I need some words of wisdom:
My situation: I don’t know much about servers, i’m barely getting in to it. I’ve been building websites off and on since i was a little angel. But nothing ever too crazy, just html. Just a couple years ago some of my interest fell into php web apps. Now i’m going to be using phpFox to run a little community website for a community that i’m sure will use it. So there’s definitely a potential for medium traffic. Which is why i’m thinking that it might be best to get a VPS. Especially since I’ve run the same project on a Bluehost server but it just kept crashing. (not Bluehost fault of course, they’re awesome) But it’s just pretty obvious to me that if i’m going to launch this website it would require nothing less than a VPS.
Other than localhost, i have NO experience managing a server (LAMP on Ubuntu desktop). This makes me just a little bit nervous, which is why I’m asking for advice…
It can be pretty daunting at first but there are a ton of resources through the web to get you started, read, read, read and learn then read some more.
There are web hosts that offer managed VPS plans. They will take care of installing the basic software (PHP, MySQL, etc.) and keeping things updated so you can focus on being a webmaster and building your community. While I have never administered a server, I understand there can be a huge learning curve with an unmanaged VPS plan. In addition to downloading and compiling everything you need, you have to worry about security, too. A managed VPS plan will take care of that for you.
Is the solution you are using something you made yourself or a product (either free or paid) from the ‘shelf’? If it is something from the shelf, look at their documentation to see if they say anying. How many people are you expecting to visit a day? I am no expert in hosting, but I probably wouldn’t consider a VPS unless I got like 5,000 hits a day or more. I am assuming you either asked BlueHost to move you to a new server (some do that) or searched to see if your product just is slow in general or on BlueHost servers.
If you are really unsure you could get a vps with a control panel to do the work for you. Leaving you to work on the site. If not you can pick up what’s needed from plenty of online guides.
My advice is to not get the VPS until you know you have the traffic lined up. Starting with a shared plan and upgrading from there should save you money up front and give you more wiggle room.