I'm running a website, and god bless me... it grow really fast... I'm wondering when is the time to move to dedicated?

When the price for shared over dedicated price?
When transfer a month reach 100GB?
or... when?

And, I dont' know how to running a web server... so is it anyway to have a dedicated server and have someone manage it for me... Just like shared host, but I'm the only customer and I have all its resource...

when you the money to move ;)

If you dont know how to manage a server. I suggest you either get a managed server or stay with shared hosting. Otherwise you will get hit hard with server admin charges. Most provider charge between $75-150 per hour.

IF you dont know how to manage a server you should get a managed server - cost appprox $350/month. You need to make sure moving is in the best interests of both you and your customers.

If you are relatively happy where you are, and your customers are happy, and you're not experiencing too many problems, you bandwidth usage isn't extravagant, and your load in the server isn't too great, they you might as well stay. If however, you are using more than the bandwidth alloted to you each month, or your server load is high, then perhaps you should look at moving.

As a general idea, I like to tell people that if they have 100 or more customers on their shared hosting situation, then perhaps it's time to look at a dedicated server. Now unless you are charging your customers peanuts, 100 customers should more than cover the cost of a managed dedicated server.

Do the sums, work out if your customers will be better off on a dedicated or not. Ultimately it's your customers that are keeping you in busienss, so it's your obligation and duty to ensure they are provided with the best quality of service you can give them.

You know you need a dedicated server when,

1) Your host starts complaining that your site is using up too much CPU time, or (if the host doesn't care about his server) when the site runs very slowly,

2) When the additional transfer overage costs so much that it would make more economical sense to move to a dedicated server. (this all depends on the existing pricing of your account). Normally, if you have a site that runs over 30GB, you should start planning. When it hits 50GB, you should look for options, and anything over 100GB you definitely need your own server.

If you don't know how to manage a server, look for managed service in dedicated server package and be sure to ask what is included. (it is the most ill-defined term in the industry - some hosts call basic level of support managed service.)

Peter

So what should I looking for when requesting a managed dedicated? And how about server spec, what will decide how much bandwidth it can handle?

For example, if my site (I'm not reseller) need about 400GB transfer a month, and it use PHP + MySQL a lot (yes really). Plus, it's a nation wide site, so at the rush hour, traffic maybe very high. What should I looking for?

How about the different between IDE HDD, IDE RAID 0 2X and SCSI HDD? I mean in WebServer environment...

Most of time, hosting company offer dedicated server with dual net card, please explain.

Thanks.

I'm running a website, and god bless me... it grow really fast... I'm wondering when is the time to move to dedicated?

When the price for shared over dedicated price?
When transfer a month reach 100GB?
or... when?

And, I dont' know how to running a web server... so is it anyway to have a dedicated server and have someone manage it for me... Just like shared host, but I'm the only customer and I have all its resource...

:D Get yourself a dedicated if you afford one - Look at spending upwards of US$250 for a decent provider (For a very basic server). Also Buy a book, like "Linux Apache Web Server Administration" Charles Aulds (Old but V Good)

If I were you, I would wait for your shared host to:-

A: Not deliver the service
B: Tell you to move :D

Before you look at a dedicated server.... perhaps even look at reseller plan that people host around..... no sys admin fees in sight with that option and heaps of traffic and hand holding.

In the end, you will know which option is correct, after all you have to look after your clients :D

Good Luck :)

For example, if my site (I'm not reseller) need about 400GB transfer a month, and it use PHP + MySQL a lot (yes really). Plus, it's a nation wide site, so at the rush hour, traffic maybe very high. What should I looking for?

:D Sorry, I never read your required stated services..... yes you need a dedicated server.... managed you would be looking at well above what I suggested above. try searching the advertising forums and get a feel of the price that would fit your requirements..... :D

*Tip* $99 Dollar server might not be what you want LOL :D

It's not only the amount of data transfer.. it's also the % of CPU used

We have a site on my Linux server which pushes only 2GB per week but uses up over 20% of CPU.

Actually you should consider moving as soon as you are asking this question - if your site is valuable and brings in $$

If not, well let it be pushed out! ;)

Cheers
Balaji

We have a site on my Linux server which pushes only 2GB per week but uses up over 20% of CPU.

Is that 0.2 consistently or ? :)

LOL :D Thats way too much for shared hosting.... tell them to move on..... there is a limit and 2GB per week is a LOT of traffic.. what do they host that uses so much?

It's not only the amount of data transfer.. it's also the % of CPU used

Exactly - They usually go hand in hand though..... :D

Originally posted by Dotcomsnz

there is a limit and 2GB per week is a LOT of traffic.. what do they host that uses so much?

Why is 2GB/week a lot of traffic? That only comes out to 8GB a month. Most companies offer 8GB/month of transfer in their "medium" packages.

You simply move from shared hosting to dedicated hosting when:

1. It is cheaper for you.
2. Your host kicks you off shared. ;-) (Happened to me.)
3. Co-location is not an answer.

"Your host kicks you off shared"

Can it happen? Did you use to mych resource that they can't handle?

Sure it can happen.

If your site is using so much memory/CPU that everyone else is affected, then obviously your host would kick you out and tell you to get a dedicated.

Peter

when my host.......

says "you are using too much resources.......your traffic is too much" unless you upgrade to a DS (I was on VDS)
and they never reply my emails after that! :mad:

Originally posted by BKM
when my host.......

says "you are using too much resources.......your traffic is too much" unless you upgrade to a DS (I was on VDS)
and they never reply my emails after that! :mad:

LOL... but imagine... if my plan have 10MB/1GB for example... and I don't exeed the limit... there's no reason they can kick out me... even I use alot of resource... I see no host provider mention the limit of resource in their plan details!

LOL... but imagine... if my plan have 10MB/1GB for example... and I don't exeed the limit... there's no reason they can kick out me... even I use alot of resource... I see no host provider mention the limit of resource in their plan details!

Read their TOS + AUP, it should expalin things further.
Depending upon what you use, html pages, scripts etc, you can create a very heavy load on the server - regardless of disk space useage or traffic. Static html pages don't create too much load but scripts, databases etc can and do.

You can't use up 100% of the server resources or even 10% at a sustained level - There would be nothing left for the other folks :D

and not keep mum and just let my sites slogggggggggg.

10 emails for 3 days and no reply :mad:

wouldn't bash them now but if anyone looking for a VDS, I can provide some feedback. ;)

Originally posted by FrzzMan
I'm running a website, and god bless me... it grow really fast... I'm wondering when is the time to move to dedicated?

When the price for shared over dedicated price?
When transfer a month reach 100GB?
or... when?

And, I dont' know how to running a web server... so is it anyway to have a dedicated server and have someone manage it for me... Just like shared host, but I'm the only customer and I have all its resource...

Well, I went dedicated just a couple of days ago because I have several sites and now they are pulling in a little more traffic than what the shared hosting provides.

I am a newbie at dedicated myself and decided to get myself a Raq 4. I know as far as performance it cannot beat the other servers around but if you are the only one, it should do quite fine. Besides, because of the standardzied hardware and interface, the Raq is built to be dummy-proof. It took me a few days to get familiar with things and get them up and running. That is after going thru the documentation and so on.

Patches are pretty simple too, since they use PKG files which are available on Sun Cobalt website itself. Everything via the web interface.

Sun has a Knowledgebase sites and there are several Raq resources around which should get you going. in fact with the Sun knowledgebase, I got specific information on what to do and so on via telnet. I was a little fearful of telnet and doing all those low-level things but it works great.

If this is your first dedicated, you might want to consider a Raq. It is simple to use and has quite a lot of things built on the control panel itself.

Have fun.

I wanted to get from RS too but all the "do-it-yourself" thing scared me off :stickout

Originally posted by BKM
I wanted to get from RS too but all the "do-it-yourself" thing scared me off :stickout

Haa haa, Well, I thought the same thing too. Uptime was very important to me since the sites are basically live ones.

I thought it over and instead of the higher end server that RS was offering, I went with the Raq because at least it is easier to use. I got it up and going in a matter of hours, browsing through resources and so on.

I got all the official patches done through Cobalt PKG, got mod_gzip, webalizer, mysql and so on installed through assistance from the various resources. It was simple.

These are great resources :-
http://www.uk2raq.com/raqfaq/index.php
http://supportforum.sun.com/cgi-bin/WebX.cgi?/cobalt.raq.general

Helped me through a lot.

Have fun.