VPS Questions

[ober]

For those of you who run a VPS or know much about them, what should I be looking for?  I basically want to run a store that could take off.

 

http://www.serverpowered.com/vps.php

 

That's what I'm currently looking at and I don't know much about Fedora or CentOS.  I'm looking at probably the advanced plan.

 

Thoughts?

[roopurt18]

We have two of the Professional VPS packages for my work, one managed and the other unmanaged.

 

The managed one is for our live server; I use the unmanaged one as a development server.  Both of them have CentOS.  I'm able to have root access to the unmanaged server so I can test out different PHP and apache settings; I have to request for those changes to be made on the managed server.

 

My employer was getting reamed on the previous hosting plan we had; he was paying almost $1500 / month in hosting fees for unlimited disk storage and bandwidth but the site itself, when I was hired, used less than a GB of disk space and rarely over a couple of GB of bandwidth per month.  We now have significantly more clients, still use barely any disk space / bandwidth, and have cut our hosting fees from $1500 / month down to $170 / month for two servers and better service.

 

The only minor gripe I have is that the unmanaged server occasionally runs out of memory.  I'm not sure if it's because of something I've mis-configured or what, but usually logging in as root and restarting apache helps.  Also, while 512MB may seem like a lot of memory, both of our servers tend to coast around 100 to 120MB of free memory.  I'm not really sure where the other 400MB is going to, but since we don't experience any downtime that I can attribute to running out of memory I've never looked further into it.

 

I could be wrong, but I have a gut feeling that the managed server may also experience memory problems that are resolved automatically because it's a managed server, thus I'm never aware of them.

 

Overall, I'm a happy customer.

[steviewdr]

This is going to be interesting for you Ober. I learned loads and loads when I got a VPS.

 

Firstly - price:

The prices on http://www.serverpowered.com/vps.php are comparable to others around.

Here is a reference: http://www.xenplanet.com/plans.php

Free backups are nice

Conclusion:

Hosting companies will *easily* be able to move you up to a larger package. Therefore I suggest you get the "Starter VPS" and work upwards when you need to.

Im not sure how much roopurt18 vps do in work, but 128MB ram will run apache, mysql and php nicely for the time being. It will be easy to upgrade to 256 afterwards.

Quote from serverpowered:

"Easily Upgraded to MORE Dynamic Resource Allocation: If you start on a small VPS package and then later wish to upgrade, we can dynamically allocate more resources for your VPS while it is running. The resource changes are instantly available to you! More Memory, More Disk Space, More CPU - INSTANTLY"

10gb is loads. The CPU is fine. Up the memory after you get going.

 

Secondly - location:

It makes a huge difference where the VPS is located.

If its in Russia etc. it's going to have high latency and the connection is going to be slow.

Also - as it is a "shop store" you are looking for, who will be you main "customer base"? For example, if you are targeting ppl from Ireland. When ppl from Ireland (or any other country), with google, there is an option for "Search in Ireland". If the VPS is in ireland, you will come up the list higher on google. (it might be a too early days yet for this sort of thinking. anyways)

 

Thirdly - Managed V's not:

Its all up to yourself. If you know a bit of linux, you'd be fine.

I prefer Debian to rpm based Centos and Fedora.*steviewdr hugs debian

I also find, (having a non managed server), that as long as your server can come up fine from a reboot, there will be no major problems. If the power gets cut etc. (I know.....ups...but I have stories ) your vps should come back up fine.

 

Fourthly - things to watch out for:

Can you get a remote console? If your VPS drops off the network (via firewall rules etc. etc.) can you get access to your VPS?

Can you request automatic reboots of your server?

Are backups encrypted? (needed if you are storing cc details, which you shouldnt have to).

SSL - https. Typically you can only have 1 SSL (https) cert for 1 IP address. So if you want https://myshop1.com and https://myshop2.com, you will need to use both ips. If you want a 3rd unique https://myshop3.com, you'd need 3 ips.

 

How to config a linux server to use a second ip:

edit /etc/network/interfaces

 

add:

 

auto eth0:1

iface eth0:1 inet static

        address 172.20.20.1

        netmask 255.255.255.0

        broadcast 172.20.20.255

 

That about covers it. If you have specific questions just shout.

-steve

[ober]

Thanks for all the information and well, I guess that leads to more questions:

 

The main reason I was going to go with the Advanced package was because cPanel was included.  I'm comfortable with cPanel and I like using it.  I'd probably also go managed because while I used to be familiar with Linux, it's been a while and I don't want to delay my client while I fumble around figuring out how to install PHP, MySQL, etc., etc.  I suppose I could drop the managed part once I get back on my feet.

 

As far as the customer base, it's mainly a US-based company and server-powered is located in Florida.  So I'm not too worried about that.  I also only plan on running one shop, so I'm probably only going to need one IP, at least at first.

 

I just sent serverpowered an email with a few questions, so we'll see how they respond and then I can go from there.  You guys have been very helpful so far!

[steviewdr]

Ah - ok, re. the Advanced Package. I see its also "FREE (July Special)", so you wouldnt want to delay too long

 

Cpanel does make things much much easier. Its as simple as double click on icons

 

If its for a client and they are paying, indeed, go for managed and give them the bill. It is an extra $30 for the management part. Sausy. If you could drop that after a month, it'd be ideal!

 

The location sounds good, so speed and GeoIP is good.

 

Also, you'll need to ask how much a SSL cert costs. Typically they cost €100 for a 128bit ssl cert. You dont really need a ssl cert, but for a shop taking transactions it'd be better.

 

If you are using paypal to handle all your transactions etc. then a VPS is a bit over the top, and a good hosting company would suffice.

 

-steve

[ober]

I talked to them and they said the "starter" package won't even run cPanel efficiently, so it looks like I'm going with the advanced package.  I'll probably also go managed for at least a few months.  And it is for a client, and he was expecting to pay much more than that, so I'm golden.

 

As far as SSL, I was thinking about going with their cert as well... $49/year would get me the basics I need to make him appear legit.  I also want to consider something like this: https://www.scanalert.com/  I'm just not sure how much that costs.

 

And I haven't talked to him about how he wants to handle transactions yet.  I'm thinking paypal, but I'm not sure.

[trq]

but 128MB ram will run apache, mysql and php nicely for the time being

 

You will seriously struggle to run Apache on 128MB, I had allot of trouble getting it stay within memory limits on 256MB and ended up switching to lighttpd which is known to be allot more effiecient than Apache. Apache is known to be a bit of a memory hog. I'm also in the procss of moving everything to sqlite enstead of mysql for much the same reasons.

 

Id'e been running my own servers from home for a number of years until we moved house about six months ago and I lost my ADSL connection and had to refer back to dialup. Since then, ive moved to VPS's.

 

There great fun to play around with, and yeah, I'm with stevie, I much prefer debian over rpm based distro's. I had actually tried to run gentoo but ran out of memory instantly becasue everything needs to be compiled from source.

[steviewdr]

You will seriously struggle to run Apache on 128MB, I had allot of trouble getting it stay within memory limits on 256MB

Its all about configuring apache. Yes - if left with the default config, it will eat up 256+MB. It can easily be trimmed down by adjusting values to the following:

StartServers        3

MinSpareServers    2

MaxSpareServers    8

MaxClients          125

MaxRequestsPerChild 1000

 

Also the thing is, apache can eat up memory and not flush/recycle it. Thats why a MaxRequestsPerChild can be useful.

 

Anyhoo.

 

I had actually tried to run gentoo but ran out of memory instantly becasue everything needs to be compiled from source.

What a PITA.

 

-steve

[trq]

What a PITA.

 

Indeed. I actually ended up crashing the entire host machine as I tried to allocate HD to swap. Needless to say my provider where non too pleased.

 

I'm kinda liking Debian ATM anyway though. Its good to change everynow and then. And as far as I can tell, Debian is the one distro companies look for experienced users for. Its been a long while, but its sucha well organised distro, its just like riding a bike.

 

I actually misinformed a little in my last post, I'm using a 128MG VPS so.... I think you'd really strugle with Apache on that. Its kinda nice to play with a different server for a bit anyways.

 

Think it'll be a little while before I get to work on my site though. Ive spent the last few days (and still going) writting my firewall rules.

[steviewdr]

Yip. I prefer Debian over Ubuntu even. Etch is a great release, and hopefully it will not be as long again before they release lenny.

 

As for a firewall, yes, Debian could do with having a default firewall.

Ive used shorewall and it works nicely. fail2ban (for stopping brute force ssh/ftp/html etc. attempts) also works flawlessly.

 

Of course you cant beat getting hands on with iptables.

 

Im also a big fan of Xen (virtual servers) on debian.

 

FYI: Here is my debian wiki: http://wiki.kartbuilding.net

 

-steve

[trq]

Sweet... I'll have a read of your wiki when I get home.

 

I'm a big fan of iptables.... like to roll whatever I can myself.

[steelmanronald06]

Ober,

 

If you don't want to dish out the extra $$$ for CPanel, there is something out there that is similar to CPanel, but free. You do have to install the rpms/tarballs and compile it yourself, but it is fairly easy to do.    http://www.serverpowered.com/webmin.php  There is a link. I really like it, and it doesn't take up a lot of resources. Please note that you CAN'T use the Starter Package with it. I tried that and it used up a lot of my memory. 

 

Also, I went with CentOS.  I found it more easy to manage, and it is just a basic rundown of linux. Unless your gonna do some linux voodoo with your site, I would just stick with CentOS.

 

Also, if you wish to see what it is like, I have a blunker VPS with serverpowered still. Just send me a PM if your interested and I'll send you a login and password to use so you can kind of get an idea of the layout, feel, etc. It is a CentOS, so you will kinda see what it is like too.