Category: Linux Hosting

In this article I am going to focus on Virtual Private Servers (VSP), Business Class Hosting, and Plesk.  I share with you what I experienced out in the wild while working at 2 of the largest domain registrars and hosting providers.   Add to this what I learned and saw while being a PHP Programmer since 2006.

Types of Servers

Shared Hosting – This is a hardware server that hosts multiple websites.  I’ve seen upwards of 500 websites on one physical server.  I would not recommend this.  Some shared hosting providers have automated systems that move websites around so the servers will be balanced and not become overloaded.  Mostly this is the big hosting providers.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) – This is my favorite.  If you own a business class website, this is the best solution as far as I am concerned.  VPS can be configured with a few server resources such as CPU power and memory.  You can have a “small”, “medium”, “large”, or an “extra large” VPS.  You only need to have the size that meats your needs.  Add Plesk, which I cover below) and you have a rockin’ setup.

Hardware Servers – These are in much less demand now that everyone is using Solid State Device (SSD) drives in place of spinning drives.  SSD makes a ton of difference and removed the bottle neck on the server.  These is some need for hardware servers though.  If a website has a lot of servers are is running a resource intensive application a hardware server might be needed.  In the old days even the smaller businesses were utilizing hardware servers.  Not so much now since SSD drives are so more more affordable and hardware is getting so much more powerful.

Different Sever Operating Systems

Linux – Linux is open source and is widely used.  There is a whole community out there that supports Linux and keeps it free.  You can download a copy of Linux for free.  Install that Linux on an old laptop or desktop, do a small amount of configuration, connect it to the Internet, and you have a web server.

Unix – Not so widely used for hosting since most Unix operating systems are licensed.

Windows – You will find Windows servers out there in the wild.  These are mostly used for web applications written in Dot Net – A Microsoft programming language.

Hosting Support

This is the support you will receive from those big companies that offer cheap hosting and you probalby experience the same level of support if you have one of their VPS servers or a dedicated server.

Level 1 Support –  When you call the big hosting companies you talk with a level 1 support tech.  This person has limited authority to make many changes, is limited in access to they hosting system, and is probably not a server administrator.

Level 2 Support – This is the person the level 1 tech expedites problems to that the level 1 lacks the skills or access to resolve.  The level 2 tech is probably not a server administrator.  He or she probably has more experience that the Level 1 and has more access to the system, and is limited in what he or she can do.  You will probably never talk with a level 2 at one of these cheap hosting companies.

Server Administrator – These are the folks that have the skills to work on hosting and email servers and have access to do so.  If the problem is such that the level 2 cannot resolve the server admin will be given the task.  In a perfect world you would want to talk directly with this person.  If you are hosting with one of these large / cheap hosting companies you will never talk with a server admin.

Email Support – More than likely you will have access to a support form where you enter your hosting account information, the issue you are experiencing or your question.  When submitted a ticket will be created and it will be added to a queue.  Your ticket may remain in this queue for 24 to 72 hours before it is read by a level 1 support technician.

The Queue – No mater how you enter the system, via phone or by completing a form, you will enter a queue if the level 1 cannot immediately address your problem, and escalating your ticket will take even more time.

Specialized Hosting Companies

I’ve worked with 2 specialty web hosting houses. One was for Drupal and they other was for Magento 2.  These types of hosting vendors are unique in that they specialize in the application or applications they specialize.  The Drupal host was much better than the Magento host.  I had two ways to interact with the Drupal host, by phone or by opening a ticket.  Above I covered te type of support you will probably find out there.  In the case of the hosting company that specialized in Drupal, I could call and talk with a server administrator and he or she could answer my question or solve my problem in real time.  No queue. If I opened a ticket, I would hear back in about 15 minutes, and the issue would be resolved by a system administrator. No level 1, and no queue.  This type of hosting is very expensive.  They provide two types of servers.  1) a VPS hosting server that was rather healthy with something like 8 cores and 12G of RAM that would run about $450 a month.  2) they provided a hardware server with 16 cores and 32G of RAM for $750 a month.  Giving an application a lot of resources solves a lot of issues.  What your paying for here is the concierge service and access to a server admin not the hardware.

Business Class Hosting

This is the missing hosting class.  You may pay more for business class hosting, however it is well worth it.  These hosting providers will cost more than those big guys with there level 1’s, however they provide a inexpensive alternative to the specialty hosting providers.  With a business class hosting provider you will get access to a system administrator via phone or email and not have to get stuck in a queue.  You will get better guidance as well.

For more information read :   Business Class Hosting

Plesk

I’ve supported servers that do not have a control panel and I have a VPS with Plesk installed. Plesk is feature rich and gives the webserver

Plesk is a web server control panel that makes it possible for a website owner or a developer to manage their own server.

you’ll ever need to build, secure and run websites and applications in the Cloud! Get Plesk Hosting Platform!

Pricing Plans

Shared Hosting – The big guys might start at $10 a month while the business class folks might want $15 or $20 a month.

Reseller Hosting – These guys are all over the board.  You might be able to find a reseller account for $5 however the savings is not worth it.  If you are going to spend $25 for a reseller account why not spend $50 a month for a VPS running Plesk?

VPS Hosting – If you have read this far you know that a VPS plus Plesk is my favorite. For good reason.  If you are a business person, why take a chance on cheap hosting or worse yet allow yourself to get caught up in a queue while trying to do business on the web.  With a VPS and Plesk you have your own server and a world class control panel.  Plesk will make your life easier.  The bug guys with the support queues might run $80 a month for a VPS and the business class hosing providers might charge as little as $50 a month for a very nice VPS hosting account that has Plesk installed.

Hardware Servers – Do your research before you go with a hardware server.  You probably do not need a hardware server.  If you do, I would not go with the big guys.  They will charge more and they are the ones with the level 1 support queues.  Go with a business class host and save a few bucks while having access to a real system administrator without the queue.

Managed Hosting Accounts –  This is really an add on service. Your host will watch your server closer and will handle all updates to the operating system as well.  We worth it if you can afford it.

Business Class Hosting – I’ve talked about this already.  This is the only way to go.  The big guys charge more and give less.  As you have read the business class hosting providers cost less while giving you direct access to they system administrator.  No queue and better advice.

VPS Server Resources

Virtual Private Servers are measured by tow basic resources.

1. CPU cores which they refer to as vCPU.  More cores more CPU power.
2. Random Access Memory or RAM.  More RAM more power.

Most of us can do well with 2 cores and 4G of RAM.  It is relatively easy to change your server’s configuration so talk with your vendor and start where they say to start.  Then you can make an adjustment after you set up and running, if need be.

Conclusion

We have covered shared hosting, VPS hosting, hardware servers, the big guys and their support with queues, and  business class hosting.  By now you probably have figured out I like VPS hosting with Plesk from business class hosting.  If you are running a business I would recommend becoming familiar with what I write about here. I recommend finding a business class hosting provider and talk with them about your needs.

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If you are a website owner and value your website or blog, backing up your website content and data is important. 70% of small businesses fail after a data loss. All the more reason to backup your data. I use Amazon Web Services S3 for storage of my website data. S3 stands for Amazon Simple Storage Service.

Why You Should Backup Your Website

Think about this if you will. You have a website. Your website contains 40 pages of content. Lets say writing, proofing, editing, and posting takes 4 hours per article. That is 160 hours or one man month. That is just the amount of time you spent creating content. You probably spent a lot of time on the design and layout as well. Losing your website could be very costly and might even be the catalyst for you going out of business.

10 Reasons You Should Backup Your Data

1. Human Error – I was working a website project when another developer completely deleted the web application from the production machine. It took years to develop that application so recreating it was not an option. We had a copy on another server, however that was a test and development environment. It would have taken months to update the development copy. Several years earlier I had configured a script that ran daily to backup all the data and files on the server. Because I had been backing up the production server, I was able to upload the latest copy of the web application and it’s associated data within a couple hours.
2. Viruses & Malware – A friend of mine that owns a data center tells me his biggest concern is someone opening an email that contains a virus. Interesting insight. He says all other possible points of hacking are secure.
3. Hard Drive Damage – Damage to hard drives can caused by a number of factors, such as a computer fan failure that allows the computer to overheat or power surges, to name just a few. Hard drives often crash leaving the data on the drive unattainable.
4. Power Outages – This can be a real problem for hard drives and all the components within the computer. An unexpected power outage can create power surges that are deadly to computer components and may cause damage to the hard drive and / or corrupted data.
5. Computer Theft – This happened. Think employee or a burglar.
6. Liquid Damage – Soda, water, fire sprinklers, floods, etc.
7. Disasters – Hot weather causing strain on the electrical grid that could cause a brown out that could kill computer equipment. Fires that burn electrical lines, etc.
8. Software Corruption – Software that gets corrupted which can cause data to become corrupted. Power outages, brownouts, and improper shutdown are among the causes of software corruption.
9. Hard Drive Formatting – Accidentally formation a drive that contained business data can be the source of data loss.
10. Hackers – Security breaches by hackers is almost a daily news staple. While most of the data breaches we hear of are someone stealing data while leaving the hacked data intact. Hackers can be destructive.

Data loss can happen for may other reasons as well.

70% of Small Companies Fail After Major Data Loss

With a 70% failure rate of those small businesses that lost data, one would think making regular backups would be important. Data is important to the survival of the small business. I recommend you backup your website daily.

I Recommend AWS S3 Backups

I’ve been backing up to Amazon S3 for maybe a decade. I’ve used those backups several times. And the best part is the price. I personally spend less than a dollar a month to backup to Amazon S3. Cheap insurance.

Conclusion

It takes time and effort to build a website. It takes just a moment to cause it to disappear. I listed 10 causes of data loss and there are more. I shared that backing up to AWS S3 is what I prefer. And I shared that the price is right. You might spend much less than a dollar a month to backup a small website on a daily basis. If you are not backing up your website daily, I would recommend making that a priority.

In this article I will cover PHP hosting platforms, types of hosting, types of hosting providers and their differences. I will also cover the advantages and disadvantages of each. This article is based on my experience in the industry and having been employed by two of the largest hosting providers in the world. I will reveal the truth about the hosting industry.

Hosting Platform

There is both Linux and Windows hosting. If you are hosting a PHP based website such as WordPress, Drupal, Magento, or a custom PHP website I recommend you stay with Linux hosting because PHP is native to Linux and Linux makes for a better server.

Types of Hosting

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is by far the most popular, the least expensive, and the least reliable for the serious small business. Later in this article I will share 2 incidents where small businesses were negatively impacted by shared hosting.

While working for several of the top hosting companies in the world I saw things that shaped my opinion that shared hosting is not a solution for small business.

The hosting providers I worked for had a very structured process for interacting with website owners. If a website owner had an issue he or she would enter this process in one of two ways. The first would be to call customer service. The customer service agent is a level one tech. They are limited in what they can do and they may not have the skills to fix a problem. If the level one cannot resolve the problem within a few minutes they will escalate the problem to a level 2 tech. This may mean a delay of upto 72 hours. This means an issue can linger for days. Website down? Not able to communicate via email? You have to wait. The second way to enter the system is through completing an online form which goes into a queue. It may take minutes to many hours before a level one tech responds to this open ticket. If the level one tech is unable to reselve the issue at his or her level, the ticket will be escalated to a level 2 tech. Resolution could take 24 to 72 hours.

This could mean a website that is down or no ability to communicate via email.

Not a situation I would want for a small business. When you see the alternatives you will understand why I express this opinion.

Reseller Hosting

If reseller hosting works as planned this could be a viable option for the small business. The problem is it does not. I experienced this first hand when my website screeched to a halt. After weeks of my website being unusable, I moved to another provider.

These plans are great. They give you the ability to host a great number of websites. The most popular is HostGator. The cost is good too. The problem is the same as the shard hosting technical issue resolution.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

In my opinion this is the way to go especially when adding the Plesk server management software into the mix. With Plesk things are just made easier. Plesk is so easy to learn and use, the average person could learn enough to run their own server. With the advent of the Solid State Drive (SSD) and as modern day server hardware becoming more powerful, a VPS running Plesk is the answer for most small businesses.

Modern day Plesk is very feature rich. Here are some of Plesk’s features :

• Install a free Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate.
• Force your website to always be secured, which is a big plus for Search Engine Optimization, and website speed.
• Force your website to the non- www or the www version of your website’s URL.
• Update your server Operating System with the click of a link.
• Edit files directly on the server.
• Stop or restart your server from the control panel.
• It allows you to manage your email accounts right on the server. Add, edit, and delete email accounts at will.

These are some of the main features that I think you will be interested in.

I am very impressed with Plesk on a VPS. This is the platform I recommend. As far as I am concerned there is no down side to running Plesk on a VPS as your hosting solution. I only see benefits from this arrangement.

Hardware Servers

Several years ago this was the way to go. Keep in mind that hardware is becoming more powerful and with SSD drives becoming affordable, servers fly making VPS’s viable. Hardware servers are no longer needed, for the most part.

The upside of having a hardware server is you have your own server all to yourself. The downside is a hardware server will more than likely be at least 2 times more expensive than a VPS.

Email

One of the things you should be aware of is some hosting configurations come with the ability to manage email and others do not. Shared hosting will provide the ability to manage your email, while a hardware server may or may not give you the ability to manage your email accounts, unless of course you are running Plesk on your hardware server.

Having the ability to manage one’s own email accounts is one of the reasons I like Plesk so much.

Types of Hosting Providers and Their Differences

There is three types of hosting providers.

1) Commodity or mom and pop hosting providers. The GoDaddys and the iPowers of the world. I do not recommend this type of hosting for any serious business.

2) Business class hosting providers. These providers may offer you shared hosting which may be viable because this class of provider is more service oriented and may fix your issues, if they should arise, within a reasonable amount of time. This class of hosting provider is the one I would recommend, and would recommend you obtain a VPS from them.

3) Specialty Hosting Providers. These guys are the best in class. They specialize in a certain software package such as WordPress, Drupal, or Magento. They are very responsive to tickets and phone calls. Tickets are usually acknowledged within a few minutes and if you call you will be taking with a real system administrator. I’ve worked with this type of hosting provider and they are topshelf. However this is not a solution for the small business mostly because of cost. These houses charge $400 plus for a VPS and hardware servers are going to be in the $700 plus range, per month.

Pricing, Service, and Reliability

Shared hosting and reseller hosting are in the same class. Rather inexpensive and not so reliable. I do not recommend these for the average small business.

A VPS running Plesk provided by a business class host is by far the best solution for the average business. This solution may cost a little bit more, however it is worth is.

Hardware servers are reserved for the client that needs extra horsepower and resources for their website. Add Plesk and a business class host and you have a nice combination. A hardware server may cost 2 or more times as much as a decent VPS from the same hosting provider.

2 Bad Experiences From Using Shared Hosting at One of Those Discount Hosting Companies

Example One – I had a friend who was hosting his website and blog with one of the world’s largest hosting providers. He was on shared hosting. His website got corrupted and it took days to get his website back on line and he lost his blog entirely. If you are doing any amount of Search Engine Optimization, you know blogs are important. Not only that, it take lots of time and effort to build a decent blog. His blog was completely gone.

Example Two – I was at work at one of the largest hosting providers when I became aware of a businessman who who was trying to get his website and email working again after the shared hosting server his website and email accounts were on, died. It took over a week to recover his website and email. Imagine your business website being off line for a week and all your emails, inbound and outbound, are stopped. Would your business survive?

This is the truth about shared hosting.

If something bad is going to happen… it is going to happen to someone. That someone could be you.

PHP Hosting Solution

If you are still reading you probably know what I am about to say. Please keep reading because I am going to make the point, a point we all need to hear. The point is we all like to save money. I like cheep shared hosting for that reason and that reason alone.

If you are using shared hosting you may go a lifetime without any issues. And then you could be the statistic who loses your website for a couple days or worse yet your email does not work for days. In the mean time you are losing business, risk losing customers, and risk bankrupts.

My solution is very simple. Find a business class hosting provider and host on a VPS that also is running Plesk. If your website requires more resources then get a hardware server running Plesk. And do so in a business class data center where you can talk with a real system administrator when you call or email.

I’d bet your business and your piece of mind are worth the extra $35 a month for a VPS.

Conclusion

We have covered many aspects of hosting, which is better and some of the gotchas. We covered the type of hosting plans and the type of providers. As you can see not all are created equal. And there is some real potential threats to your business if you are unaware.

I’m guessing you are probably a small business person not a techie. There is a lot to know about hosting. It is important that you as a business person understand this part of your business.

Hands down I make one simple recommendation. Find a business class hosting company and get a VPS or a hardware server running Plesk. If you do so you will minimize your risk while spending just a few more dollars each month.

Isn’t your business and peace of mind worth it?

There is a real hole in website hosting.  You can buy what I refer to as commodity or mom-and-pop virtual hosting at places like Godaddy and iPower, however this is really not a long term solution for any serious business.  These hosting companies also offer virtual private servers (VPS) and hardware servers.  What is missing is business class web hosting.

I used to work in the domain and hosting industry which has given me much insight.

Some of the things that were a real eye opener:

Level 1 techs – These hosting providers have a customer service  hierarchy.  When you call or fill out a ticket you are communicating with a level 1 tech.  These folks know just enough to help you with some simple things.  If you are experiencing a real problem all they can help with is filling out a ticket that goes into a queue.  Depending on demand it might take your ticket up to 3 days to work it’s way through the queue.  In the meantime all you can do is wait.  If your email is down or your website has disappeared, all you can do is wait.

Ticket Queue – As mentioned above your ticket will stay in a queue for 1 to 3 days depending on demand. They are not trying to ignore you, it is just how cheap hosting works.  Think about it, if you are paying less than $10 and month for hosting, they really cannot spend much time with you or they lose money.

Lost data and lost websites – I’ve used this level of hosting in the past without any problems.  My friend was not so lucky.  His blog was lost and he had no backup.   Can you imagine spending hundreds of hours working on a blog to have it all disappear.

And of course if you move up to a VPS or a hardware server you will get more power and resources, however it is wrapped in the same old customer service hierarchy.

There is a solution.  Break free – find a hosting provider that will give you outstanding customer service and resolve your problems in a reasonable amount of time.  No ticket queue and no gatekeepers.  Look for a place where you will have access to the people working on the hardware – the system administrator.

If you are hosting your business website on cheap virtual hosting, I would recommend moving up to business class hosting.  It will cost more, however it is worth it.

I’ve been working with Pixelgate Networks for over 11 years and find their pricing to below those other guys and their service to be excellent.  When you call you talk with a real system administrator – the person who can resolve your issue.

If you would like peace of mind call Pixelgate at 805-446-6251 and tell them Keith sent you.