Upgrading to a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from Shared Web Hosting
Here you'll find links to blog entries and forum posts associated with our move/upgrade to a Virtual Private Server (from Shared web hosting). You can follow my journey from clueless noobie to post-upgrade musings, and glean some insights about the process. These entries contain more detail than I can include in this guide.
• » Warning: Excessive Server Usage (29.November.2007) - Here's where it all began. We received a letter from our webhost (Lunarpages), notifying us the site was using "excessive server resources."
Full contents of their nastigram is contained in the thread titled » Site Moved to New Server.
I hoped to work some mojo and lower our load enough to warrant Lunarpages letting us move back to the "Production server". But that didn't happen (as you'll see).
In a way, it's flattering to receive such a letter, cuz it means your site is seeing decent traffic. (Nothing's worse than a site with no traffic.) Unfortunately, a VPS co$ts much more than Shared webhosting, so it's a mixed blessing.
• » Radified Moving to a Virtual Private Server? (28.January.2008) - Here's where reality started setting in, and I realized our days of (inexpensive) Shared webhosting were over.
After upgrading the Rad Community Forums to the latest (optimized) release, and seeing this did nothing to lower our use of server resources, I realized the jig was up, cuz this was my last trick. For weeks, I'd been working to lower our use of server resources. All for naught.
• » Researching Virtual Private Servers (11.February.2008) - So I started delving more deeply into the world of Virtual Private Servers .. to see what was involved, and what the extra money would buy. Figured it would be easier to simply stay with Lunarpages, and upgrade to one of their VPS servers, BUT...
• » Radified Needs a Dedicated Server? (16.February.2008) So I contacted the VPS group at Lunarpages and asked them how things would work if I upgraded to one of their VPS servers. But they informed me I did not qualify for a VPS, but rather I needed a full, dedicated server.
"Say what?" I found this hard to swallow, especially since their cheapest dedicated server cost $100/month (10 times what I was currently paying for Shared webhosting).
I also didn't like that they were in control of the module that monitored resource usage statistics. In other words, they could be lying to me, telling me Radified was using more resources than it really was .. in order to get me to buy a pricier plan than I actually needed.
So I started feeling a lack of trust for Lunarpages, which leads to my next post:
• » Think I Might've Found Our New VPS Web Host (18.February.2008) I'd spent a few days doing nothing but researching the ins-n-outs of Virtual Private Servers and the companies that host them. I had a good idea of what I wanted ..
..
such as » a Managed VPS, prompt replies to my questions, cPanel/WHM, MySQL 5 & PHP5, daily back-ups, a host that was NOT on the East coast, no nickel-n-diming me for small stuff.
Every host I'd looked into had something I didn't like .. until I found WiredTree. I really felt they were too good to be true. They had everything I wanted .. and then some (such as CentOS 5, and offering to move the site for me).
They actually seemed like they *enjoyed* providing good support. Other hosts provided support, but they made you feel like you were bothering them. Not WiredTree.
• » Moving the Site Today to New VPS Server (19.February.2008) Time to rock-n-roll, baby. And pray the move goes without a hitch. (Which it never does.) Yes, I had problems to work thru, but nothing I couldn't handle. WiredTree (Joe) provided me with the best tech support I'd ever had. Period.
We started in the morning, and by that evening, we were stylin' at the new digs in Chicago. Whoohoo! Speaking of Chicago...
• » Chicago: Home of the New Rad Virtual Private Server (20.February.2008) Success! Feels sweet. Good to be at the new VPS. This was our 4th server.
Radified started out in Kansas City (June 2000, with Communitech). Then we moved to Atlanta (2003? with Interland .. now called Web.com). Most recently to Los Angeles (Feb 2006, with Lunarpages) .. and now to Chicago (WiredTree) to our first VPS.
• » VPS Upgrade Necessary? Dedicated Server Required? (22.February.2008) The first thing I wanted to know at the new VPS was .. did I really need a VPS?
• » Upgrading to VPS (from Shared Hosting): Rad's Rear-view Perspective on Virtual Private Servers (24.February.2008) Now that every thing has settled down, I have time to relect on the move (upgrade) to VPS.
• » Resource Usage at Our New Virtual Private Server (15.March.2008) After a month at the new VPS, I had plenty of data to characterize our resource usage.
• » Zippy New dual-Westmere VPS for Xmas (09.January.2012) We moved to a new / faster / upgraded server ("parent node") after 4 years on the old one.