If You Get Stumbled, Make Sure Your Web Server Can Handle It.
I’d like to thank all of you who have stumbled several of my posts over the last few days. In fact, I think my web host, DreamHost would like to thank you too. Earlier this evening must have been a high-usage time for Stumblers because I received well over 200 hits in less than an hour. So many hits, it slowed the site down for about 10 minutes. Oh and so many hits I’m not 100% sure of the total count because my log size is small and didn’t record the hits after the log reached its limit.
I’ve been considering it for a while, and I really think it’s time to go to a dedicated server. Not just because of today’s slow-time, but because, as many of you know, I’ve suffered through being on an extremely slow shared server since I started this blog. DreamHost has an invitation only special going on, not a dedicated server but an add-on to my hosting. I would get my own Virtual Machine, still on the shared hosting plan, but protected CPU and RAM usage. I’m not sure it’s for me, I can sign up and go through the waiting list, it’s actually a decent deal considering the problems I’ve had in the past. Here is the site which outlines the features:
DreamHost Private Servers. Any advice?
Beth,
I had to go through a similar situation when I was on a $4/mo hosting plan and had up to 16K visitors a day. I couldn’t afford dedicated server, but I switched to a VPS. I have an experience with 3 different companies and the last one I’m dealing with for the past year is excellent in service, customer support and everything else. The only minus they have – they don’t have phone support. Check their plans out here http://rimuhosting.com/order/startorder1.jsp?type=18 – they are the most affordable and reliable that I dealt with.
As for the dreamhost… I don’t like the fact that they don’t give you specifics on the configurations of the machines you’ll be using.
Hope this helps.
Yeah, I’m using Dreamhost VPS at the moment…. and I’m liking it. There is something of a learning curve for me, as it means that I have to monitor usage and fix problems more myself…
I am paying about $40 per month right now, and I like the fact that I can increase the amount if I need to.
One of the problems I’m facing though is server spikes caused by funky plugins… Some of the plugins that are written for WP aren’t well written and generate lots of errors. Unfortunately, it’s bringing my server down… So if you do move to vps, you’ll need to check if your plugins are misbehaving… It can have a bad effect..
I’d give it thumbs up!
Kenneth
That’s one of the things tech support at DreamHost has told me all along-WP plugins use a lot of resources depending on how well the code is written. And fixing things myself- I’m a little concerned with it but we’ll see what happens. I can always go back to regular shared hosting.