another forum but I've been looking here and I'm currently trying out a couple of providers but think I'm gonna settle for these as they provide management.
If you want a VPS in the UK you'll pay more than you would for a VPS in the US but theres packages to suit all budgets from a couple of quid a month to £100 plus.
 
If you get a managed one it'll be no different from what you currently have with shared hosting really; and if you go unmanaged you will have to learn EVERYTHING. If you're not having problems with your current hosting and your host has problems with you then a VDS isn't an answer really. If you want to learn then I'd simply suggest that you find the cheapest one you see advertised and have a play.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. :)

I am running both a forum and a website (wordpress) from my hosting now and whilst it's not being particularly strained, I'm keeping an eye out for when it does.

It's a football forum so unlike most other forums it doesn't just tick along with general discussion. Games being on at particular times and things that people want to comment on in those games mean it can see the heightened CPU bursts you speak of.

The addition of the website has seen traffic increase by 300%-1000% and it's vital that it's working when it comes to the crunch. I think the 'promised' resources of a VPS rather than the customization are what I've been leaning towards.

My current hosts are American and would be looking at $50 p/m (about £25-£27 p/m) - I assume that's sort of natural VPS territory in terms of pricing?
 
Like I said in my post for $50 you could probably get a half decent VPS with Management or you could pay less than $10 for an unmanaged small VPS. Check out that forum I linked to in my last post.
 
Webhostingtalk is like the armpit of the web hosting industry. You're probably better off at webhostchat.co.uk. :)
 
allosunshine said:
Just had a quick look at the advertising section and it hasn't got half as many offers on and nowhere near as cheap either.
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Like I said, WHT is the armpit of the web hosting industry. You have to drudge through *a lot* of rubbish to find the decent companies on WHT. Be very careful who you choose.

Whichever company you choose - aim for a company that has their own infrastructure, a company with real people working for them (do they have an office or is support outsourced to India?), and probably someone that's been in business for a decent amount of time.
 
daz said:
Like I said, WHT is the armpit of the web hosting industry. You have to drudge through *a lot* of rubbish to find the decent companies on WHT. Be very careful who you choose.

Whichever company you choose - aim for a company that has their own infrastructure, a company with real people working for them (do they have an office or is support outsourced to India?), and probably someone that's been in business for a decent amount of time.
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To be honest I've already fallen foul of one company, luckily I only paid for 1 month so only lost a tenner.
But you can tell who the big companies are as they are regular posters on there.
The only thing with webhostchat.co.uk there doesn't seem to be a massive community on there and not a lot of posts, I dont know if its fairly new or not??
 
allosunshine, cheers for the advice. Had a hunt around and found a good few managed solutions for similar money. I really didn't think it would be possible. Not to mention the solutions were good names I have heard plenty about before.

I'm resistant to switch hosts again (it's a nasty nightmare) but it looks as though it may be the best solution if I'm going to be forking out that much a month. Thankfully I don't need it right at the moment but it's good to be future proofed.
 
I found VPS to be quite poor for what I wanted and value for money. I took a good deal on a full dedi and haven't looked back. Complete control is the way forward.

Surely hosting with a US host can't really help during peak traffic periods?
 
toosepin said:
I found VPS to be quite poor for what I wanted and value for money. I took a good deal on a full dedi and haven't looked back. Complete control is the way forward.

Surely hosting with a US host can't really help during peak traffic periods?
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The thing is its a case of budget. As is the norm with prices here compared to the US you get more for your money over there.
 
How many concurrent users do you have, and how large is your forum?

A VDS isn't really the answer here - a good shared server will have 4Gb+ RAM whereas a VDS will have 256Mb (as a minimum), so you can see you're not going to get more power out of it - and in fact traffic surges will more easily cause it to fall over. A VDS is a full server so it's just like running a dedicated server, removing all the RAM and throwing in an old 256Mb stick, essentially.

Good shared or 'semi-dedicated' hosting is what you need, or an entry-level dedicated server (from around £70/mo or so) :)
 
bean has some great servers, depending upon your commitments and needs.

You probably think you need VPS for a level-up from average shared hosting - not necessarily the case.

When I was asking the very same questions bean convinced me that an awesome shared server, but carefully setup and loaded, would be better than a VPS. In the end I went for it .... and never looked back. I trust Bean to run my hosting and I've always had great service and advice.

btw .. other companies have some great servers, for e.g. register1, people talk about them a lot .. but I know vida for a couple of years now.
 
Beansprout said:
How many concurrent users do you have, and how large is your forum?
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Really not that many at the moment. We're talking 20 max - then again it is a quiet time of year.

Besides that, it's 173,145 posts from 327 registered members.

My reason for asking or making the thread is not because I'm over-estimating the popularity or requirements of the site. However, my numbers have increased quite dramatically as of late and I don't want to get to the stage of it falling over (hopefully through popularity) before thinking of an alternative solution.

The host before my current one was my first and a bit of a disaster - so I've had a bit of a warped set of expectations.

The answers have been useful. :)
 
blade007 said:
btw .. other companies have some great servers, for e.g. register1, people talk about them a lot .. but I know vida for a couple of years now.
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Yeah, I had a server from Register1 for years, they're top on http://OcHostReview.co.uk

Have a look at their reviews, and you'll see why people love them. ;)

They are also a 'real' business, not something being run by students or part-timers.

QuadCore Xeons from £49 a month http://www.register1.net/servers.php :)
 
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Slogan said:
Really not that many at the moment. We're talking 20 max - then again it is a quiet time of year.

Besides that, it's 173,145 posts from 327 registered members.
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20 concurrent users with a database that size is nothing really, but 50 - 100 is the time you need to start looking at a more powerful solution, all depending on the database size and number of plugins, etc. So I agree with you - it's likely best to arrange a solution now, while you're quiet, rather than later, to prevent disruption :)
 
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