I currently have a website which is hosted by godaddy on their shared server and the domain is registered through them also. After just a short time I realized that godaddy sucks and now im looking to change hosts. I also want to upgrade from a shared server to vps.
My site runs on Joomla and functions as a business locator. I am not experienced with servers so I will need it to be fully managed, will need someone who offers great customer support and will need their assitance in the transition process.
What are some good companies?
How much space and bandwith should I get?
When would I need to upgrade to a dedicated server?
Do I need to register my domain with someone else or can I leave it with godaddy?
I’m considering hostgator but still not sure yet Ive heard some mixed reviews. All I know is that I need to get rid of godaddy.
As far as your requirements? Nobody here will know that unless we manage your site. As your website grows, the number of resources it demands will grow with it. If you’re running Joomla you will need a server with PHP and MySQL, both of which you will find with nearly every hosting company out there.
As far as the domain goes, keep it with GoDaddy unless you have a vendetta against them. You’ll just update the nameservers to point it to a new hosting company. If your set on switching, my favorite is name.com.
You probably haven’t heard much about eApps because they’re not a huge player, but I haven’t found anyone I like better. The customer service and support is top notch. I’m not sure about them actually assisting with the switch, but it should be pretty standard. You’re going to FTP files over and relocate a database. If you’re looking for help with this, feel free to PM me and I may be able to help you out on a consulting basis. Otherwise, post back here with questions and we have a huge community of experts eager to help you out.
Beware, all cloud hosts are not the same. That being said, the general idea is that you pool server resources to save money and allow for traffic spikes. Speaking very generally, cloud hosting is cheaper than VPS (virtual private server) hosting because you’re sharing unused resources. As much of a fan of eApps and their VPS system, I’m not a diehard fan of their cloud offering. Maybe I’m old school but I like the level of control that a VPS gives me. Now, two explain the different types of cloud hosting…
Let’s look at eApps cloud offering as it’s the standard you’ll find out there when you see the term cloud in the hosting industry. The cloud they give you is like an elastic server. If you’re paying for 256 MB of RAM but suddenly need 512 MB, fine, they’ll let you spike to 512 MB without crashing your site. That being said, it’s a spike. Not a full time usage. This is a critical point.
Then there’s a true cloud offering like Rackspace Cloud Sites. This is a cloud server where you start with a set number of resources but can load the server with a near infinite amount of traffic. Obviously it’s not truly infinite but the theory is that they can handle anything you can throw at it. The offering from Rackspace is much more versatile and suited to high traffic websites. This is a good option to grow into as most websites won’t need this type of resource usage out of the gate.
Does that help a bit? I raced through some of those definitions but I hope you get the basic points. If I were you, I would spin up a VPS with eApps (they start at $9/month) and practice moving your site over. You can test your site because you reassign your nameservers by using the static IP address assigned by eApps. Remember, that to signup for the VPS you need to go to http://cp.eapps.com.
The only VPS I’ve used was from Liquidweb. I have no complaints.
Godaddy’s shared hosting was just about the slowest I’ve used, but uptime was not all that terrible. Still, there’s better shared hosting to be found even among the big bad boys - the large hosts who’s ads you sell all over the web. Hostgator is indeed one of them, IMHO.
Are you planing to buy managed VPS in US or UK? as hostgator does not offers VPS hosting in UK. But its good choice to go with Managed VPS, There are quit few hosting companies that will offer Free managed VPS hosting.
Make sure you read reviews of company before you select any.
I took a look at eapps and saw some good stuff. Pretty sure im going with vps but im still between a few companies, Hostgator, eapps, gigapro
Your probably going to get a pm from me or see a few more posts because I only have experience with shared hosting, thanks for the offer.
I was wondering tho, am I going to have to do any setup on the server or will it already come suited for my needs? I know you cant tell exactly what I need but I just dont know how much setup is needed when you setup a new vps plan.
Also, I planning on using cpanel (pretty much industry standard from what i gather), but would anyone recommend using plesk or vz?
Thanks for all the help guys, sitepoint is priceless!
HostGator is okay. They don’t lock down the servers so much that you can’t use them but their support is less than stellar. The price is right though and tough to beat. eApps, as I’ve mentioned, is top-notch as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never even heard of Gigapro and even a Google search made them difficult to find.
No, you won’t need to do any server management with a VPS. It works just like a shared account, at least in these situations. When you create the account you will be assigned a control panel username and password to manage the server. From there you can create databases, manage the DNS server, etc. Now, if you went over to Rackspace Cloud Servers, there you need to setup and manage everything. They give you a fresh OS install but all of the software is up to you. If you’re not a server admin (I’m certainly not) I don’t recommend their cloud servers.
In terms of the control panel, most are going to offer cPanel. HostGator is a cPanel system but eApps is not. Their cloud hosting is run by something else and the VPS end is some sort of control panel by Parallels. I have no idea what Gigapro runs.
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I think you couldn’t find it because its actually gigapros (gigapros.com). I found them on hostsearch.com, they had a lot of good reviews and their site looks pretty legit. Prices look good, seems like they know what they are talking about and they apparently have a zero overselling policy (probably to appeal to godaddy customers). I just know most of these companies dont backup what they say, godaddy traumatized, I dont want to go through that again.
Makes sense. If you’re set on cPanel then I would just go to HostGator. They aren’t the most polished bunch in the crowd but they keep the servers online and are flexible with what they allow you to do. They’ve also been around for quite some time so I hardly think that they’d go under anytime soon.
Not really set on cpanel ive just heard its straight forward and theres not much of a learning curve and I’ve heard a people having issues with plesk and vz. On the other hand tho I’ve read a few times that cpanel takes up a lot of space on the server, and some people recommend not even using it and just doing all the tasks within the files or however its done(dont know how, still reading up on it some more). This way the server is freed up for the site. Ive read that cpanel can take up to %25 of the server space. I just dont know if it is going to be hard to do things without using cpanel.
I guess I still have a lot to figure out in regards to what I need and how im going to manage it.
How much are you really going to use the control panel anyway? As long as you can get in there and setup FTP accounts, configure any DNS changes and setup a database - you’re probably okay. Every control panel I’ve ever used allows for those basic functions.
Keep in mind that with folks like HostGator you’re getting unlimited resources anyway so the size of the cPanel installation isn’t a big deal. With eApps, the control panel runs on a completely separate instance than your own website/server so that the control panel doesn’t count against any of your resources.
About control panel, I would stay away from cPanel. It was me, but I had troubles with cPanel before, and since moving to DirectAdmin, I could not be happier. Have you tried it? DA has demo on their site http://www.directadmin.com
Totally disagree. cPanel is head and shoulders above Direct Admin in terms of performance, features, AND stability. It is the industry standard and people pay a hefty fee to license it!
Depending on your price range Rackspace Cloud Servers may be a good choice for a managed server.
Based on my experience, HostGator does have excellent customer service and reliability; I have 50+ sites hosted there in both shared and VPS accounts. Their Level 4 VPS is a pretty solid plan.
Thanks, pretty sure im going to go with hostgator. Just have to figure out what level vps I will get and then try to fight godaddy to get my money back. After that its on to finding someone to fix the issues I have with my offshore developer. One problem after another…