Is VPS for me?

[JonoB]

I am in the process of launching a new website, and expect to have it up and running in the next few weeks.

The site is currently being tested and demo'd on a shared hosting account.

Although initial uptake of the site (flash front end + mysql backend) may be very little, there are two considerations:

1. Yeah, I know 100% isnt possible to guarantee, but if its unavailable for any length of time will destroy my business. It must be fast, responsive and available.

2. Numbers may grow significantly over time. Lets say we start off with maximum 50 concurrent users at any one time; but this may grow to 500 over the next few months.

I dont want to run the risk of some fool running a cpu intensive php script on shared hosting that bogs down the whole server

Is VPS the right tool for me?

[eUKhost.com]

Hi JonoB,

You should prefer VPS if you have used cPanel - WHM previously. We use very high specification servers for new shared hosting as well as new VPS orders so there won't be any sort of downtime or problem due to other users overloading your server.

VPS will give you more control and more features. It won't take much time for you to under WHM and cPanel, but initial few days will make you loose some time to understand the best control panel in hosting industry.

[JonoB]

I am quite familiar with cpanel, and I have a number of shared hosting accounts at the moment. So thats good to hear.

Other than offering more control and more features, I guess my question is this: will a vps server offer better responsiveness and less chance of being unavailable than shared hosting?

[freeneasy]

We changed our active site (vbulletin based) from shared to a VPS and noticed a massive improvement in site response and stability.

[eUKShane]

Hey,

A VPS will definitely be more advantageous compared to a shared hosting environment as you get independent resources, complete access and the ability to customize it as per your needs.

We have some high configuration Virtuozzo nodes getting filled right now. Using Virtuozzo you can start/stop your vps or make backup and manage your VPS resources, you can always keep an eye on VPS performance, so you should give first priority to VPS

[JonoB]

Thanks for the replies.

Another question popped into my mind:

I will probably need to make daily (or perhaps more frequently) backups of my server...where are those backups saved?

[eUK-Nick]

If you take a backup from Virtuozzo, then it will be stored in the /vz partition. However, if you take it from your cPanel, then it will be stored in the VPS' default backup path.

A second option is of our remote backup plans. These are plans which help you store your backups on a remote server. More details are explained here

[JonoB]

I would definitely go for the remote backup option...saving to the same hard drive is not very good for redundancy

Would rsync cater for full hard drive backup, including mysql databases, etc?

[eUKShane]

Hey,

Yes, that is recommended

Virtuozzo backup functionality is not intended for actual backup usage, as the files are stored on the same Hardware node on which your VPS will be located. This is only intended for when you for instance are about to install a new application on your VPS, and you want to be able to easily roll back to the point before you started (in case something went wrong).

For actual backup usage, it is best to store the backups remotely. As you are going for cPanel Control Panel we can configure daily, weekly and monthly backups for a complete account including mysql databases.