What to look for in a VPS?

[Bleys]

I'm in the market for a VPS but I am not really sure what to look for. I know I'd like to have a control panel (ideally cPanel) which means I'd need to have at least 256mb ram (I am told). And I am fairly certain I'd like to have at least 10 GB or space and at least 30-40 gb/month of transfer (and a reasonable price for overages)--the more the better.

Beyond that I am clueless. I'd like to spend less than I would on a comparable dedicated server.

The two companies I have been looking at are ASmallOrange (where I already have a couple of shared accounts and have been pleased) and Spry.

Any suggestions? Information? Thanks.

Also, as a semi-unrelated topic--I want to set up automated offsite backups for certain data on this VPS. Are there any services that offer that or any easy ways to set that up?

[Selkirk]

256mb is a definite minimum with cPanel. Although, you can ditch some services from cPanel to cut down on memory usage. I'd also recommend RVSkin if you ever think you might give out accounts to anybody.

I'm pretty happy with a Servint VPS.

There are all sorts of offsite backup services, such as Strongspace.

[Bleys]

Thanks Sellkirk.

This will mostly be for my own projects... so I won't be giving out space to people. But likely hosting multiple websiets on it. I'm thinking (hoping ), I'll need a dedicated server soon, but in the meantime, I'd like to go for a VPS.

I wonder if there would be a way to set up a cronjob to have the server automatically send MySQL dumps to something like strong space (or even just another server) once per day. (I'm not technically adept enough to do that, but if it is possible, I think my programmer/partner could do it.)

[Sagewing]

Servint = GREAT.

Backing up the mysql only: My developers set up scripts like that for clients and I dont think it's very hard.

[Emancipator]

I reccomend www.nexcess.net I have never reccomended anyone in the past. These guys take the cake for great service, and awesome support and although they are not the cheapest they are the best.

I recommended them to Westech and he can also vouch for the service. They are a fantastic company to deal with.

[Westech]

I'll second Nexcess. They rock. They're the only hosting company I've ever been with that I dont' have at least one complaint about.

I don't know if they offer VPS though.

[Sagewing]

I have yet to find any problem with servint. I set up with them, had a few questions on the first day, and haven't had a single problem since (about 18 months).

[Selkirk]

Sagewing, do you have a VPS there or a dedicated server? (I have my own VPS there, but I've probably done work on 6 or 8 dedicated servers hosted at ServInt.) The reason I ask is that that I was curious if you use the VPS forums. (AFAIK, there are no equivalent dedicated forums?)

[Bleys]

Thanks for the advice, guys. ServInt does indeed look very good. I know they've been in business for a very long time (a measure of their reliability).

One probably very stupid question that I think I know the answer to anyway: with a VPS I have root access, right? So I can update/change my version of PHP, install ruby and RoR, etc. if I want to?

[Selkirk]

Yeah, you can install pretty much anything you want in your VPS. You can't run a different operation system, but you can change most of the operating system components and any services. I'm running PHP 5.0.4 in my VPS and I plan to upgrade to 5.1.3 in a couple weeks.

However, if you get a cPanel, you will have a harder time straying from cPanel's approved software list. For example, to install lighttpd instead of apache for Rails. You can run RoR with cPanel.

[webcs]

I'm in the market for a VPS but I am not really sure what to look for. I know I'd like to have a control panel (ideally cPanel) which means I'd need to have at least 256mb ram (I am told). And I am fairly certain I'd like to have at least 10 GB or space and at least 30-40 gb/month of transfer (and a reasonable price for overages)--the more the better.

Beyond that I am clueless. I'd like to spend less than I would on a comparable dedicated server.

Well one thing you didn't mention is making sure the services are managed. The majority of VPS hosts do not offer managed or true managed VPS hosting. Thus you need to support yourself.

In your case it sounds like you want management so make sure it says semi-managed or managed. thanks

[SamOwen]

If you're going to run cPanel make sure you have more that 256MB of RAM. I had that much just for a simple forum and my server kept dying.

[noe]

srevint is super for me.

[inogenius]

Another vote for ServInt.

But, VPS's are in my opinion over rated. They're great because they're flexible but a good shared host will be able to provide a normal site with a better experience. VPS's are NOT able to handle bursts of traffic, due to the low memory, but a shared server that's managed properly will be able to squash them without problem.

[Marshal]

When searching for a VPS provider it?s important to know exactly what you are looking for. There are many different options available with VPS.

As virtual private servers are essentially a mini dedicated server, you will have full access to all the running of the server. This includes installing / updating software, firewalls, and tweaking the server to run how you want. So what questions should you ask yourself before selecting a provider?
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