Hi,

At the moment my site is on shared hosting and I will very soon need a dedicated server as I am expecting a traffic increase and I am using a lot of space and bandwidth. I run an MP3 download site (not fully launched yet), the MP3's are encoded at 192kb so an album could take up 60-100MB depending on length.

I am looking for a good company to go with (preferably in the UK), at the moment the best I have found is http://www.supanames.co.uk/index.php?page=dedicated. any others you would recommend? or any experiences with supanames?

Right first off, I am completly new to this and have never used a dedicated server, ideally I would have liked some experience but it does not look like this is an option as I will quickly out grow my shared hosting. I want something that is already setup with Linux, apache, an ftp server, a mail server, mysql, so on so on, as I wouldn't really know how to do this. I would also want it to be pretty much 'looked after' by the hosting company, with regards to security and so on, and reliable support staff if needed.

I need to be able to upgradeas and when the site expands, mainly the bandwidth and disc space but RAM and CPU will also be important in the future.

As I said, I have no experience with dedicated servers so I really don't know what to expect, would it be 'easy' (by this I don't mean just a few clicks, I mean fairly straightfoward/common sense) for me to get my site up and running?

It does not seem that shared hosting will be good for me much longer, but is there anything else you would recommend? I have looked at VPS but they all seem to have fairly low discspace and bandwidth, the minimum I would want to START with is 40-60GB HD and 20-30GB B/W. Any recommendations?

You help is appreciated, I am a newbie to this so please be easy on me!
Simon

If you are very much experienced with servers then it doesn't really matter who you go with - they are all the same (except for price) if you know what you are doing.

As you have limited experience of a dedicated server you are probably better off going with one of the smaller independent hosters rather than a mainstream name. The reason for this is that you are more likely to be a welcome new customer rather than just another ticket order number to process....

With a dedicated server you are pretty much on your own. Screw up an install and you have to sort it out yourself or be at the mercy of the support team. If you are worried about software installs and security patches and stuff then you may want to consider a managed dedicated server. However, you have to pay more for that.

A few I can recommend are:

www.dedipower.co.uk
www.servercity.co.uk
www.poundhost.co.uk

I'm just about to move from the first to the last one on that list. Dedipower have been great for service over the years but they just don't offer value for money for me anymore.

I only have enquiry experience with Servercity. They seem a good bunch. Had some good reports about them. Prices are reasonable.

Poundhost look outstanding. Amazing specs, and prices. From what I can gather they offer good service too.

Yes no experience, if you was to loose the operating system, for example server hacked you will have to pay to have it re-installed. Maybe £49 not sure no prices.. also 256mb is not going to be very good. At the least 512MB

20 GB monthly data transfer; you get more than that on shared.. what is the price to upgrade bandwidth find out, by contacting them

Thanks for your responses. I will check out the sites you have mentioned, I saw PoundHost mentioned in another post. They seem very good but the website looks a little ameturish, I know this doesn't mean anything though.

Duport, 20GB is the MINIMUM, that I would want it to start with. I know my current host can give me extra bandwidth but not extra discspace, I don't know why though. At the moment I keep getting errors saying that the device is full, but they assure me that it is not!

Thanks, but I'm only really looking at UK companies for the time being. I want to be able to easily phone them and visit their premisis if need be.

But thanks for the offer
Simon

If you are going to use only 20-30GB bandwidth, I suggest that you hold back your plans to upgrade to a dedicated server. A reseller or VPS will serve you better as you will be leaving the managing of the server to the web host. Using a VPS will allow you to get the hang of running a dedicated server.

Hi All,

Just noticed this post in my weblogs - never noticed this board before! I mostly frequent WHC and WHT.

It's always nice to be recommended and I'm happy to help if anyone needs any info on our company or any others in the UK market. I hope to be able to contribute to this board more in the future.

Cheers,

If you decide to go with a U.S. server, I would recommend MindLash and Xanthion.

http://xanthion.com/sub.php?f=dedicatedhosting
Xanthion has some very good prices, and the support is pretty good as well.

http://www.mindlash.com/servers.php
Mindlash on the other hand is a little bit more on the expensive side, but the tech support is the best I have ever seen.

Both offer managed dedicated servers.

Also, if you decide to go with a non-managed server, I know someone that will do anything and everything to make sure your server is secure and up-to-date. Just shoot me a PM if you decide to go that route. I know he works on at least 10 different servers for people at the moment. Including the server I'm currently on. (My host is a 30 year old friend that pays monthly for 4 un-managed dedicated servers.)

Again, 20-30GB bandwidth is the very minimum that I will be able to start with as the traffic is expected to grow exponentially due to the way we market it.

What I have noticed about VPS is that many do not seem to offer large amounts od disc space, I realise that it has to be shared between however many people are on the server but it looks like I would out grow one of the fairly quickly due to this. I will enquire about some though and see what I can find out.

So, what exactly is involved with the day to day running of your own server?

tgmjr - thanks for the links, I'll have a look.

I may well get in contact with you regarding this person you know but ideally I would want to keep it in the company, if not then going with a managed server even though the costs are higher.

You must have posted at the same time as me.

No problem man. I aim to help whoever I can.

As far as the guy goes, I'm not exactly sure how much he charges, so the total price of the server and his services per month may average out the same as having a managed server through the actual company.

I'll try to get some information for you, and see if he wouldn't mind you contacting him.

Ideal mate. Looj foward to it.

Simon