Hosting question -- can you simplify this for me?

Hi Billy,

If you are not tech-saavy and have never managed a server before then stick with shared hosting for sake of simplicity.

I have a VPS with Hostgator and I am happy with it but there is a serious learning curve. If you are a tinker-er like me you may enjoy picking it apart, but it isn't for everyone. Here are the absolute basics of servers:

What a server is (in total lay terms)

A server is basically a machine that holds your files that is located somewhere else geographically. The sum total of these files is what makes up your website. Hostgator's servers are mostly located in Texas from what I understand.

Shared Hosting (step 1)

Hostgator makes money renting out tiny portions of these big machines - this is what shared hosting is. You share your part of the server space with other people. The value is price but you may have performance issues because the resources of the server are spread among hundreds of people. Think of renting a self-storage unit at a UHaul.

Reseller Hosting (step 2)

Reseller hosting is just shared hosting but you control the billing for your clients (WHM). If you have not used reseller hosting or WHM I would recommend this first as an alternative to a VPS because it takes you to the next step in hosting even if you aren't reselling anything.

VPS (step 3)

VPS is as you see it from your end, a dedicated server. When you log into cPanel with HostMonster now you may see that there are programs in there like 'Fantastico' which installs scripts. These often require that you purchase a license.

Fantastico is currently $45/year. So that is an additional expense you may not consider with VPS although most programs come standard with cPanel. The advantage is complete access to add and remove programs and design the server as you see fit. It's for techies and high-traffic websites.

Dedicated Server (step 4)

(see VPS) & add $125 per month. This is for really advanced users who want total control of everything tech. Your main advantage is total control. The disadvantage is total control because you can mess things up (I've been there, it isn't pretty).

I would say HostGator is awesome I've had at least 1 server with them for 4 years. The best part is the Live Chat support you just type in a question and 90% of the time they can clear it up right there otherwise they will open a support ticket for you.

VPS is the best value but make sure you get a plan that is Level 3 or above if you go this route & add cPanel for $10 a month. That way they manage your server and if you have a problem you can send a quick chat message.

Hope this helps some, I tried to keep it simple as I learned about servers in reverse too.

There are a bazillion places that you can find doing a quick Google search that will tell you the differences, pros, and cons between VPS and dedicated so I'll leave that to you.

But if you want a consistent uptime for a consistent 2,000+ hits per day, then bypass the VPS altogether and get a managed dedicated server. Hostgator is good, Rackspace is better (albeit probably a bit more expensive).

The last thing you want to be doing is fighting a downed server while you have a traffic spike. I've been there before and you can absolutely feel yourself losing money, visitors, and reputation the entire time your site is down while the traffic is coming in. Nothing's more frustrating.

Get something reliable and robust right off the bat so that nightmare doesn't happen to you.

VPS stands for virtual private server. So for all intents it looks like a whole server for yourself, and you're allowed a corresponding amount of power to tweak it as much as you could with your own server.

While a dedicated server is an actual physical server all for you.

Another quick way to look at it, is the number of accounts on a single physical server who you are having to share resources with (such as memory/bandwidth/CPU/harddrive):

Shared Hosting: LOTS, as in around the triple digits number of accounts on it.

VPS: a "few", about double digits or even single digit number of other accounts.

Dedicated Server: just one, you.


Are you hosting the videos yourself or via somewhere like youtube? Possibly a good shared host could be enough if you are not. I'd suggest VPS, I highly doubt you need a dedicated server.

But this is just my initial impression from reading your post without know all the factors.

I'm impressed, in the time it took me to write that post two other people have also replied with good advice

Currently migrating to Hostgator. Just got a reseller with them but it was strictly a fiscal move.

My old host is IcdSoft and they rock! Uptime is great and their support is really sensational. A quick example of how great they really are:

Installed a poorly written script that caused a very heavy server load. Most any other host out there would shut you down but they tweaked the script, sent me a followup email letting me know and let the script run...Wow!!!

They have all the usual support options - chat, email, etc. Like Hostgator they get back 24/7 within minutes.

2 to 3000 visitors a day shouldn't be a big bandwidth hog unless they're all watching the vids. Any chance to host the vids on a sharing site like Youtube and let them eat the bandwidth?

For what you're doing shared hosting should be just fine. Most hosts will just tag you for the extra bandwidth if you go over so presumably you'll be making bank with that many visitors so any extra costs should be covered.

Just sharing my friend's experience:
He used shared hosting but the the hosting company told him to purchase vps when his website had a large amount of traffic.
Then he purchased vps, but it started to hang when he got about 150 visitors at once.
Now he is using dedi.

I myself had experience with one big hosting company, which made my website "coughing" when it has about 500 visitors. That's why I am using vps now.

You can purchase fully managed vps and dedi from wiredtree as they have a very fast and very good support.