Hi everyone,

I need a bit of advice... I'm not sure if I should maybe get a dedicated server. I'm currently with Tera-Byte, using a virtual hosting plan. They have been gracious hosts to me so far and I can't say anything bad about them, but I have a bit of a problem. I've been getting an average of about 4500 to 5000 uniques per day and 24,000 page views. My bandwidth limit is 40 gb. I transfer under a gb per day so there's no problem with bandwidth yet. The problem is that I'm apparently using too many system resourses because of scripts. I only use one small javascript which fetches ads from Popuptraffic.com on some of my pages and I also use Hitbox.com free traffic stats.(I'm pretty sure they use a script of some sort). I'm fairly new to the webhosting world and I don't know very much about dedicated servers etc. I need to consider my options quickly because I've been asked to by Tera-Byte. I use the popup ads because they are 'cpm' and it seems to be the only way to actually make any money back from my traffic. I also realize that dedicated servers cost at least $200 dollars/month and I don't know that I would make that much money back in advertisements, etc. I can't really affort to be loosing any money each month so I'm not sure what to do. If anyone can give me any input to this situation I would greatly appreciate it :)

Thanks so much. Sorry for the long post ;)

Kevin.

Ha ha ha ..
Crap!
Javascript or hitbox stat is a client side scripting code.
And they will NOT take CPU resources!

What I believe that's the only reason for Tera-Byte to close you account because you take A LOT of bandwith.

Be realistic, monthly price US$ 27.50 will not cover the cost for 40 Gigs data transfer.

That's only a Tera-Byte trick to get more customer by offering package..

Thx.
Soda

Soda,

Well, not necessarily. If you remember some of the topics we've had in these forums you'll remember that quite a few hosts confirmed that they offer higher GBs through playing the web hosting version of 'mini-lite' Russian Roulette - that is, people will generally use very little GB (1-3 GIGs/month) and thus they can afford the higher plans.

That said, I don't know precisely how Tera-Byte does it, so I can't comment on that. I can always drag Steve from Tera-Byte in and ask him to elaborate.... (LOL) ;)

Kevin,

Would you mind posting a link to your site so that I can have a look? JavaScript doesn't use any CPU resources (except on your visitor's browser occasionally) - CGI/Perl is usually the main culprit. I also think Hitbox handles their own script processing on their own servers as well. It should be something else like forums you may have (particularly if you're running UBB) or similar.

I used to think my account on tera-byte would eat lots of bandwidth every month. But i was shocked to find out my average is 7gb (this is according to the info in the cobalt control panel which im aware is not 100% accurate). My site is a chat site but e-chat has been designed to be webhost friendly. Not many cgi chats are.

Do you have a large image gallery or something?. What is it that makes your site so popular?.

It would be great if you could post your URL so we can look at the source code. Before you move, you should see why your site is using so many system resources, otherwise, you will bump into the same situation.

If bandwidth is not the issue, then there has to be something besides HTML on your site. Are you using a banner rotator? PHP/mySQL? Any other CGI scripts? Do you have a bulletin board on your site?

Thanks for your replies guys. I was pretty sure when I added the popuptraffic and hitbox code into my pages that they were client-side but I guess I figured I was wrong :) I don't run any other scripts at all. I don't use a message board, chat or anything. No Perl/CGI, MySQL. So it must be the bandwidth. But alas, I have received a very friendly and helpful email this morning from Steve at Tera-Byte. It seems it was just an automated form mail that I received telling me I was using too much resources. The generic email blames it on scripts but as he explained to me, it is just the amount of page views etc per month as my scripts are client-side. I had been checking my bandwidth usage stats using the Raq 3 servers admin page and as I've heard, it doesn't give a very accurate picture. it has in the past said only 800 or so uniques when hitbox says 6000 now that I think about it. So it looks as though I may just be exceeding 40 gbs per month soon.

Steve has offered me a very fair price for dedicated so I believe this might be the way I go. Thanks for the help everyone and thanks to Tera-Byte for showing why many people have good things to say about them :)

Thanks again to all who posted :)

Kevin.

ps. I'm not going to post the url now because I don't need any extra traffic ;) at the moment before I figure out what to do ;) but thanks for the offers to go out of your way to help out!! I love this Forum, it has really helped me out the last month on several issues :)

Glad to here you got things sorted :).

So let me get this straight.......your not using the allotted bandwidth of 40 GB's right now, your using less than 40Gb? And Steve is telling you to get a dedicated server?

What Steve should be telling you is to try to slim down some of your images, or something like that.

If your under the 40 Gb's that they allow, i'd stay right where i am, and come back here and complain if you get bumped off the server.


Doesn't tera-byte offer "extra bandwidth" to purchase? That should be another option.

Any more than 40 and you should for sure be on a dedicated server. My personal opinion is that anyone using more than 30 should move to dedicated.

Originally posted by Technics
My personal opinion is that anyone using more than 30 should move to dedicated.

Even if they are on a plan that gives them 40 Gb's??!! Seems a rather unusual statement to me.

the reason he hasnt used 40 gigs as of yet is because his server has only been up for 11 days, however to this point he has used 26 gigs of bandwidth (do the math). i have not indicated to him whatsoever i would remove his site. all i did was move him to a different server so the excessive bandwidth usage wouldnt affect all the other sites on the server he was on. and based on what i saw he will use in excess of 40 gigs within the month at that time ill tell him whats nessicary to do, but what i did give him a reasonably priced alternative so he could grow his business.

Steve

Everyone, please don't be so quick to jump all over a host when a problem occurs! As I explained in my reply, My traffic is obviously going over 40 gbs but I didn't realize it due to the innacuracies of the cobalt usage stats. Tera-Byte has been reasonable and most helpful up to this point :) After all the bad reviews of different hosts, I would most definately say I'm glad I chose Tera-Byte.
As was mentioned in this thread, it IS probably a good idea to get a dedicated server when you surpass 30 gb's if you want things to run smoothly so I don't have a problem with this either. Steve has offered me a great price on exactly what I need and all the other hosts should try to learn from his example ;)

Kevin.

*** Claps *** Well said kevin.

I try my best :)

Hi,

You might want to have some basic Unix knowledge to use a dedicated server. Even very basic will do. Companies like olm.net have high usage servers that are much less than you are paying, and you still have the tech support. You should call them. I don't know their number but it's olm.net.

helexia

Thanks Helexia, i've checked oln.net's prices/features and I still will get a better price with Tera-Byte, and I'm already familiar with Tera-Byte's level of service.
Thanks anyways for the help :)
Kevin.

you're welcome, good luck!