Seriously considering a VPS package right now and could do with some opinions.

 

Is a VPS that much more of a better solution than a Reseller Account? What are the real advantages and disadvantages of moving from a shared box to a VPS?

 

The majority of my sites are WordPress these days and it is this that is holding me back from a VPS, with the ever increasing size of the databases for each site.

 

I have managed to get 30 days free from my current host due to technical issues so really need to use this time to decide on the way forward.

Edited August 26, 201214 yr by roothost

It depends on the host. I have seen shared hosting, on a good host, outperform a VPS from a lesser host by a considerable margin.

 

If you know your way around the command line I can thoroughly recommend Linode for a VPS, I have the lowest $20/ month option and it is the fastest box I have ever been on. It is stupid fast, and largely I suspect because it isn't crippled by cpanel or the like.

I agree a poorly configured VPS on the wrong kit on an average network is going to be no faster than a very good shared solution.

 

This is not a sales pitch, we don't offer reseller options. It's a case of you get what you pay for, for reference our cheapest VPS is £625 a year and that would comfortably outperform any shared platform, we'd guarantee it.

 

We offload ftp, mail, cpanel etc on a dedicated cloud so the VPS does just one job and does it well. I would ask your future host if they can offer this kind of 'offloading' solution, especially if you're loading the VPS with numerous sites as you'll see a solid performance gain.

MMM, The only thing you can gaurantee is that it will out perform YOUR shared hosting, not ANY shared hosting..

 

A VPS is a different service to shared or dedicated hosting due to the added amount of non-customer facing sharing going on, such as the extra operating systems, control panels, VM software, extra software firewalls etc all now sharing the same disk input/output, whereas on a shared server, its just 1 O/S and 1 control panel.

 

Its no different to your own PC at home, put 1 install of windows on it, its fine, but install some VMware and then put another 3/4/5 or 6 installs of windows on that same box, is it really going to be FASTER? Stupid question really isnt it.. Shared is locked down, but should perform better if managed properly, whereas a VPS is smaller fixed resources, but more flexible in what you can do with it.

 

So I would say its not a case of "which is better", its more a case of "Which is more suitable for you", and if you have a base of clients you host websites for, any VPS is going to be a no-no, especially as heart internet of all people are giving it to you for free, for a month due to the amount of problems you have had.

 

It does of course depend on the host too, as shared hosting like yours, highly oversold, then your just asking for hiccups and problems, as I've seen hosts offering shared plans for a few $ with "unlimited monthly traffic/bandwidth" using servers that really should have been taken out of service years ago, so its about balancing what you sell, and what you use to back it up with too.

 

1 companies shared plans could be awfully slow (Old/underpowered/oversold servers) whereas anothers could be blindingly fast (Undersold/overpowered servers) so its down to you to find out what hardware is in use, and how its being used.

 

VPS performance also depends on what you want out of it too, if you just want a linux box and use command line, it will obviously be better, as it has less work to do with extra software, whereas if you want more software on it, then it wont be as quick. That doesnt make cPanel bad at all, thats just your trade off between wanting extra software on limited resources, like when people buy a "netbook" and try to use it like a laptop, installing office and other stuff, then bitch about how slow it is lol...

 

Just some points to think over...

MMM, The only thing you can gaurantee is that it will out perform YOUR shared hosting, not ANY shared hosting..

 

Why? We can guarantee anything we like so long as we stand by the guarantee.

 

I/we are completely confident in what we offer to our clients, if we can't out perform their previous hosting we offer them their money back and migrate them back for free, no questions asked.

Edited August 26, 201214 yr by MMMedia

MMM, The only thing you can gaurantee is that it will out perform YOUR shared hosting, not ANY shared hosting..

 

A VPS is a different service to shared or dedicated hosting due to the added amount of non-customer facing sharing going on, such as the extra operating systems, control panels, VM software, extra software firewalls etc all now sharing the same disk input/output, whereas on a shared server, its just 1 O/S and 1 control panel.

 

Its no different to your own PC at home, put 1 install of windows on it, its fine, but install some VMware and then put another 3/4/5 or 6 installs of windows on that same box, is it really going to be FASTER? Stupid question really isnt it.. Shared is locked down, but should perform better if managed properly, whereas a VPS is smaller fixed resources, but more flexible in what you can do with it.

 

So I would say its not a case of "which is better", its more a case of "Which is more suitable for you", and if you have a base of clients you host websites for, any VPS is going to be a no-no, especially as heart internet of all people are giving it to you for free, for a month due to the amount of problems you have had.

 

It does of course depend on the host too, as shared hosting like yours, highly oversold, then your just asking for hiccups and problems, as I've seen hosts offering shared plans for a few $ with "unlimited monthly traffic/bandwidth" using servers that really should have been taken out of service years ago, so its about balancing what you sell, and what you use to back it up with too.

 

1 companies shared plans could be awfully slow (Old/underpowered/oversold servers) whereas anothers could be blindingly fast (Undersold/overpowered servers) so its down to you to find out what hardware is in use, and how its being used.

 

VPS performance also depends on what you want out of it too, if you just want a linux box and use command line, it will obviously be better, as it has less work to do with extra software, whereas if you want more software on it, then it wont be as quick. That doesnt make cPanel bad at all, thats just your trade off between wanting extra software on limited resources, like when people buy a "netbook" and try to use it like a laptop, installing office and other stuff, then bitch about how slow it is lol...

 

Just some points to think over...

 

So, let's say I have between 30-40 sites, 50+ domains, majority of sites run o WordPress. What do you suggest?

What is your total monthly page views and bandwidth usage and are you aware of any peaks in the day at all?

 

edit: also how many mail accounts, any heavy users?

Edited August 26, 201214 yr by MMMedia

What is your total monthly page views and bandwidth usage and are you aware of any peaks in the day at all?

 

edit: also how many mail accounts, any heavy users?

 

I'll come back to you on that one.

 

One site I have does shoot up to between 5-7k hits a day between sep-late nov

Unless you really want to add server admin to your skillset (or don't mind punting the extra for a managed VPS), I'd stick with a reseller plan from a reputable host.

 

My current(unmanaged) VPS costs me less per month than I was paying for my reseller account with NuBlue, but I've had to invest heavily in terms of my time and learning to tweak it for best performance and reliability.

How much would they charge on top for managed?

MMM, The only thing you can gaurantee is that it will out perform YOUR shared hosting, not ANY shared hosting..

Exactly!

 

One thing that inspires confidence for me, unlike worthless guarantees, is the ability to subscribe on a monthly basis without any commitment. I will torture test the service before migrating to it, and if it doesn't match up to the sales hype I can simply walk away.

Exactly!

 

One thing that inspires confidence for me, unlike worthless guarantees, is the ability to subscribe on a monthly basis without any commitment. I will torture test the service before migrating to it, and if it doesn't match up to the sales hype I can simply walk away.

 

A "worthless guarantee", so aspiring to a high level of customer satisfaction is worthless?

 

I'm not talking gimmicks or sales padder here, we don't do either and as I've said before we don't even have public facing sales.

 

I was here offering impartial advise, unlike some...

A "worthless guarantee", so aspiring to a high level of customer satisfaction is worthless?

 

I'm not talking gimmicks or sales padder here, we don't do either and as I've said before we don't even have public facing sales.

 

I was here offering impartial advise, unlike some...

Sorry, I wasn't directing that comment at you. I was referring to things like SLAs and the like that are typical in the hosting world. Not worth the paper they are written on IMO. Not tying a client into a contract? That speaks volumes about a companies quality of service and dedication to customer satisfaction.

 

That said, I would like to respond to your last point. If you have a hosting company, and you are commenting on hosting, your advice cannot possibly be impartial. Honest and open it may be, impartial it is not.

 

I don't offer hosting, or have any affiliations to hosting companies, so I am impartial. I simply call them as I see them.

Fair enough, I thought the comment was aimed at me!

Fair enough, I thought the comment was aimed at me!

Definitely not. Sorry if it came across that way.

After reading your problem we can't say VPS is more bettre than Reseller. Cause its depends uopon the web hosting service provider that how much he/she care about his/her customer. So if the servcie provider is not a trusted one, you go for any paln or choose any packge ultimatli you will be suffered. So my opnion in this situation is to change the hoster. And find some one who provide you good servcie within your budget.

I'm aware this is seriously old thread that J_Edwards has dug up for some strange reason, but don't you run in to all sorts of issues/sagas by saying something as grey/open to interpretation as "comfortably outperform". How do you define something like that to the customer? Just asking out of interest to be honest

 

...because we put the prices and spec up!

And now the serious response; before and after tests to prove it.

 

That's more than sufficient for the majority of clients, in fact most of them want a high quality service over anything else and are prepared to pay for it.

 

A lot of our specialist hosting work comes via disgruntled migrations from under performing hosts - there would appear to be a lot of them out there!

It's not a service we push or openly advertise either because it's not a joe public service. Not many smaller businesses need or want >£1k hosting.

 

edit: that should have been on the end of the above post.

Edited August 18, 201313 yr by MMMedia