My Dedicated Server Experiences

Over the last ten years I've used a wide range of dedicated server providers for different projects. I've had everything from fully managed servers to totally unmanaged, from top of the line to cobalt RaQs, from collocation to cloud computing platforms. Below are my experiences from the last few years with dedicated server providers.

RackSpace - I've been using RackSpace for two years and they are the best provider I've ever used but also the most expensive. Their support picks up every phone call within a few seconds and I've never had a problem they couldn't fix. Highly recommended if you need a fully managed service and can afford it. Just remember to bargain with them on how much it is going to cost. They serve the US and UK and host a lot of the Fortune 500.

FastServers - I used them for a year and recommend them. The few times I used support it was fast although I've mostly used tickets. Price is middle of the line so a good balance on price versus service. They were just bought by LayeredTech so hopefully that doesn't cause problems. LT has been known to raise prices on customers in the middle of a contract.

LiquidWeb - I've used them for two years and recommend them for webmasters. They own their own data centers and also are a great balance between price and service. They offer cPanel, Plesk, and a wide selection of OS options and their support seems decent so far. They answer their phones but usually want you to make a ticket for a complex issue.

UK2 - I've used them for over a year for a server in the United Kingdom. So far its been great and they have worked out well. Their prices for managed hosting is not bad for the location and I would put them half way between a budget providers and middle of the line. They offers servers in both the USA and UK.

HostGator - A little more in the budget category but I've been using them for over four years with no problems and great service. Recommended if you don't need a lot of hand holding except for the real problems. Great prices and selection! Support via phone is not possible for admin issues but tickets are answered quickly.

The Planet - A huge provider who also offers some great deals on managed dedicated servers. Just started using them the last six months but so far so good. I'll post an update once I've tested out their support a bit more. I've heard good things from friends so far though.

Colo4Dallas - I used them to collocate a server for about a year and was pretty happy with them. Great connectivity but they charge a lot if you need anything done to the server that is hands on. I ended up with a $1,000 dollar bill after a nightmare night of reinstalling an OS and trying to fix a Plesk install.

Hopefully that helps you when it comes time to choose. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email and I can give you some more details on any of the above. I'll update if I do have any problems or try some new providers.

When Is It Time To Move To A Dedicated Server

Deciding when to move to a dedicated server can be very difficult. I'll go over some of the most obvious signs you need to move to a full server as well as general rules on how to tell. The first and most obvious sign it is time to move to a dedicated server is if your shared web hosting company is giving you trouble over the CPU, memory, or other hardware usage by your websites. Shared web hosting sticks a bunch of people on one server and if any one person is using more than their fair share it can cause the server to crash so companies monitor stats very carefully. If they notice some of your sites or scripts causing a problem it is very likely they will ask, or force, you to upgrade. Sometimes they are overly cautious but it is still a good idea to listen to their input. If you are trying to save money you might try a VPS before moving to a full server. A VPS cost around $50 to $100 dollars a month and you usually get 1/4th to 1/8th of a full server for that.

If your current host isn't saying anything you still need to be aware of your usage, especially if your income is dependent on your sites. I've had too many friends sites crash or get banned costing them days of revenue and search engine problems because they thought $10 dollars a month for hosting was dependable. The most important metrics to pay attention too are unique visitors, bandwidth, and whether your sites are dynamic or static. Unique visitors is the number of visitors you are receiving and it will give you a ruff idea on usage. Bandwidth shows how much data is being transferred back and forth. A dynamic site is one that runs off PHP and MySQL while static is just a .html page or one that is not using code or a database. In terms of unique visitors you probably need to be careful once you start hitting 500 visitors a day on a dynamic site. That is a rough guide as I've had sites with 3,000 visitors a day on a php CMS work just fine but if you are making money its worth spending a little to ensure the sites stay up. So if you are receiving a lot of visitors and have a dynamic site or sites you might want to think about moving as that gets closer to 1,000 people a day or the more interactive your site is. If you run a forum you would need to do that sooner as everyone replying and posting is a lot more stressful on the server.

The above explanations only deal with the hardware and traffic, what about when you are running into restrictions in a shared environment? A VPS or dedicated server allows you to have complete control of the environment. You can recompile PHP to run the newest version, install modules, or customize just about anything. Many times a shared host has too much security internally that cause problems with PHP scripts, when you move to a dedicated or VPS you are free to turn off those restrictions. I don't think I could ever go back to shared hosting for these reasons.

Common Dedicated Server Options And Explanations

Picking out options for a dedicated server can be a bit tricky! When I was picking out my new dedicated server at UK2 even I got overwhelmed and I've been doing this for a while. Below is an explanation of a lot of the different options on a dedicated server and what really matters.

The CPU is the brain of the computer but don't get caught up in getting the fastest one. A server doesn't need to have an ultra fast processor like a home desktop computer might for games. For a server just get a CPU above 1.6Ghz and what really matters are the stats on cache and if it is dual core or not. Dual core is like having two CPUs for the price of one and can help speed up your server so if you get a chance opt for one of those.

This is one of the most important aspects of a server as you want a lot of memory. 1GB is ok in most circumstances but the more active your sites or database applications the more you want. I usually go for 2GB just to ensure the server never starts pulling or storing data on the hard drive as that can cause load to increase quite a bit. Get 1GB or 2GB of memory and you will be fine, you can always add more later.

The performance and size of a hard drive is not vital but make sure you get enough to run backups and store all the files for your site. IDE should be fine for most servers but if you are going to be hitting the disk a lot or what better performance choose a SCSI drive. You can also get a RAID setup or more than one drive in order to protect yourself from hard drive failure. RAID 1 for example is called RAID mirroring and the data is mirrored to both drives so that if one drive goes down you just pop in another and it will keep running or restore the data and start working again with no data loss.

Most hosting providers give you more bandwidth than you will ever use with a dedicated server. If you are running a site sharing files or movies or anything big you need to get a lot of bandwidth or get an unlimited connection. A lot of providers have started offering some pretty good deals on 100MB or 1GB unmetered ports. If your bandwidth usage per month is under 500GB you will be fine without thinking too much about this option.

This is a vital option and depends on your level of experience running a server. If your sites are not critical it can also be a good chance to learn but be prepared to make some mistakes. A managed servers means that the hosting company will keep it running for you, unmanaged means they will reboot it if you need but that is about it.

Unless you are a unix wizard I recommend getting a control panel like cPanel or Plesk. It makes it a lot easier to run a website and server by giving you a graphical interface for a lot of the day to day options.

Go with Linux, it is cheaper and Windows takes more powerful hardware to run efficiently. The only reason you would go with Windows is if you are wanting ASP.Net or something only on the Windows server platform.

I hope this helps when it comes time to pick out your next dedicated server! If you really get stuck just remember the most important thing is probably server memory, a decent CPU, and some kind of control panel to help you setup all the options. The rest are all minor details for the most part.

This tutorial was written by Ben Bolen from uk2.net.

Useful Tutorials If You Have A Dedicated Server

There are a lot of tutorials here at Mini Tutorials that will help you with a dedicated server! We have tutorials on setting up Apache, installing PHP, and a number of things. Here are the most popular tutorials and sections: