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  1. #1

    Server Hosting Advice - Should I move?

    Hello fellow Webhosters. I"m new here, but certainly not new to webhosting or forums Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum, mods feel free to move it.

    I own a small hosting company that runs on 1 rented dedicated server in a DC. For now, I'm not going to divulge any specifics on the companies I work with but nevertheless, I'm here seeking some advice on the costs for the server + support costs. I'm considering downsizing a bit, but am unsure of my options. I'm not sure if what I pay is too much or a good deal. I only use the sever as a web-server, nothing else. No mail or domain stuff. The 2 companies I use are very good at what they do. If the server goes offline, they put my server back online within minutes. I've had the server for a while. Had a few drives die, but since I run Raid 1, they just replace the drive and whammo back online. Had 1 power supply go once, recently

    Here's some details

    Costs:
    Dedicated Server: $1900/yr (paid yearly)
    Paid Support: Full Dedicated 24/hr server support: $50/mo (paid monthly)
    Paid Support: Complete files system/databases daily backup (offsite): $30/mo (paid monthly)

    All sites are WordPress. 85% of them are pretty static, little traffic. One site has the most

    Server Specs
    Intel Xeon E3-1275 v5 (4 Cores @ 3.60 GHz)
    32 GB ram
    CentOS Linux (64bit) 7.8.2003
    Plesk Obsidian 18.0.27 (costs $15/mo)
    Hardware RAID 1
    4 drives:
    Two 250GB SSDs (all databases are on SSDs)
    Two 1TB Satas (all files are on satas)
    30TB data plan
    1 nic
    static IP
    Root and FTP access

    Total Disk usage:
    SSDs 178 GB
    Satas: 450 GB
    Total Traffic 130 GB/mo avg (June 2020)
    Active domains 28
    MySQL databases 35

    Traffic Info from Plesk:
    #1 site has 70 GB/mo in traffic (which I'm considering moving off the server - been online since 2003)
    #2 site has 20 GB/mo in traffic
    #3 site has 10 GB/mo in traffic
    #4 site has 9 GB/mo in traffic
    The rest are pretty static

    Considering moving to something else depending on the cost details. I'd like to eliminate the $80/mo costs. Not sure if there are better options out there as in: VPS, Cloud, Shared, etc.

    Looking for some positive advice

    TIA
    Last edited by iridium01; 07-07-2020 at 08:20 PM.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    Considering moving to something else depending on the cost details. I'd like to eliminate the $80/mo costs. Not sure if there are better options out there as in: VPS, Cloud, Shared, etc.
    That $80/m is for dedicated server alone or with support and backup already? Even with dedicated server alone, it is still low if you consider good specs and quality network.

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  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by net View Post
    That $80/m is for dedicated server alone or with support and backup already? Even with dedicated server alone, it is still low if you consider good specs and quality network.
    Paid Support: Full Dedicated 24/hr server support: $50/mo (paid monthly)
    Paid Support: Complete files system/databases daily backup (offsite): $30/mo (paid monthly)

    Equals $80/mo for support alone.

    $1900/yr for the server

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Servidor_Hombre View Post
    As per your current usage, a dedicated server is good for you than a VPS.
    Why exactly?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    Paid Support: Full Dedicated 24/hr server support: $50/mo (paid monthly)
    Paid Support: Complete files system/databases daily backup (offsite): $30/mo (paid monthly)

    Equals $80/mo for support alone.

    $1900/yr for the server
    A few ways to look at this.

    At about $208 a month for the server. When you add up the server plus management, I would say that's about an average price. If the company you're with now fixes issues quickly, which equals a good nights sleep, there's almost no reason to leave them, and you're getting what you paid for. There may be companies that charge less for that same server, with support included, but you then risk having 28 upset clients while migrating everything, and hoping the new company is as good or better than the current one for less.

    Another option...the same server unmanaged for a lower cost with a reputable company, and then hiring a management team for support. Many do this and it works fine, but it again puts all your clients under any possible issues to move them around. Even some server management companies with a good name may not be the best fit for everyone.

    I was going to say that overall I don't think you can could significantly lower your operating costs, but then looking at the stats....maybe a VPS or even a Reseller account.

    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    Why exactly?
    With a Dedicated server, your 28 customers are the only ones using those resources. With a VPS, your 28 are "sharing" the resources with a number of other customers on that server. Plus your resources would be cut down. A well configured VPS "could" handle 28 domains, but if most of them require a database, you would possibly start to hit resource limits...but then reading it over again, the traffic usage is not really high, but it doesn't say how much RAM is being used. For instance, I've seen one website with 1400 visitors crash due to high resource usage from resource hungry plugins and images that weren't optimized, while another that averaged 4 million visitors a day had zero issue.

    Another possible option is going down to a Reseller account. Unless those 28 really need the resources of the server, than you are over-paying each month. A reseller account with a good company could be a good fit. Support would be included, and what you could do is research a few, contact them with questions, and then you choose one, move one domain at a time, and see how well it performs. Essentially you could move all the domains within a month, one day at a time, and see how each one performs. Then down the road when you have 50+ or 100+ accounts, then look into getting a server.

    A few things to think about.
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  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    I'm considering downsizing a bit, but am unsure of my options.
    For web hosting, I do not recommend going below E3. E3s are fairly available now, and the prices have gone down, too.

    4 drives:
    Two 250GB SSDs (all databases are on SSDs)
    Two 1TB Satas (all files are on satas)
    This is a bad setup. Either go with a 4x1TB HDD + Hardware Raid or 2x1TB SSD/NVMe + Software RAID1. You should be able to save some costs, even if you go with SSD.


    If the server goes offline, they put my server back online within minutes.
    I've had the server for a while. Had a few drives die
    Had 1 power supply go once, recently
    These events seem interesting to me. Why would a dedicated server have multiple downtime incidents, including multiple hardware failures? How long have you been using this server? I can't be sure since I do not have any access, but random power issues do cause a whole lot of other issues randomly.
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  7. #7
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    Great points.

    Quote Originally Posted by MechanicWeb-shoss View Post
    For web hosting, I do not recommend going below E3. E3s are fairly available now, and the prices have gone down, too.
    A few smaller servers are good to have a to not put all the eggs in one basket, but an E3 is pretty old, and extremely over-priced in this case. Even an E5 would be less.


    Quote Originally Posted by MechanicWeb-shoss View Post
    This is a bad setup. Either go with a 4x1TB HDD + Hardware Raid or 2x1TB SSD/NVMe + Software RAID1. You should be able to save some costs, even if you go with SSD.

    True.


    Quote Originally Posted by MechanicWeb-shoss View Post
    These events seem interesting to me. Why would a dedicated server have multiple downtime incidents, including multiple hardware failures? How long have you been using this server? I can't be sure since I do not have any access, but random power issues do cause a whole lot of other issues randomly.
    Very true. This almost seems like this server is ready to fail after many years of usage.

  8. #8
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    Having some managed monitoring is always a good thing when you do have a shared hosting business. It's avoiding having to always be watching the server activities and you can focus on the right things for your business.

    How long did you had the server @iridium01? We know that SSDs tend to be less reliable and much less predictable than HDD, but most of the time they last a long time. That said, consumer SSDs are lasting much less than server grade SSDs.

    Aren't you satisfied of your current host? Switching to a new host is always tricky. You never know how it will go with a new hosts, it's not an easy choice.

    Regarding your current setup, I do not believe that it's not well done, but but better performance I agree that it would be better to have an Hardware RAID-10, or a Software RAID-1 with full SSDs. However, to reduce cost, sometimes people decide to go with such setup, were the OS and databases is served by the SSDs, and the websites files are served by the HDDs. It's a solution that looks to be fair as long as you do not need intensive IO outside of the Database usage.

    Hope you the best in your research.
    Eric S.
    GloboTech Communications - Hosting Specialist
    Dedicated Servers, Managed Servers, Cloud Server, Colocation and Advanced Solutions
    Proudly Canadian - In business since 1999 - www.globo.tech

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by WPCYCLE View Post
    A few ways to look at this.

    At about $208 a month for the server. When you add up the server plus management, I would say that's about an average price. If the company you're with now fixes issues quickly, which equals a good nights sleep, there's almost no reason to leave them, and you're getting what you paid for. There may be companies that charge less for that same server, with support included, but you then risk having 28 upset clients while migrating everything, and hoping the new company is as good or better than the current one for less.

    Another option...the same server unmanaged for a lower cost with a reputable company, and then hiring a management team for support. Many do this and it works fine, but it again puts all your clients under any possible issues to move them around. Even some server management companies with a good name may not be the best fit for everyone.

    I was going to say that overall I don't think you can could significantly lower your operating costs, but then looking at the stats....maybe a VPS or even a Reseller account.



    With a Dedicated server, your 28 customers are the only ones using those resources. With a VPS, your 28 are "sharing" the resources with a number of other customers on that server. Plus your resources would be cut down. A well configured VPS "could" handle 28 domains, but if most of them require a database, you would possibly start to hit resource limits...but then reading it over again, the traffic usage is not really high, but it doesn't say how much RAM is being used. For instance, I've seen one website with 1400 visitors crash due to high resource usage from resource hungry plugins and images that weren't optimized, while another that averaged 4 million visitors a day had zero issue.

    Another possible option is going down to a Reseller account. Unless those 28 really need the resources of the server, than you are over-paying each month. A reseller account with a good company could be a good fit. Support would be included, and what you could do is research a few, contact them with questions, and then you choose one, move one domain at a time, and see how well it performs. Essentially you could move all the domains within a month, one day at a time, and see how each one performs. Then down the road when you have 50+ or 100+ accounts, then look into getting a server.

    A few things to think about.
    Thank you very much for taking the time you did...to reply to lengthy. I might consider some of your options. I'll research the reseller account. Any suggestions as to where?

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by MechanicWeb-shoss View Post
    This is a bad setup. Either go with a 4x1TB HDD + Hardware Raid or 2x1TB SSD/NVMe + Software RAID1. You should be able to save some costs, even if you go with SSD.
    Prob wouldn't call it "bad" but at the time, I needed all the DBs on SSDs. I had one site getting 5k posts/day, but not anymore.

    These events seem interesting to me. Why would a dedicated server have multiple downtime incidents, including multiple hardware failures? How long have you been using this server? I can't be sure since I do not have any access, but random power issues do cause a whole lot of other issues randomly.
    Been with the DC company since 2001. Had a few diff servers over the years(maybe 2-3 with upgrades, etc) and that is why I mentioned with some HW failures. On current server, now, for prob 3 years or so. I think the longest we went w/o downtime was over 1 year.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by MentalRay View Post
    How long did you had the server @iridium01? We know that SSDs tend to be less reliable and much less predictable than HDD, but most of the time they last a long time. That said, consumer SSDs are lasting much less than server grade SSDs.
    Been with the DC company since 2001. Had a few diff servers over the years(maybe 2-3 with upgrades, etc) and that is why I mentioned with some HW failures. On current server, now, for prob 3 years or so. I think the longest we went w/o downtime was over 1 year.[/QUOTE]

    Aren't you satisfied of your current host? Switching to a new host is always tricky. You never know how it will go with a new hosts, it's not an easy choice.
    Very satisfied w/ the DC and my support team. Just wanted to see if I was being over charged or something. Also wanted to see if you guys had any suggestions on whether or not I could somehow save some costs.

    Regarding your current setup, I do not believe that it's not well done, but but better performance I agree that it would be better to have an Hardware RAID-10, or a Software RAID-1 with full SSDs. However, to reduce cost, sometimes people decide to go with such setup, were the OS and databases is served by the SSDs, and the websites files are served by the HDDs. It's a solution that looks to be fair as long as you do not need intensive IO outside of the Database usage.
    Performance on my current server is very good. Honestly don't need to increase performance at this time.[/QUOTE]

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    Thank you very much for taking the time you did...to reply to lengthy. I might consider some of your options. I'll research the reseller account. Any suggestions as to where?
    You're Welcome. The last reseller I used was many years ago and that company is not a consideration, so I'm not sure which company would be good for that role now, but if you read through the Resellers section, you should be able to see who member are suggesting to use.

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  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    Prob wouldn't call it "bad" but at the time, I needed all the DBs on SSDs. I had one site getting 5k posts/day, but not anymore.
    People would choose a hybrid storage back when SSDs were much pricier than HDDs. Now that SSDs have become more affordable, there is no reason for such setups, unless we are talking about storage.

    When you are using hybrid storage with an entry level CPU and an entry level motherboard, there is a good chance that some of those drives are sharing PCIe lanes among them. Ideally, you wouldn't want that.
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by MechanicWeb-shoss View Post
    People would choose a hybrid storage back when SSDs were much pricier than HDDs. Now that SSDs have become more affordable, there is no reason for such setups, unless we are talking about storage.

    When you are using hybrid storage with an entry level CPU and an entry level motherboard, there is a good chance that some of those drives are sharing PCIe lanes among them. Ideally, you wouldn't want that.
    Not sure what you mean by hybrid, but this set up has 4 diff drives on HW Raid 1 so that we could swap the drives if we had a failure....any we have. Having the DBs on SSDs made a huge improvement on performance.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by iridium01 View Post
    Not sure what you mean by hybrid, but this set up has 4 diff drives on HW Raid 1 so that we could swap the drives if we had a failure....any we have. Having the DBs on SSDs made a huge improvement on performance.
    You are correct that SSDs have provided better performance for database queries.

    The 4 drives you have use 2 different RAID1 arrays. One with the SSDs and another with the HDDs. What I meant is 2x1TB SSD on RAID1 is a better setup than 2x250GB SSD RAID1 + 2x1TB HDD RAID1.
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