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VPS Buyer’s Guide: The Importance of Memory

April 6, 2010 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

When you outgrow your shared web hosting account the next move up is usually a VPS (Virtual Private Server). Not every web host offers these virtual private servers as part of their product offerings and so you might have to go shopping for a new web host. While the technology is often the same due to web host depending on the same backend, the end result might be different in regards to how the web hosting product looks like.

What is a virtual private server in web hosting at all? A VPS is pretty much the process or method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple “virtual” servers. You clearly have to separate the point of view between what the web hosting provider sees and what the customer or web hosting client sees. A VPS appears like a real server to the client. Each virtual private web server has the appearance as if it would be a physical dedicated server and it also has the capability of running on its own operating system – completely independent from what ever else is hosted on the same phsyical server. The VPS has its own dedicated amount of RAM (Memory), CPU (Processor) and of course hard disk.

When in the market for a virtual private web server the most important piece to look for is memory. Memory is usually the item that makes or breaks a website. If memory is available the website can “fly” more easily, but it does not matter how fast the processor is if memory is rare. A lot of data gets stored in memory to speed up things. As an example data from a MySQL database can be cached in memory to increase response times dramatically when the data is requested. This comes in handy for websites that forums or large ecommerce databases with thousands of products stored inside the web hosting database.

If you are using Virtuozzo VPS you can check the available memory through the Power Panel. Click on “Resources”, then click on “Extended”. Click on “Secondary UBC Parameters” and “Auxiliary UBC Parameters”. Now you can see the current use of memory (privvmpages /  represents how much RAM your VPS has allocated). To identify how much RAM is currently in use you need to look at the oomguarpages value as it shows how much RAM is actually being used.

When buying a VPS web hosting solution you also need to know how much burstable RAM is available. Burstable RAM is the amount of memory that is available beyond the guaranteed of ram. As an example your VPS might have 160 MG guaranteed RAM, and the web host offers up to 1024 MB burstable RAM on top of it. What does this mean? This really means is that after you have used up your guaranteed RAM (here 160 MB), there is another  864 MB burstable RAM available for sudden demand of traffic. This is the so-called burst usage. However, the burstable RAM depends on the available memory on the web server  – you can only use burstable RAM IF there is enough free memory available on the host server. If other users of the server (other VPS customers) use all their allotted memory at the same time, you might only get a fraction of the 1024 burstable RAM.

So, if you are looking for a new web host who offers web hosting VPS and you know your website(s) need more RAM, do not go cheap and hope for the best. You rather want to sign up for a package that already has a certain amount of RAM guaranteed.

If you look around, some web hosts still offer VPS packages that are so 2007 in my opinion. Personally I like the Host Gator VPS solutions as they use Virtuzzo and cPanel. A sample configuration looks like this: 1.13 Ghz CPU | 768 MB RAM | 30 GB Disk Space | 500 GB Bandwidth | 2 dedicated IP addresses

Host Gator VPS Web Hosting

Great Time to get a cheap Dedicated Server

September 23, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Great Time to get a cheap Dedicate Server

 
We just got word that “The Planet” Launches their September Promotions. Even though it is late in the month, it looks like these offers will run until the end of September. If you are in the market for a new dedicated web server, you should definitely look at ThePlanet.com. This very website (Web Hosting Resource Kit) is hosted at The Planet and we enjoy excellent service.

Here are the offers for this promotion:

 Offer Includes Discounted Dual Xeons, Return of Double Down

 Beginning today, the Pentium4 2.4 – IDE is now priced at $79 per month, down from $109, a savings of 28 percent. The single-processor, single-core server is configured with an 80GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM and 750GB of bandwidth. (Note from WHRKIT: I just checked the website and pricing has not been updated yet. Give it a little bit and try later today (9-24-2008 / 10 AM MDT))

 Check out more details here

 The Planet has also discounted select Dual Xeon servers by more than 50 percent. The Dual Xeon 2.8 – IDE and SCSI are now $125 each per month, down from $259 and $269 per month, respectively. The Dual Xeon 3.2 – SATA and SCSI are now $135 each per month, formerly priced at $299.

 Check out more details here

 Double Down – The Planet’s most popular promotion – returns today, offering customers the choice to double RAM, hard disk space or bandwidth for free on standard server orders.

 Check out more details here

The offers are good through Sept. 30, 2008. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.theplanet.com/dedicated-servers/server-specials.

Read our support review about The Planet here.

 

 About The Planet

The Planet is the leading provider of On Demand IT Infrastructure solutions, hosting more than 22,000 small- and medium-size businesses and 12 million Web sites worldwide. The Planet Alpha division provides the widest array of self-managed dedicated servers and advanced services backed by 24x7x365 support. The Planet Northstar Managed Hosting division combines a proactive methodology and seasoned IT experts to deliver a fully managed hosting solution. With the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and an enterprise-class network, The Planet turns IT into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to grow their businesses. For additional information, visit http://www.webhostingresourcekit.com/recommends/ThePlanet.php.

 

 

 

Dedicated Server Specials

May 29, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Dedicated Server Specials

ThePlanet.com is after you with some Super Server Specials. If you are looking for a new server, this is the time you want to be around. ThePlanet.com offers up to $110 Off their Newest Servers. These are not some old servers that came off lease or so. We’re talking the real deal here. Check out the price list below that they send us and you can decide for yourself.

The Planet is offering their newest web servers at a discounted rate , featuring the latest in Intel Dual Core and Quad Core technology at prices competitors cannot only respond with “awe”. These prices make these dedicated servers more affordable and valuable than what I have seen in quite a while. Whether you need a box for a basic web application, or you’re in the market for a large and powerful database server, they have the dedicated hardware to meet your needs. 

The Planet also introduced the new Dual Xeon 5405 which utilizes 45-nanometer technology and boasts more system cache per processor – 12 MB to be precise.  You get more efficient processing because this technology nearly doubles the density of transistors over the previous 65-nanometer technology and reduces power leaks. This might help to consolidate several servers into one and to reduce your leasing cost significantly.

Take advantage of the low prices now. The Planet notified us that they have a limited supply of servers at these promotional prices. When these servers are gone pricing will go back to normal (still very affordable in my opinion, but when you can save a buck now ….)

Visit ThePlanet.com to check out their current stock.

The Planet Dedicated Servers Website

ThinkHost Exclusive Coupon and Discount – Save $30

May 27, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

ThinkHost Exclusive Coupon and Discount – Save $30

Many visitors to the Web Hosting Resource Kit already know that the visit is well worth it. We offer great web hosting tutorials and information about web hosting and server management. But we also offer great information about ongoing deals at different web hosts. By now there should be something for every taste I’d say. Lately we have seen a couple of people asking about green web hosting. We followed through on that topic and reviewed one of the best options out there: ThinkHost

ThinkHost is a green web hosting company completely powered by wind and solar energy. The will even plant a tree on your behalf. We decided to see if we can work out an even better deal for visitors of our website. Once approached, ThinkHost was very open to our suggestions and as a result we are able to offer an exclusive (!) coupon code that you cannot find anywhere else on the Internet. This exclusive coupon is only good for people visiting the Web Hosting Resource Kit. Use this coupon to save $30.00 OFF your order at ThinkHost.

Here are some details of how web hosting at ThinkHost looks like. The normal price for their web hosting is $7.95/per month (before coupon is applied).

Unlimited domains – unlimited databases and emails.
 $400 in software, tools, bonuses and so much more!

Main Features:
» 100 gigabytes server space!
» 1000 gigabytes bandwidth!
» Unlimited MySQL databases included!
» Host unlimited domains/sites!
» FTP access
» Powerful file/site manager
» Account control interface
» Secure Telnet (SSH) access
» Unlimited POP3 e-mail accounts
» Full featured Web mail system
» Unlimited autoresponders
» Unlimited email forwarders
» PHP 5 + Perl 5
» FreeBSD Unix/Linux Apache server
» mod_rewrite and other modules
» Full cgi-bin capabilities w/ SSI support
» Free dedicated IP with SSL support*
» Raw logs and detailed traffic reports 
» WAP/WML support
» Ruby on Rails support
» FastCGI support 
» Python support
» Full .htaccess capabilities

Are you ready to check out ThinkHost? Grab the coupon code “WHRKIT2008” and head over to ThinkHost.

ThePlanet.com – Great Promotion ending soon

May 26, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

ThePlanet.com – Great Promotion ending soon

I just received word that ThePlanet.com is having a huge sale going on that will end very soon. If you are in the market for some high-end servers at a very low price, this might be for you. If you are not familiar with ThePlanet.com – they are one of the biggest web hosting providers on the planet (literally). They have several data centers. This very website is actually hosted on my own server at ThePlanet.com and I am a very happy customer with them myself.

Quote:
Looking to beef up your server? The Planet introduces the first-ever blowout sale on our most powerful servers! Load your cart with our powerful single-processor/single-core servers or our robust multi-processor/multi-core servers, many discounted over 25%! The Planet also offers huge savings on various Xeon and Dual Xeon servers as part its virtual private rack solution.
End Quote

Here is a direct link to the promotions at ThePlanet.com

Of course there are more specials available than just high-end servers. How about the following:

2x RAM, HD, BW for FREE
Double your RAM, Double  your Hard Drive or double your bandwdith Bandwidth for FREE! – Click here

Save setup fees for one of those ready to go servers – Click here
No Setup on Ready To Go
Free Setup on Ready To Go Servers

Are you an existing customer at ThePlanet.com? Save big on system upgrades for your existing server. – Click here
50% off upgrades
50% off Component and Backup Upgrades for Existing Customers

Read our reviews about ThePlanet. See Links below.

Microsoft Shared Web Hosting

May 13, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Microsoft Shared Web Hosting

Another website and suddenly you are in need of another web host. It gets even worse – the specific script/software you want to use only works on the Microsoft operating system – meaning you need a shared web hosting account running IIS and Microsoft SQL Server. Usually this gets pretty expensive and it also becomes very difficult to find a reliable web host for that endeavor. The Web Hosting Resouce Kit went out – tasked with finding a solid web host who can meet the requirements for this new website.

We toured the Internet quite a bit until we ran into this old/new Windows web hosting provider. 1 & 1 is fairly new to the United States, but has been operating out of Europe actually for over two decades. 1 and 1 is by far one of the largest web hosting providers world-wide and with the size come several advantages for web hosting customers: Experience and Low prices. Things that cost extra somewhere else are standard at 1 & 1 web hosting. This low cost web hoster has automated processes where other web hosts still need human interaction. 1 & 1 has shifted the human factor towards support to a) offer world-class service and b) reduced errors on the server side by removing humans from many processes and that way eliminating room for accidental errors.

We got lucky stumbling into 1 and 1, because we discovered one of their latest specials. You can sign up now and receive 3 months of FREE web hosting at no extra cost. This deal still includes a free domain name for life and a whole bunch of add-on features that make this web hosting a pleasureful experience for the webmaster. If you are able to fill up the generous 120 GB of disk space you have 1.2 Terabytes in traffic allowance to serve your content to the Internet. Usually these specs point toward the need of a dedicated server, but 1 & 1 has found a way to offer these features at a price you can definitely afford.

Our experience with 1 and 1 has been great. To be honest – our only complaint is that we did not find them earlier to take advantage of their great services. In addition to low pricing for web hosting, you can use a whole bunch of free software + you get free vouchers to advertise your website via Pay Per Click programs like Google Adwords, MSN Adcenter, or Yahoo Search Marketing.

If you need low cost Windows web hosting, sign up now before this deal expires. You get 3 months totally free of charge and a low price of $4.99 afterwards. This includes a free domain name for life, too. Two thumbs up from Web Hosting Resource Kit.

Green Web Hosting Options

April 15, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Green Web Hosting Options

With gasoline approaching new highs almost every other week going green is an easy trend to spot. We all feel the pinch in our wallet. But rising prices do not stop at the gas station. Electricity and natural gas prices are going up as well – it’s not even funny anymore. I have already looked at solar power for my house as an option and maybe I buy a Hybrid the next time I am in the market for a new vehicle. What is your web host doing to go green? Your response will most likely be “nothing” unless you are hosting with Thinkhost.com. Thinkhost is doing what others have considered as impossible for now – Thinkhost is 100% powered by Wind and Solar. Yes, you heard that right – 100% wind and solar powered.

Now you might think that this must come with an additional price tag for their customers, but you are wrong. Thinkhost is not only considering the environment when it comes to web hosting, but they are also extremely customer friendly when it comes to pricing. Currently they offer their plan II for a low $7.95. This plan includes 100 GB of disk space and 1 TB of bandwidth allowance. You can host unlimited domains of that plan + enjoy hundreds of dollars in free software with your account.

Thinkhost offers a 28 Day Money back guarantee and 100% uptime. Their servers are monitored 24/7 by very experienced staff. And once you join them they will plant a tree for you. They will plant a new tree for each new client they get, too.

Conclusion: If you like to go green, do it with style even when it comes to Web hosting. Thinkhost is a super choice to do web hosting and to do something for the environment, too.

http://www.thinkhost.com

Understanding and Verifying Web Hosting Uptime Guarantees

March 16, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Understanding and Verifying Web Hosting Uptime Guarantees

Almost every web hosting company is offering some sort of uptime guarantee for their services. It all sounds great “on paper”, but if you don’t know what is really covered you don’t know what you are buying into. First of all you need to identify the uptime guarantee of your web host. Find the fine-print and read it. Often you can find a public display of the uptime or you can email the web host for a public link to their uptime stats. If they don’t offer this, ask them exactly how the uptime is calculated. Some web hosts require you to bring proof of uptime/downtime by monitoring your own website.

If you have a web host that display’s the uptime stats on their website, you have an easy way to identify uptime eventually. Don’t take the nice looking stats image on the host’s web site without additional verification though. Be sure to check what the actual time frame has been used to calculate the uptime. Some web hosts with frequent downtime simply reset their service counter each time they have an outage encountered. In my opinion a 99.43% uptime going back over the course of a year is a much safer bet than an “impressive” 100% uptime going back only a week. But hold on. What uptime is displayed? The web host’s own website does not matter to you at all. For you it would be more important to know the uptime of the server your website is sitting on. Go back to the beginning and try to find out what server your website would be put on and ask for uptime stats for that server.

The next step to verify is how uptime is actually defined. Scheduled outages for maintenance usually don’t fit into the uptime guarantee. Does uptime only covers the server or is the network included? Technically your website is still up even if the network goes down and your web server cannot no longer be reached from the Internet. Some web hosts consider your website up in that moment even though you consider it down. If in doubt – ask for clarification. Is emergency maintenance (example: immediate security risk requires a kernel upgrade with reboot) really scheduled or not? A 15 minute notification before the outage begins might be scheduled, but then again – do you check your email every 5 minutes to catch this event? Probably not.

What is the process to take advantage of an uptime guarantee? What proof do you have to bring? Are you receiving a credit to your account or is it a cash value? Find out before you get into a situation that you consider a case of using the uptime guarantee. Knowing the necessary details helps to save money. If you experience a lot of outages and want to move away, a credit to your account will not really help you – but you also don’t want to stay longer than necessary risking more downtime.

You can see the difficulties surrounding the uptime guarantee promises in the web hosting industry. I personally have never used the uptime guarantee promises of a web host yet – even though I had a few situations where I would have qualified. In some cases it was just something unavoidable where I really liked the host and felt I would be punishing the wrong guy asking for a credit or cash. In other cases I rather spent the time moving my websites off the providers equipment as fast as I could and cut my losses. It really depends on your situation. I take any uptime guarantee with the grain of salt and rather spend additional time researching the candidates for my preferred web hosting providers (I am currently mainly using “ThePlanet” and “Httpme.com” for my critical needs, but also have other providers on the list).

Guide to Online Data Backup Services

February 21, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Guide to Online Data Backup Services

I have already mentioned offsite data storage a few times, but mainly from a business perspective. Today I want to shed some light on the benefits for us consumers and normal home users. It used to be the case that only mid-size or large businesses could afford disaster recovery services. But those days are gone and a couple of online backup service providers have customized their offers to meet the needs of consumers as well.

The idea of these services is mainly to provide an option to share data with others or to have pictures and documents available from anywhere. Less promoted is the fact that these services are great to protect consumers from data loss in case a natural disaster strikes or when a hard drive goes bad. With only little planning one can provide herself with a great disaster recovery option. Think Hurricane season or earthquake or wild fires. These natural forces have destroyed thousands of lifes – not only by destroying houses and businesses, but by also destroying birth certificates, financial information and other personal data.

Online backup services should compliment normal efforts to prevent loss of documents or digital data. The first step should be to lease a safety deposit box at a bank. You should store all your important documents there. This will prevent loss in case of fire or theft. The online backup option becomes critical when it comes to digital data. How important are your digital pictures to you? Gone are the days  where you could grab the film and get it developed again to have a picture in your hands again. If a digital picture is gone, it is gone forever. When uploading pictures from your camera, it takes only a few clicks to upload them to an online backup service as well.

My personal strategy looks a little more complicated, but provides me with several layers of protection. First of all, all data in my house is centrally stored on a shared machine/hard drive. From there a nightly backup job transfers the data to an external hard drive. That external hard drive is rotated bi-monthly with one of the same kind. The second external hard drive is stored in my safety deposit box at a local bank. I also use an online data storage provider for some data – not everything though. Pictures and normal documents I don’t have a problem storing online. Critical data (financial data as an example) will always be stored on local storage and then in my bank’s safety deposit box.

Online backup services are extremely affordable. Prices often start below $10.00 per month for 5 GB of secure data storage. I recommend the services of Box.net and Mozy.com. Both providers offer great storage allowances and a very convenient way to upload your personal data. Free options are available as well.

Remote Online Storage Service

February 18, 2008 By Christoph Puetz Leave a Comment

Remote Online Storage Service

I am kind of paranoid when it comes to backing up my data – be it personal data or business related data. I’d rather have one backup too much than one critical piece of data missing. I even rotate some external hard drives at home and have one in a safety deposit box at my bank, but I am also using off site data storage providers online for my piece of mind. I recently ran into a service offered by Box.net which really impressed me. Unlike many other online data backup providers you do not need any client software to backup your digital images or business records. Everything is done through a web browser – across all operating systems. So, it does not matter if you use Safari from your Macbook Pro or Internet Explorer 7 from a Vista computer – you can backup and access your critical data from any web browser.

One concern with online data storage is security. Box.net has this addresses by offering 256-Bit encryption for your data uploads. They offer 99.99% uptime guarantee which makes sure I can access my data at any time. Even if I use a public network (Hot spot) like at Starbucks my data transfers to Box are safe.

Box offers different packages that go all the way up to Enterprise level. Enterprise in this case is probably targeted at small businesses who cannot afford services like Iron Mountain Data Storage or are looking for more convenient options.

Conclusion: if you are in the market for some offline storage for your critical data, box.net is a great option. The pricing for their services is extremely affordable and starts at less than $8.00 per month. That allows even small businesses of any size to protect themselves from disaster and provide disaster recovery when needed. Box.net is definitely worth being checked out by you. Rated: Top Buy by Web Hosting Resource Kit

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