Best Hosting for High Spike in Traffic

17 replies
Hi guys,

A client of mine wants me to help them set up a website on WordPress. They are about to go live with a big event that will get them featured on Australian television. My question is; what is the best hosting account/provider for the purpose of NOT crashing when there is a spike in traffic (as in directly after they are being aired on TV)?

I realise that I need to make sure the site's images and videos are compressed or even hosted on YouTube (videos) to not take server space.

But is there a company that guarantees 100% up time with cPanel management.
And if so, what specific hosting plan will I need to recommend to them (dedicated server, cloud server...)?

Any help and suggestions is appreciated.
#high #hosting #spike #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author Anthoni
    Hi Monika,

    You need to be careful on websites that say they offer "Unlimted Bandwidth" as this is just a marketing ploy to get your business. Also, no company can offer 100% uptime, it is just not possible. There are so many things that can go wrong that are beyong their control. However, most of the popular ones now offer the 99% uptime and this is guaranteed by some with a money back facility.

    However, to lessen this even more you need to consider putting your media on to the "cloud" as it were. Using services like S3 for both pictures and video, or as you suggested Youtube for video will limit your bandwidth considerably.

    Hostgator are superb hosts (only saying this because been with them for so long and they always respond to their support calls instantly). Perhaps you could discuss your needs with one of their reps? [Please note I am NOT affiliated or connected to Hostgator in anyway, just a happy customer].
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    • Profile picture of the author Monika Mundell
      Originally Posted by Anthoni View Post

      Hi Monika,

      You need to be careful on websites that say they offer "Unlimted Bandwidth" as this is just a marketing ploy to get your business. Also, no company can offer 100% uptime, it is just not possible. There are so many things that can go wrong that are beyong their control. However, most of the popular ones now offer the 99% uptime and this is guaranteed by some with a money back facility.

      However, to lessen this even more you need to consider putting your media on to the "cloud" as it were. Using services like S3 for both pictures and video, or as you suggested Youtube for video will limit your bandwidth considerably.

      Hostgator are superb hosts (only saying this because been with them for so long and they always respond to their support calls instantly). Perhaps you could discuss your needs with one of their reps? [Please note I am NOT affiliated or connected to Hostgator in anyway, just a happy customer].
      Thank you Anthoni,

      Your comment helps a lot. It makes sense actually. Thank you so much. I'm also a happy customer of Hostgator so I guess I will stay with them and make sure that the media on the site is hosted in the cloud as you suggest.

      I suppose if I let Hostgator know in advance that there is a lot of traffic coming to the site on a specific day then they should be able to monitor the traffic and be ready for any crashes.

      One more question: Will I need a dedicated server for this purpose and if so, is that their WHM panel?

      Thanks again
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeff Chandler
        You might want to switch now to a Hostgator VPS account. You can start with a low-end server config and then upgrade as you need to. This will give you the ability to scale up your server pretty quickly if you start seeing big increases in volume.

        If you had to migrate off of a shared hosting account because it couldn't handle the volume, your going to have to wait while the sites are migrated to a new server with a new IP. Then wait for DNS to update to the new server location.
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        • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
          Originally Posted by Jeff Chandler View Post

          You might want to switch now to a Hostgator VPS account.
          Have you used their VPS services? Just wondering because almost everything I've read about them at webhostingtalk seems to indicate that their VPS hosting isn't too good.

          Originally Posted by Jeff Chandler View Post

          You can start with a low-end server config and then upgrade as you need to. This will give you the ability to scale up your server pretty quickly if you start seeing big increases in volume.
          That's pretty much the deal with just about any VPS host.
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        • Profile picture of the author Monika Mundell
          Originally Posted by Jeff Chandler View Post

          You might want to switch now to a Hostgator VPS account. You can start with a low-end server config and then upgrade as you need to. This will give you the ability to scale up your server pretty quickly if you start seeing big increases in volume.

          If you had to migrate off of a shared hosting account because it couldn't handle the volume, your going to have to wait while the sites are migrated to a new server with a new IP. Then wait for DNS to update to the new server location.
          Thanks Jeff,

          I really appreciate your help. This sounds like a workable solution since I'm already familiar with their interface and what not.
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      • Profile picture of the author Anthoni
        Originally Posted by Monika Mundell View Post

        One more question: Will I need a dedicated server for this purpose and if so, is that their WHM panel?
        Sorry, I have never used their VPS. The only I have used is Rackmounted and it was a pretty solid affair, just the price spiralled out of control and so we moved everything to a Hostgator shared.

        Regards
        Anthoni
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  • Profile picture of the author careybaird
    Be careful with shared hosting environments as most will quickly suspend your site when you get a spike of traffic.

    However, consider if the spike of traffic will really affect the server so much. Is it a dynamic site with many database calls and complicated logic? Or is it merely information based and static?

    Make good use of caching - look into database caching, browser caching, gzip etc. Use tools like:

    WebPagetest - Website Performance and Optimization Test
    https://developers.google.com/pagespeed/

    to show ways you can improve. Use distributed networks for your Javascript libraries.

    Be warned that VPS and managed servers can bring in their own problems - you typically have to optimise these yourself and don't get much monitoring from the hosting support. Consider hiring an expert to help you if you are going down this route.
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    • Profile picture of the author Monika Mundell
      Originally Posted by careybaird View Post

      Be careful with shared hosting environments as most will quickly suspend your site when you get a spike of traffic.

      However, consider if the spike of traffic will really affect the server so much. Is it a dynamic site with many database calls and complicated logic? Or is it merely information based and static?

      Make good use of caching - look into database caching, browser caching, gzip etc. Use tools like:

      WebPagetest - Website Performance and Optimization Test
      https://developers.google.com/pagespeed/

      to show ways you can improve. Use distributed networks for your Javascript libraries.

      Be warned that VPS and managed servers can bring in their own problems - you typically have to optimise these yourself and don't get much monitoring from the hosting support. Consider hiring an expert to help you if you are going down this route.
      Awesome tips. A lot of these things are new to me so thank you for the help. I do appreciate it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeff Chandler
        Originally Posted by mojojuju View Post

        Have you used their VPS services? Just wondering because almost everything I've read about them at webhostingtalk seems to indicate that their VPS hosting isn't too good.



        That's pretty much the deal with just about any VPS host.
        I switched from a shared hosting account to a VPS account at Hostgator and it's worked pretty well for me. I only mention them specifically because it's the one I use. I'm sure there are a number of other good ones out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author n7 Studios
    How many visitors per minute are you expecting will view the web site at it's peak?

    Once you've established a rough answer to that (either based on previous site launches or other research), then increase that figure 20 - 30% to allow for a margin of error, and then consider your hosting options:

    - VPS (such as Linode or Hostgator VPS). You'll be responsible for setting up the VPS, managing its environment, installing WordPress etc. Note that not all of them come with cPanel.

    - Managed VPS (such as Rackspace or MediaTemple). Not cheap, but they're responsible for setting up the VPS, and will be able to take your estimated traffic figures to produce something suitable.

    If you think it'll be a short term burst of traffic, you'll want a system where it can auto scale this for you easily. Example: you sign up for a VPS, traffic is more than expected, you need to be able to one click to increase VPS resources to ensure minimum downtime / slow page loads.

    Finally, also consider your WordPress installation. Look at using Firefox with the Firebug + YSlow plugins to identify any areas that could be improved, such as setting compression, optimising images, using a CDN (content delivery network) and reducing the total page load size and time.
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  • Profile picture of the author pbarnhart
    One other option you should consider is the CloudFlare service. Free and scalable, have had absolutely wonderful experiences with them. Since I throw everything on HostGator, and HostGator is a partner, it has dramatically reduced my bandwidth requirements and it responds almost as the Rackspace VPS I used to use.
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  • Profile picture of the author micksss
    I would check out mediatemple grid service to be able to handle a huge spike in traffic from being featured on TV.
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  • Profile picture of the author pseudo
    If you want "industrial strength" and are willing to pay for it... I use the Rackspace Cloud.
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  • Profile picture of the author musicgomy
    I suggest you to see this top
    thebesthostingweb.com
    The top was realized taking in consideration the following aspects: guaranteed and tested stability of the servers, accessible prices, no intermediary companies, number of hosted domains, very positive feedbacks.
    I am sure you can choose what you looking for from here.
    Cheers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Monika Mundell
      Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions. I've learned so much about this particular (good) problem to have that my head is now full.

      The matter has been resolved in the meantime. I've decided to hand that responsibility to real web programmers who can handle the technical aspects of making enough space available when the site gets hit.

      Nonetheless I do appreciate the awesome help from you all.
      Monika
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      • Profile picture of the author glanjacksonn
        I accept if I let Hostgator apperceive in beforehand that there is a lot of cartage advancing to the website on a specific day again they should be able to adviser the cartage and be accessible for any crashes.That's appealing abundant the accord with just about any VPS host.
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  • Profile picture of the author masterxm
    not the best way to choose a vps host !
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