Paid affiliate hosting advertisement
What do you have to know in order to move from shared to VPS, skillset-wise?
AngelicLight - July 9, 2009 - 16:12
Hi, there,
I am setting up a Drupal site that I expect to get heavy traffic. Though I'm starting on a shared, I can see the need for moving to something more robust once traffic picks up.
However, I don't have much sysadmin experience, though I used to do shared hosting support for a big hosting company, and obvously I know html/ftp and the things you need to get around a hosting environment. So in order for a VPS transition to not only go well, but work at all, could someone describe what the basic setup functions that are necessary in order to have a working Drupal site?
Thanks, everyone,
- Paul
Here is many experience when
Here is many experience when I move from shared to VPS, hopefully will be helpful for you.
1 you need to know how to setup a new account for your web site in your VPS container. This won't be hard, but it's hard to know you need to create an customer account before you can use it. You can send email to their customer support to know how.
2. You need to know some basic Unix command to grant permission or manage files
3. You might need to start learning how to optimize your environment if your site is slow.
4. Stop, start, restart a service, especially Httpd :).
5. If the default setup doesn't include the package you need, you need to how to install a package by yourself.
6. You might need to monitor the running status and resource usage regularly. Unlike shared hosting, someone will help you reboot server is system becomes slow, you need to do it by yourself.
7.and more,
In general, the skilled required for VPS is very close to dedicated server - you have to gain more knowledge on IT. Most of hosting companies cannot do the optimization for you as free, some companies will provide you with addition paid service for trouble shooting.
=============================================
Want to setup a Drupal site, find the Best Drupal Hosting for it now.
Best Drupal Hosting | Best Web Hosting | Saving with Web Hosting Coupon
Thanks a million, Sean, I
Thanks a million, Sean,
I take it there's not a whole lot of VPS providers that help to manage a lot of this for you?
Well, I do have IT knowledge, just not Unix server for webhosting! :)
Just thinking out loud here - I wish there was some sort of book for those of use who just need to know things to run our own server, but not be an extensive dictionary-sized book like someone wanting to be a sysadmin.
No worry AngelicLight. You
No worry AngelicLight. You can get help from hosting vendors for most of items in above. The only thing you need to learn is how to optimize your server. Some books related to Apache, MySQL would be very helpfulp.
=============================================
Want to setup a Drupal site, find the best Drupal Hosting for it now.
Best Drupal Hosting | Best Web Hosting | Saving with Web Hosting Coupon
Basic security knowledge is a must.
I would add to this list:
0. Security. You need to know how to secure your server. At minimum, you should know how to set up a firewall, disable unneeded services, limit access to ssh, and how to keep your software updated.
This guide has a pretty good overview of the basics:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/hardening_linux
--
John Forsythe
Need reliable Drupal hosting?
--
John Forsythe
Need reliable Drupal hosting?
Drupal Modules - Find the module you need for your project!
Another option
You could also use a managed VPS solution. All the power of a VPS with all the handholding of shared. :) That's what I'm on now and it's wonderful.
Michelle
---
Coulee Region Online: Social networking and area information. You're welcome to visit but please don't make an account unless you want to join the community.
Michelle, Who are you using
Michelle,
Who are you using now?
And when did you realize that you had to switch?
Thanks again,
- Paul
Hot Drupal
I use hotdrupal.com . I switched because I was getting time outs on a regular basis on site5. Plus, the server would often just go down for hours. The speed on hd is like night and day. I have over 100 modules and it was just choking the shared server.
Michelle
---
Coulee Region Online: Social networking and area information. You're welcome to visit but please don't make an account unless you want to join the community.
I second the motion!
HotDrupal.com is great, Michelle is absolutely right.
Shared to self managed and WHAT in between?
First, thanks SO much for this timely (for me and others) post. I've been with a shared host for over 4 years now and am just starting to think that eventually we are going to outgrow this host as they just began enforcing inode / file limits in a users home directory ("Unlimited Hosting"! :-) ).
Is there some place where the OP, myself and others can go in order to find resources about various hosting options so that we could evaluate the progression and steps involved for moving from a shared hosting solution to a dedicated or managed server (and anything in between)?
Another HUGE question that we have been wrestling with lately is WHO is a decent shared hosting solution for numerous Drupal installs? We currently own a LOT of domains and are just beginning to play with Drupal for mulit-site install, dev and management.
Thanks again for the assist.