Do I need a dedicated host.

krdavies · 30th September 2007

I've just spent an unhappy Sunday afternoon emailing back a forth with UK2 technical support (i't now been 8 hours) because our site (http://interactive-av.co.uk) is acting up again and I've come to the conclusion that I need to look at alternatives.

I've been wondering whether it's a case of UK2 are hosting too many sites on the server we're on and this is causing the error (it's a MySQL "Cannot connect" type error) which is appearing itermitently.

We have a database of around 4000 products and our old site gets around 1000 visitors a day, so this is about as much as I would expect the new site to get once it's up and running.

Would this indicate I need a dedicated server?

TIA for any advice anyone has. I want a decent service with telephone rather than email support and I'm not looking for the cheapest solution possible. I would have posted in the "Request for products or services" forum but I suppose I'm looking for advice on what I need at this stage as I'm not sure what to ask for in that forum yet.

othellotech · 2nd October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by krdavies

Would this indicate I need a dedicated server?

From the description, probably not, just an enterprise shared hosting solution where the number of acconts per server is restricted rather than a general one, where a lot of other sites are fighting with yours for the limited resources/connections available.

krdavies · 2nd October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by othellotech

From the description, probably not, just an enterprise shared hosting solution where the number of acconts per server is restricted rather than a general one, where a lot of other sites are fighting with yours for the limited resources/connections available.

Thanks for the response. I got an emil yesterday (Monday) morning informing me that they'd upped the maximum number of MySQL connections to the server and this has solved the problem, at least until next time. The problem I have is 8 hours of pointless emails with support (who at one point blamed my code). If they'd just said "sorry, servers being overloaded with requests, we'll get it sorted" I'd have been happy enough. It's the (not uncommon) attitude of "I don't know what's wrong so it must be something your doing wrong" that gets on my nerves.

I think there's a bit of a similar attitude as the one held with banks. "We can pretty much do what we like as the customer changing supplier is going to be more trouble than it's worth".

Unfortunately this is not the first time this has happened with UK, which has got me pondering over alternatives.

JamesSykes · 2nd October 2007

You get what you pay for and unfortunately most shared hosting just doesn't provide the level of support you need if you are hosting an e-commerce site.

I suspect from the number of visitors you have that a dedicated server is probably overkill but you will probably want a decent shared hosting package that is tailored towards business and ecommerce. There are companies out there offering this sort of thing with capped maximums of say 10-15 sites per server and so forth.

krdavies · 2nd October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesSykes

You get what you pay for and unfortunately most shared hosting just doesn't provide the level of support you need if you are hosting an e-commerce site.

I suspect from the number of visitors you have that a dedicated server is probably overkill but you will probably want a decent shared hosting package that is tailored towards business and ecommerce. There are companies out there offering this sort of thing with capped maximums of say 10-15 sites per server and so forth.

Thanks for the response. I know this sounds a bit naive but if I was looking for such a service, what would I look for? Typing in "shared hosting" in Google obviously won't do the job. Is there a name for the service you suggested?

TIA

Karl · 2nd October 2007

Doesn't have to be capped to a set limit as such, any sensible host that isn't overselling will do, or who runs things in such a way as to allow more resources per customer (We run separate DB servers for example).

Jon-NC · 3rd October 2007

For such a site I'd recommend a fully managed VPS. You'll have the ability to optimise the VPS for your website and leave your provider to do all the necessary day to day running.

Would be worth putting in a request for a managed VPS, there are some good providers about on this forum.

pickaweb.co.uk · 4th October 2007

I agree with that, either a VPS or dedicated server.
That way you can set it up the way you want.
You will need to maintain inn up to date in terms of security.
If you are not very technical get a managed server.

Karl · 4th October 2007

Managed Server? Completely overkill for 1000 visitors a day.

JamesSykes · 4th October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by krdavies

Thanks for the response. I know this sounds a bit naive but if I was looking for such a service, what would I look for? Typing in "shared hosting" in Google obviously won't do the job. Is there a name for the service you suggested?

TIA

Dont go looking through any of the search engines thats for sure. 99% of sites are marketing spew so you need to do the research yourself.

Firstly you can check these forum and the hosts that frequent. Post a request in the requests forum and look for hosts with packages tailored towards businesses, ecommerce sites and especially those that stress reliability and so forth.

I would expect a decent package would cost you maybe £30-50/month depending on your requirements.