Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Help me find type of hosting for this bandwidth

[rbwire]

I recently took over a dedicated server. Never having admin'ed one in the past, I was wondering if this server is being under-utilized. Here are my recent stats so far in PLESK:

TRAFFIC (for APRIL current)
USED: 1 700.00 MB

FTP: 0MB
POP3/IMAP: 0MB
SMTP: 16.00MB
HTTP: 1700.00MB (IN: 0MB, OUT: 1700.00MB)

I'm new to all this so please forgive me. What is the "out" figure for HTTP above mean? Is that meaning pages "read" by visitors? Why is "In" zero?

What shocks me is my current host is I think waaaaaaay overselling me services. I asked to get a cPanel server upgrade and they said I should get another server and then migrate it to that new server so I was going to pay two dedicated server bills. I went shopping around and based on the above figures, another host told me all I really need is a VPS.

I'm confused as to what I really need? 300 bucks a month for overkill is not what I'm looking for. Although I noticed my CPU reading on the server is always hovering at 90%. For a site with such low bandwidth, why is that?

The site has been hacked into twice and these so called "managed server" guys seemed to not really manage anything except collect the company dime. I mean, the site was running really slow for about a day and by End of Business Day they inform me via email that the site has been exploited. Should I shop elsewhere? What's shocking is that this company I'm with is supposedly "one of the top recommends" here.

I send tech support a ticket to give me a recommendation and sales seems to just want the quick dime.

What are your opinions?

[Chris`]

I recently took over a dedicated server. Never having admin'ed one in the past, I was wondering if this server is being under-utilized. Here are my recent stats so far in PLESK:

TRAFFIC (for APRIL current)
USED: 1 700.00 MB

FTP: 0MB
POP3/IMAP: 0MB
SMTP: 16.00MB
HTTP: 1700.00MB (IN: 0MB, OUT: 1700.00MB)

I'm new to all this so please forgive me. What is the "out" figure for HTTP above mean? Is that meaning pages "read" by visitors? Why is "In" zero?

Thats basically how much traffic your server has provided for other users. For example, "IN" would be how much data was uploaded onto your server via an upload service, etc..

What shocks me is my current host is I think waaaaaaay overselling me services. I asked to get a cPanel server upgrade and they said I should get another server and then migrate it to that new server so I was going to pay two dedicated server bills. I went shopping around and based on the above figures, another host told me all I really need is a VPS.

Maybe you should try theplanet.com and compare prices.

I'm confused as to what I really need? 300 bucks a month for overkill is not what I'm looking for. Although I noticed my CPU reading on the server is always hovering at 90%. For a site with such low bandwidth, why is that?

300 bucks a month? What are your server specs?

The site has been hacked into twice and these so called "managed server" guys seemed to not really manage anything except collect the company dime. I mean, the site was running really slow for about a day and by End of Business Day they inform me via email that the site has been exploited. Should I shop elsewhere? What's shocking is that this company I'm with is supposedly "one of the top recommends" here.

Try installing a firewall, I recommend "apf" You can google for it. Check for the following:

A script that may be taking up too much CPU usage.
A DoS Attack, check how many connections you have.
See what process is taking up the most Load on your server.

You can also do a trial-and-error and disable one website at a time and see when the load goes down.

I send tech support a ticket to give me a recommendation and sales seems to just want the quick dime.

I believe thats because they are not looking into ti correctly, however you might need a faster server. But, thats really not very much bandwidth. Bearly using a Gig, and some hosts give thousands of gigs of bandwidth a month.

What are your opinions?

You just need to keep messing with settings. Look at your apache configuration, maybe you have some settings screwed up. Can you post some more details regarding the high load on your server here?

[rbwire]

Originally Posted by Chris`

Thats basically how much traffic your server has provided for other users. For example, "IN" would be how much data was uploaded onto your server via an upload service, etc..

This server only has 1 domain to it. So those stats are for 1 website, no other users.

Maybe you should try theplanet.com and compare prices.

300 bucks a month? What are your server specs?

its running on Dell Servers here is my Plesk readout:
Plesk version 8.0, CentOS 3.6
Operating system Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp
CPU GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz

Is that Pentium D a SnailERON or is that a regular P4?
It was originally setup a year ago, but not by me so...i dunno if that's good or not?

Try installing a firewall, I recommend "apf" You can google for it. Check for the following:

A script that may be taking up too much CPU usage.
A DoS Attack, check how many connections you have.
See what process is taking up the most Load on your server.

You can also do a trial-and-error and disable one website at a time and see when the load goes down.

Is this something that my "managed" host can assist me with? I am too new to this side of things...

The site is running Joomla. I was told to upgrade Joomla. But the the dude who built it screwed it up so bad. He put it in subdirectory after subdirectory, so I'm having a b*tch of a time figuring out the site structure. I don't even know where I would download the joomla updates to update this POS! Its running, but hobbling. I want to rebuild it so it will take time.

I believe thats because they are not looking into ti correctly, however you might need a faster server. But, thats really not very much bandwidth. Bearly using a Gig, and some hosts give thousands of gigs of bandwidth a month.

You just need to keep messing with settings. Look at your apache configuration, maybe you have some settings screwed up. Can you post some more details regarding the high load on your server here?

Where can I find "what" I'm "looking for"? I don't even know where 2 begin.

What details do you need? I don't want to divulge because the previous guy was fired, and I'm just afraid he's lurking in here. I sense that he may have left an open hole to cause havoc as the site went down a few times since last year.

Please help if anyone has ideas and experience of a similar situation. THANKS!

[ldcdc]

Is this something that my "managed" host can assist me with? I am too new to this side of things...

That's something they should have already done if you're paying for full management.

The site is running Joomla.

Are you using any mods/components that could cause explain the high CPU usage?

Please share some traffic statistics (page view per month etc).

[Chris`]

This server only has 1 domain to it. So those stats are for 1 website, no other users.

Ok, well that helps alot, trust me its harder if there are more, lol.


its running on Dell Servers here is my Plesk readout:
Plesk version 8.0, CentOS 3.6
Operating system Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp
CPU GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz

Thats pretty good. But I don't like Plesk, so your on your own in that area.

Is this something that my "managed" host can assist me with? I am too new to this side of things...

I'm not sure, ask your host if they will look into whats causing a high load on your server, rather than telling them its lagging.

The site is running Joomla. I was told to upgrade Joomla. But the the dude who built it screwed it up so bad. He put it in subdirectory after subdirectory, so I'm having a b*tch of a time figuring out the site structure. I don't even know where I would download the joomla updates to update this POS! Its running, but hobbling. I want to rebuild it so it will take time.

I don't use Joomla, or Plesk. Personally I don't like either one of them, I've tried them both, and Ill stick to cPanel and IPB 2.2 or PHPBB 3. Check for any addon scripts, etc.. A Good idea would be to disable one at a time until you can narrow it down, then work on that one until the lag goes away. That or just remove the Mod/plugin.

Where can I find "what" I'm "looking for"? I don't even know where 2 begin.

I can't help you there, I'm not going to explain how to administrate a server.

What details do you need? I don't want to divulge because the previous guy was fired, and I'm just afraid he's lurking in here. I sense that he may have left an open hole to cause havoc as the site went down a few times since last year.

If thats the case, then download backups and re-image the server. Then reupload your website and see what happens.

Please help if anyone has ideas and experience of a similar situation. THANKS!

I have, and last time my servers load went to high it was because to many people where chatting in my ajax shoutbox. I shut down the shoutbox for a while and the load went away. But I was just messing around with things and it took me a while to figure out that was even the case.

Good luck dude.

[rbwire]

Originally Posted by ldcdc

That's something they should have already done if you're paying for full management.

Are you using any mods/components that could cause explain the high CPU usage?

Please share some traffic statistics (page view per month etc).

I agree, that's why I'm asking around if anyone can suggest a host for me that won't gouge me. I'm paying for "managed" and I'm ending up having to do the legwork...argggh!

Anyways here's some stats:
Mo. Totals
Highest Monthly Hits: 370000, Pages:33000, Files: 245000, Visits: 3800, KB: 4271300
Lowest Monthly Hits: 100000, Pages: 32500, Files 68500, Visits: 4300, KB: 4196770

Daily Avg
HITS:11937
FILES:8160
PAGES:1116
VISITS: 135

Daily Highest Visits: 201, Lowest: 115

Monthly highest KB: 5213700, Lowest: 2497286

Any ideas? Is a dedicated server what I need or VPS?
Thanks!

[hillbilly1980]

Those stats seem way to low to warrent a dedicated machine, you're really paying for a semi when you need a half ton.

You could host something like that for 300 bucks a year somewhere, let alone a month. I think your company would be best served to spend a chunk of money to get someone talented to come in find these issues fix them right up over a few hours ( at least rule out that your site / scripts aren't causing the cpu load ) and then migrate the site to shared box provider.

You may have bad scripts but it's more likely if the box has been exploited that someone is running something your not aware of, perhaps sending out spam. So it might have nothing at all to do with your site, your site is just the one that suffers.

Look at it this way if the site is causing the load you'll have it fixed, if not then you know it's not your site. Either way once the load is understood/addressed you could safely move to shared hosting package. Managed server can be neglected but shared box has hundreds of other sites running, if something goes wrong you get a hundred different people calling in. Trust me , that gets fixed really quick.

Keith

[rbwire]

Originally Posted by hillbilly1980

Look at it this way if the site is causing the load you'll have it fixed, if not then you know it's not your site. Either way once the load is understood/addressed you could safely move to shared hosting package. Managed server can be neglected but shared box has hundreds of other sites running, if something goes wrong you get a hundred different people calling in. Trust me that gets fixed really quick.

Keith

So theoretically, they would respond "better" with a shared plan than a dedicated?

yeah, methinks I'm getting gouged for nothing. what hosting do you folks recommend for my above useage? i'm curious...

Thanks!

[hillbilly1980]

You got about 100 people a day looking at about 10 pages each. At most you need a mid grade shared hosting package.

[rbwire]

Originally Posted by Chris`

Please help if anyone has ideas and experience of a similar situation. THANKS!

I have, and last time my servers load went to high it was because to many people where chatting in my ajax shoutbox. I shut down the shoutbox for a while and the load went away. But I was just messing around with things and it took me a while to figure out that was even the case.

Good luck dude.

thanks for trying to help. i'm just in a quandry as to what direction to go now.

i was inclined to rebuild the site in joomla, as i think i can do a better job than the knucklehead before me, but now i'm not sure.

i need a shopping cart added to an online catalog. we aren't selling products though, we are selling services, so i don't know how to put that in a "shopping cart" even though people would theoretically be "shopping" for services.

any ideas on a quick and easy solution for dummies like me? the company doesn't want to pay much, so that is why I'm tackling this. any suggestions?

thanks for the help everyone. you guys are awesome....

[hillbilly1980]

Joomla has all that, ecommerce shopping cart magic. However if you want really easy stuff. Paypal invoicing, you can setup paypal with products and just link to it's shopping cart system, passing along just the product id. That's really easy.

[ldcdc]

The traffic is indeed suggesting that shared hosting should be OK. The 90% CPU usage worries me though. There must be a reason for it.

the company doesn't want to pay much, so that is why I'm tackling this.

They were paying $300/month up until now though.

So theoretically, they would respond "better" with a shared plan than a dedicated?

One could see it like that I guess, though a shared hosting account remains essentially a step down from a fully managed dedicated server.

[Coffeymate]

::plopping 2 cents on table::
Personally I love working with Joomla. And I also recommend getting a host offering Cpanel with Fantastico so you can install Joomla yourself with just a click and it is installed right without worrying about some prankster encoding the installation with a backdoor or putting it in some obscure subdomain. No doubt you just wanted it in your root directory to begin with, right? Using Fantastico you can do that all by yourself. And there are plenty of free templates available if you don't know how to make one from scratch. Surely you can just modify your own header image for one of the freebie templates and off you go. And, no doubt you've already discovered how much fun it is to find those neat extensions in the Joomla library and try them out.

But, when you look for a host, be sure to read carefully the TOS cause the cheapo hosts bite you with hidden very limited CPU usage rules that will kill you if you get any traffic while they promise the moon in space and bandwidth. Meantime they throttle your site repeatedly if you are lucky to stay up at all while they try to upsell a high priced package you didn't know they even offered but you start thinking you have no choice.

Make sure your own PC is protected from trojans as well - cause those will steal your site passwords. Had that happen to a client last year while he was traveling overseas on a mission project. His church site got hacked by Al Quaeda sympathizers. And he was running a plain vanilla html site. But his PC got infected. Thankfully I had downloaded a recent backup of his site just in case, and although it was not totally current, I was able to help him get up and running within an hour and deleted the malicious scripts from his directory. (yeah and I did it on a volunteer basis too - cause we try to help churches and church webmasters out like that of various denominations)

Anyhow - check your PC for infection. Look for a host with Cpanel and Fantastico. Examine the TOS carefully. And try to do your own web site - you really can with Fantastico and Joomla.

May the Farce be with yew!

[hillbilly1980]

Oh Osama your master plan to deface church websites has been thrawted. Who will save them, who....

<chuckkle> Sorry i had to. </chuckkle>

[jonwatson]

Originally Posted by rbwire

What shocks me is my current host is I think waaaaaaay overselling me services. I asked to get a cPanel server upgrade and they said I should get another server and then migrate it to that new server so I was going to pay two dedicated server bills. I went shopping around and based on the above figures, another host told me all I really need is a VPS.

cPanel cannot be installed on an existing server. It will wipe out all your databases, accounts, for who knows what else. So that, at least, is a good recommendation on your host's part.