Here is a general list of things, from a client point of view, what really every host should strive for, and what every client should be looking for in a host.

1. choose a VPS provider who's datacenter is geographically close to your target audience. Also a host that is fairly close to you, since you'll be the one accessing the VPS the most.

2. don't necessarily choose a host with the "fastest" ticket response time, but choose one who you feel you communicate well with. A host who understands your specific needs, and who can sit down with you and talk about what your needs are, and how that host can accommodate for those needs.

for example, when I started looking for a host, my needs were small..

VPS with cpanel/Fantastico/RVSkin
10 mb disk space
5 GB transfer (to start, or more later as my traffic grew)

basically yer average "small" VPS.. Well, after I signed up for a host, I started to notice even those limits were way above what I needed. I was only getting 450 mb of transfer (not even a gig) and my disk space was wayy under 10mb, more like 2mb at best.

but yet, I kept noticing numerous RAM issues. So I asked my host, I was like..."why do I have such little traffic, yet the 256mb guaranteed, 1GB burstable, isn't enough, that just doesn't make any sense?"

Well, I opened a ticket about it, and we sat down and discovered I probably needed more RAM, so they gave me more, but then I was still having the same issues even with 2x that amount, so the hosting provider investigated why I was having RAM Issues, and not only kept me at that limit, but then also discovered why I was having RAM issues and fixed those too.. It ended up being cpanel related, but if I hadn't have bothered to ask, I would have just assumed it was the host and went on to someone else, in fact I almost did until I realized that it actually was a configuration issue, so its "very" important for you to be able to communicate with your host well, because they want your site up just as much as you do, because it looks good on them as a company. If they blow you off, or don't listen to your specific needs, don't be afraid to go somewhere else, because its very important for a host to do that, no matter what the size of the company is.

3. Make sure the host has the payment option your looking for. I don't even think twice about a host that doesn't accept paypal. Its not that I don't trust anyone, well people I've never met face to face in person I don't trust, and have every reason not to, for you don't know what the company is really like, you don't really know if they exist at all.. I don't even trust my wife to have my credit card #, do you think I'm going to trust a web hosting provider with it? heck NO.. I'm sure a hosting company wouldn't just steal my money from me, but then again, you never know, but for me, its just the point of the matter, I want a host who can accommodate for my needs, and paypal is something I feel is important, and if its important to me, it should be important to them as well, right? because a host should want your business, not lecture or try to blow you off.

which brings me to something even more important

4. don't go with a host that just has "set" plans and thats it. Each person has different needs.. In my above example, what if I wanted 5mb disk space, 5gb transfer, something really small, but wanted 512mb guaranteed RAM? could a host compensate without necessarily try to sign me up for an $80/mo plan with 20mb disk space, 500 GB transfer, etc etc? I mean, why give me high specs that I'll never even come close to using, when all I need is 5mb disk space and 5GB transfer, and just some extra RAM, right? can't they just give you more RAM at, oh I dunno, 2-3 dollars more a month, instead of like $20-30 more for all those specs I never use? I mean, thats just ridiculous, and its very important for a host to be able to setup a specific plan for a specific client like that.

Just make sure, whoever you pick, to do your homework. Web hosting is kinda like going on a job interview.. "its all about being at the right place at the right time." just because 50 other people may have bad experiences, doesn't mean you will. Don't let other peoples experience decide for you, listen to what other clients say, and decide for yourself. I've switched hosting providers a dozen times, there's nothing wrong with that, so long as you find a host that you like thats whats important, not what anyone else thinks :)

GREAT TUTORIAL!

This has helped me pick a new VPS so thanks!

great tutorial, thanks for posting it

thank you, very informative.

btw, do you also have some information sources of e.g. white papers in order to educate the end-user i.e. non technical customer?

best,

I'm shopping for a VPS host, and I noticed that none of the plans mentions the amount of RAM, which you mention several times in the tutorial. Does a VPS actually allocate a fixed-size chunk of RAM to each virtual server?

very usefull posting.. thanks

Thanks bubazoo, for your helpful tutorial. It will guide me for choosing my next VPS provider.

I'm shopping for a VPS host, and I noticed that none of the plans mentions the amount of RAM, which you mention several times in the tutorial. Does a VPS actually allocate a fixed-size chunk of RAM to each virtual server?

There are two types of RAM allocations used for VPS. Fixed/Guaranteed and Burstable.
Fixed means - you get that much amount of RAM no matter what.
Burstable - In case the server has free RAM it can allocate your VPS more RAM exceeding your guaranteed limit but upto the Maximum of the "Burstable limit"

try to check their alexa rank and google PR
do you think popular vps provider will have alexa rank higher than 500,000 ? of curse not but this can not be they only factor

I think you're missing a few things here, what about the hosts infrastructure? i.e. is the data center that they are in fully redundant, are you 100% absolutely sure? How about their pipes? Are they BGP? more than 1 provider? How about their hardware? RAID? What security measures do they take?

These are the things you should look at first, the aforementioned aspects can be looked into later.

thanks for the time in writing this tutorial , hope you could suggest name of some great vps provider also ,

try to check their alexa rank and google PR
do you think popular vps provider will have alexa rank higher than 500,000 ? of curse not but this can not be they only factor

Google pagerank and alexa mean nothing, especially when it's a host...

Good tutorial there, may help lot's of other people.

Very Nice, This should help alot of people.

Excellent insight. Great instruction.

Much appreciated, Bubazoo. Had I read this when you posted it I wouldn't be in the dilemma I am in now.

I would add you should request a download speed test to make sure they aren't overselling their bandwidth.


<<sigs must be setup in profile>>

thanks for the information dude. i have test several vps hosting [budget] and they leave me on my own, it's frustrating me.

i just jumped from reseller to vps and this has helped me something

Oh I'm luck because I'm looking for a VPS host! Thank you very much for these info
:)

Good speech tough.

Things to check:

Not reseller. Search their posts (usernames) at webhostingtalk.com, you may see some secrets.
Small company is ok if he do smartcare. Try search his company name in google.com and webhostingtalk.com to see the feedback.
If he has overselling shared hosting ads in his products, don't support his VPS.
Find special coupon at webhostingtalk.com and freewebspace.net
Data center and redundant link.
UPS
Transparent daily backup or raid-10
Some managed a little help us.
Guarantee CPU in MHz
Guarantee RAM in MB
CPU AMD XEON P4
Bandwidth in term of tolal, not split up/down.
Custom Plan for you. You can find at http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30
Ethernet card speed, shared 100Mbits or 3Mbits.

Google pagerank and alexa mean nothing, especially when it's a host...

:agree:
I was just going to say that
"Many" times I found rock solid hosting companies that almost do no advertising!
and has almost no popularity
They are stable enough, have a stable market share .. don't take Google rank and Alexa that serious in their business planning..
They may also focus on a non-online marketing which makes them not seen well on the web.

..possibly more reasons.

they might not have a high score on both Google & Alexa...
but..
a "fair" score - to me at least - makes sense. I mean not zero..not one.

For companies other than those old, big, infrastructure owners, etc.: I may use those scores "only" as added recommendations...not something makes me go away from first glance on Google toolbar!

remember..Google rank and Alexa rank can easily be purchased for some $$$ and in a few month frame...which has nothing to do with what we all are looking for.

Also...
Google pagerank and Alexa rank can be dropped anytime..for no clear and direct reason.
I mean, for example, if that stable company webmaster put a huge links to many websites: hosting events, governmental sites, etc. etc. on the homepage, which might cause its page rank to go down...
Does this has anything to do with the company quality or "real" business rank?
which can be found in "real" reviews, internet conference papers, extensive readings in hosting forums...etc.

This goes true too for being "popular".. having the company name on top of Google Ads, Yahoo Ads, and every forum's homepage banner ads.
"Popular" - with this sense - means nothing too.

CPU AMD XEON P4

I don't quite understand why not other CPUs?



Bandwidth in term of tolal, not split up/down.

Also, not clear to me, what is the difference.



Custom Plan for you. You can find at

I don't think that every good VPS provider should be able to accommodate custom plan for everyone, especially with the rise in demand these days.

IMHO, this one criterion shouldn't be that important. Of course, of course, .. if all aspects are same, getting customized "may" be great and cost-reducing, as bubazoo (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/member.php?u=23529) said at first post.

Thanks for the checklist ;)

How about buying it directly from some one who has there own data center????????

nice post
Thanxxxx

I think if you can afford it try out a host or two with their entry level plan, you will quickly get a view of their reliability and support standards.

Ok, this still is a bit of mystery for me...how about a case study ?

Let's say you have 50 websites running on 5 different shared hosting. Website mainly are LAMP projects such as Moodle, Joomla, Drupal, etc. Let's say that traffic is 500*50=25 000 visitors a day. You have to add about the same number of websites in production.

Let's say you want to double all that within 2 years and double it again 2 years later which would mean in 4 years : 200 websites and 100 000 visitors a day + 200 sites in prod.

Then, what should I look for ?

I'm really newbie in this... some wording comes to my mind but I don't even know if it is relevant :

- Apache, Mysql/Postgre, PHP - Do you automatically get those ? Can you have limitations ?

- Pricing : what is a good pricing for VPS - I've seen pricing going from 25$ a month to 100$?

- What is the main difference between Virtual private server and virtual dedicated server ?

- What are the usual scams to be aware of ?

dear ,

thank you for the post.

Indeed I would also add that you can take packages in the beginning but be sure that your service provider is able to follow-up with your needs.

Very often a good manage hosting service provider can also provide a good VPS service.

Ask eventually as well for their infrastructure behind e.g. RAM upgrades available, full or parallel virtualisation, SAN or other storage infrastructure, OS available, firewall.

Best,

I'm really newbie in this... some wording comes to my mind but I don't even know if it is relevant :

- Apache, Mysql/Postgre, PHP - Do you automatically get those ? Can you have limitations ?

I am also newbie..but will try to help
VPSs are "virtual environments"..a technology to make every VPS instance - like when you open three Excel files..three instances" share a dedicated or shared (burstable) same hardware resources of the machine they are all hosted on.
Every VPS or VE "environment" is a "server inside the server"...like C: and D: are disks inside the one , physical hard disk...
Each VE acts as an isolated computer, which you can load with an Operating System - ready for you to install - and uninstall...then, after you install your linux or windows, install all other needed programs you need..including paid ones.

So, you get access to a full operating system, with remote management, including all what you mentioned, because simply those programs - Apache, PHP - come by default with the linux OS you are going to administer.

- Pricing : what is a good pricing for VPS - I've seen pricing going from 25$ a month to 100$?It depends on spec, and the providers' own plan...
But as you are using a handful of the physical resources, and VPS support requires more knowledgeable staff, it will be always a bit higher than shared hosting.

- What is the main difference between Virtual private server and virtual dedicated server ?No difference..on many sites.
But, sometimes they refer to the V. dedicated as self-managed...or as having more higher specs? don't know exactly..

- What are the usual scams to be aware of ?The big problem I think is not "scams" but customer "vps-illiteracy"

Coming from the "reseller", graphical based systems - as Plesk and cPanle- thinking the world is the world..will lead to ask for a "managed service" shortly. Resellers of that type will find themselves paying extra 20-50$ monthly to stay served as before where they were just...reselling.

VPS management is totally different than reseller interface management.
It's like using a car comes with full maintenance contract then using it with your "own" maintenance and knowledge!

"Scams" can happen in any business..signs of scam:

- Lengthy-only contracts: Stay away.
- No clear data about the company and its history on "about" page
- Unprofessional "warm" and "friendly" correspondence, with no or little facts
- No clear contact information: Street address..Tel number..names of people running this business "why aren't they publish their names on their business website!!?"
- Excessive use of eye-catching flash and high quality website design..sometimes this is ok, but from my experience..this can be a warning sign..if coupled with other signs.
- Please! read their Terms of Servic / contract very carefully...
one of the TOSs I read was saying that if the client's Credit Card transaction didn't go through s/he will pay 80$ for this!!!

Don't hesitate to ask for customer reviews on this forum or other forums..and keep your money in your pocket..until you are sure! ;)

Also..not a scam, but again, less knowledge..
OP above described his journey with RAM ..and unexpected resource use of cPanel.

So, you need to really: read
read all VPS info in depth, and know exactly what scenarios are going to happen with each decision (cPanel, LXAdmin, etc.) and what should you ask for when talking to their sales staff.

This in order not to purchase a plan, then "discover" you need something from the "addon" menu! that costs you maybe more than the plan itself

I think you're missing a few things here, what about the hosts infrastructure? i.e. is the data center that they are in fully redundant, are you 100% absolutely sure? How about their pipes? Are they BGP? more than 1 provider? How about their hardware? RAID? What security measures do they take?

These are the things you should look at first, the aforementioned aspects can be looked into later.

Well, I agree up to a point. For one thing, your never absolutely 100% sure on anything, and you never can be, unless you go take a trip to their facility, which is too costly. Therefore, you can't be 100% sure on anything. As for RAID, I find RAID to be useless. About the only thing its good for is a backup, which you should be doing as a customer on your own in the first place, so I don't think RAID and other hardware aspects are important at all when choosing a host. Long as their servers seem pretty speedy, and honor their 99.9% uptime guarantee, nothing hardware related matters really.

one of the TOSs I read was saying that if the client's Credit Card transaction didn't go through s/he will pay 80$ for this!!!

Don't hesitate to ask for customer reviews on this forum or other forums..and keep your money in your pocket..until you are sure! ;)

yeah. this is exactally why you ONLY pay with PAYPAL.
NEVER give your host your credit card number, especially if there going to be charging you a set monthly rate. You don't want a host to have your credit card number just sitting on a computer, or set of computers, you don't know, for any employee of the company to use as they see fit. Plus you have no control over when they take the monthly payment out, so if your on a tight budget, as I am, you could easily bounce your checking account if you give them a debit card or something. Granted your probably taking the same risk with paypal, but at least with paypal, if a problem arises, its paypals responsibility, so at least then you know who to go after. On a web host, any employee of the company can just take your credit card number for their own personal use. If you don't know the company, that's taking a very big risk, especially if its a company outside the city that you cannot go and visit for any reason.

My personal experience, never trust any company with your personal information, that is outside of where you can walk or drive to on a regular basis... Thats just true of any business making or contract signing of any type.

hmmm how about when say ur on a server that has 8 cores. how does a VPS manage that per user (VPS account)?