Hi all, Please note, I'm trying to be as generic as possible in my site description. I'm in the process of creating a site which will allow users to sign up and create groups. Using these groups, users can share videos, images, and documents relevant to the group. These files will be stored on the site. There will also be "head users" who will share files with the entire site, instead of just specific groups. I am currently using a basic shared hosting package from Just Host, but I am sure I will eventually need to use a Dedicated Server. My question to you is at what point do you think I need to upgrade to a DS? How much traffic/bandwidth do you think a shared hosting account will let me use? It says unlimited, but we all know that isn't true. In addition, what DS would you recommend? I'm currently a college student hand-coding the entire site in PHP, and my funds are obviously limited, but I'm willing to put in the money required to run the site. I've looked for reading online, but haven't found too much helpful information. Thanks!
When your site starts using too many resources, it will be time to move (hopefully your current host gives you lots of warning). I would say though, you should move up gradually, so the next step would be a VPS, and once you outgrow that, perhaps a dedicated server. You can usually get a higher end VPS, for less than the price of a lower end dedicated server. VPS's are also easier to to upgrade, as they just allow your account more resources as you grow.
Thank you for your quick reply! Through replies on other forums, I've discovered I think I may go with a VPS for right now. Do you have any personal recommendations on a VPS Host? I'm looking into InMotion VPS hosting at the moment.
There are lots of providers out there. A couple of things that you need to consider prior to purchasing though. Do you need a control panel? Can it be upgraded? Do you need full management? Location may be important to you as well.
I suppose it depends at what level your shared host considers you to be using too many resources. Judging from what you say you want to do, I'd predict you will end up using too many resources before you get anywhere near your bandwidth limit. My other guess is that if you are using excessive resources on a shared hosting plan then you will very very quickly outgrow any potential benefits of a VPS and it may be wiser to move to a dedicated server rather than transition to a VPS first. Don't forget, the shared hosting server will probably be more powerful than any single VPS, and if you are causing problems on it a VPS isn't likely to be an ideal solution. If you do go dedicated, don't be swayed by huge disk space and lots of CPU power. There are generally more important considerations when looking for a dedicated server that will suit you best. Modern CPU's are now so powerful that unless it your site is hugely processor intensive you will be pushed to max them out. SAS drives (smaller in size, but much much faster) may be a wiser decision than 750GB SATA drives that you will never fill and which won't give the same levels of performance. Look for companies that can supply RAID and preferably with a good hardware RAID controller. Looks for lots of RAM too. If I had to choose (for myself) between a 2 CPU server with small amounts of RAM and SATA drives over a single CPU drive with lots of RAM and fast disks, I'd go for the RAM and disks every single time because they will give you better performance advantages that the other CPU will never bring until you have these fast disks and RAM. Unless you have lots of web sites that become cumbersome to manage, don't fret about a control panel, but make sure the server is properly secured and maintained by an expert server admin. Don't cut corners here. If your site makes money cutting out good server admin is not money saved. Don't forget backups. You must must must backup your site(s) and databases on a regular basis. Also, choose a company with a fast hardware replacement guarantee. You don't want to be saving a few dollars a month with a company who resells servers and has no control over the hardware because when hardware goes faulty (and it WILL one day) you need to be sure the company guarantees you a replacement within 3-4 hours, not 3-4 days. Finally, have a decent budget. If your online business is important, and it's making you money, you need to be spending a proportion of its income on keeping it online. I'm not suggesting you don't go for the cheapest price, but you need to consider all the things that are important to you, then find the best price from a company who can provide ALL of that, not just the cheapest bit of hardware.
Go along with the upgrade process gradually by upgrading to a VPS first and later on to a dedicated server since you are also on a limited budget. When your site grows further and if you plan to monetize it in future, you can consider upgrading to a dedicated server.
I think your current server provides unlimited bandwidth and space with fair use terms. I do not think you are going to run out of resources if you do some caching on your server and use some content host to host images video etc. Dedicated servers are best for projects which require intense CPU power, availability and memory. In simple words computation intensive.