Shared Reseller Hosting Vs VPS

**CityLights** · #1 (**permalink**) 25-07-2009, 17:58

Hi

I'm new here and considering moving to eUKHost when my current hosting expires subject to being 100% satisfied it does what it says on the tin.

Now I was thinking of going for a VPS for increased reliability as a result of increased resources which your VPS page confirms "...more control and superior performance than shared hosting..."

However, I was reading a thread by Wilking77, who seemed to have an unpleasant experience, so that's set me back a bit now, because I really couldn't stand or such a situation to happen to me.

Anyway, the following comment was made in that thread by a eUKHost Admin, which confused me:

Your sites were working fine on shared server because on share server you get Physical resources i.e. high Performance CPU and 8-12 GB of RAM where as on VPS you have limited number of CPU Units and Memory. So, there is a lot of difference between a Shared Server and a VPS.

I thought that the whole point of upgrading to VPS was increased resources that improve your overall website performance and reliability as per the comment I have cut n paste from your VPS web page - so is this not really the case?

The other question I have is, is there any plans to introduce the Business Hosting concept for 100% uptime across any other packages which covers multiple domains (not addons).

**jennifer** · #2 (**permalink**) 27-07-2009, 11:10

When analyzing the two solutions it is worth mentioning that there is one foremost difference between shared and VPS hosting. With shared hosting there are multiple users that share a server and its resources. There's an uneven resource distribution with this type of hosting in which any user may also over-use the server's resources like CPU, Memory etc. If at all you are wondering about the performance issues, when I say "over-use" - We do not load-up or over burden the servers, a certain % of resources is always kept free to cover up in case of emergency and spikes in usage and thereby giving the best performance to the users. When the server is not over loaded it eliminates the likelihood of such problems occurring.

However, this type of hosting is not always well suited for all sites. Users that have websites with heavy traffic and custom applications will make the switch to VPS hosting.

Coming on to a VPS Server now, here you have multiple isolated server environments on a single physical server. The VPS Servers are allocated a fixed amount of resources such as: CPU, Memory, etc (depending on the plan you choose). A VPS offers more options than a shared server, such as allowing some more freedom with software installs and scripts, using custom applications and thereby giving your more control and a flexible environment.

VPS Plans are an ideal solution for those sites that are not well suited for a Shared Hosting.

Besides the Business Hosting plans, we offer Server Mirroring solutions that ensure 100% uptime guarantee. More information available here Dedicated Servers Mirroring | Mirrored Dedicated Servers | Fully Managed Mirrored Dedicated Servers

I hope the above information helps.

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask

**CityLights** · #3 (**permalink**) 27-07-2009, 11:23

so, depsite purchasing a certain level of reosurces, you can in fact go over them at no extra cost except to the (possible) detriment of other users? So nless you want to add applications etc etc then it's not really worth bothering with?

You see i'm still a bit confused, because if you don't overload servers and you keep something back for ermergencies/spikes, so in the case of wilking777 for example, whereas he thought he was getting close to exhausting his resoruces in fact, he should have just stayed put and gone over his limits thus using other user's resources, because as you;ve said, that is what happens.

i.e. it's not what I thought, which was, say you have 100% of resources and you have say 80 users so you allocate 1% equally to leaving some 'unused' resources because it hasnt all been allocated, (for ease of understanding this scenario). In your explanation, if one user happens to use 5%, it simply uses up that spare resource? Is that correct?

But coming back to my original point, the web page does say 'increased performance' so surely that's due to having increased resources of VPS which exceed your shared plan allowances? eg you get more bandwith on a VPS than say Platinum level don't you, so that should allow for heavier traffic?

I'll take a look at those other options, but they may exceed may requirements with regards resource allowance.

**CityLights** · #4 (**permalink**) 27-07-2009, 17:27

I take it sales is shut today?

**Jack** · #5 (**permalink**) 27-07-2009, 18:06

A VPS has fixed CPU allocation while on the other hand there is no fixed CPU allocation to a shared hosting account as a result of which a user can get away with more CPU usage as long as the server doesn't get overloaded. This however doesn't apply in case of all accounts nor is it guaranteed to rely upon completely. It is there only to cover up temporary spikes in resource usage. A user cannot rely on those unused resources at all times.

**compserv** · #6 (**permalink**) 27-07-2009, 20:51

CityLights,

A (slightly simplistic) view of VPS vs Shared server. Imagine 2 servers, both with 64GB RAM (the same idea works for CPU and network resources). One is set up as a shared server and the other one set up as VPS. Both have 32 users.

On the VPS, each user has 2GB of RAM allocated. If any user reaches that 2GB limit, the server has to start swapping out to virtual memory.

On the shared server, if only one user is using the memory at any particular time, they have access to all 64GB. Until, that is, someone else needs some RAM. Just how the memory gets allocated by the OS can get complicated, but you could, in theory, be struggling to find 2MB, let alone 2GB, if everything was working against you.

With a VPS you get consistency. With a shared server you could be unlucky, and the more users who share the server, the more chance of being unlucky. But then, what are the chances of every site being hosted on the server being hit at just the same time.

Hope that helps a little.

**CityLights** · #7 (**permalink**) 28-07-2009, 10:37

That was a much better way of explaining it , thanks very much. So as long as everyone on that server can access all of their allocated resources there should be no problem, the problem's only start if they try and use more (someone else's resoruces in fact).

**compserv** · #8 (**permalink**) 28-07-2009, 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityLights

That was a much better way of explaining it , thanks very much.

You're welcome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityLights

So as long as everyone on that server can access all of their allocated resources there should be no problem, the problem's only start if they try and use more (someone else's resoruces in fact).

But that's one of the beauties of Shared Hosting. As long as everyone doesn't want their 'fair share' of the resources at the same time, you can use well over your fair share, whereas on a VPS you get your allocation and that's it. You can't exceed it on a VPS.

As a hosting company like eUKhost, if you get a nice mix of Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer sites on a shared server, you can get more sites per server. B-B tend to be busy 8am-6pm Monday-Friday. B-C tends to get hit evenings and weekends.

That's the simplistic view

**CityLights** · #9 (**permalink**) 28-07-2009, 11:19

so if my priority is to ensure me and my clients sites stay have as near as possible to 100% uptime (minus planned maintenance/upgrades of course) what would you recommend?

Between us we are mostly B2B and a couple of B2C sites, as not been hosting client sites for very long, so pretty new to this game in that respect so growth wont be exponential but just steady over time, much like their bandwith requirements.

**Ryan** · #10 (**permalink**) 28-07-2009, 12:36

You can start off with shared hosting account as of now since you are relatively new to this and as you mentioned, growth won't be too exponential. In future, upgrades can be done as and when you wish to. For now I think shared hosting would suffice for your requirements.

**compserv** · #11 (**permalink**) 28-07-2009, 15:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityLights

so if my priority is to ensure me and my clients sites stay have as near as possible to 100% uptime (minus planned maintenance/upgrades of course) what would you recommend?

Between us we are mostly B2B and a couple of B2C sites, as not been hosting client sites for very long, so pretty new to this game in that respect so growth wont be exponential but just steady over time, much like their bandwith requirements.

The 100% uptime is a different issue. I'll come back to that.

On the assumption that you are maintining your clients' sites, then I'd agree with the shared hosting that Ryan suggested. To start with, make sure you have enough disk space for the sites you're hosting + a bit of growth. If you find you're getting close to bandwidth limits, just ask for an upgrade. Seems to be quick and painless generally.

On the other hand, if your clients are going to manage their own sites, you probably need to go for a re-seller account for the security and separation of the sites. You won't want your clients editing each others' sites.

Now, back to the 100% uptime issue. If you really need 100% uptime, you can go for the Business Shared Hosting. Downside is that'll cost you six times what the basic shared hosting will cost. But you do get your sites duplicated accross 2 data centres, so if one goes down the system switches to the copy. But for most 99.5% uptime is good enough. Yes, there was an issue 2 weeks ago where a server was down for over a day, but the chances of that happening are pretty remote, and could have happened to any hosting provider. At the end of the day it comes down to what do you need, what's your budget, and when (not if) things do go wrong, will you get the support. The choice is yours

**CityLights** · #12 (**permalink**) 28-07-2009, 20:53

I aleady have a shared reseller account so use whm to manage clients accounts and yes they get their own cpanel logins too.

The Business shared hositng on 100% uptime is only for 1 domain, and then mirrored stuff on dedicated servers. There is, so far as I can see and as per reply further up, no shared hosting for multiple domains on a shared hosting basis. So for multiple domains on one server, i'd have to go dedicated which is well beyond the resources I need for some time yet.

**compserv** · #13 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityLights

There is, so far as I can see and as per reply further up, no shared hosting for multiple domains on a shared hosting basis. So for multiple domains on one server, i'd have to go dedicated which is well beyond the resources I need for some time yet.

From the eUKhost home page, on a Linux server you get unlimited domains on all plans except the Business Hosting plans where you are limited to 5.

Hopefully someone from Sales will pop up and confirm this. If not, email them direct or phone. It's a freephone ( 0808 ) number.

**CityLights** · #14 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 09:01

but that's addon domains which I dont want, and 5 isnt enough anyway.

**Jack** · #15 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 10:07

You can host unlimited Addon/Subdomains/Parked domains on our cPanel shared hosting packages. You just need to make sure that you have enough resources in your account. You can check our shared hosting plans at UK Shared Cpanel Hosting | PHP MySQL Linux Web Hosting

**CityLights** · #16 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 10:10

I know, but I was referring to the last conversation about Business Shared Hosting which is 5.

**Jack** · #17 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 10:36

We offer 100% uptime on our business hosting package. Business Web Hosting is recommended for corporate customers or those customers who need the peace of mind that 100% Uptime guarantees offer. Hence, we have restricted the no. of domains, addon domains, parked domains to get the best performance on that server.

**CityLights** · #18 (**permalink**) 29-07-2009, 10:45

yeah I know, I've read that on that web page.

**MonkeysBitMe** · #19 (**permalink**) 29-09-2009, 04:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack

We offer 100% uptime on our business hosting package. Business Web Hosting is recommended for corporate customers or those customers who need the peace of mind that 100% Uptime guarantees offer. Hence, we have restricted the no. of domains, addon domains, parked domains to get the best performance on that server.

I guess it would be like saying... Choose the business package and we'll manage everything for you so you can concentrate on your business instead! Why do you think we call it the business package? Cause WE MEAN BUSINESS!!!

If ya'll use that, I expect to be paid for it or else...