Thread: Recommendations for a new managed server provider (VPS or Dedi)

Hi All,

I'm currently at a crossroads with my current provider (Tagadab/SimplyCloud). I've been with them for several years and generally they're okay but recently I've had some support issues (which appear to be getting worse) and concerns about server performance and feel a change is needed.

I'm a web designer who is used as a hosting provider by many of my clients and agencies who I've built sites for (most are fairly straight forward, low traffic WordPress sites but I also host emails). I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to hosting but I can usually deal with 95% of the support queries that I receive from my clients however I like to have a managed service for those 5% of queries that are over my head and for keeping on top of updates etc.

I'd be interested to hear whether how much I'm paying is good value for money, I'm not concerned too much about cost (if I can save some money then great but no biggie if not or if I need to pay more) but if I'm overpaying it would be good to know.

My current setup is as follows (all fully managed, regular back-ups, Centos 7 running WHM/cPanel):

VPS Server 1
71 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
240GB Storage
150GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 2
76 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
325GB Storage
262GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 3
73 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
210GB Storage
150GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 4
75 accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
300GB Storage
367GB Bandwidth/month

The bandwidth cost is calculated on a pay as you go basis so it varies a little from month to month but in total I'm usually paying around £700-£800/month. I also pay for a separate CDN through Stackpath
(approx £40/month) for some sites where speed is a priority so a provider that can roll this in as well would be handy.

I've raised the performance question with my provider a few times about whether I would be better off with a dedicated server(s) or splitting the sites up more and have another VPS but they've been less than helpful.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

James

Originally Posted by jmdesign

Hi All,

I'm currently at a crossroads with my current provider (Tagadab/SimplyCloud). I've been with them for several years and generally they're okay but recently I've had some support issues (which appear to be getting worse) and concerns about server performance and feel a change is needed.

I'm a web designer who is used as a hosting provider by many of my clients and agencies who I've built sites for (most are fairly straight forward, low traffic WordPress sites but I also host emails). I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to hosting but I can usually deal with 95% of the support queries that I receive from my clients however I like to have a managed service for those 5% of queries that are over my head and for keeping on top of updates etc.

I'd be interested to hear whether how much I'm paying is good value for money, I'm not concerned too much about cost (if I can save some money then great but no biggie if not or if I need to pay more) but if I'm overpaying it would be good to know.

My current setup is as follows (all fully managed, regular back-ups, Centos 7 running WHM/cPanel):

VPS Server 1
71 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
240GB Storage
150GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 2
76 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
325GB Storage
262GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 3
73 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
210GB Storage
150GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 4
75 accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
300GB Storage
367GB Bandwidth/month

The bandwidth cost is calculated on a pay as you go basis so it varies a little from month to month but in total I'm usually paying around £700-£800/month. I also pay for a separate CDN through Stackpath
(approx £40/month) for some sites where speed is a priority so a provider that can roll this in as well would be handy.

I've raised the performance question with my provider a few times about whether I would be better off with a dedicated server(s) or splitting the sites up more and have another VPS but they've been less than helpful.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

James

Sorry to hear about your experiences with your current provider.

Yes, CentOS 7 will reach the EOL soon so it is time to upgrade the OS also.

Splitting it into different data centers is also a good idea.

Are you using any control panel on those VPS? If so, getting a managed server from a decent provider would be more economical. Recent generation hardware can easily handle those websites.

You can also consider multiple reseller hosting accounts. Reseller accounts have a cost advantage, as they often come with various performance and stability centric software. On a dedicated server or VPS, you will have to pay for the software.

Originally Posted by MechanicWeb-shoss

Are you using any control panel on those VPS? If so, getting a managed server from a decent provider would be more economical. Recent generation hardware can easily handle those websites.

You can also consider multiple reseller hosting accounts. Reseller accounts have a cost advantage, as they often come with various performance and stability centric software. On a dedicated server or VPS, you will have to pay for the software.

The current control panel is just WHM/cPanel.

Originally Posted by jmdesign

Hi All,

I'm currently at a crossroads with my current provider (Tagadab/SimplyCloud). I've been with them for several years and generally they're okay but recently I've had some support issues (which appear to be getting worse) and concerns about server performance and feel a change is needed.

I'm a web designer who is used as a hosting provider by many of my clients and agencies who I've built sites for (most are fairly straight forward, low traffic WordPress sites but I also host emails). I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to hosting but I can usually deal with 95% of the support queries that I receive from my clients however I like to have a managed service for those 5% of queries that are over my head and for keeping on top of updates etc.

I'd be interested to hear whether how much I'm paying is good value for money, I'm not concerned too much about cost (if I can save some money then great but no biggie if not or if I need to pay more) but if I'm overpaying it would be good to know.

My current setup is as follows (all fully managed, regular back-ups, Centos 7 running WHM/cPanel):

VPS Server 1
71 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
240GB Storage
150GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 2
76 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
325GB Storage
262GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 3
73 Accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
210GB Storage
150GB Bandwidth/month

VPS Server 4
75 accounts
8 Cores
8GB Memory
300GB Storage
367GB Bandwidth/month

The bandwidth cost is calculated on a pay as you go basis so it varies a little from month to month but in total I'm usually paying around £700-£800/month. I also pay for a separate CDN through Stackpath
(approx £40/month) for some sites where speed is a priority so a provider that can roll this in as well would be handy.

I've raised the performance question with my provider a few times about whether I would be better off with a dedicated server(s) or splitting the sites up more and have another VPS but they've been less than helpful.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

James

If you split them up into more servers, keep in mind that you'd have to pay more for cPanel/WHM licensing.

~300 accounts can easily fit in one server as long as the hardware is good enough. What are your server specs (specifically the CPU)?

If you migrate all of your accounts to a powerful cpanel dedicated server, fully managed, you will probably pay less than the current bill. And if you add Cloudlinux, you will have the accounts isolated from each other for security concerns.

Originally Posted by NetDynamics LLC

If you migrate all of your accounts to a powerful cpanel dedicated server, fully managed, you will probably pay less than the current bill. And if you add Cloudlinux, you will have the accounts isolated from each other for security concerns.

Yes that setup sounds ideal, I did have CloudLinux with my previous provider and it was great however the current provider don't offer it as part of their service.

Originally Posted by jmdesign

Yes that setup sounds ideal, I did have CloudLinux with my previous provider and it was great however the current provider don't offer it as part of their service.

You can purchase each service from separate providers. For example:
1. Dedicated server from company A.
2. Management service from company B.
3. Cloudlinux license from company C.
4. Remote backups from company D.
5. cpanel license from company E (by the way, you may find better cpanel pricing from your dedicated server provider if they have internal cpanel pricing).
6. domain names from company F.

It's better that way so you can have less problems if any of the above providers face issues. Also, that way you may find better prices for each service and thus smaller bills per month.

Originally Posted by NetDynamics LLC

You can purchase each service from separate providers. For example:
1. Dedicated server from company A.
2. Management service from company B.
3. Cloudlinux license from company C.
4. Remote backups from company D.
5. cpanel license from company E (by the way, you may find better cpanel pricing from your dedicated server provider if they have internal cpanel pricing).
6. domain names from company F.

It's better that way so you can have less problems if any of the above providers face issues. Also, that way you may find better prices for each service and thus smaller bills per month.

Thanks for the reply, I can see the benefit of not having all your eggs in one basket but I can also see the downside of things going wrong and one provider blaming the other plus the amount of time it will take to research and then setup/configure each option (which I just don't have).

I always keep my domains separate and have a separate AWS back-up server but happy for everything else to be handled by just one provider.

Originally Posted by jmdesign

Thanks for the reply, I can see the benefit of not having all your eggs in one basket but I can also see the downside of things going wrong and one provider blaming the other plus the amount of time it will take to research and then setup/configure each option (which I just don't have).

I always keep my domains separate and have a separate AWS back-up server but happy for everything else to be handled by just one provider.

Then you need a fully managed server, with internal cpanel pricing (less than the official price) and a CL license.

You could cut costs by hosting all of the accounts on 1 or 2 powerful dedicated servers. Sure, need to pay the cost for cPanel and CloudLinux but should end up costing much less and less maintenance involved too. Also, if using 1 to 2 powerful dedicated servers you would have plenty of resources to keep adding new clients.

Thanks for the replies everyone, it's all very helpful.

Co-incidently I did originaly have a single dedicated server hosting all those sites (well at the time it was probably around 250 accounts) but was persuaded by my current provider to change this for a multiple cloud VPS setup instead.

Are there any recommendations for a good size server provider (so support is easily reachable) that provide decent dedicated servers?

Originally Posted by jmdesign

Thanks for the replies everyone, it's all very helpful.

Co-incidently I did originaly have a single dedicated server hosting all those sites (well at the time it was probably around 250 accounts) but was persuaded by my current provider to change this for a multiple cloud VPS setup instead.

Are there any recommendations for a good size server provider (so support is easily reachable) that provide decent dedicated servers?

*None* of your usage screams anything crazy, but it is good to have redundancy. If you have a service impacting issue, having things split between several servers does mean that not all of your client base would be impacted.

Price wise your current budget fits you in a wide range of services. I'd recommend leaving yourself room for expansion and getting two slightly larger dedicated servers, and combine the 4 into 2.

Originally Posted by DanielP

*None* of your usage screams anything crazy, but it is good to have redundancy. If you have a service impacting issue, having things split between several servers does mean that not all of your client base would be impacted.

Price wise your current budget fits you in a wide range of services. I'd recommend leaving yourself room for expansion and getting two slightly larger dedicated servers, and combine the 4 into 2.

I would have to agree with Daniel on this.
Another way to cut some costs depending on if you are tied to the panel or not is using something like Direct Admin. However with your amount of accounts two dedicated servers with either DA or Cpanel would be a great option. The nice part about this as well is there are less systems to manage cutting that from 4 into 2.

Centos as others said is ending life soon and it's best to make a good ahead of time. This is a prefect time to upgrade.
Regarding your budget good job it's nice to see a solid budget that should cover you quite well for a pair of pretty decent systems and support.