Results matching “webhosting” from Ye Olde Rad Blog III

Finally have a couple of pages to show you .. regarding the new » Guide to Virtual Private Servers. Been a long time since I cranked out a new Rad guide. Feels good. Tho tired now.

It's still a work-in-progress (WIP), but I have a good start on it. The research has already been done (which is the time-consuming part). And the site has already been moved/upgraded, so I have first-hand experience (which we prize) to accompany the research. All that remains » documentation.

I like the idea of this guide. Has a certain coolness, no? Much easier for me to put my head down and plow thru a guide when it has cool-factor.

VPS is all about speed, power & control. (Nearly synonymous with Porsche.) Oozes cool .. (in a geeky-kinda way). Guessing I can have it done in 10 pages. But I keep thinking of more things I should include. So maybe 10 won't be enough?

Planning to include everything *I* would've liked to know .. back when I began my research. It will be a cool guide. Ultra-practical. (Radified.)

Speaking of cool .. if you use Firefox (and who doesn't these days?), and you like things dark .. check out this theme, called » NASA Night Launch. Browsing the forums with a NASA-theme'd Firefox is .. heaven (at night). =)

If you don't hear from me for a few days, I'll be working on the VPS guide. (Update - Just added a 3rd page.)

Today I paid for our second month of hosting at our new web host .. WiredTree (using half the refund I received from cancelling my annual subscription with Lunarpages).

During our first month of service, I've been closely monitoring resource usage .. at our new VPS server. So I have a good idea where we stand.

Everything in the world of Virtual Privates Servers, I learned, boils down to memory usage (RAM). Our hosting plan dedicates 384-MB to the site. (256-MB standard plan, plus a 128-MB upgrade).

If we exceed 384-MB, we would have to purcha$e more memory .. at a rate of $7.50/month per additional 64-MB RAM.

Here's what I found » the highest amount of RAM we've used thus far is 366-MB (see here), which equals 95% of our allowable limit. Kinda close, but this was only a short-term transient (1 hour).

Our highest *sustained* memory use is ~325-MB (lasting a few days), so that number might be more meaningful (85% max). Our average memory use tends to be in the range of 270-to-290 MB (75%)...

.. which is actually pretty comfortable. And it's not uncommon, following a reboot, for our usage to drop down to the 220-240 area, tho these low numbers tend to creep up over time (as Apache caches more pages).

The Lunarpages chapter in Radified's webhosting history officially came to a close yesterday .. when I cancelled the account. See here » Lunarpages Account Cancelled

If the site continues to grow and develop, our next move might be to a Hybrid Dedicated Server (which sounds pretty cool).

If I had cancelled after today, I would've lost $95 (my annual renewal fee) .. which will pay for two months of service at our new VPS (with WiredTree).

This last-hurrah with Lunarpages began back in November, when we were booted off the Production server .. for using "excessive resources." Closure always feels good. "Adios, Lunarpages. It was fun while it lasted."

Been reading so much about VPS servers that my dang eyeball fell out. Hate it when that happens.

Been learning new words like Xen and OpenVZ. I could totally write a Rad guide to VPS.

For example, here's a great post about how to move the site from Shared server (where we are now) to VPS.

First thing that needs to be answered is » Managed or unManaged? For noobies like me, with no Linux admin experience, they recommend a Managed VPS.

All things being equal (disk space, memory, bandwidth, etc) a Managed VPS cost about double what you pay for unManaged.

For example, the unManaged Link-3 plan at VPSlink that comes with 10-GB disk space + 256-MB RAM costs $25/month. The same plan (10 + 256) from Spry is fully managed. It costs $50/month. ($45 if you pay for 3 months.) Both are located in Seattle, part of the same company, and probably the most popular VPS host.