Can my site handle 50,000+ traffic on launch date?

For a lot of traffic I'd probs suggest a dedicated server and let your host know that you are expecting a lot of traffic on x date at x time. I'd advise, speak to your host. Or stagger your launch which you probs wouldn't want to do... And which a launch isn't really about I guess.

I 100% Agree with Andy...consider grabbing a decent VPS package and alert them about the expected spike. Great thinking ahead on this one...imagine those 40000 of those 50000 landed on an error page...ugh!

My VPS has handled some serious traffic before, but I have called them each and every time its expected...product give aways, launches etc...

i talked to them and they ask me how much bandwidth am i expecting, i have no idea, its a simple sale page with 1 5 min video on it.

they have many levels of VPS. what level would i need? i am with host gator, wasnt able to find out much from customer service.

15 minutes video? is it a file? or a stream from other sites? either way, you definitely needs a dedicate server, baby plan is not for this kind of traffic.

I would suggest use a good dedicate server. $100-$200 per month ones should be enough. You can use it for the first month, if the traffic fades away after the first month, then change the server, use cheaper hosting.

The worst situation for a launch is: buyers are ready to order but you are server is done. many buyers may not come back later. Compared with the possible traffic and orders you may have, several hundreds bucks for one month is not expensive at all. it is a good investment. of course, just my opinion.

good luck


david

sorry i ment ONE 5 minute video... its just an intro Stream Video.

DO you think i need a dedicated server or a VPS server

thanks alot for your input

Having a dedicated server allows for a LOT more flexibility. If you can afford it, I suggest you do it and stay on one.

Try a cloud/pay-as-you-go hosting service.

Or you can just put all your videos / downloads on an amazon s3 account and have your primary hosting simply host your static html pages. That will cut down your hosting by a lot.

Anyways heres a link: http://aws.amazon.com/s3/

There is no reason not to spend the money for a dedicated svr if your anticipating that kind of traffic and have put that much time and money into it already, consider how much more it would cost you if the svr crashed and everyone got a 404. I did a fairly large launch earlier this year on a vps and had to frantically upgrade to 2 colo dual quad core xeons svrs with load balancing, trust me it wasn't fun. Thankfully the vps didn't crash but it was pegged.

f you expect the traffic to be consistent, you may even want to spend more than $100-200.

Also, make sure your traffic estimates are going to be close before you go through with any larger server purchase. We've all been in the position where we've made grand projections, only to do a fraction of the estimated volume. A cloud hosting plan is a good idea in the meantime if you are unsure of how your traffic is going to pan out.

In addition, if you're expecting a large volume of sales, it might be a good idea to let your merchant account (or paypal) know that you are expecting a significant surge in sales so they don't freak and freeze your account for suspicious activity.

-Jack

Sean,
lots of good advice here and you should definitely heed it. First your current account is not going to handle the whole thing - you definitely need a dedicated server - or more. I've run several data centers and its no fun to watch a customer's servers die under the load.

To help estimates you should know (at least the last time I checked) is apache will handle at most 256 connections - more than that and it has to queue them.

Calculate the file sizes of your main page and videos and add them all up - this is how much traffic you'll need per site visit (actually a rough estimate). Your hosting provider may help you with this- otherwise go find a decent sys admin - and figure out how many users you can service at once on the dedicated box. On a shared server its not a lot and you'll soon overwhelm the box - not only making yourself upset but every other customer on that box as well.

If you're site uses a database at all then I highly suggest you get a separate server to handle that traffic. And as others have suggested using another server or service for videos is highly recommended.

Having a backup server standing by is always a good idea. Even for small sites folks. Get up to speed on DNS changes as well - if you don't have a good sys admin or hosting help desk that's responsive.

As Andy and Jack said talk with your vendors as well - let them know what's up. I'm still surprised by all the folks complaining of getting their accounts frozen from unusual activity- Just pick up the phone (not email!!!!) and talk with them.

I'd also suggest creating a custom set of error pages and pointing them to another server or another method of ordering your product or servicing their requests. That way you can manage any issues rather than just giving the users a generic error messages.

Congrats on taking action and getting to this point! And of course good luck on your launch!

best,
--Jack

I am doing this launch through Click bank,

i am calling liquid Web to find out, from the sound of it ill need to get dedicated server

thanks for all your advice.

I think you will need at least VPS server for 50,000 visitors in a single day.

For what it's worth, and the question has already been answered
several times; but a "Baby" account with Hostgator will never
handle 50,000 hits in a day - video or no video.

If you're expecting this kind of traffic, no doubt you have
a ton of money and time invested in this project, so why not
go ahead and spend a couple more hundred and get the dedicated
server.

And get the full dedicated server. From my research, a Virtual Private
Server is still shared hosting of a sort although it can handle a heavier
load than full shared hosting like you have now.

A virtual server is a partition on a main server that has its own operating system
and appears to the user as one machine. The downside is that each virtual
server on a box shares the resources of the main machine so in a high traffic
scenario, you could still face downtime especially if you're on a server
with another high traffic site.

By having a full dedicated server, you will be the only one with access to that
server so if you get a machine with adequate memory and disk space, you should
be OK.

Hostgator's Standard server has a fairly fast dual-core processor, with 4 GB of RAM
and dual 250GB hard drives in a RAID configuration which in this case means
everything on one HD is mirrored on the other for instant backups in case of HD failure.

You also get 1500 GB (1 1/2 TERRABYTES) of bandwidth which should be plenty -
especially if you host the video on another service such as Amazon S3.

All this is $219 a month which ain't that bad considering you'll make that in the
first few minutes of your launch - depending on the price point of your product.

And no, I'm not a Hostgator employee nor am I getting a penny out of this
post.

I just hope it helps you in your quest.

Michael

Edit: I just saw the post above about Liquid Web. They are an excellent choice too!

50,000 + visitors?

You stand to make a lot of money.

Don't skimp out on the one-shot-window you have when your potential visitors hit your server. Upgrade now.

I would go for a dedicated server as well. Then you will also have 24/7 technical support which will help you withing very short period of time if you need a help. This is at least how it works with my provider.

I would suggest to host your video on YouTube and embed it. This will substantially lower the bandwith used. Also give you more marketing.