Windows VPS & MS SQL Reliability - UK Web Hosting | Dedicated Server Windows and Linux VPS Forum

**cbjroms** · #1 (**permalink**) 18-12-2007, 22:22

I have a website hosting (.Net/MSSQL) which is hosted on a Windows VPS Hosting. For the past 5 months I have had no problem with it.

This evening the website hosting was unresponsive and when I went onto the webserver I found that the SQL Server service was stopped and the following events had been logged:

SQL Server reported to application log starting up db content_dc at 19.57.59pm

Next item in log is warning that there was an unhandled exception from asp.net 2 at 19.58pm.

Livechat (with which I have been extremely impressed) has told me that Virtuozzo killed the SQL Server service because it was using high resources, and that this is sql's normal behaviour. I do not believe this as the website hosting is not released to the public and was being tested by one user with a single query!

I have submiited a ticket to VPS Hosting support and asked them to investigate the situation. Meanwhile I have posted a general enquiry on a MS SQL Server devlopment forum and have received the following advice:

This is not normal, even for the Express (free) version of SQL Server. The express edition is configured to be able to co-exist nicely with other applications, even on a desktop machine. Typically if you care about high availability you have to pay up for one of the other versions, but in this case the limitations on express edition should be suitable to support a shared server situation.

On the other hand This may be perfectly normal behavior for Virtuozzo, which needs to ensure one user's vm doesn't bog down a box for everybody. This is SQL Server, after all, and SQL Server, like any real dbms, at it's core wants to be the only process running on a machine. It needs to keep as much as possible cached in memory, and if you run a tough query will use up a lot of disk and cpu time. You may need to move to a real server rather than a virtual one.

So I am now starting to worry about my windows VPS Hosting ability to provide a reliable hosting for my website hosting. I have seen other threads on this forum where others have expressed the same sort of concerns.

Can a VPS Hosting be expected to cope reliably with an SQL Server database or should I been considering the move to a dedicated server?

Thanks in anticpation.

Chris

**eUKhost.com** · #2 (**permalink**) 18-12-2007, 23:15

Hello Chris,

Semi-Dedicated Server should be a better option to match SQL Server requirements and cost. Dedicated Server would be best option if you can consider it but VPS Hosting with 512 MB RAM can never fulfill MSSQL Server requirements. We are planning to setup a shared SQL Server for customers who need MSSQL Server so hopefully you will have a better solution before end of this month.

**cbjroms** · #3 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 07:19

It seems that my options are:
a) Stay with my Windows VPS Hosting but the advice above is that 'but VPS Hosting with 512 MB RAM can never fulfill MSSQL Server requirements'.
b) Await the 'setup a shared SQL Server' which may provide a sightly better soloution than a.
c) Move to a semi-dedicated server which should be better.
d) Move to a dedicated server - the ultimate solution?
I am a lttle disappointed that this has emerged so late in the day and surprised that the advice above seems a lt more clear-cut than some other threads that I have read on the same subject elewhere on the forum. But if I am being given frank and honest advice, however unpaletable, then it gives me the chance to make the right decision.
So how strong a solution would a semi-dedicated server offer given that my website hosting is not the biggest in the world sepite its reliance on SQL Server express? How diffgicult will it be for the website hosting to be moved across and how long would it take?

Chris

**eUK-Ron** · #4 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 10:54

Hello Chris

eUK Host team always provide honest & frank advice, as we believe in customer satisfaction.

Regarding SQL Server - More SQL Server connections will need more RAM (as server is having 10 to 15 VPS Hosting accounts) and once you use your allocated RAM you wont be allowed to overload server with more connections. Virtuozzo will shutdown your VPS Hosting if you try to overload your VPS Hosting.

With Dedicated hosting you will get atleast 512 MB RAM. Whereas Semi Dedicated hosting accounts are hosted on Core 2 Quad Q6600 with 8 GB RAM and having only 4 accounts per server. I think for your SQL Server needs you should atleast think about Semi Dedicated option.

**cbjroms** · #5 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 11:05

Hi Ron,

Thanks for that.

I am disappointed in the responses that I have received from my ticket #DHR-69242-975 sent to VPS Hosting support last night. They just keep saying things like:

'Well you can try semi-dedicated because semi-dedicated contains more resource then the normal VPS Hosting. But I will also suggest you to go for a dedicated server because you will get the resources of your own and there will be no problem in memory allocation.'

My question to VPS Hosting support was whether the following problem on my VPS Hosting last night due to a lack of resources or not?

SQL Server reported to application log starting up db content_dc at 19.57.59pm

(displaycentretest)

Next item in log is warning that there was an unhandled exception from asp.net 2 at 19.58pm.

You and Mark make the point that the windows VPS Hosting is fundamentally unsuited to working with an sqlexpress database. This I accept.

How easy would it be to move onto a semi-dedicated or dedicated server?

Regards

Chris

**eUK-Nick** · #6 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 11:31

Hello Chris.

I had a follow-up done on your VPS Hosting usage & the problems which you seem to have come across with. SQL Server processes normally run sufficiently fast & respond quickly on our VPS Hosting'. However, on having a closer second look, it was found that there were a few queries & processes which take up a lot of available CPU & thereby eating up RAM. We tried optimizing these ourselves. Unfortunately it did not help.

The move to a semi-dedicated will definitely help. This is because you get guaranteed RAM of 2GB. You also get 800GB of bandwidth & 60GB disk-space. Whenever you have queries or processes which are resource intensive, you need bandwidth & disk-space in abundance & this is exactly what you get with the semi-dedicated server!

As for the data being moved, we will do it for you. Your VPS Hosting would not be shut down till the time your sites do not start working from the semi-dedicated server. You will get the IP's in a separate mail. If you have your nameservers registered with us, we will change the nameserver IP's for you. If you have it registered elsewhere, you would only have to change the IP's of the DNS. The DNS will remain the same throughout.

You may email feedback[at]eukhost.com with the account details. I will have the rest done. We suggest that the migration be done over the weekend. Awaiting your update on this. Thank you!

**cbjroms** · #7 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 14:38

Hi Nick,

Thank you for the response to my thread. I have sent an email but have not received any response.

The website hosting that I have on my VPS Hosting at the moment was supposed to go live tonight. But given the advice that I have received it would be foolish to take the web site hosting live when last night's problem was caused by one user/one query.

I have two hesitations about the semi-dedicated route. One is that it might still suffer resource problems and the other is that there is no Remote Desktop facility (I think). On the other hand a dedicated server might be a sledge-hammer to crack a nut.

Given that I have paid for 12 months VPS Hosting, what would it cost me to move to
a) Semi-dedicated server with 2Gb RAM
b) Dedicated server 2Gb RAM

Grateful for your advice please.

Chris

**eUK-Nick** · #8 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 15:06

Hello Chris,

I replied to your ticket a while back. Please check & let me know how you would like to proceed.

**eUK-Ron** · #9 (**permalink**) 19-12-2007, 15:19

Hello Chris

It seems that your programs are more resource consuming. You may choose Semi Dedicated or Dedicated hosting to experience smooth working.

Semi Dedicated plans are hosted on Core 2 Quad Q6600 with 8 MB Cache & having 2 GB Guaranteed RAM. For more details you can refer http://www.eukhost.com/semi-dedicated.php

Where as Dedicated hosting gives you dedicated environment for your web hosting. For more details about Dedicated hosting you can refer http://www.eukhost.com/dedicated-server-hosting.php

If you any query feel free to ask.

**cbjroms** · #10 (**permalink**) 20-12-2007, 12:18

The move onto a semi dedicated server has left me with a problem.

I spent three hours on Livechat before becoming frustrated. So I updated my ticket [ #OPR-36147-307] approx 2 hours ago and am still waiting to hear back.

The problem is due to the moving across of the sqlexpress databases. But eukhost has done this before without encountering such permission problems - so they must know how to do it!

I am becoming desperate to get this fixed.

Chris

**eUK-Nick** · #11 (**permalink**) 20-12-2007, 12:47

Plesk backup utility did not seem to work correctly. Martin is now manually restoring the databases all over again. in the previous instance, we had manually moved the DB's instead of using Plesk.

This should be done in the next 30 minutes.

Your patience is immensely appreciated.

**bradmca** · #12 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 10:38

This shared SQL Server sounds like a great idea, I just signed up to windows VPS Hosting last friday and already see 100MB of my 512MB memory allocation going straight to SQL Server express.

Is shared SQL Server live yet?, how to make use of it?

**eUKhost.com** · #13 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 16:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradmca

This shared SQL Server sounds like a great idea, I just signed up to windows VPS Hosting last friday and already see 100MB of my 512MB memory allocation going straight to SQL Server express.

Is shared SQL Server live yet?, how to make use of it?

Shared SQL Server concept can work for Shared hosting customers only. MSSQL server needs to be setup in LAN with the Web Server to get better performance from the Database Server, this wont be possible incase of VPS Hosting or Semi-Dedicated Server as each VPS Hosting and Semi-Dedicated server have their Dedicated IPs and they cannot communicate with other server in LAN.

I am afraid to say that we wont be able to offer shared MSSQL Server to VPS Hosting or Semi-Dedicated server customers.