Originally Posted by fryman

Anyway, the way I found out I needed to move over to a VPS was when I started to get kicked out of shared hosting networks because my sites were using too many resources, hehe

same for me.

In my opinion, you only need a dedicated server when you need one, if that makes sense lol.

My sites are really low bandwith consumers, so I haven't had the need to get a ded

I got two dedicated servers but they are in my home. I only have two class C IP's so maybe that's where I lack but I have both replicating data to each other so I sleep better knowing if something fails it's up to me not some hosting site to bring me back up. I have a sever trust issue putting my daily dollars in the hands of someone else. I do like the multiple class C idea however. That's probably the one weakness I do have. Advantages are that I already pay for the bandwidth, converting to business gets me priority support and no flack from the provider. Plus when I want to screw around with domain names etc I don't pay extra. ( I imagine you don't with a dedicated hosting server either.) I just like that my business is all on me and (fingers crossed) my DSL provider. I am considering moving some to a dedicated just because then if I want to move to the boondocks I don't have to worry about connectivity. Good luck in your ventures all.

John

i have a vps hosting right now and on monday my server almost crashed due to a lot of active processes. i am allowed to have upto 400 processes and the next plan allows upto 500 which is not that much. i know that a move to a dedicated box is in the works for me in the near future based on that. i am also almost reaching my bandwith quota of 150 GB / month with one of my sites doing around 5GB/day

Originally Posted by ltn1dr

In my opinion, you only need a dedicated server when you need one, if that makes sense lol.

My sites are really low bandwith consumers, so I haven't had the need to get a ded

I agree... MANY sites can get by with using shared hosting... and still rake in the dough!

Originally Posted by Andreas Bard

When you see that your hosting account barelly can not handle your site anymore (your host will probably tell you also)
//Andreas

This is every true, it happened to me twice and both times they suspended my account immediately which can be very frustrating, since it ALWAYS happens at the worst time

So I too would say if you make $150-$200, it's time to go dedicated and hopefully you won't see one of these: "We've suspended your site untill we hear back from you."

Originally Posted by BitMite

This is every true, it happened to me twice and both times they suspended my account immediately which can be very frustrating, since it ALWAYS happens at the worst time

So I too would say if you make $150-$200, it's time to go dedicated and hopefully you won't see one of these: "We've suspended your site untill we hear back from you."

*LOL* yea right i have several sites running off of 1 shared host account and i make 200 daily off of it don't get anywhere close to using the resources of the server best part only cost me 15 month hosting

Originally Posted by xboxundone

*LOL* yea right i have several sites running off of 1 shared host account and i make 200 daily off of it don't get anywhere close to using the resources of the server best part only cost me 15 month hosting

Depends on the site I guess, I use a little over 200gb a month in bandwidth and I don't think there's many dependable shared hosts that will accept that.

I agree with the people that say "wait until you need it".
Of course, it's Nice to have a dedicated server but very often it's not more than nice. So wait until you need it.

Before I got my first dedicated I calculated a little bit on money... And came up with this:

Let's say I make $200 per month, then I can afford a cheap dedicated server for about $80 per month easily. But my shared hosting is only $8 per month.

So do your math for one year:
Dedicated: ($200 - $80) * 12 = $1440
Shared: ($200 - $8) * 12 = $2304

$2304 - $1440 = $864
That's 60% more if you stick to your shared hosting (if you only make $200 per month).

Don't get me wrong, I don't want everyone to stick to their shared hosting for ever. But think about it if you really need it and if it's worth the money.

I waited until I made a steady $500 per month before I got my self a dedicated server. And then the fees didn't eat up to much of my money :-)

when im ready for a dedicated server i will get one in $300 range which will allow me to easily have a site with 20k / uniques per day i dont see a point for me to move several times from vps to vps to a budget dedicated and so on.

Another thing that is good with waiting and not jump between lots of shared hosts -> VPSs -> dedicated is the IP changes.
Google likes it if you are on the same IP for a longer time and don't jump around.

I have a couple of dedicated boxes - it's just nice to be in control - I can setup a site in 5 minutes - from registration at GoDaddy to being "live" - I pay a little extra to have them managed - so, it's like having a personal IT staff on hand 24/7 too - I would never go back to shared hosting.

I would say that if you're running more than a dozen sites and/or you like to throw up landing pages or demo sites on a whim - a dedicated server is for you.

I moved to a VPS when my old host had went down the tubes! I decided I could afford split a VPS with a friend, and it has been pretty good thus far.

well.
when you have loads of traffic and revenue to move to dedicated hosting then.
It takes a lot of time these days. but its obviously great for any admins.

Originally Posted by beer234

I got two dedicated servers but they are in my home. I only have two class C IP's so maybe that's where I lack but I have both replicating data to each other so I sleep better knowing if something fails it's up to me not some hosting site to bring me back up. I have a sever trust issue putting my daily dollars in the hands of someone else. I do like the multiple class C idea however. That's probably the one weakness I do have. Advantages are that I already pay for the bandwidth, converting to business gets me priority support and no flack from the provider. Plus when I want to screw around with domain names etc I don't pay extra. ( I imagine you don't with a dedicated hosting server either.) I just like that my business is all on me and (fingers crossed) my DSL provider. I am considering moving some to a dedicated just because then if I want to move to the boondocks I don't have to worry about connectivity. Good luck in your ventures all.

John

yeah, im like that too, i wouldn't trust the president himself with my sites :glare: i have my own server, i just love it because i can change what the server is running at any time, even OS(don't know if ded. can do that). Eventually though i will have to upgrade my DSL when my bandwidth gets too high

I'd say it strictly depends on the amount of traffic you think you will get at peak hours. Usually (unless you have a ridculous amount of traffic), shared hosting would suffice. But you don't want to have your site slow down to a crawl during peak hours.
Another issue is the complexity of your web site- if it is a pretty complex web application I'd say go with a dedicated server from day one- there might be paramaters that effect quality of service that can't be fully optimized on a shared hosting environment.

I got dedicated server with 5K uniques... But I own bandwith heavy site...