Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Dedicated or Shared

[bwallace2]

This has probably been asked a million times. I'm posting and going to continue to search.

I have spoken with my hosting company on live chat 3 times and gotten 3 different answers.

I have been told VPS
Shared is good, it should be ok
Dedicated is the way to go

Here's the background:

• I have a client using 1GB of bandwidth a month
• 20-30K hits per month
• I'm running the site based on joomla
• The index page is 690KB
• It had one embedded video, but that one and all going forward will be out on youtube and linked to
• The company is going to put out a TV commercial in a few days
• The TV station stated they had seen site hits jump to 200-300K hits a month after the commercial airs.

I'm not sure what to do with hosting. I'm presently on a shared account with unlimited bandwidth. I know CPU usage could be an issue. I can't exceed 25% usage for more than 90 seconds...

Whatever happens, 2 things I can't do is:

• have the site go down
• pay overages

What is the advice for something like this? I can get more for hosting, but dedicated may be something hard to get across to the client. I don't think dedicated is need at this point or after the point of the commercial airings. The only sites I have worked with have been smaller ones with way less traffic. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks
BW

[Deroba]

You don't NEED a dedicated, but, I would suggest getting the best shared package available from your host to shared less resources with other clients in same server, or, you can get Reseller/VPS as a second option to get better performance and share the resources between less clients.

Just don't pay something you don't need.

[SiberForum]

I think you do not need dedicated server. You need to upgrade your current shared web hosting account according to your bandwidth usages

[pozei]

I would suggest just getting shared for now, see if your host does addons in case it runs out of bandwidth or memory. Make sure that your host can do fast and easy upgrades. Why pay for something you don't need?

[freedomhost]

Find yourself a decent quality shared host , maybe a provider with clustered servers , it might be a little bit more expensive but it will be worthwhile for your websites visitors.

[sebhaks]

I think your current unlimited bandwidth package is enough for cater your needs after the commercial. Now your usage is 1 GB per month and it will jumped up to 10 GB after the commercial ad.

[HostXNow]

Your best off putting in for a shared hosting package with REAL limits so you know the exact amount of bandwidth/diskspace you can use.

Finding a host that would allow you to upgrade from shared hosting to semi-dedicated server hosting would be a bonus.

You definitely don't need a vps or dedicated server just yet.

[gate2vn]

Usually, I don't trust unlimited offer. The will limit you in CPU, RAM usage. As other state, you don't need to go with dedicated server with that statistic.

freedomhost's idea is very good one, when considering cluster hosting. That technology will help, saying with the same limitation, for example 25 concurrent mysql requests. With dedicated mysql server, it's much better than running mysql on the same server with web.

[gregm11]

It sounds like shared would be ok unless the server was crowded. You might look into Cloud so its expandable. If there is a problem on shared it might be difficult to move to VPS or Cloud in a hurry.

[ldcdc]

The TV station stated they had seen site hits jump to 200-300K hits a month after the commercial airs.

That doesn't sound all that dangerous. However, if 50% of that traffic will come in day 1, it may be a problem.

Try using cache to minimize the load placed on the server.

Whatever happens, 2 things I can't do is:

* have the site go down
* pay overages

Sounds like a dedicated is the way to go then. You could also try a largish VPS. Definitely don't go for an entry level VPS, it's not really a step forward.

[vivithemage]

A VPS would be a great way to start on a site like that.

A dedicated might be overkill for the time being though...unless the site starts to out use the VPS.

[Blackleo]

A VPS would be a lot more safer for your site. You don't want the server to crash on a shared causing your site to go down. On a VPS you would have a lot more resources and can handle it a lot better.
Your last resort may be a dedicated.

[SenseiSteve]

A lot of great suggestions here. I think possibly a semi-dedicated server with stated limits. For sure, talk to your prospective providers and present your scenario as you have here. Avoid confusion with your provider from the onset.

[Lanny]

I like the idea of you going to Semi Dedicated, which is Managed. And, that you will advise the hosting company what day the commercial is going to air, so they can be expecting a spike in Traffic and Server Resources. Avoid a VPS or Dedicated box, unless you are well qualified to keep the server as secure as is possible, or pay someone to do server administration. GL

[UH-Bobby]

Like others have suggested, I would probably go with a semi-dedicated package. I would talk with your potential provider and work with them on crafting a custom solution just for you. It sounds like you need a real partner in your hosting. One who cares about your site, and will try their hardest to keep your site online no matter what, and help with customizing and optimizing your site.

At any rate, good luck. I would try looking for something like managed shared/semi-dedicated hosting, where the hosting provider helps you with your scripts, and helps you optimize it. Also, I'd ask the host all the hard questions, like is your server overloaded, how many customers are on it, what does the load of the server look like, if I have a spike, can you sustain it, do you leave enough room on the server for bursts like I'm talking about.

If you decide to go for a dedicated server, I would strongly recommend Gigenet. Their support and network have been great. If you decide to go semi-dedicated, I don't really have any recommendations. But, I definitely wouldn't go for VPS, because you'd have to get management, and it sounds like you need someone who knows what they are doing, and can help you keep the site up during this time of heavy promotion.

Good luck!!!!