I started with a reseller shared hosting account at Hostgator. I'd like to try a low end VPS that I could upgrade as my needs increase. I am not a Linux wiz, and I have found cPanel easy to use. Are there any deals out there on either low end managed VPS that beat Hostgator prices on similarly specced systems or low end unmanaged VPS that have cPanel or something as easy to use? My sites are mostly WP, some with huge bandwidth, some large, some with high database load.
There are Pros and Cons while you have idea to to move Hostgator than VPS. If you are working alone.. I guess hostgator reseller would be a good choice. I have 3 years experience of one man show. And i have feel tired
I am just looking for the best deal on a reliable host. So, I'd like to start with a low end VPS that would give comparable service to the reseller hosting that I have right now; e.g., Hostgator tells me that this runs on a dual processor/dual core machine. I make rational economic decisions. I'll evaluate the difference between managed and unmanaged hosting and figure out if it makes sense to pay the difference based on my knowledge, and what I might need.
There is a huge misconception that a VPS (especially a low-end VPS) is somehow better than a reseller account. Couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, a VPS is going to give you more control, will allow you scalability for future upgrades, etc., but at the same time, a low-end VPS is probably going to grant you less resources than you are currently allowed to use. You are going to have a far less amount of RAM available (don't forget that cPanel, PHP, Apache, the mail server, etc. all come out of YOUR MEMORY, which is certainly different than reseller/shared hosting). You're probably going to be allowed less CPU than you are currently, and sites on VPSs are usually more resource-intensive. Yes, VPS containers are isolated to an extent, but you're still sharing the server with other users. It's still a shared environment, and your VPS's performance can still obviously be affected by other users. That alone tells me that a low-end VPS is not going to meet the requirements. You're going to need a lot of CPU, a lot of RAM, and a lot of bandwidth. Not going to happen on a low-end VPS unless it's extremely oversold/overloaded, and in that case, your performance is going to suffer.
Thanks for the very thoughtful reply. I do understand your main point, which I take to be that I have more resources now with my Hostgator shared account than I would have with a low end VPS. One shouldn't mindlessly pursue a VPS because they are "better" or an "upgrade." My evolving goal now is to find a cheap low end VPS to see how much I can teach myself so I can operate with something besides cPanel. My thought is that at some point in my development as an owner of many websites I'll cross the cost benefit threshold so that it will be advantageous to host my sites on a VPS or dedicated server versus shared hosting. So a good way to prepare for that point is start now with a low end VPS and try to teach myself in the least painful way where the stakes are low. A low monthly payement for the service with a few non-critical sites.
Yay!! That's absolutely what you should be doing, and I certainly commend you for wanting to learn linux and server management and such. Just didn't want you to be disappointed if/when the performance decreased. Go for it, and by the time you get to hosting a good number of sites, hopefully your admin skills will be good enough to run your own dedicated server (or several).
FWIW, In my search for a good, reliable deal on a VPS, I found www.lowendbox.com. It is kind of a forum for low end VPSs with a community of users who post comments on the deals received by LEB. The deals available beat those offered on www.webhostingtalk.com. If you read through the candid comments you can easily find which hosting provider has good service and good prices. On the basis of what I read there, I bought a VPS from www.chicagovps.net. I already learned a few things, I updated the Centos install and got virtualmin installed and running. My plan is to try 3 different VPSs with the panels, virtualmin, kloxo and ZpanelCP to see which one I can work with best. Thank you posters for all the help I received here, I think I am well on my way to leave cPanel, and shared hosting behind.
Yesterday i contacted hostgator and x10hosting regarding backingup and site restorations. This is how the story went. I think everybody should read this http://galaxiess2.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-did-this-all-start-i-will-narrate.html
Namecheap is offering double ram on dedicated servers this month. I dont know about their servers but it seems like a good programme. I have had rather good luck with Dreamhost servers (even shared) as they seem to run quite well.