Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Need help deciding on hosting plan. Confused between Virtual, Dedicated and Cloud opt

[tinasu]

Hi there,

I am currently running a wordpress site that gets around 250K pageviews and 100+ Gb transfer a month. I want to move the site to a virtual or dedicated or cloud computing option, before adding more traffic boosting features.

I am confused and overwhelmed by the range of options out there. Can you help me narrow down to what I need, and which company/plan will be best?

I am currently on share hosting with Media Temple on their GS. I like the costumer service with MT, but don't love the GS.

I am looking for hosting option that will make it very easy to expand as traffic grows. I'm anticipating 1-2 million monthly pageviews, and possibly more. I also need control panel to easily manage the various domains.

I'm currently looking at Media Temple DV (Dedicated Virtual) and Rackspace Cloud Sites. The cost difference is pretty big ($100/month difference). Is the cost difference worth it?

Also, there are a ton of options by other companies like Host Gator VPS or Dedicated and DreamHost that are much cheaper.

What do you think?

Thanks for your time and help.

-Tina

[Rapid2214]

What is your ideal budget p/m?

Marty

[tinasu]

Originally Posted by Rapid2214

What is your ideal budget p/m?

Marty

I'm looking for the best option for the lowest price.

Ideal budget is as little as possible for the best service: up time, customer service, easy of use, managed.

If the best value cost $150, I can pay that. But if I can get that value for $40, obviously, I'll prefer that over $150.

[tinasu]

Right now I'm just confused which direction and which company to go with. Too many options and reviews for each company seems to be mixed.

Can someone help me gain some clarity?

Do I need VSP or Dedicated or Cloud?

Which company? Rackspace, Media Temple, Liquid Web, Host Gator or someone else?

[Rapid2214]

Any choice on OS? Linux / Windows?

[tinasu]

Originally Posted by Rapid2214

Any choice on OS? Linux / Windows?

Linux (most definitely)

[Rapid2214]

Good, if you chose Windows I would of been upset... Linux Rules...

As for VPS, look at Eukhost, I have been with them for a while and they provide excellent Customer Service. I can't comment on their VPS's though (never needed one) ...

Marty

[CloudWeb]

Well, for the easiest scaling Cloud is the way to go. You can start with the resources you need then scale up as needed. Cloud is a technology though so there are still Shared infrastructures, VPS type environments, and others. Cloud is more or less the underlying infrastructure that makes up a hosting providers offering so it can do all of the above but with added redundancy, easier scalability, ease of management, among other benefits.

For your amount of traffic, I would not recommend any type of shared environment as besides the traffic itself.. CPU/RAM is probably a little heavy as well given your CMS.

Cloud Servers (or just VPS if you don't want the added benefits of Cloud like easier scaling and redundancy of your server across multiple servers) is a good way to go. A dedicated server is going to be a single point of failure and you'll need to pay more for resources to grow into that you won't use from the start.

[tinasu]

Originally Posted by CloudWeb

Well, for the easiest scaling Cloud is the way to go. You can start with the resources you need then scale up as needed. Cloud is a technology though so there are still Shared infrastructures, VPS type environments, and others. Cloud is more or less the underlying infrastructure that makes up a hosting providers offering so it can do all of the above but with added redundancy, easier scalability, ease of management, among other benefits.

For your amount of traffic, I would not recommend any type of shared environment as besides the traffic itself.. CPU/RAM is probably a little heavy as well given your CMS.

Cloud Servers (or just VPS if you don't want the added benefits of Cloud like easier scaling and redundancy of your server across multiple servers) is a good way to go. A dedicated server is going to be a single point of failure and you'll need to pay more for resources to grow into that you won't use from the start.

Is the redundancy with cloud worth the extra money as compared to VPS plans?

Which companies are the best ones to go with for Cloud and VPS?

[CloudWeb]

Cloud Servers don't cost a whole lot more than VPS, so I would say that's up to you to determine the level of service you need for your application and where the value is.

[tinasu]

Originally Posted by CloudWeb

Cloud Servers don't cost a whole lot more than VPS, so I would say that's up to you to determine the level of service you need for your application and where the value is.

I'm looking at the managed Cloud site at Rackspace, and it's a lot more costly than VPS.

Do I have other options that are equally/closely in service and quality as RS but lower cost?

[PogiWeb]

It sounds like to me that you need a vps or a dedicated server. Cloud hosting is alright, but I still haven't bought into the whole concept (this after going to 3+ cloud conferences). You most likely will need a provider who provides cPanel (easy to use control panel) and that has a management plan.

[Fastian]

Originally Posted by tinasu

Hi there,

I am currently running a wordpress site that gets around 250K pageviews and 100+ Gb transfer a month. I want to move the site to a virtual or dedicated or cloud computing option, before adding more traffic boosting features.

I am confused and overwhelmed by the range of options out there. Can you help me narrow down to what I need, and which company/plan will be best?

I am currently on share hosting with Media Temple on their GS. I like the costumer service with MT, but don't love the GS.

I am looking for hosting option that will make it very easy to expand as traffic grows. I'm anticipating 1-2 million monthly pageviews, and possibly more. I also need control panel to easily manage the various domains.

I'm currently looking at Media Temple DV (Dedicated Virtual) and Rackspace Cloud Sites. The cost difference is pretty big ($100/month difference). Is the cost difference worth it?

Also, there are a ton of options by other companies like Host Gator VPS or Dedicated and DreamHost that are much cheaper.

What do you think?

Thanks for your time and help.

-Tina

First thing you should do is, optimize your blog. You will be surprised how much that will help. (Better loading and less resources)

If you have a moderate budget, I would say go with a managed vps with any "reasonable" provider. Not sure what your blog is like, but I think you will be good with a VPS with 1GB RAM. Or you can also try some "semi-dedicated" providers. (Be sure to ask them about their resource limits)

If budget is not an issue, you can also try Cloud vps/hosting providers. (I think a manged cloud provider will cost a lot)

If you go with any vps/cloud vps provider, do remember that you will need to have "at least" some knowledge of how VPS work. (Even if it's fully managed) Else it will be a bumpy ride in start.

[tinasu]

Originally Posted by PogiWeb

It sounds like to me that you need a vps or a dedicated server. Cloud hosting is alright, but I still haven't bought into the whole concept (this after going to 3+ cloud conferences). You most likely will need a provider who provides cPanel (easy to use control panel) and that has a management plan.

Is it true that cloud hosting isn't quite what they claim? I don't quite understand it, saw this discussion, which basically scared me away from the costly cloud hosting:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...ce+Cloud+Sites

On the other hand, Rackspace hosts some really high traffic sites (20 million+ pageviews) and are fine.

Is what they are talking about even legit?

-Tina

[tinasu]

Originally Posted by Fastian

First thing you should do is, optimize your blog. You will be surprised how much that will help. (Better loading and less resources)

If you have a moderate budget, I would say go with a managed vps with any "reasonable" provider. Not sure what your blog is like, but I think you will be good with a VPS with 1GB RAM. Or you can also try some "semi-dedicated" providers. (Be sure to ask them about their resource limits)

If budget is not an issue, you can also try Cloud vps/hosting providers. (I think a manged cloud provider will cost a lot)

If you go with any vps/cloud vps provider, do remember that you will need to have "at least" some knowledge of how VPS work. (Even if it's fully managed) Else it will be a bumpy ride in start.

Thank you for your feedback. I'll make a note to ask about resource limits.

I spoke to someone at LiquidWeb today and they said I am probably eating up 2 Gigs of RAM at my current shared hosting plan right now. (Site is http://thinksimplenow.com , plus a few more Wordpress sites)

Managed cloud cost starts at $150. Much more than VPS. BurstNet seems to have really good prices for VPS.

Is there some providers you recommend? Or heard good things about?
Even selecting a provider seems overwhelming right now. So many options: BurstNet, Media Temple, LiquidWeb, Host Gator, etc, etc.

Thank you for your help.

Tina