Choosing VPS Advise

[manoloweb]

Hello Hosting people!! :)

I came here for advise. I have seen some serious and professional posters around this forum, so I believe that if someone will help me make the best decision, it will be here.

Preamble:
I'm about to launch a new project online. This one will require a lot more than a regular shared hosting (at least more than I've got to date). I'm not talking about a HUGE portal for millions of users per day. I just need a reliable service where I can confugure some aspects of my installation of PHP, MySQL and some apache tweaking. Good bandwidth (my initial calculations are rounding 50/75 Gb/mo) and enough disk space (1-2 Gb free).

Currently I have a reseller account with www.domainsvision.com and that itself has raised my expectations for good and personal service (those guys at Domainsvision take customer care very, very seriously!!), but for this project I can´t afford (nor my partner) the usual ups and downs (mail failing, downtime, etc) that come with regular shared environments.

What I want:
Since I have decided that at least for the first phase of the project I can't afford a good dedicated server, and knowing that any dedicated server under a 100 bucks can cause more trouble than a shared hosting, I have decided to look for the intermediate service: a Virtual Private Server (VPS)

What I ask you
Here's when I come to look for help among those who really know about the hosting business... those of you who are regular consumers, and those who are hosting providers and know the business inside-out.

Here are my questions...


What makes a good VPS?
What is a normal monthly fee for a reliable VPS?
What do I have to take care when deciding?
Which companies are good and reliable that offer this service?
What problems will I face that I haven't while using Reseller/Shared?
Is it worth to switch to VPS? or should I wait and go dedicated later?



I will appreciate the effort of anyone to read this and try to help me.

Greetings! :cool:

[manoloweb]

And as a side note (so you can see that I have done my research already), here's the few ones I have bookmarked so far...

Media Temple (mt) Dedicated Virtual: Linux Standard Plan (http://www.mediatemple.net/services/webhosting/dv/linux-standard/)

SurpassHosting VPS Plans (http://vps.surpasshosting.com/)

Spry CPanel VPS Plan (http://www.spry.com/cpanel-vps/)

Apollo Hosting Standard VPS Plan (http://www.apollohosting.com/virtualprivateservers/hostingPlan02.php)

Web Intelects Linux VPS Plans (http://www.webintellects.com/solutions/linuxvpsplans.htm)

Hostforweb VPS Plans (http://www.hostforweb.com/vps.html)



Some of them seem to be very good choices. I won't tell which one is my favorite now, because I really don't have one yet. :-)

[theheavenly]

Your Web host is a direct reflection of your business. First be sure to choose a hosting partner with good proven track record and experience.

What makes a good VPS?
A Good VPS gives,
- provision to run and install your own applications and server software
- Full access to your virtual server so that you can manage your own configuration files, network, permissions, DNS and much more.

Make sure to get a good complete functionality graphical interface (Control Panel) for Admin, Domain Owner and End User levels to manage VPS server and its components.

What is a normal monthly fee for a reliable VPS?
It depends upon your requirements.

What do I have to take care when deciding?
Everyone must and should look in for the qualities in a Web Host,

1, Security should be provided in full vision against the threat of viruses, hackers, and data thieves. They should have extra layers of electronic protection. A Web Host provider should keep the data behind firewalls protected by dynamic encryption and port blocking and reinforced by a knowledgeable, dedicated security staff.

2, Reliability should be provided by offering automated fail safe redundancy, so that when a server fails or is disabled by an attack, another will immediately take up the load and continue without interruption.

3, Service should be fast when something goes wrong and the problem should be resolved immediately regardless of when it occurs.

4, 24 x 7 Support should be provided by trained technicians with intelligent answers for the problems regardless of when it occurs. Support should also be provided by giving access to self-help tools which enables to obtain answers quickly and streamlines your process to resolution.

5, Stability is a must to meet and change as likely when the business grows, so the flexibility to upgrade service is of very important. A Web Host provider should also be capable to make you grow with your needs.

6, Financial Stability is the most important factor as your Web host is a direct reflection of your business. Be sure to choose a Hosting partner with a good financial strength to succeed in all economic times. Failure on its part puts your business at risk.

7, Proven Experience makes a provider in providing business with a state of the art network, unsurpassed reliability, superlative customer service and the hosting will be of an expert class.

Which companies are good and reliable that offer this service?
Take a look over H-Sphere's Partner Page (http://www.psoft.net/resellers.php). I believe they help you cut your costs. We are receiving services from ourinternet.us (http://www.ourinternet.us) and there are no issues so for.

What problems will I face that I haven't while using Reseller/Shared?
When your Web Host was there to support you at all times there should not be any problems in any case and at any time. Make sure to signup with a host that will allow you to upgrade as needed, that is to upgrade at any time or add more ram or memory to your current plan when needed.

Is it worth to switch to VPS? or should I wait and go dedicated later?
VPS and Dedicated are similar. Go for a VPS initially as it helps to minimize your budget and then depending upon traffic you may get a dedicated server.

Good Luck!

[manoloweb]

Thank you Ajay,

Your advise will help me a lot.

You are right, if one want a business to run smoothly, you have to choose your services and suppliers wisely. That's why I came to look for help here ;-)

I will read carefully what you are explaining in your post. And I hope I can take the best decission.

Actually I'm thinking on a way to keep a backup server in my old reseller account. I'll research about that, and that itself could give me that extra sense of "reliability" that can be lost when you put all your resources in the same supplier (or as my granny says... "Do not put all the eggs in the same basket")

Thank you so much!

Manolo

[blackpudding]

Which companies are good and reliable that offer this service?
Take a look over H-Sphere's Partner Page (http://www.psoft.net/resellers.php). I believe they help you cut your costs. We are receiving services from ourinternet.us (http://www.ourinternet.us) and there are issues so for.
I'm glad you haven't had any issues so far. God help you when you do because the support staff at ourinternet won't. In 6 years of web hosting they are the worst company I have ever dealt with :( I'm currently trying to close two accounts I have with them and the moment I said I wanted to close my accounts they stopped answering emails and have kept the credit I have on the accounts! Avoid at all costs.

Cheers
BP

[jasontd]

Hello again blackpudding! Yes we had replied to you once there was a trouble ticket placed in the trouble ticket system. I am very sorry you had issues with your VPS account and am glad your new host is working out for you. As we stated the upgrade caused serious issues with the stability of our VPS servers. We have worked very hard with the developers of H-Sphere and have resolved the issues. Again we are deeply sorry that you had to move the a new provider but we can assure you that these issues have now been resolved and if you want to give us another try I will be happy to issue you a few months free with no CC info required. Have a great week ahead.

[theheavenly]

I'm glad you haven't had any issues so far. God help you when you do because the support staff at ourinternet won't.I never had issues with Our Internet from the start. we are receiving excellent services from them yet and our support tickets are taken care of them in immediate and they take only a short while to answer. Sorry you had issues with them.

[gobeer123]

I don't understand what are the benefits of VPS. Can somebody please explain?

[VPSLAND]

I don't understand what are the benefits of VPS. Can somebody please explain?

VPS Hosting plans are functionally equivalent to a dedicated server, giving you your own dedicated resources and processes at a much lower cost. A VPS gives you your own OS install, services, and dedicated IP address(es) with full root or Administrator access.

[Unregistered]

I would suggest vps for right now, afterward you may want to think about dedicated if your needs require it.

[ByteShack]

You may want to use a VPS as it seems it would fit into what you are looking for at this moment. Keep in mind that resources allotment for VPS is limited as it is a shared server rather than dedicated to you. The capabilities of VPS are better than shared as you have the features as vpsland mentioned, but a dedicated server is another ballgame altogether.


Good luck in your search!

[navid_help4you]

thank you all for your advise

[alemcherry]

VPS is ideal for you. Just make sure that you dont compriomise on assured RAM. 512 mb will be good enough.

[alemcherry]

VPS is ideal for you. Just make sure that you dont compriomise on assured RAM. 512 mb will be good enough.

[theheavenly]

Till present i don have any issues with our hosting provider (http://ourinternet.us)

[ZuxoHosting]

Yea make sure you get 512MB ram or above

[duckie04]

May i asked if anyone have any testmemorials of the service of hostforweb vps ? I've been on the Hostgator's Semi-Dedicated plan for nearly 2 yrs now, but I'm very interested in the HFWVPS-4 package they have.