I just saw two quite nice deal in the VPS offer forum with CheapVPS and Crissic.
They both around $15/month after discount with 512RAM and 20gb(Crissic's is 70gb) harddisk and 300gb+(CheapVPS is 600gb) bandwidth.
The harddisk space is more important to me at the moment but after a search in the forum I can't find any possitive feedback on Crissic, and both nice/bad feedback on CheapVPS. Seems more people are using CheapVPS.
I am wondering if anyone can help me to choose between them in terms of the reliability and stability of their server/service?
FYI, the VPS'es on at least one Crissic node (beta?) are back up at this time. The VPS'es on another node (alpha?) are not up, and the control panel at alpha.crissic.com is not.
You might want to jump in and rescue your data if you need to and haven't done it yet.
I thought I would take my time to post and talk about a company hosting VPS's and Dedis...
I was attracted to Crissic when a friend that knows about servers mentioned he had a discount code and they were very cheap.
I decided to try it out and bought 1 month of 128mb "small" VPS for $8.
This was going great once we had sorted out the Nameservers
I was in the process of setting up my domain ukhype.info, When i noticed a email claiming my VPS had been using too much power and had been shutdown. When I inquired, I was told I had installed a bruteforcer and was over using ram. The wierd thing being, I needed my domain to access FTP.
I wasnt sure how to link my domain to a IP, So I gave up for the day. Then I noticed another email claiming my VPS had been shutdown and My Package Canceled according to there TOS they can cancel when they want.
I then noticed Under the privacy act they are not allowed to look through my personal files (even though none exist)
They are in there TOS, not allowed to moniter what I do unless they notice harmful files exiting for entering my VPS...
I am very annoyed since im down my money and my VPS... *since it got shutdown within the first day*
I would go with VPSlink rather than these since they are 24.7 down with no support...
I've had a VPS with Crissic for a few months. Every single month I have had multiple days of outages where I cannot access my VPS. The worst case was the past 7 days, I still cannot ssh into my vps, I was told 7 days ago by Skylar it was an "IP issue" and would be resolved in "a few hours"! I have left numerous emails, posted at least 4 help tickets but every help ticket is automatically closed within 24 hours by their ticket system before anyone even responds to the ticket! I even tried posting followups to a ticket but it still closed. As a last resort I called the 1-877 support number today and no one answers nor does it give me the ability to leave a message. This is ridiculous! I would rate the support an F at this point - absolutely horrible. And no one is available on their "Live Help" feature either. I have a 99.99% SLA so I better get a refund or I will file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
First: Of course Crissic had some advantages as well, they were always nice, they let you do a lot, have a nice client area and so on. In fact, Crissic would be very good, they just need to change their servers or server provider to more reliable things.
I need a reliable hosting that servers doesnt have problems all day. I need to resell stuff and I need online websites to do that, as well as I need online websites to gain money from affiliate networks. Crissic cannot fulfill this, in less than 2 weeks since I am customer there were a lot of downtimes ranging from minutes to hours, there were hardware failures including an 7 days old backup (at least with 15% redeem), somehow an domain couldnt connect at all (I guess some nameserver or DNS error?) and now after I was awake and checked my websites the server does not seem to handle sessions anymore and produces errors on a few of my websites. This hosting ruins all my business and I cannot keep them doing that!
I am searching for reliable alternatives now but with a cheap price and good specifications like Crissic had. Here is exactly what I need:
* Reliable Hosting, NO Downtimes every day. NO Downtimes every 2nd day as well. * Minimum Diskspace: 3 GB * Minimum Traffic: 30+ GB * UNLIMITED Add-On Domains. DNS entrys should be automatic and it MUST be free, had some hosters before that provided unlimited add-on domains but they charged 1$ for each add-on domain then. * Unlimited FTP-Accounts * 200+ subdomains * 200+ e-mail accounts * PHP4 / 5 + MySQL and GD Library * Cron-Jobs * ALL CPanel Functions like on Crissic (at least as much as possible, I need it) * Price Range between 5-10$, but there should be better hosting packages available for 10-20$ - WITH Upgrade possibility * No Contract, I do not want to get stuck for 24 month with an hoster * Good Support is required! * PayPal Payment possible * Audio/Video + Flash/Shockwave support and/or if I have additional requirements like for an video hosting script, the hoster should be able to install it and not charge more than 5$ for it * Money-back guarantee would be great since I do not want to be disappointed by hosters that promises everything but keep nothing * DAILY Backups
First of all, forgive me if I am posting this on the wrong section . I am the owner of CyberSP.org, a really small service provider running on a2b2, and PROUD OF IT.
I had a deal with Skylar, the owner of Crissic.com, which I am not going to talk about it in this forums, but, all I can say, is that he offered me a 1 year 50gb backup account, (well, he didn't offer , it was our deal).
About 2 months using it, and it was running perfectly until then, I thought: ok, let's see how's the server going, and then, I made df -h and it shows: 3GB Available. WHAT? 3 GB available on a BACKUPS SERVER? How's this possible!!!??
So, opened the first ticket regarding this, waited about 6 ~8 hours and he said (Skylar): We're working on the issue, bla bla bla.
Well, fine.
Some days later, it shows 158 GB Free.... Problem solved.
Now, some days later, I see that the backups was taking DAYS to do, haha! It's true, DAYS! (It was NOT a2b2 problem.)
So, logged in by SSH to the backups server (took me 5 minutes to log in!), and it was SUPER slow, reaaaaaaally slow, downloaded a backup (at 200 kb/s xD) which I needed, and logged out.
Tried to contact Skylar on MSN, but he then log out some time later. (without answer) Heh, I thought: well, this is a temporary problem, etc etc.
3 Days passed, yesterday I opened a ticket regarding that problem:
Dear Crissic,
The backup server seems to have issue for some days already.
It's more than slow, it's super slow.
This has been all day... the backup service was great, but it seems that last week problems arrived.
uptime 3:40AM up 136 days, 18:31, 1 user, load averages: 4.25, 5.27, 5.45 -- $ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on /dev/da1s1d 1.9T 1.8T 168G 92% / --- So, let's see, load is high and this is super super slow, and there are some GB's free for backups, but... can we really use it? I mean you guys should just put some more drives. Please fix this instability issue, as this is causing my server to don't make the backups, which is really really serious. Regards ---------- Note: it was opened as CRITICAL! 20 Hours without answer... what a poor service. Every service providers know that backups ARE URGENTLY.
About some minutes ago, received an email regarding my ticket, saying that I didn't have any action, so the ticket was closed(automated ones), bla bla bla, I replied to it saying: No answer from crissic on a critical ticket, at backups service??? <- Only to keep the ticket opened.
And then, tried to contact Skylar on MSN, until he log out, 2 minutes later .
The server doesn't even answer anymore :
I know that I didn't gave him money, but our deal was 1 year of free 50gb backup, so I deserve respect and to be treated as a loyal client, I don't even should say FREE, because it was paid, in another way.
I have all my bills at a2b2 PAID (anyone from their staff can confirm), I DO NOT owe anything, all I want is to have a good service, I'm a honest guy.
From a2b2, everything is perfect, from Crissic, this is horrible. Really... I don't have money at this moment to buy another backup account.
This serves to prove you, that maybe Skylar is not a good person as you thought so.
Just 1 day,I feel so sad with them.I think the company is just 1 man running.I bought a small plan on 7.2,the price is good $6.99 for 256 RAM 30G Disk 160G bandwidth/m.Everything is good after they spent 7 hours to setup my vps,not bad.
I spent the whole days of 7.3 to rebuild my vps from centos to gentoo & update it,& the bad thing from this moment is begin.
everything is ok during the update time,but I forgot the my openvz server's kernel is 2.6.18,I updated my linux-headers to 2.6.25, it causes I can't fininshed emerge -e my sytem,so I reboot it,but it die & never running again,I do anything I can do,reboot in the HyperVM,& ssh to the console access,but nothing help.
so I submit a ticket to them,at last they just rebuild my vps back to centos,do nothing for me.I know it's the unmanaged service,& if the vps I can rescue it,I won't sumbit a ticket.
After that,I make a mistake,they don't have a refund for vps,but I request it,all right,no refund is ok.I say I'll make a review for my vps,but they sad I can't paste the ticket to the public space because of the TOS,if i do it,my vps will be terminated immediately.i don't care.I feel sad with them,so spent $6.99 to let everyone know the company & the unreaonable TOS,it worth
I'm a customer of crissic and now their server is down for about 40hours. And Skylar is not responding again.
Anyone else having my problem?
What should I do?
Can anyone from LSN help me and restart his server? This time is much worse than Cpanel license being expired. At least at that time websites worked...
I ordered a VPS from Crissic on 27th August, the details were sent in less than two hours. Skylar was really helpful over the Livesupport via Kayako, answering my questions patiently... I can be an arse at times but hey :p... Requested to chat on MSN and was given without any further questions asked.
VPS came in readily with everything installed. There are some hiccups with the VPS itself as yum wasnt working properly. Skylar and technicians took time out to solve it for me and diagnosing the problem and all. They managed to fix it and gave an explanation..
Up till today, I havent experienced any downtime with the VPS at all... well cept for 2-3days ago when LimestonesNetwork were having problem, other than that, there wasnt any problem or anything..
The support I have gotten from Crissic is amazing and quick. I would definitely recommend him to anybody. Following from what I have received from Crissic, I went along to order my second VPS and now I'm glad!
I asked many questions via e-mail the day before and on the morning. The replies were good and fast (within an hour).
Once i placed my order i quickly had an e-mail regarding payment options, after paying and getting confirmation i was expecting to wait 24 hours as advised for setup, but it was done in about 2-3 hours.
I have never managed my own VPS but wanted to learn so had "host in a box" installed. So far all is well with fast ping times and a great service.
i found cheapvps.co.uk and they have that special 20% off deal on XEN VPSs. Sounds good to me.
the plans i am debating are the 256mb ram and 384mb ram.
now from my calculations,
the Linux 256mb /10GB/300GB plan is $18 per month. (-15% discount for 1 year = $183.60 - 20% off the discount coupon = $146.88
the Linux 384mb /15GB/600GB plan is $24 per month. (-15% discount for 1 year = $244.80 - 20% off the discount coupon = $195.84
So now the question is: Will the 384mb plan make a difference vs the 256? I will be using XEN.
I have decided to go with the U.K. server since i am currently working in the middle east and found out its hops are much closer and ping better than that of the U.S.
Also, what OS should I choose for easy package installation and such? (dont want apt-get or portage to sit there updating its package system wasting my bandwidth)
Please help decipher the following terminology!All plans include1 Fixed IP with 1 extra IP free with justification (What?)
Burst RAM double that of the guarenteed RAM on Linux (What does this mean? So if i pick 384 guaranteed ram how much burst do i get?) Free HyperVM or Virtuozzo Power Panel (VZPP) management panel for reboots, reloads and status checking. (Does HyperVM work with XEN or is it for OpenVZ only?) Unlimited reboots Unlimited reloads 24×7 Support
DirectAdmin is $10/mo and $15 setup email sales@cheapvps.co.uk to order cPanel is $15/mo and $15 setup - email sales@cheapvps.co.uk
I have purchased the 256Mb-10Gb-00Gb-£9.00 / $18.00 per month unmanaged plan + 2 dedicated IP address from CheapVPS, paid for the half of year, last month - 12 Nov. 2007, as for now they ask for some more money as they generated new invoice, every time they want £84.15 + £7.50 again cPanel setup charges
For Rus to check the PayPal transaction number: 140444259N989564W
Today I'm back to encourage you to stay away from Crissic: I know the prices are tempting, but know that you will have no one on your side when a problem comes up. I finally closed my account with them after numerous major issues with my VPS.
I've had a simultaneous account with Slicehost for the past few months, just to see if paying the extra buck is worth while. Now I know it absolutely is. I'm paying double the price for half the resources with Slicehost, but their service is amazing and reliable, their support is stellar, and peace of mind that the server will stay up and running without load issues, memory or drive failures is worth every penny. The point of this post is not Slicehost though, back to Crissic.
When I signed up for Crissic, I knew that it was a relatively new web hosting startup, but I had no idea it was a one-man show. Yes it's probably possible for a single guy to run a small web hosting company--the problem, particularly in the case of Skylar, is that when something is beyond him, it isn't getting fixed.
A recent support incident occurred where I was suddenly unable to access my VPS via SSH or the console. I contacted support, here are some of his responses to my status inquiries: ....
Purchased a vps from CheapVPS/A2B2 a month ago (There was a special running on WHT..and i wanted the vps urgently so they deployed it within 30 minutes ).Support rocks.My tickets are answered within 10 minutes and they even have msn support!Today, i ordered another vps and they deployed it within 30 minutes again .
I highly recommend Cheapvps/A2b2. Support 10/10 Setup Time 10/10 Overall Experience: 10/10
I got a VPS from cheapvps.co.uk in March since they had a very good offer at WHT. I got a VPS with 512 MB of RAM, 25 GB HD, 300 GB bandwidth and LxAdmin for £9.31 (around $18/mo)
I did never like LxAdmin and changed to Cpanel after some time. They did reinstall my VPS free of charge, and installed Cpanel/WHM.
When I first got the VPS the setup was fast, only two hours from I paid to the VPS was ready.
Cheapvps.co.uk offer unmanaged plans, but still they have helped me with every problem I have had with them. I have no clue how to use a Linux server, and if I get any problem, I create a support ticket. And they have never told me that they don’t want to help me.
So with their low price, and good support, I think they have a very good product.
I have had some downtime since I got the VPS. I’m using Hyperspin to monitor my VPS and I have 99.830% uptime since the start.
My VPS has always been very fast, and they have good hardware to that price. And I don’t think they oversell their VPS nodes. I have never had any problems with slow VPS nodes.
Since I’m only using the VPS from cheapvps.co.uk as a backup server for my main VPS server (I have a live backup and I’m using DNS made Easy failover service) and as a test VPS for new sites, and Cpanel setups, I had to cut the montly fees.
I paid around $40/mo for the VPS and Cpanel. I sent them a mail, and told them that I had to cut the monthly fees, or cancel the server, since I got another offer from WHT for the same setup, at a lower price.
They did offer to cut the cost to around $30/mo, and I stayed. And I think I will stay for a long time, so long they offer good service and good support.
I try to rent a vps from cheapvps.co.uk today and get this message:
In order to keep security and high quality of our service, all new orders needs to pass our fraud checking screen. In order to pass it, we ask you to email us scanned version of your Photo ID, Passport, Driver's license or your credit card.
Once we receive necessary document(s) we will happily proceed with processing your order.
I purchased a second VPS with cheapvps.co.uk for £31.73 (including managed service). I bought the 2nd vps, because my first one crashed for some reason.
After 7 days of misconfigured 2 vps systems I asked for a complete and full working VPS or a refund and they suspend me on all 2 systems without getting a refund.
That is not nice.
Edit: I got a refund, today but only 11.73 of 31.73, because DirectAdmin will be cost now $20 instead of $10, if it is an refund issue.
One really bad part of the TOS, if you want to get a refund (Note, that they it will cost you only 5 pounds, while purchase a VPS, but they double the pricing, if you ask for a refund!):
The 7 day money back is offered on all managed and semi-managed VPS accounts. The money back does not cover unmanaged VPS. Control panel fees will not be refunded. cPanel and DirectAdmin are valued at $20/mo with a $20 setup. RVSkins and Fantastico are counted as control panels and have an associated cost of $2 each should they be active on your account.
Although I only ordered my VPS a couple of days ago I felt compelled to make known my initial thoughts on cheapvps.co.uk.
My main reasons for going for cheapvps was not only the cheap prices, but also the fact that a2b2 (a sister company of cheapvps I believe) and Rus appear to have very good reps here on WHT. I spoke to Rus initially via live help to ask a couple of questions and he was extremely helpful which convinced me to make my mind up there and then.
The VPS was set up and going within about 3 hours which is very fast in my book (I didn't get access to it for a couple of hours more but that was just because of an e-mail hiccup causing me not to receive the welcome e-mail). The speed is amazing - especially for a budget VPS. The network is also extremely fast, and the fact I got the choice of it being in the UK was also a big bonus for me.
One of the things that really impressed me though was when I started hitting a couple of snags when running a couple of programs, including Postfix (whose developers decided it would be useful for it to use literally about 90 unix sockets). This caused a problem for the resource limits in the VPS for sockets. Also the kernel memory limit was causing memory allocations to fail as well.
No sooner had I contacted Rus again than the resource limits had been raised to something a little bit more suitable. This also needed to be done for the process limit and file limit.
Tickets are answered very promptly and you can also contact them through MSN which I have made use of a couple of times.
Through this initial phase of getting the VPS running nicely Rus and the guys have been incredibly helpful and accommodating in getting things sorted. I would highly recommend them to anybody looking for a low price VPS, and although I know this is only after the first couple of days I'm sure things will continue this way.
As a first time VPS user, looking for something to mess around with, to host my basic website and mail, I went looking for something cheapish to get started.
My original hosting was with A Small Orange (Shared Hosting), and although they offer exceptional service, their VPS plans were a bit high in price and we're Linux based (which would leave me completely and utterly dumbfounded).
I signed up with CheapVPS after browsing this forum and clicking through from their sister VPS company a2b2. Straight off the bat, their live sales web chat was open. Joined the chat, got all my questions answered in a very friendly manner. After thinking about it for half the day, found there was a 10% discount code. I was sold.
From ordering the VPS to using it was less than 24 hours (but the site did say 90% in about an hour) so I was at first fairly suspicious, and worried that customer service might be a bit of a pain. But hey, up and running in 24 hours is excellent, I was being a tad impatient and excited to get at it
I'm from Australia, so ping times are generally highish to the US and download speeds can be average if the server is not located in the right place. Server is currently pinging at 210-220ms (which is pretty damn awesome for US-Australia). I've been using the VPS for the last 2 days and so far, no downtime and the server has been very responsive.
As for the customer service, it is fantastic, more than fantastic (so far anyway, and I hope it stays that way!). Rus, who is obviously one of the main owners, has been responding to my tickets within 2-5 minutes at varying times of the day. I often wonder if he sleeps. As I am a complete n00b to the whole VPS thing I've submitted a fair few tickets and all of them have had friendly responses
These are of course early impressions, and I certainly hope they don't change, but I thought I would write up this little review because I personally think they deserve a little plug for being an excellent provider at a great price point (for someone starting up anyway). I hope their uptime stays constant, because I need my VPS for my mail
Currently, I'm on the cheapest Windows 2003 plan, 10GB HDD, 30GB bandwidth. Hosts are digitaldj.net, w00ties.com/.net/.org. Not all domains have been transfered over yet...As I said I'm new to all of it, trying to get all the DNS working
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy hosting with CheapVPS.co.uk, but I find their level 1 support staff to be lacking the basic skills required to respond in a helpful manner.
Their typical replies often instruct me to confirm that the problem has been resolved, when in fact nothing has changed; this is just a waste of my time (and theirs).
I would expect that my issue is forwarded to level 2-3 admins when level 1 staff can't provide a sound solution/fix. This is the case sometimes, but not always. Most importantly (and this occurred to me today) level 1 staff should never, in any form, have access to a customer's VPS without prior consent/approval. Maybe I'm coming off as a little paranoid here, but I'm not fond of the idea of inexperienced individuals going through my stuff. Limiting access to just level 2/3 admins can only mean good as far as security is concerned.
I honestly can't recall a time when a good solution was provided by level 1 staff. While I strongly trust Rus Foster and the way he conducts business, I would ask him to take the above into account and reconsider the policies in place.
(I was originally going to paste a screenshot of my last support ticket, but I now think it won't be neccassary as my post adequately conveys my concerns)
I came into VPS business with EpicVPS, both Amaresh and Raghev (if im right), are excellent persons. Always helped me a lot and their service was overall great.
After some disasters xD, EpicVPS was sold to VAServ. I thought: Okay... maybe it's time to move BUT I should definitely wait a few months and watch how this is going to be. So, stayed as a client.
I dont know how much months have passed, maybe 6? Dunno, but I do have to say a few things about Russell's company, VAserv.com:
I had some billing problems, specially when they changed to the other software, but all this was solved with screenshots (not that they doubt, just wanted to keep it clear), and in no time, I had it fixed. (Also had one billing issue, for some other reasons, which was solved and today Vladimir just made my day.. heh, not that he offered anything, but telling me kind words... made me feel good. )
Loads... Everyone knows that when you're using a VPS, sometimes you have some stupid users abusing the server , this way you'll get affected as well.
Happened a few times, and I was telling them it wasn't my VPS, etc etc (I've a pretty big vps, and always monitored so I can be sure that everything is running smoothly, this is also pretty secured). I didn't like when they once restarted my vps without asking, and load issue was still there. Again a few days later, they restarted again, like it was my problem. (And figured later that wasn't, but it happens!).
Anyway, this was solved, and their staff was really helpful on this, being really decent with me, just like it SHOULD BE in EVERY company.
Uptime... What can I say, it's true the VPS was rebooted a few times, but, besides that, it's great.
Staff... Always helpful, an extremelly fast support and lovely staff! Just like... hum, Kody, Vladimir... both awesome. (I consider them like business-friends. Honestly, they have helped me A LOT).
It's true that there are a few of them that still need some work heh, but overall, it's really really good.
Support... Extremelly fast and efficient! Top notch. Never saw a company like this.
Hardware... Top notch, NEVER had a disk issue, or something like that. Just like a dream!
Network... PERFECT. But really, just PERFECT. I'm living in Portugal, and I've about 40/50 ms to UK (I choosed UK, but they have other locations), the network is really fast (downloading at 1.7 mb/s from my home, no download accellerators). Also, never had a single downtime.
Billing... Good billing software now. Pretty organised, and simple. I like to keep it simple, easy to use. (And yes, I know that ubbersmith is a COMPLETE software xD)
Price... Excellent. I don't find any place with better prices. Even if I someday find one, I still WON'T move.
Other Issues... Had 2 IP's listed on SBL, reported it, and they already knew, then 2 weeks after the issue was solved. (Yeah yeah 2 weeks, but I emailed SBL and they didn't even answered me , so, vaserv did a great job.)
They just got me as a loyal client, and won't leave them for sure! Rus, great job! I guarantee you that if you join them, you'll have an excellent service.
Im planning to put up a gameserver with a website for a mmorpg and i dont know how powerfull processor should i choose, what control panel, what operating system, 32x or 64x bit, what bandwith...? I was thinking about choosing iWeb Quad core Xeon, 100mb uplink, Windoes server 64x with cpanel.
I've an original post with thread number 727551 which has date got old (forgive me for coming back late). So I decided to post a new thread here. But really thanks for all your helps, and I found I'm lucky to find a good place to ask my questions, as I see lots of valuabe responses when I come back.
I have some further questions about having "multiple domains" with a single hosting plan. Forgive me for not having much concept about this:
1. Does it mean that the "multiple domains" will all be sharing a single IP address (or should I say if I go to Shared Hosting plans, websites from all other people who share the same hosting machine with me will have the same IP)?
2. Would there be negative effect for my search engine rankings of each of these domains, if I have my domains sharing the same hosting (and if they really share the same IP)?
3. In case people know one of my domain name, would there be any way to check for my other domains in the same hosting, so that means they will know all my other websites?
I ask this because I'm thinking to launch different websites on a same niche. And after looking into different hosting companies and their reviews, I found there are really different (and quite confusing) opinions around. Actually I expect I do not need much at the very beginning. I found there are lots of cheap offers, price as low as $1 per month, but I just afraid there will be problem later on. I'm thinking may be just go to those big and more famous one, say host gator, to avoid any unnecessary headaches later on.
I am about to start a website in which I will feature lots embedded video clips from sites like youtube, toudou, etc.
I am new this, so I'm wondering how I can choose a proper web host for my site, so that people can always reliably view the videos and at decent speed. I'm not looking to spend a fortune as this is my first website.
Choosing the right host is a very important decision. I've compiled a short list of do's and don't when it comes to web hosting.
1) UNLIMITED features. Rarely trust companies that offer unlimited space/bandwidth etc. as this is blatant overselling. When was the last time you saw an unlimited hard drive?! Companies that offer unlimited hosting features may not be around long and their other services tend to suffer - e.g. support.
2) Free hosting. Be wary of free hosts, particularly ones that seem to be giving far too good a deal to you - they probably are. The Webmaster-talk forums are regularly spammed with free hosting, and one that keeps cropping up is called ********.com. I urge you to ignore this as a highly reputable hosts do not spam forums!
3) Your ACTUAL needs. You might be excited by hosts that offer 5GB of storage space and 1000GB (1TB) of bandwidth for very low prices, but you should at the very least be wary of such companies. Besides the con issue, ask yourself - do you even need such large resources? For most small companies and individuals starting up, a maximum of 500MB web storage space and roughly 5GB bandwidth will be adequate. Once your site is up and running, you will be able to see whether you do need more or not and if necessary, you can upgrade. Some hosts (hostmonster.com being an example) seem to offer incredible packages for very low amounts of money. However, companies like this are often unreliable and may end up throwing you off their server if you start using these extreme amounts of resources. See tip no. 5 for solution.
4) Do your research. It's very important to do adequate resource on whichever host you choose: don't just take their word for everything. Check what the technology experts are saying on the issue (e.g. look through reputable technology magazines for reviews). BE CAREFUL WHEN SEARCHING REVIEW SITES - THEY USUALLY EARN COMMISSION FOR EACH SIGNUP SO WILL PUSH THE HIGHEST BIDDING HOST!! While it sounds infantile, type queries like "..... .com sucks" and also search through their own support forums (assuming they have them) to see how quickly issues are resolved. Try contacting their support or sales departments with questions to get a good perspective of their response times. Remember, if their sales department take a while before they have your custom, imagine how long they may take when they do have your custom!
5) When your needs outweight most plans. If you've outgrown your current plan and you are using very large resource amounts, it may be time to think about renting out a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or a Dedicated Server. I emphasize that this will not be necessary unless you are receiving a lot of visitors (traffic) and unless you are storing a very large amount of data (e.g. hundreds of photos, movies or software downloads). VPS' are now relatively cheap and combine reliability with speed and of course more space and bandwidth. A typical entry VPS may offer you 10GB storage and 100GB bandwidth. If you have extreme needs and you are already running a very busy site, you may even contemplate renting out a Dedicated server from a hosting company. Dedicated servers are computers entirely dedicated to your own web site and are very reliable (if you choose the right host) but are overkill for the vast majority of people.
I'm moving from shared to VPS. This forum is helpful, but I seem to notice everyone recommends the hosts that advertise here. That makes me wonder about conflict of interest.
Anyway, I'm looking for a company that has great customer service and will walk me through the first baby steps of having my own VPS for the first time. That and uptime. Everyone else seems to have the same features. So how to choose?
I called 3 hosts today: JaguarPC, LiquidWeb and Spry. Jaguar sounded okay. The sales kid at Liquid didn't seem to be able to answer any of my questions that weren't on his cheat sheet. And Spry had me on hold forever (with good music, though) and dropped my call a minute in.
Also, will they help me lock my VPS down like a fort so it's ueber secure? Will I have to install PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and all the other programs I didn't know I needed myself? I have no experience, so it would be good to know. I'm a graphic desiger turned web designer turned noob PHP developer -- I'm scared that I'm not geeky enough.
Anyway, does anyone have the same feeling that all hosts seem the same when you're shopping around? I know I'm going to have to give in, close my eyes and jump at some point (very soon). But this is no fun.
I am starting a small ecommerce website, initially selling 10 to 20 items but obviously hope to grow in the future. Since I don’t know much about web hosting, web design, etc., I need referrals to a webhosting company that provides easy to use professional looking templates which would allow me to design my website fast and start operation right away. Obviously, I need to get shopping cart/merchant account and all that goes with a e-commerce website (and I have no idea what all that might be but I am sure there are so many things that I will discover in the process). Anyway, I have visited many hosting companies out there and they are all so confusing to me. I wish they would allow me to see sample websites they host that used their templates but I haven’t been able to find any.
