Hey everyone, I have a website that has been slow and steady growing in popularity I have been getting by with normal hosting but lately I have noticed lag on my host. Now I’m sure not all of it is 100% my site or anything as it has seems to be going on for a while but I just checked the load and it’s a 4 right now in the middle of the night (US Anyway) I’ve asked a few times if I am taking more then my fair share but as yet I have not gotten a response.

So this leads me to the scary would of dedicated servers. Before we get to my horrible questions I should say that everything I’ve ever learned about hosting has been through my site. MySQL, PHP all that stuff are things I new nothing of. Anyway, I’ve been looking around at different dedicated hosts and found some “Oh My God! How can it be that cheap?” deals (more on that later) but I guess I don’t really understand the whole concept of dedicated servers all that much. For a while I was thinking that because I didn’t know Linux there was no way I would be able to have one. But I guess that’s not the case?

Who is responsible for installing software? Or providing security updates? Can I install things like PHP MySQL etc?

My next question is what should I look for? Without going into specifics, there are some dedicated server providers starting at $25.00 a month! I mean that’s insanely cheap, I mean some of them have setup fees and lower bandwidth allotments but my site only pulls < 40Gb as is now. What speed should I look for? Some of these were 400Mhz but I’m wondering if that would work for my single site. (It’s a PHPNuke site)

Anyway I would really appreciate any responses. I want to allieveate my host and get moving on I just don’t know what I gotta do….

Thanks again!

Hello,

If you don't meed the need for a dedicated server, try to get a semi-dedicated one. Usually they'll be a bit cheaper and you don't have to manage it at all. You'd be sharing this server with 1-10 other customers (usually) so you get quite a bit of its resources :).

Hey,

I would double check on why or even IF your site is slow before moving.

There is a great tool here to check website speed:

http://www.alertra.com/

As far as dedicated, you simply CANNOT go wrong with Rackspace - you might consider ServerBeach as a discount alternative (owned by Rackspace).

That's a good option too, sign up with one of the reputable hosts here, transfer your account and see if the site is slow or if it's your webhost.

It's for sure slow. I mean isn't a server load at 4 pretty bad? Sometimes phpNuke reports page renderings of 10+ seconds (A few times it's been 40-80 when things were messing up). I just don't want to constantly move my site around as it already is a 2 Day thing cause of domain redirect and stuff. Not to mention moving the database almost gives me a heart attack :-)

What about some of the discount dedicated hosts linked to from this site? (Am I allowed to list them here?) Is there something I need to be wary of?

So then from the responces I have gotten it seems that I do need to install my own things like Apache, MySQL and PHP? Also some of these guys offer free support. Wonder how that works with a dedicated server...

Mecha,

The server maybe slow because of your site or it could be because the server has way too many accounts on it that are fighting for processing power. Hence the high load.

What you should look for is a VDS/VPS solution which will not cost as much as a dedicated server but will give you what you need.

If you really want to get a dedicated server you should be able to find a reasonable deal for around $100-200/month with around 50-100Gb/Bandwidth all the way up to 700Gb at some places.

There are many-many-many server admins available out there to completely setup your server and some offer maintenance/security updates/support for a monthly fee.

You should be able to get a fairly robust server (as far as technical specs go) for the $200 and up range, anything around $100 is most likely going to be on the lower end of the hardware spectrum and also if you pay a higher setup fee you can sometimes get a very high end server and maintain a lower monthly cost. All food for thought

Good luck in your quest,

R.P.

"It's for sure slow. I mean isn't a server load at 4 pretty bad? "

Depends on the type of server it's on. A slow CPU with a load of 4 would be terrible. A quad xeon with a load of 4 isn't so bad.

"Sometimes phpNuke reports page renderings of 10+ seconds (A few times it's been 40-80 when things were messing up)."

Yeah, that's pretty terrible. What's the average that you're seeing?

"I just don't want to constantly move my site around as it already is a 2 Day thing cause of domain redirect and stuff. Not to mention moving the database almost gives me a heart attack :-)"

Probably loss of hair as well :) But moving isn't that bad, if orchestrated well with your new host.

"What about some of the discount dedicated hosts linked to from this site? (Am I allowed to list them here?) Is there something I need to be wary of?"

You're allowed to list hosts here - it'd give us a better idea of what to comment on, actually.

"So then from the responces I have gotten it seems that I do need to install my own things like Apache, MySQL and PHP? Also some of these guys offer free support. Wonder how that works with a dedicated server... "

Generally, yes, you'd install your own apache, mysql, and php. If you choose a dedicated with a control panel it does make it a bit easier as there's sometimes scripts to automate the process. And the support provided depends on the dedicated server provider.

Overall, I'd probably reccomend that you go ahead and get a larger account (perhaps a reseller account) with another host over a dedicated server. At least to see if your experiences are truly just because of your current host, or if they're because of your site itself.

-David

Hello,

I would like to say, that you do not necessarily ever need to 'grow' into a dedicated server.

Hosting providers in many cases can provide you with quality hosting solutions be it from a small static site, to a complex clustering solution.

Please guys, don't force yourselves to get a dedicated server, which very well may do you more harm than good.

Thanks for allowing for me to infiltrate this thread with a rant.

I would say that dedicated server is probably your best bet if your site is busy all the time. phpnuke is great and all but if your shared provider is using an "out-o-date" processor you will have more issues in the future. Dedicated 400 - 500Mhz sounds good, maybe a little slow, if you go with that make sure to post in the future, I would like to hear your feed back.

Or, you can always get a big reseller plan. I have one that gives me 4 gb diskspace and 100 gb bandwidth and it's pretty nice. All for $26.95 a month which is a pretty good price. And the service? Couldn't possibly be better.

My biggest thing though is CPU load (Database and PHP). Both my space and bandwith aren't even close to being used up. Most semi-dedicated plans seems pretty pricey for what you get. So at this point it seems like why should I pay someone else for what I can do....

Here were a couple of the dedicated providers I was looking at. Anyone have any comments on them. I guess I am too new to provide URL's so this is just their company name. All of them I got from the dedicated tab on this page.

server4you
tophosting/sentris (Had the slower servers)
serverpronto
servermatrix (Seemed more expensive then other guys)

Anyone got some opinions on these guys?

P.S. Are there any forums that are focused with helping people on configuring dedicated servers and stuff? Would be really useful once I start this :D

Of the server providers you've listed, I'd go with servermatrix. I have experience with that one, but wouldn't touch 2 of the rest of them with a 10 ft pole. The other I haven't heard of.

-David

Which one was the one you hadn't heard of? Is there something specific why I should stay away from the others?