Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : Is a VPS for me? (newbie question)

[Burnsky]

If anyone could help me in anyway it would be greatly appreciated.

I am going to run a simple adult website with basic content: pics and videos. I have been doing research into different kinds of hosting and a VPS seems very appealing because of the reliability, high bandwidth and the prices seem reasonable. I will probably need a plan that has at least 200 gigs of monthly transfer.

I simply know how to design html pages, ftp my content and that’s it. Will a VPS be over my head? I read somewhere that VPS are not for newbies… if so, why is this? Will I be able to handle it or should I simple get a higher-end shared hosting plan?

[Bill-zilonhost]

This depends on how much time you have to dedicate to it. There is a learning curve involved.

[Turboz]

VPS is a good alternative to shared hosting but it does require some technical knownledge depending on what you want to do with it.

If you just want to use it for hosting then you might just be ok. You'd setup your main hosting account in the VPS admin area and then just use the site's cpanel to manage the rest of it.

As long as your just uploading content and hosting it you should be ok. It's when you want to do other things like SSH'/telnet to edit things via the command prompt that you could be in for trouble. OF course as long as your only hosting etc you should be ok and not need this.

Personally I'd recommend a vps from powervps.com. They will provide help if you need it. They also allow adult sites aslong as you own the content and it's legal. Most shared hosts will not allow adult sites because of the resources that they use (and the fact that they want a bigger cut of your pie).

Hope this helps

-Turboz

[Yaroslav]

Basically, the answer is - yes, the controlpanel-equipped VPS is good for you. You won't have to worry about your host kicking you out for using excess resources, because you'll be able to use only what's allocated and paid for; you'll get a pretty good piece of bandwidth/diskspace for a reasonable price. All this will be manageable through a control panel, so you won't have to dig into technicalities if you don't want to.

Also, you will have much more possibilities to fortify your server against intruders, which is important if you are going to implement some paid service.

And even more , the dedicated IP will allow you to make an SSL sertificate for secure transactions.

[roulade]

Originally posted by Bill-zilonhost
This depends on how much time you have to dedicate to it. There is a learning curve involved.

He's right

I've been on a reseller for a long time and was very accustomed to WHM. But when I recently got a VPS, I was thrown off balance by the other stuff I now had access to in WHM.

You might want to search around for a big reseller package first if you aren't prepared to devote time to learning the techie aspects of VPS (and maybe WHM - if you opt for it). Of course there are advantages to using a VPS, but from experience I think the path should be shared-reseller-VPS-dedicated Sort of a step-by-step progession thing.

[MacMadame]

I thought I had replied to this thread but I can't see my post so I guess not...

My first VPS only had one account on it for a while and when you run them that way, there really isn't a big learning curve. Sure, there are lots of things you can do to your account and some of them have a learning curve but you can move into it gradually. For example, I now have my own DNS server, am parking a domain and have started doing server optimizations. But for years I didn't do any of that. I started with one domain, then two and built up gradually as my sites got more complicated and I felt more comfortable with running the VPS.

ETA... oh, found my other post. It was in another thread with this exact same topic. Sorry to add to the repetitiveness!

[David]

Burnsky,

I would say unless you get a managed VPS - or one with a provider that has a great forum/as well as support team - you'll be way in way deep.

Not only do you have to manage things via panels as they've said but that only handles half the battle.

You'll have to worry about security as well - and that definitely isn't something you'll want to get into at this point. Adult sites are targetted quite often by crackers and they'll do anything they can to get into your content or server - even more so with the type of content you have.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you get a highly managed solution - if you have a few months to 'build' the project then it may be all right as you'll have time to secure the system before putting any content on it.

Just a few tips - I don't want to scare you away but I also don't want you to waste your money!

[Bill-zilonhost]

...all very good points...

[Burnsky]

Thank you everybody for giving me your honest opinion. It sounds like there is a lot more involved than I thought.

I actually wanted to jump into it and have my site up this week... but from what it sounds that’s not going to happen.

All I really need is some kind of hosting that will give me a ton of bandwidth: 200gb and up. What other affordable($30-$60) trustworthy alternatives are there out there, besides VPS? I haven’t found anything that looks as good as VPS deals.

Is reseller hosting all that more newbie-friendly? Is it something where I can just FTP my content and be done, like with shared hosting?

As far as security goes I have an account with CCBill. They’re supposed to take care of security measures. Would I really need to worry about it?

I’m still looking into VPS… despite the learning curv that’s been spoken of. Untill I find something else, it still seems like my best option. I would defiantly go with a fully-managed VPS: Steadfastnetworks or ServInt seem appealing. I know ServInt is trusted name... what about Steadfast? Rackforce seems like a good deal with their unmetered bandwidth but it seems their reputation isn’t the best and I don’t think they are fully-managed.
PowerVPS seems to have an almost impeccable reputation around here although they’re a little lacking in the bandwidth department for my needs.

[pitergreen]

Yep, Reseller hosting is much more newbie-friendly than the VPS one (but again, it depends what you use it for - they could have just about the same knowlegde request). There is a possibility that you will find a host that will offer you 200+ gb of bw for a reseller package, you should make a request via HOST QUOTE, who knows

[David]

Burnsky,

It all depends on what you're placing on the VPS - it really truly is a great learning experience if you just jump right in.

I would say as long as you're willing to give SSH a shot - and if support is always around to help with questions (even if it is unmanaged - they should expect some questions) you'll be good to go.

Just remember google will always have a good answer - but verify it with your provider prior to listening to any specifc person/site on google, at least until you know what all the commands are going to do.

[net-trend]

Originally posted by Burnsky
All I really need is some kind of hosting that will give me a ton of bandwidth: 200gb and up. What other affordable($30-$60) trustworthy alternatives are there out there, besides VPS? I haven’t found anything that looks as good as VPS deals.

Just a note, most VPSs are connection limited. You had best ask your VPS provider how many connections are limited per VPS and then decide if you are okay with it.

This is important because if you have a very busy site you will find that your VPS will become slow or inaccessible when all connections are used up.

[Burnsky]

It's been a few months since my original post...

I finally managed to go with a VPS offered by Carpathia Hosting and it was definately the right choice. It took me only a day to figure out how to work the control panel and get my site up and running. It wasn't too hard at all to figure out. I'll also add that Carpathia's customer service has been very reliable and my VPS' performance has been solid.

[samdax]

Hey
thanks for this update
come back later (few months) and tell us how things going on

[bwb]

Ya drop a review of your host too if you could,