[notbanksy]

Hi folks

A friend of mine is looking to move a huge website from their existing server as the current server admin is throwing in the towel.

I promised to help her find a good deal, but I've never used VPS/ dedicated before, so I wasn't prepared for the huge difference in prices out there.

If anyone could give me a brief run-down of what I need to know before choosing a vps host, I'd be much obliged.

Thanks

[BlueDreamer]

I'd recommend going for a fully managed solution so you can leave all the complex work to people who know. This would include regular audits, software updates and so on.

Avoid overselling - many hosts deliberately "undersell" and have a strict maximum number of VPS's on a single server

Solid backup system

[notbanksy]

Thanks, Rob. Much obliged sir

[wesh.co.uk]

notbanksy, on 09 January 2012 - 05:04 PM, said:

Thanks, Rob. Much obliged sir

Hiya Notbanksy :-)

What type of hosting is it using at the moment, because if it really is a huge website, then a VPS is going to be far from suitable..
The problem with a VPS/Cloud is that its often slower than normal (NON oversold) shared hosting due to having many more operating systems all competing for disk input/output as well as the CPU/Memory, and the disk data throughput becomes the bottleneck...

We have spoken to many of the so-called "big hosts" to find out what they use for VPS servers too, and some of what they said is down-right disgraceful, to the point where you really have to wonder if they have a clue what they are doing....

Its sad too, because those stupidly cheap prices that pull people in, often have a very nasty side affect...

So, when you say this website is huge, how exactly are you measuring it, by traffic, disk usage or popularity or all 3?
Whats it on currently, cpanel server or something else?

[notbanksy]

Hi Wesh

Thanks for your detailed reply. By huge I mean it's about 5Gb in file size, with between 1.5m and 2m page views per month.

It's currently on unknown hosting. I've had a look at the hosting panel, and it's called WEBePanel. And to be frank, it's nasty...

The reason I was asking about VPS is that it's what my own host recommended after I showed them the site.

It's interesting to hear you say that properly set up shared hosting might be better than dedicated. Could you give me an indication of an approximate price please?

[rallport]

On a VPS though you can install things shared hosts won't let you. E.g. eAccelerator - this alone speeds up your site by an insane amount.

This post has been edited by rallport: 09 January 2012 - 07:32 PM

[oakleaves]

If the budget would allow for a dedicated server I would suggest a figure between £100 to £300ish per month depending on the specification.

[sclarke]

I would definitely look into a managed solution that will be able to host it, even though your host would not.

[notbanksy]

Thanks guys, I'll pass all your helpful info on

[othelloRob]

notbanksy, on 09 January 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

A friend of mine is looking to move a huge website from their existing server as the current server admin is throwing in the towel.

Windows or Linux (or more specifically, what (if any) scripting/coding/database technologies is the site using) ?

With or without a control panel for managing things like email accounts ?

What level of performance or uptime is needed - how mission critical is the site ?

notbanksy, on 09 January 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

By huge I mean it's about 5Gb in file size, with between 1.5m and 2m page views per month.

Thats going to be way beyond the capabilities of a budget VPS.