So just to set the scene - I have a website which receives around 15,000 hits / 60,000+ page views a day. It is a WordPress site which uses a lot of imagery, news posts, etc.
Bandwidth is around 500GB a month.
So my current server is self-managed through WebNX with the following statics @ $180 / month:
The site is about to outgrow the hard drive (85% full) so I thought rather than upgrading this piece, it may be more worthwhile to get a better server overall and possibly save some money if I am over-paying on this? I don’t even mind paying a little extra if the increase in performance is justified.
I was also thinking of changing provider, as although WebNX is unmanaged, I find some of their responses less than helpful.
The new server (if a better option) would need to have cPanel (I’m a n00b) and the host would preferably be managed, although that’s not a must-have if there is a reputation of reliability, quality, etc.
So I’m a bit confused why do you think you need a new server exactly? You can always ask for more hard drive space (that’s usually a cheap upgrade), but are you seeing any other issues that would lead you to wanting a new server?
I saw you mentioned you have a lot imagery on your site, are they compressed/cached? Have you thought about offloading your imagery to a CDN so the load time may drop significantly? The server you have spec wise is PLENTY for a WordPress site.
How many visitors are you receiving daily, and hourly? Personally, if those are fairly high and you are concerned with the load times of your site, I’d look towards using a CDN for all of your imagery (maybe your CSS too if you don’t update it often). Using a high cache CDN will ultimately help with your load times.
I don’t “need” a new server, but was just putting it out there in case mine had become out-dated or if there was better out there for a similar price point. There aren’t any other issues which would lead me to upgrading now.
Images on the site are optimized through a plugin, but not cached per se… I use CloudFare at the moment which I know isn’t as good as MaxCDN, but it’s more affordable at this point for me… it’s free! I may consider MaxCDN though, but I don’t know how much of a difference it would really make compared to vs. now
The site is Wrestling-Edge.com if anybody wants to take a look and offer any further advice.
Honestly, most CDNs are the same, it just comes down to price point and how well they implement with what you are currently utilizing. So CloudFare is a good solution to be using (though if you do see slow load times, you may want to look into their paid services).
If you are looking to save money, you may want to consider a VPS (or getting more for your dollar). https://www.tilaa.com/eng/orders/add has excellent prices
For $186, you can get 8GB RAM 160 GB SSD with cPanel and their Managed Server Pack
If you want to save a little bit, for $117, you get the above minus the Managed Server pack.
It looks to run on 4 cores at 2.4 Ghz, so although the CPU is a bit lower than what you have now, it should still be able to provide you with a good experience.
Are you utilizing the SSD performance? It is important because if you want large capacity, you’d always use 600 GB or 900 GB SAS2 at 15,000 RPM. Ask your current host what are the options to upgrade your current server. Depending of the chassis it would have 2, 3, 4 or even more HDD bays. You’d also increase the RAM if necessary. I don’t think that you’d be running out of CPU however. Best option to keep costs low is to use 2 hard drives is RAID1 and one hot spare drive.
If you can get more server for the same money and you’re expecting growth then why not? You’re going to have to downtime if they swap our hard drives anyway, so you might as well upgrade at the same time if you can keep the cost the same or less. Or alternatively you might be able to get the same spec for less money (but get more storage space). As to if you need to, well that’s a “how long is a piece of string” kind of question without a lot more information - what you’ve given isn’t enough for anyone to really say, “Your current server should be handling it no sweat” as that all depends on plugins, widgets etc. etc. etc.