Choosing a VPS [Need Help!]

[Beny]

Hi guys, glad to be posting here again, and I'm looking for a bit of help regarding a VPS.

So I've had a look around at what there is and I've checked across the forum for some suggestions, I've come across some different answers that I'll list below but first I'll tell you what I'll be needing from my server.

So I intend on doing PPC advertising and for that I know that I'm going to need to host Landing Pages and I'm going to need a tracker that will account for all my data.
Will I need 2 seperate VPS? One to track and One to host so I don't compromise on loading times?

So far suggestions I've seen are:
Digital Ocean
Vultr
Rackspace
OVH
LiquidWeb

Like most people just starting out I'm trying to keep this as a low cost operation but I wont be compromising quality to do so. Also I don't know how I will personally fair setting up a server / maintaining it / keeping it secure / working with linux / and I've seen some suggestions to use managed hosting but I feel like it begins to add some unnecessary cost.

I'm willing to learn it just takes time; If you guys have any suggestions / tips / resources / guides I can use to learn regarding any of these topic areas I'd be delighted to hear them!

 

[utdream]

What's your budget? If it's around ~$50/mo you could go with a Managed VPS and use the Managed Support to both help you learn and to take care of things for you when you're in a rush. With some providers, Managed Support is an optional add-on that you can remove as soon as you're comfortable managing your server yourself, so you're basically paying for someone to help you learn for a bit.

Also, pay attention to supporting services, like backup, monitoring, etc. DigitalOcean, Vultr, and OVH are cheap but are not managed and have little, if any supporting services. Rackspace and LiquidWeb are Managed but supporting services like backup and monitoring cost extra.

Whether or not you will need two separate VPS's depends on the tracking software you're using. If it's small enough to store in memory and doesn't hit the DB too hard when it tracks a hit, you should be alright to run it on the same VPS. It probably also depends a lot on your traffic load, CDN utilization, etc. Again, Managed Support could be really useful here.

It *IS* possible to get a Managed VPS that includes Backups, Monitoring and CDN support included by default!

 

[Beny]

What's your budget? If it's around ~$50/mo you could go with a Managed VPS and use the Managed Support to both help you learn and to take care of things for you when you're in a rush. With some providers, Managed Support is an optional add-on that you can remove as soon as you're comfortable managing your server yourself, so you're basically paying for someone to help you learn for a bit.

Also, pay attention to supporting services, like backup, monitoring, etc. DigitalOcean, Vultr, and OVH are cheap but are not managed and have little, if any supporting services. Rackspace and LiquidWeb are Managed but supporting services like backup and monitoring cost extra.

Whether or not you will need two separate VPS's depends on the tracking software you're using. If it's small enough to store in memory and doesn't hit the DB too hard when it tracks a hit, you should be alright to run it on the same VPS. It probably also depends a lot on your traffic load, CDN utilization, etc. Again, Managed Support could be really useful here.

It *IS* possible to get a Managed VPS that includes Backups, Monitoring and CDN support included by default!

Thanks for the reply! I'm looking to try and get a VPS up for around $30/mo so I'm starting to think that a managed package might not be for me. If you could answer a few things for me that would be excellent:

What kind of perks does a managed package give me.
What would I need to learn to maintain an unmanaged package.
What Host Providers do you recommend.

Thanks Again!

 

[utdream]

Hey Beny:

Makes sense. $30/mo would get you a respectable VPS, so that's a good start.

What kind of perks does a managed package give me.

The meaning and benefits of the term "Managed" differ greatly between Hosting Service Providers. For example, Godaddy says their VPS's include "Managed Services" but they do little more than ensure your auto-updates are on. (Get a Managed VPS Hosting Solution - GoDaddy) You have to be really careful with terminology. Hosting is a tough game with a lot of tricks. Again, don't forget about supporting services! Again, looking at GoDaddy - they say they give you backups, but when you look at the details, it's really just a single snapshot every 10 days, and they charge you to do a restore. So, when bad things happen, they have you by the throat and their 'backup' may be so old that it's no longer useful.

Good providers, like Liquidweb, are very descriptive when talking about what they will do under Managed Support:
Support Comparison| Liquid Web

If you can't find a good description like that, chances are good you're not getting what you think you're getting. Their Backup and Monitoring services cost extra, but at least you know what you're getting and they're up-front and honest about the cost.

What would I need to learn to maintain an unmanaged package.

Basically, the list you gave in your previous post was spot on: Maintenance, configuration, security, etc. You would need to be comfortable at several levels: The OS, Networking, Applications - including your control panel with it's supporting applications - not to mention your own websites.

Good Managed Support is useful while you're learning because you can ask them questions and they have the experience to point you in the right direction. You can also just ask them to do it for you in a pinch. Good Google-Fu is also helpful while learning, but it never hurts to have a helping hand if you run into something you can't figure out.

What Host Providers do you recommend.

Honestly, I work at a hosting company, so I'm bias! I work in the Marketing department, which is why I troll around on this forum. I've been in the industry a long time though, and I respect both LiquidWeb and Rackspace. They offer great service and good value.

The company I work for, Vivio, is also worth a look. You can get a VPS that includes awesome backup and monitoring starting at $15/mo. It's a very good value for everything that's included.

Here are the VirtualMin plans:
VirtualMin VPS Hosting - Vivio Technologies

Which include Backups By Default (free):
Backups By Default - Vivio Technologies

... and Monitoring By Default (free):
Monitoring By Default - Vivio Technologies

Managed Support is available as an add-on that can be removed at any time:
Managed Support - Vivio Technologies

If you're looking for cheap, OVH is as cheap as they come. I can only imagine that their ROI's take years! They're also one of the largest providers. Amazon is by far the biggest, with Digital Ocean and OVH being a distant 2nd and 3rd:

Netcraft | Hosting Provider Server Count

Hope this helps!

 

[Beny]

@utdream Thank you for the High Quality reply, I appreciate it!

The price of the non-managed product is definitely better, however I believe you are correct when It comes to the learning curve, It might be sensible to get a managed service for a few months so I can focus my learning on different areas.

Honestly, I work at a hosting company, so I'm bias!

I did notice, but I thought I'd still ask and get your opinion Maybe you could PM me and sort me out a deal with a managed package

Thanks man!

 

[utdream]

Hey Beny,

I did notice, but I thought I'd still ask and get your opinion

Ha! I see what you did there.