Shared VPS or Dedicated

Hosting
1

This has probably been asked a million times. I’m posting and going to continue to search.

I have spoken with my hosting company on live chat 3 times and gotten 3 different answers.

  • I have been told VPS
  • Shared is good, it should be ok
  • Dedicated is the way to go

Here’s the background:

  • I have a client using 1GB of bandwidth a month
  • 20-30K hits per month
  • I’m running the site based on joomla
  • The index page is 690KB
  • It had one embedded video, but that one and all going forward will be out on youtube and linked to
  • The company is going to put out a TV commercial in a few days
  • The TV station stated they had seen site hits jump to 200-300K hits a month after the commercial airs.

I’m not sure what to do with hosting. I’m presently on a shared account with unlimited bandwidth. I know CPU usage could be an issue. I can’t exceed 25% usage for more than 90 seconds…

Whatever happens, 2 things I can’t do is:

  • have the site go down
  • pay overages

What is the advice for something like this? I can get more for hosting, but dedicated may be something hard to get across to the client. I don’t think dedicated is need at this point or after the point of the commercial airings. The only sites I have worked with have been smaller ones with way less traffic. Anyone have any thoughts?

2

pay overages

I suppose that could be much more expensive then just upgrading to the higher plan

3

In your case a VPS should solve your problems, that will also control you budget.

4

BW,

There have been many threads on the different types of hosting, i.e., comparing free, shared, reseller, VPS and dedicated. Perhaps I can summarize:

Free: Low cost (no cost but host can advertise on your website); likely to be very limited as to services on offer; no support; service outages can be expected; host can disappear

Shared: Low cost; most services available; “unlimited” offers abound but the hidden limit (CPU usage, RAM, storage) can be “tight”; support depends upon host, service outages should be rare

Reseller: Same as shared but higher cost due to multiple control panels

VPS (Virtual Private Server): Higher cost as you have your own server (which is shared with other VPS users); limits on RAM, CPU, storage & bandwidth are the limiting factors; better support (IF managed VPS)

Dedicated: Most expensive as the entire server is dedicated to you use; best support (IF managed)

From this description, I think you are beyond the Shared/Reseller categories. Indeed, even the VPS with sufficient RAM to support the surges may be strained by the excessive demands of Joomla (it’s been reported to be a memory hog - something I can’t confirm or deny). That leaves dedicated which, by the funding that client is burning on his TV ads, is probably the most cost-effective way to go (and well within the client’s budget). Just be SURE to get good support from your host as VPS/dedicated need a babysitter 7/24/365.

Just my 2¢ worth (well within budget)!

Regards,

DK

5

I think you can contact other web hosting companies as well and then to see what they will offer to you and after that make decision. You might be suggested for higher plans then you currently need but in this case you should understand how rapid growing your web site should be

6

Thanks Everyone for the wonderful replies of information!

I’m beating around a bunch of VPS options. My current host is one that that i’m definitely worried about moving to vps with. I’m looking for fully managed server and would like to be around $40 a month with cpanel. I want a host that is really flexible on up and downgrades. I think a low end vps is sufficient. I just want good reliable support and no craziness if I run over my limits and can verify that once im notified.

I’m tempted to move the site to my other host and put it on an unlimited business hosting program for $22 with about 5-6 other accounts on the server at all times. The only issue is the step up is a move to dedicated and its a jump of about $80 a month.

I also liked the look of vpsland, but found a bunch of middle of the road to bad reviews on support.

7

AS far your current needs are concerned you can manage with a Good VPS account, well if you are planning to expand as stated you would certainly go for the Dedicated Server Hosting which is very important for the needs like you have, you will get good performance with this solution

8

In your case a VPS should solve your problems, that will also control you budget

9

VPS Hosting sounds to be a good solution for you.

10

In your situation I would recommend getting started with small VPS.