Evaluating server requirements

What do I need?

[tkroll]

I'm looking for a host for my new site. I'm wondering what the ideal configuration would be. I have an initial budget of $100/month. I've seen dedicated servers for $99.

I don't need vendor recomendations (yet) but rather points to check and consider, what kind of hardware I'd need for the site. For example, what is the minimum RAM and CPU needed for a busy PHP/MySQL site.

My site:
PHP
MySQL
tons on photos
pages around 20K

I'm not sure what the traffic will be, but I'm hopeful it will be high. This is an ecommerce site.

I'd also like the ability to tweak Apache, PHP, and MySQL settings and have direct SSH access.

Thanks

[MatthewHSE]

I'm no expert at running a server, but to my understanding, your server requirements will vary wildly depending on how much traffic you actually receive.

Unless you're certain that your bandwidth and resource requirements will necessitate a dedicated server, a VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting account might be a good way to start. VPS normally gives you access to the server config files and you get guaranteed server resources. Furthermore, you can get a very good VPS account for $20-$30 per month. My advice would be to check around and find a reputable host that offers VPS hosting, AND that says they can upgrade you seamlessly to a dedicated server if necessary. That way, you can try out a VPS and see if it meets your needs, and if not, you can easily upgrade with no downtime.

[Manish Singh]

Unless you have specific reasons to go for a dedicated server (many websites, starting hosting business etc), I would recommend going with a reseller or VPS hosting solution.

$100 is really not an ideal budget for a dedicated solution. There are dedicated servers available for $70-$100 range but most of them are un-managed solutions. This means you are responsible for server security, softwares, upgrades, backup etc. The datacenter will just take care of network and hardware related issues.

Few things that you must look for when choosing a dedicated server company

1. Reliability and support (phone support)
2. Hardware and network uptime
3. Managed or unmanaged solutions
4. Control panels (like cpanel,etc) included
5. Backup service

You can check #*$! forums for reviews about almost all companies in the business.

With your budget you can easily get a P4/Celeron 2.4 with 512MB RAM and 80GB HDD.

If your website is php/Mysql intensive I would recommend adding more memory (atleast 1GB).

Hope this helps