Choosing Hosting For Unpredictable Bandwidth Spike
Aug 11, 2008
The company I work for is doing a promotional site that will probably involve a good chunk of progressive (as in, not quite the same as streaming) video -- basically my best guess is that everyone who views the site will likely download between 6 and 50 megabytes of video depending on how long they spend on the site, etc... I would imagine most people would be at the low end of that, maybe 12 megs, but it's hard to predict...
The tough spot is there will be TV and banner ads purchased for this promotion, and it's not entirely clear to us how good response will be. It could be 5,000 visitors in a day ... it could be 250,000 in a day... the response to various advertising campaigns our clients have done has just varied a lot...
So let's say we have 150,000 visitors downloading an average of 12.5 megs of video - that's about 2 terabytes of transfer in a month.
How much should we expect to pay for that kind of data transfer, and are there good providers that will scale with us? I don't think we mind sacrificing a few hundred bucks our first month only to find that traffic was low -- but if it's going to cost thousands to move 2-3 terabytes of data via a CDN, what are our other options? Does anyone scale well even if it's unpredictable? I realize we have to pay some sort of premium for that scalability or it's not really fair to the hosting provider.. but what price range should we be looking at?
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 was recommended by a good friend to come here for advice. i'm looking for a web hosting service that will allow multiple domains & do php for my zen cart ecommerce website. i am currently spending $200 per year for web hosting just for my ecommerce website alone. does anybody know of any good reliable and cost efficient web hosting service that will allow me to do this at the same cost or slightly higher than what i'm paying?
my company's current hosting contract expires in May and I'm in need to find another one that will hopefully suit me better and cause much less headache.
I'll try to list some basic needs I got:
10gb bandwidth 10gb space Mass email marketing ability! This is important!
I have a member list of about 30,000 who I email twice a week! These people are opt-in recipients of these emails.
On top of that I'd like to start mining and sending out opt-in requests of about 50-100,000 a month to NEW emails that I don't have direct permission to email.
I obviously have software to manage, clean, send out in batches, and do whatever else you have to for proper email marketing.
From some research I got the idea that I would be better off with some offshore VPS/dedicated host that won't shut us down for emailing. We will do our best to keep the bounces at minimum as well as keep up-to-date blacklists/unsubscribers.
I just moved my site from other VPS hosting into Liquid Web for around 2weeks now. I choose the VPS1 package with WHT promotion..
First impression, I do really satisfied with the VPS performance (server load average bellow 1), also the support team. All of my eMail was replied pretty fast in under 15minutes.
But, I do have one problem. Please note that I'm not complaining here.. I just want to ask other user of LW or maybe other hosting.
Almost everyday (well, I think it is).. I got a load spike on my VPS. It's always around midnight (GMT -5). Based on LW staff have informed me, it's because of the main node full backup process, which is can't be altered. The load spike make my site sometimes temporary can't be accessed, because the server load might become above 5, and the highest one is around 28.
Do WHT user has any similar issue like me? Any solution or suggestion I can take to minimize the effect of the backup process?
I have a cpanel, centos server that had to be rebooted due to the high load spike. I was unable to ssh in nor enter whm prior to the reboot so my only option was of course to reboot the server.
Now, I'm trying to trace the cause of the spike. RTG graphs show no indication of a ddos attack.
Inside whm, CPU/Memory/MySQL Usage shows no reds nor yellow warnings either except red for gzip (backup process) at 19% CPU. I doubt this is the cause.
This is from /var/log/messages of the logs slightly before and after the reboot.
Code: Apr 9 13:31:49 server pure-ftpd: (?@70.250.201.162) [INFO] Logout. Apr 9 13:32:05 server pure-ftpd: (?@xxx.xxx.85.3) [INFO] New connection from xxx.xxx.85.3 Apr 9 13:32:28 server pure-ftpd: (?@xxx.xxx.85.3) [INFO] New connection from xxx.xxx.85.3 .......
I have a shared server (root access) using Cpanel / Centos with suphp enabled.
Twice this week the sever's load skyrocketed and was unable to login to trace teh cause, had to reboot instead.
After reboot, I went to whm > CPU/Memory/MySQL Usage and saw nothing in red aside netstat (21% cpu). I'm not sure if this is the cause, but how can I trace the absolute user or script causing this spike?
I recently came across a banner which said 750 GB hostin and 7500 GB monthly bandwidth for only few bucks a month. I just want to ask what they are doing ? Is 750 GB hard drive available in market ? I don't see any when I goto purchase a dedicated from dedicated server comapnies.
Earlier i thought it was a gimmick and then a friend of mine had hosting from there..when I logged into the panel then it also said: 750 Gb space etc.
So I am just curious how they are doing it ? Oh Also this is just for 1 client..so they might be hosting alot of clients on the same server. How they are doing it ? Whats the benefit ?
Makes me crazy..where we low end people will go ? Please tell me whats the catch in the plan?
I've always used German hosts because they are much cheaper than my homeland Greek alternatives, the latency (70ms Germany vs 30ms Greece) is bearable.
Until recently I used Strato single cpu dedicated servers, which allowed me 2000gb at 100mb/s. Although I came close, I never actually reached that 2000gb allocation.
Ever since moving to 1und1 (to a quad core) the server's speed difference has attracted more visitors and pageviews. Now my bandwidth usage has gone to 3000gb per month and at peak it requires 20-30mb/s.
The problem is that 1und1 limits you to 10mb/s if you go over 1000gb, and then requires 'resetting' it every 250gb in order to get back to 100mb/s speed.
Does anyone know of a european host that offers truly unlimited bandwidth? Every time I hit the 10mb/s limit, my pageviews go down, users leave the site.
I've contemplated writing a simple heartbeat script that polls the control panel every 5 minutes and checks if the limit has been crossed, at which it will automatically reset it for me.
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 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 have a dedicated server currently hosted over by Aplus.NET
I have a 3000 GB Monthly Transfer limit and we have been going over this limit for the past few months. This has resulted in a large sum of overage fees.
I am looking to go to another hosting company that is just as good as Aplus.NET, if not better... with a better traffic rate. A friend told me about Choopa.com and I wanted to know how good of a company they were. What are some other top reliable hosting companies with premium servers and that specialize in unmetered bandwidth?
I am planning to create a website for my business. Its a bulk exports business and there will be very few visitors, less than 1000 a month. Also space needed should also not exceed 100 mb as I will only have some html information pages and a few pictures of my products.
However, the webhost should be reliable and have an easy to use interface as I am a beginner in this field (I hear cPanel is good). Also I have 2 more domains/businesses which I hope this same hosting should cover so it should have addon hosting.
Please recommend a reliable hosting provider with a good interface and price under $25 per year.
The registrar I will be using for the domain is Namecheap as I am planning to register a .in (India) domain name and very few have that option.
I am starting a small ecommerce website, initially selling 10 to 20 items but obviously hope to grow in the future. Since I donât 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 havenât been able to find any.
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?
I'm planning to move my co-located server to a cabinet soon. We are adding dedicated web & database servers to take the load off of the main box. I will get one GigE drop in this cabinet, so obviously I need a switch.
No routing is needed on my end, so my guess is that the regular GigE switch would do just fine. But I have few concerns about my setup.
All of my servers have dual GigE port. My plan is to connect one to the internet, and another to a local private lan for SMB, database, SNMP, and such. Jumbo frame is enabled on a private lan.
Is there any 16-port switch that allows me to assign 8 ports into one virtual switch (1500-byte frame) and another 8 into another virtual switch (9000-byte frame) ?
On the internet side, I expect to be pushing around 300-400mbps, a bit higher on the private lan. I need a very stable switch that won't choke or crash at this rate.
I'd also like to be able to limit throughput on each port, and probably do port/ip filtering on this switch instead of iptables on each box. (Am I asking too much for a switch?)
We're ready to setup 3-4 42U racks for servers and are in need of choosing Ethernet switches. What do you guys use and why?
I'm looked at Cisco switches, but lost in their product forest. I'm looked at Express 500, 2960 and 3750-E models. Is there any more difference (in exception of stacking, cli and hot-swap fan/psu) that I need to consider? Prices differentiate too much.
I'm also looked at Linksys/D-Link business products and they seems to have the same features as Cisco Express series, but only 50% cheaper.
The first thing i'm thinking of is cpanel but there's many others If you're runing a server with 5000gb traffic/bandwidth per month When you're creating hosting accounts, could you allow 5000gb in each new account you're creating?
Like if you had unmetered, you'd put unmetered in every new account Considering no account would ever reach any way near their monthly allowance.
I've been looking for a VPS with windows, ability for torrents and unmetered bandwidth. I've tried leaseweb and I did not like their service one bit for support. i did not use their 10mb unmetered though. I then tried FDC and they were ok, but now I'm looking for something else that is more like FDC then anything. With FDC I was running windows 2003, unmetered bandwidth and was doing some torrents a bit. Not music or movies though, i hate 99.9% of the music out and don't bother with movies or software or any of that junk. my speed was fine at up to 100mb literally. downloading from the net to my FDC server would go as much as 80mb or so, peaking a bit faster for like half a second. Anyhow, the speed their was fine.
So I'm just looking for something else is all. The server I was on was a VDS and cost was for me $79. I had 512mb ram and 100gb drive space.
I used to use dedimove.com, but they have dropped off the face of the earth i moved to another host, id rather not say them name as i dont want to give them a bad name and have no complaints with their service other then the speeds are not very good...
im looking for a 100mbit port and under 100 dollars price range as the site really doesnt make any money... and at least 3 TB transfer...
