Forum Moderators: phranque
We have a few sites (around 4) one of which has very high usage, search engine results etc. We will be looking to increase the number of domains to 10 by the middle of next year.
Now my questions are :
- Has anyone moved from a shared server to a dedicated within the same host or even different host, any comments or recommendations from experience?
- Any general tips regarding moves like this in general?
- What is the minimum type of machine (hardrive etc) and server you would go with to allow you to grow without affecting performance?
- Do search engines know that all the sites are on one server (even though they would have different ip's) and would this damage cross linking possibilities?
- how can you check you are really on a dedicated server and not just being ripped off?
Thanks for your time.
take your time, plan it carefully so your site is correct and will work when you make the change. make sure you know how to set up the server and set up a site on the server. practise with a copy of your site and a spare domain.
if you're worried about doing it yourself, get someone to help. if your web host also provides dedicated servers, consider getting the server with them and asking them to help move your site. be prepared to pay for help either from your host or from someone else - it'll take the worry and stress out of it and make life a lot easier for you.
>>- What is the minimum type of machine (hardrive etc) and server you
>>would go with to allow you to grow without affecting performance?
what are you using right now?
you may find a low spec dedicated server will run your site as fast as (or maybe even faster than) a shared hosting solution as there is less load on the server all the time.
>>- Do search engines know that all the sites are on one server (even
>>though they would have different ip's)
probably. different IPs could still be consecutively numbered or in the same C class indicating they are likely to be on the same server
>>and would this damage cross linking possibilities?
best to check with others on this. i don't have any problems with my web design business where virtually all sites are on one server with the same pair of IP addresses, and every page on client sites links to my web design site, and my web design site links back to every client site.
>>- how can you check you are really on a dedicated server and not
>>just being ripped off?
if a host offers dedicated servers, they will generally be dedicated servers. you should have root access via telnet / ssh etc and the ability to reboot the server or reconfigure it if required. no provider will give you that level of access for shared hosting as you would affect other users and vice versa, and you would all complain!
if in doubt, you can always run an IP check on FAST - this shows how many pages are hosted on each IP address.
don't worry, moving to dedicated hosting isn't that difficult and there are many benefits over shared hosting.
oh yeah, one more thing - you will almost undoubtedly take all responsibility for maintaining the server and applying patches. learn how to do that as soon as possible and get all patches applied before setting anything else up. if you don't know how to, pay someone to do it for you or to show you how to do it yourself.
if in doubt, you can always run an IP check on FAST - this shows how many pages are hosted on each IP address.
... please Sir, how?
I am actually looking at doing a managed dedicated which I believe is a dedicated server where they maintain and update modules etc (but am checking this to make sure).
I would like to show you three examples. Now I have read in other threads that RAM is very important so I will probably increase either of these packages to around 1GB of RAM.
What does anyone think of these packages, of course they are priced differently, but would appreciate your feedback and thoughts.
1. US$ 299
Single AMD Athlon XP 1600+
Unix / Apache OS
384 KB cache
256 MB RAM
40 GB ULTRA ATA/100
100 MBps Bay Networks Ethernet Card
32-Bit PCI Graphics Adapter w/ 2 MB RAM
8 IP Addresses (Unlimited domains with name-based hosting)
50 GB Transfer Per Month
EXT3 File System Architecture
GUI Control Panel
Setup In 24 Hours Or Less!
Pre-Installed Software
Dedicated Server Warranty
2. US$ 499
Single Intel Pentium III 1.2 GHz
Unix / Apache OS
256 KB cache
384 MB RAM
Two 40 GB ULTRA ATA/100 with RAID-1
100 MBps Bay Networks Ethernet Card
32-Bit PCI Graphics Adapter w/ 2 MB RAM
8 IP Addresses (Unlimited domains with name-based hosting)
100 GB Transfer Per Month
EXT3 File System Architecture
GUI Control Panel
Setup In 24 Hours Or Less!
Pre-Installed Software
Dedicated Server Warranty
3. US$ 699
Dual Intel Pentium III 1.2 GHz
Unix / Apache OS
256 KB cache
512 MB RAM
Two 60 GB ULTRA ATA/100 with RAID-1
Dual 100 MBps Bay Networks Ethernet Cards
32-Bit PCI Graphics Adapter w/ 2 MB RAM
8 IP Addresses (Unlimited domains with name-based hosting)
150 GB Transfer Per Month
EXT3 File System Architecture
GUI Control Panel
Setup In 24 Hours Or Less!
Pre-Installed Software
Dedicated Server Warranty
As mentioned I would probably look at upgrading the RAM to 1 GB,but is there anything here that stands out. I must say I am attracted to option 2, but am not sure how much difference the single an dual PIII 1.2MHZ would make?
Also as I am new to dedicated does the number of IP addresses limit you to that number of domains? and is it a good idea re SEO to use name based hosting instead of unique IP's for a domain?
EDIT IN - Of I should also point out that I get one dedicated free with exactly the same config with the above deals. Now how exactly could a second dedicated help me? I am not going to resell the server would house our domains only.
Thanks for any feedback
I have my own server on my own dedicated machine.
Not to scare you off, but it has been a MAJOR HASSLE! I knew no UNIX or Apache code getting into it, and the learning curve is VERY STEEP! I have had a few sleepless nights (one this week!) running my own server- it is not a "plug it in and away you go" proposition.
That said, I would not do it any other way. I love the freedome to do whatever I damn well please! I have total control over it all, but the responsibility is mine when it is down.
If you are gonna go this route, make sure you can get technical assistance- you will need it! Of course, if they mantaine the server, your worries are less, but the expense is more!
I host about ten sites... a couple of which top their feild (one is in the top 20,000 sites visited on the web... maybe not too impressive for some of the people here, but pretty cool for my spare-time project!) I host 3 sites with over 5000 visits/50,000 page views a day.
My machine is an Athlon XP 1600+, but with 512 megs (memory is GOOD!). I run FreeBSD 4.6/Apache 1.3.26/Mod_perl 1.27/MySQL. I have a few drives- I split up content and OS, and use a third for BU- the size of drives are 20-40 gig, and is way more than I need. My sites pull up fast, but I am still thinking of going to SCSI for increased speed and reliability (RAID).
I would recommend doing it. If you are not well versed in UNIX, at least start out with tech support, and watch them closely! A good way to keep current on Apache (and I hope this plug is OK- I am not at all connected with them, I just use this... please feel free to edit out if I am not supposed to do this) is to run ApachetoolBox- it makes the instalation easy for newbies (like me!) and it is free!
Also, I have received a LOT of help on this board- just keep posting!
Good Luck!
Dave
Just use the Advanced Search option, then enter your IP address where it says:
"IP-address Filters - Filter results by restricting the web server's IP-address"
before settling on your own machine, what is your current usage? how big are your sites? do you use a lot of server side scripting etc? you may be looking at machines that are way over the top in specs and cost and you may find a lower spec machine will do the job perfectly.
>>does the number of IP addresses limit you to that number of
>>domains?
no. you can host "unlimited" domains on any single IP, although all web servers will have capacity limits in terms of hard drive space, processor power, RAM etc which would restrict the number of domains you could actually use on a server. it's nothing to worry about unless you're going to host hundreds of sites. just make sure you have at least 2 IPs on the server.
My current shared hosting specs are relatively basic with 1GB of space (for each site) on a Dual 1 Ghz PIII, with Red Hat Linux 7.2, Apache 1.3.23, with 5-DS3 2-OC3 2-OC-12.
The sites do mostly have heavy usage and one very much so. We would put around 4 sites onto the dedicated with a view to adding another 6 or by mid 2003.
The sites do use a fair bit of server side scripting, and we hope to add more in the future. Plus we expect to have some extreme usage patterns in the future.
Do I understand you C_F correctly in that if I place each domain onto its own IP on the dedicated this would improve the speed and performance of the site rather than having numerous sites on the same IP?
Do you feel the packages above are good? and competitively priced?
To be honest I cannot really manage my own server as I am in Thailand and we have a lot of problems connecting to the US, like now where the International links give us a lot of problems so the server needs to be managed.
what you will probably find is that you can move your main site onto a pretty low spec machine and it'll run just as fast, maybe faster, than the current shared hosting because the server won't be under so much load. what you don't want to do is move to a small and cheap server that handles the current load but can't handle a bigger load in 6 months time. keep looking around and eventually you'll settle on a package.
managed servers certainly seems a good option for you though.
>>if I place each domain onto its own IP on the dedicated this would
>>improve the speed and performance of the site
no. it won't make any difference at all in terms of speed. all sites on the server will use the same processor(s), same RAM, same HD(s) etc, regardless of the IPs to that server. it won't make any difference whether you have 2 IPs or 250+.
