Make sure you go with a Company you can GROW with...

[PGZ]

For those of you that dont know me I will give alittle background on the pains and agonies that I have gone through in my quest to the top in the hopes that you yourself when you get to my level wont have to go through.

Remember its better to learn from others mistakes rather then your own so please listen to my words.

I got my first site in Feb of 2005 and it wasnt MySpace releted it was and still is to this day a Political Forum. I was paying 5 bucks a month on a buddies server. I had absolutly no control of it as I didnt have Cpanel access to anything. Its run off VB so I could change certain things through the VB control panel but thats it.

I shopped around looking for hosting and came accross DreamHost with thier SUPER cheap prices. I signed up and I was a HAPPY MAN.

As I got more sites I stumbled accross a MySpace Resource site on DP. I had the site loaded by the seller and it never worked and the seller left me with a site that you couldnt even see cause of errors. I then bought another turnkey off a seller at DP and he installed it and got it up and running. He was suppose to make it a custom site but got halfway done and bailed so there I set again with a 1/2 finished product that I paid for.

I then turned to ebay and bought 2 different turnkeys and the seller was GREAT. He installed them both and I was open for business.

I was still at DreamHost and the custom CP they use seemed to be a challenge for everyone that tried to install things for me.

Though I didnt know ANYTHING ABOUT CODING I gave it a turn and the site actually started making MONEY........Traffic was grown and money was coming in and I was a happy man.............

Then the worst happened.............out of the blue Dreamhost SHUT ME DOWN and I got a nice email saying they were putting a limit on my connections. Within a week they completely shut my money making machines down.

In a scramble I looked for other shared hosting and came accross MidPhase and they promised me the world and I left DH and set up shop there.

Within 2 weeks I was homeless once again.....Pissed off and confused I didnt know what to do. I was losing money hand over foot. I looked at my numbers and decided I could afford a dedicated server if my sites were up and running.

So I took the plunge and got my 1st server with LT and then had Platinum Server management manage it.

Within 2 weeks I was up and running at 100% again and life was good. I wasnt limited anymore and the $$$$ was great. But then the server began to slow so I added more RAM which helped but it didnt fix.

I had to get a 2nd Server to split up some of my sites. Then while at DP I had been talking to Greg through PM and I even got to see MSRS before it was actually completed. I didnt jump on it when he 1st opened up sales cause I had been burned on DP many times before so I was kinda holding back to see what he did and how people responded.

Finally I started talking to Greg through IM I think it wasand then I PMed him on DP to get my 1st copy.

The rest is history and I own 3 MSRS now and I am buying a 4th real soon.

But one of my servers began to slow again when one of my newest MSRS sites EXPLODED. It is so big that LayeredTech cant do anything for me cause they dont lease out load balancers so that you can mirror the site on multiple servers and the load balancer directs the traffic to a specific server and balances the load so your site doesnt slow at all......If it ever starts to you just add another server.

So here I sit ONCE AGAIN limited in what I can do unless.......

I buy a Load Balancer myself for close to 10k and ship it to LayeredTechs Data Center.

or

I move to a server company that leases Load Balancers.

Im not spending 10K so I have to move once again. LayeredTech does have something called GridLayer but its new and unstable so I have chosen to stay away from it.

Sorry for the long post but if you plan on growing you need to choose a company you can grow with. Moving your sites suck especially if you have alot.

I found a Company that I myself can GROW with and I wish I had found them sooner. They have SHARED HOSTING....VPS....DEDICATED and LOAD BALANCERS also. And all the servers are managed and owned by them so there is NO 3rd party.

Im not trying to sell you anything here....My point here is do your homework really good before jumping into something you will regret down the road. The cheapest isnt the best thats why its cheap.

If it cost 5 bucks more per month to be with a company you can grow with then do it and save yourself the headache of moving and losing MASSIVE money.

Do your homework people cause it can end up costng you THOUSANDS down the road if you make the wrong decision.


If you go with shared hosting 1st which many here do and will make sure you can grow with the same company.

Its also a good idea to get a group and approach a Company......Power is in numbers and if you have 5 or 6 people that say they will get a dedicated server if the price is right the sales person on the other side will jump through hoops to get you and your group.

Just a HEADS UP from one MySpace site owner to another.

[MrWizard]

PGZ, this is excellent information for us new to MSRS . I for one, don't know squat about servers and load balance and all that. As it has been for you, I know I will be very disapointed to put in all the time and effort to build a site and get decent traffic and then the hosting company pulls the plug or can't meet my needs. I have worked all day, almost eveyday, for the past two months on my site. I have been trying to take it slow and easy, hoping to learn how to avoid some of the pitfalls. When I bought the script, Greg-j said the real value is in the information in this forum and I have found that to be true. Thanks for this post. I hope you will share the name of your new host as I would like to check it out.

[MKInfo]

Great post.And this great company is...............or have I missed it.If you dont want to post in here please pm me as I am growing faster than a rose in a bucket of horse s**t. http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/r/bigdance2.gif

[PGZ]

Well I didnt want to promote anyone I was just telling people to PLEASE be careful with what you do so that you save yourself a headache in the future.

The company I found came highly reccommended by another large site owner I know.

Its Steadfast.net and they do it all.....Also using CPanel will not give you the one button Load Balancing feature. Not only have I switched Companies but I switched CP also.....I moved over to Interworx cause of the features that are there for me.

As of right now all my servers are connected to a switch and they share all the resources between them. Im doing this first and then I will use the Load Balancer when I begin to need it.

My sites are still being moved as I type this so they are still being served from my old servers now. I'd say within the next week to week and a half I will be up and running on the new set up.

LT has a switch also but after that Im screwed unless I elect to go on thier GridLayer.

Also I dont get anything for telling you Steadfast.net as Im not affiliated with them no way shape or form.

[MKInfo]

Thanks.They look really good and about the same price for a VPS as the one I am currently moving to......less bandwidth though.I like the look of Interworx.I will see what this new one is like ....Prohosters...as I've already paid for first month.

[rob]

Steadfast is great; Karl runs a good network that's been pretty flawless aside from the issue around Christmas.

Another company you might want to look at is Softlayer (www.softlayer.com). They are in the same price range as Steadfast, offer more bandwidth, and have no bandwidth restrictions on their private network (so if you have two or more servers, say - web and database, they can communicate to each other on their private VLAN without any additional bandwidth fees).

[silentsummit]

Thanks for the info everyone..

I am planning on switching hosters soon, I will take a look at these guys.

[Selena]

Thanks SO much for this info. Yeah i've pretty much decided i need to move my sites before they open so that I don't have a headache of losing money.

It sucks that you can never be sure what hosting company will have your back 100% of the time and what hosting company will throw you out without looking back with an inch of sympathy.

I need to switch, so if anyone KNOWS for a fact of some shared hosting that can handle multiple sites with 3-4k uniques per day and some with a good 10-20k per day then please recommend them to me via PM because i'm lost. I might buy a server but i don't want to do it before i release my sites, then none of them get big and i waste my money.

[Sergio]

I want to switch but it will be a pain, I have around 30 sites. A few forums/blogs so it will be tough to switch.

[Fishfinger]

I need to switch, so if anyone KNOWS for a fact of some shared hosting that can handle multiple sites with 3-4k uniques per day and some with a good 10-20k per day then please recommend them to me via PM because i'm lost.

Like PGZ, Dreamhost cut me off, so did Midphase/Anhosting and Hostgator.

The sites were only 2/3 weeks old at the time, 2/3K uniques at the most.

The problem is not so much BW as the servers resources.

Even if you where alone on a top of the range box it would still need to be fine tune to handle a 10-20K site.

Shared hosting company host sometimes hundreds of sites on a single box so for them it is a definite no no



_____________________

[Selena]

I just purchased a VPS from powervps.com
i don't know if its good or not, but it was 50.00 for the first month, and i'll upgrade if I need to.

I have to say though, switching is a pain in my ***.

[Jordan]

^ Yeah, moving files is such a hassle and all the new info etc. is just a pain.

None of my current sites will get big enough so that Globat will cut off my hosting, I can just purchase more space - but my new ones might get reasonably large, I'll keep that in mind if I choose to buy my own hosting.

[Selena]

Ugh powervps let me down, i'm not saying not to go with them, but what I ordered was not for me and I purchased it before i explored the other options.

I'm looking into steadfast right now. Liquidweb.com was reccommended to me by a site owner with 100k uniques or so per day, so I was thinking of going with them, but I certainly can't afford their packages. I'm on a budget until I start getting some steady money.

If I can get some feedback from people who are familiar with servers and hosting (unlike me), if I get the Gold VPS from Steadfast, would that be sufficient to run rougly lets say 10 sites with 8-9k uniques per day and possibly 1 out of the 10 getting up to 50k uniques per day?
I'm no hosting genius so I wouldnt know and I have big plans for my site but don't know If i'll be able to afford and host this big sites.

[alexisthemovie]

layeredtech has decent $60 servers. why pay $50 for a vps?

[skipper55]

Have any of you used http://www.resellerzoom.com/ - http://www.hostingzoom.com/ ? There support is really good.

[barcodeunit]

lol..

figures 8 hours after i read this thread, the same thing happens to me...

1and1 hosting just pulled the plug on me (i think). it's been down for 3 hours already, i called twice (waiting on hold for 20 minutes), and they still can't give me an explanation on why its down....

i just order a dedicated server from wiredtree... wish me luck. i just hope i can get my site up within the next 24 hours. :(

[cdog]

yea i run steadfast, they are amazing.

34 boxes and growing :balloon:

[PGZ]

Your site will be down for at least a week.....Server has to come online then you have to move the site. Then change NameServers so if you get that done and the DNS is good before a week you are good.

[barcodeunit]

well it only took wiredtree 4 hours to build my machine, can you believe it!?!??! My site with 1and1 crap hosting went down at 3:30 CST today, i called wiredtree at 4:00, no hold time, they gave me advice on what i should do, VERY HELPFUL, i then placed an order online immediately after i hung up the phone. i called them again right after, and i asked them if they can give me the nameservers so i can get the DNS's updated immediately. they gave me the info and said my server will be ready later tonight.. within 4 hours, bam, i get an email, and im using their cpanel, and my ftp program to upload my stuff. :) Oh, i called them late at night TWICE, because i was confused on a few things because im new to cpanel, and they helped me promptly and thoroughly with NO hold time. i was so shocked that i pooped my pants.

my traffic is already increasing.. the DNS switch is already taking effect around the globe. :)

I think i will officially have the record time for getting jewed by a shared hosting provider to successfully having my site up and running on a new dedicated server (assuming the DNS switch is working).

[Ajay]

steadfast it great, i switched over to them from theplanet/ev1. Their customer service and support is awesome... good post.

[barcodeunit]

ITS OFFICIAL!

I am now surfing my website on my new server!!!

Someone post a picture of a trophy.

Down at 3:00PM, Up at 4:30AM. 13 HR and 30 MIN.

[PGZ]

well it only took wiredtree 4 hours to build my machine, can you believe it!?!??! My site with 1and1 crap hosting went down at 3:30 CST today, i called wiredtree at 4:00, no hold time, they gave me advice on what i should do, VERY HELPFUL, i then placed an order online immediately after i hung up the phone. i called them again right after, and i asked them if they can give me the nameservers so i can get the DNS's updated immediately. they gave me the info and said my server will be ready later tonight.. within 4 hours, bam, i get an email, and im using their cpanel, and my ftp program to upload my stuff. :) Oh, i called them late at night TWICE, because i was confused on a few things because im new to cpanel, and they helped me promptly and thoroughly with NO hold time. i was so shocked that i pooped my pants.

my traffic is already increasing.. the DNS switch is already taking effect around the globe. :)

I think i will officially have the record time for getting jewed by a shared hosting provider to successfully having my site up and running on a new dedicated server (assuming the DNS switch is working).


If DNS resolves then YES it will be record time.....KUDOS to you.

[barcodeunit]

LMAO!

1and1 Hosting just sent me this email AFTER they shut my server down for that span of time. If they had the brains, they would have sent me this warning BEFORE screwing me and i would have solved the problem immediately. This is SO funny to me because our website DEMOLISHED all their resources. HAHAHAHAAHAHAH.. HAHAHAHAH Here is the email LMAO:



Recently we have noticed that your web site(s) is consuming a
disproportionate amount of server resources (including memory and/or
cpu
time). Because of this, we have had to move your account off of the
shared hosting server to an auxilliary server. We now request that you
consider purchasing a Managed or other Dedicated Server in order to
continue hosting with 1&1 Internet.

The decision to move your account was made by the system administrators
in order to improve the quality of service for the rest of our clients
on the shared server from which you were previously hosted. The
resources consumed by your account threatened the ability of that
server
to capably operate as as a shared host, so it was required that your
account be moved in order to mitigate server load. Though we could move
your site back to the original shared hosting server, it is not
recommended. Your account activity has demonstrated that your site
deserves its own server to better suit its performance needs.

Please visit 1and1.com to review the server products we offer. You will
have one (1) month to make a decision and migrate your account over to
a
1&1 server or another host provider. You can choose to return your
account back to the shared server, provided that you take steps to
reduce the load generated by your websites. If the account has to be
moved off the shared server system again you will only have the option
of purchasing a dedicated server account to continue hosting with 1&1
Internet.

Please reply to this email promptly. Further questions/comments should
be directed to xyz@1and1.com.

Thank you for your compliance in this matter.

[Jazzylee77]

I think i will officially have the record time for getting jewed by a shared hosting provider to successfully having my site up and running on a new dedicated server (assuming the DNS switch is working).

You likely meant nothing discriminatory by the remark, but you may want to scrub "getting jewed" from your colloquialisms. I witnessed a friend of mine cause total rage in a pawn shop owner with what he thought was just a common term.

BTW I'm part welsh and I never welch on a bet. Though I once had a friend who turned out to be an indian giver and jewed me out of my reward when he welched on a bet. (don't call me hypocrite...thats what we call humor)

[Kyle]

Thanks alot for this post PGZ, you have really helped me and my partner. Our dedicated at hostgator is not performing for us and we are moving everything to steadfast.net, thanks to you!

[NYCBORN]

Cheap always winds up more expensive. I always start a site on cheap hosting so I can link to it from my other more established websites on different subnets/ip then I move them over to dedicated hosting.

I've hopped around with different server providers. Some were a nightmare and some were great. First server I rented was at a company called dIGITAL Nation or somecrap. They got eaten up by Verio I believe. For the last couple of years I've been using Ev1Servers and so far so good.

[pimpmaspace]

You moved datacenters? Why? If you knew much about hosting and servers you'd know that you do not need a hardware load balancer to load balance. You can do it via BIND (DNS). There are many other ways to do it as well.

[misdivision]

Hello MySpacePro Community,

I think this is such a great topic to discuss, and much is to be learned from these experiences. As I have been reading throughout the forum, so many others have encountered the same exact problems, their site was shutdown when they tried to use the resources provided in the package they signed up for. Furthermore, the hosts that are shutting down these sites seem to be the same host over and over again.

Moreover, what I've noticed is businesses/individuals fall victim to the same expression "you get what you pay for." We as entrepreneur sometimes have a tendency to jump on packages that appear to be a great deal. Whereas all along "it is just too good to be true." Also, chances are you will pay more in the long ran/when it is all said and done (e.g. your site is shutdown, data loss, server downtime, at the end you will pay somehow).

Therefore, I wanted to share with MySpacePro community some pointers that will aid in selecting the right host for your business. And, notice I underlined right host. Meaning that, what some people may think is the best host, may not work for you. With that said, if you follow the below pointers, chances are you will select the right host for your business:

Is the host a reseller, or does the host own and operate their own facility or servers? There is nothing wrong with hosting your site with a reseller. Nevertheless, there are more shady resellers, than good ones. Anybody in the world can buy a reseller account, however, not anybody can buy a datacenter. If you ever purchased a package from a reseller, site went down and reseller unresponsive for hours/days? These are the type of resellers you want to watch out for. Just do your homework.

Does your site push a lot of traffic, meaning over 2000 gigs of transfer? If so, look for a host that will offer you a 100Mbps uplink to your server. This way, on your peak days, or if your site grows, you will not experience downtime, just additional charges. In any case, if the traffic justifies your cost, you never want to have your site down, and would rather pay the additional cost. On the other hand, if you don't push a lot of traffic, then you will not have to worry about this step as much.

Backup? This should be your top priority. It is very important that your host offers some type of backup solution. MISDivision employees onsite and offsite backup, however, this may not be affordable for you. Therefore, if you site means anything to you, purchase a backup solution and ensure that the solution your host offers is efficient and effective. Ask your host how do you access the backups. If your host tells you that you can't, then that's grounds for eliminating that host from your choices. Why? Who want a backup service that they don't have access to? Be in control of your backups, download them periodically to your computer at home. Don't be a victim of data loss.

Well, I have ran out of free time, therefore, I will list some additional host precautions, questions and answers as I get free time.

Respectfully,