0ptima
Well-known member
@JonathanW if I pay month to month on a VPS-4 package, will I always get the 30% off as long as I am a customer?
KnownHost - Managed Hosting Services - !!75% Off Base Cost NVMe, VPS or Cloud!! - Perfect for any size XenForo deployment.
- Thread starter DanielP
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JonathanW
Well-known member
As long as you're on that product line, yes (MVPS-*) even through upgrades/downgrades. It would not translate over to say a dedicated server or shared hosting, for example.
tourmeister
Active member
I am in Texas (Huntsville) and run a motorcycle forum (XF2), and have two small static HTML sites.
twtex.com
sfriday.com
backroadmotorcycletours.com
All my DNS stuff is hosted at GoDaddy.
My forum has 21.5K users, mostly in Texas but also from all over the world. I have been sitting on a server that I own for the last 12 years. It has been trouble free thus far. Realizing that this is worse than dog years, I figured I needed to get onto something newer in case that server finally decided to start having issues. Thus, my move to Hostgator recently.
The VPS (Snappy 8000 plan) I am on with HostGator seems kind of slow to respond when submitting posts and loading pages. I am also having fits with them over email issues. They insist that users be given a double opt-in choice before I can send them emails via the normal forum functions. Here's the deal though, my email has been misconfigured for some years and I never knew because I wasn't doing the server admin stuff. As a result, MANY users were not getting emails, especially new users. So once I get the email setup, I need to be able to do a mass mailing to let my users know that we are still here and to come check out the recently upgraded forum (from vB to XF). Hostgator did NOT like it when I tried to do that. They shut me down without warning even though I told them what I was doing and why. They did eventually bring the site back, but now my SSL is messed up
What kind of deal do you have, VPS or dedicated, that you would recommend for a site like mine that would also allow for growth and give good performance?
Is having thousands of outbound emails per day a problem? Is mass mailing REGISTERED users a problem? Would you be able to help me get my email setup so that it complies with relevant standards?
The VPS plan I have at Hostgator has WHM and cPanel on the server. That lets me use the AutoSSL stuff in WHM to secure my sites at no extra cost. Would your service have something similar?
My current VPS has three IPs, one shared and two dedicated. The forum has a dedicated address, the other two domains are on a shared IP. Could I do something similar with you?
Do you provide any kind of server to server migration service? Or would I have to backup my database, download everything, then do a longggg upload to get everything on a server with you?
Switching from Hostgator could potentially cost me several thousand dollars if they choose not to do a prorated refund, which they say they don't do. I am only 6 months in to a three year VPS plan. But... I am getting desperate. I also like the idea of supporting a Texas business. I wish I had known about you before I signed on with Hostgator.
twtex.com
sfriday.com
backroadmotorcycletours.com
All my DNS stuff is hosted at GoDaddy.
My forum has 21.5K users, mostly in Texas but also from all over the world. I have been sitting on a server that I own for the last 12 years. It has been trouble free thus far. Realizing that this is worse than dog years, I figured I needed to get onto something newer in case that server finally decided to start having issues. Thus, my move to Hostgator recently.
The VPS (Snappy 8000 plan) I am on with HostGator seems kind of slow to respond when submitting posts and loading pages. I am also having fits with them over email issues. They insist that users be given a double opt-in choice before I can send them emails via the normal forum functions. Here's the deal though, my email has been misconfigured for some years and I never knew because I wasn't doing the server admin stuff. As a result, MANY users were not getting emails, especially new users. So once I get the email setup, I need to be able to do a mass mailing to let my users know that we are still here and to come check out the recently upgraded forum (from vB to XF). Hostgator did NOT like it when I tried to do that. They shut me down without warning even though I told them what I was doing and why. They did eventually bring the site back, but now my SSL is messed up
What kind of deal do you have, VPS or dedicated, that you would recommend for a site like mine that would also allow for growth and give good performance?
Is having thousands of outbound emails per day a problem? Is mass mailing REGISTERED users a problem? Would you be able to help me get my email setup so that it complies with relevant standards?
The VPS plan I have at Hostgator has WHM and cPanel on the server. That lets me use the AutoSSL stuff in WHM to secure my sites at no extra cost. Would your service have something similar?
My current VPS has three IPs, one shared and two dedicated. The forum has a dedicated address, the other two domains are on a shared IP. Could I do something similar with you?
Do you provide any kind of server to server migration service? Or would I have to backup my database, download everything, then do a longggg upload to get everything on a server with you?
Switching from Hostgator could potentially cost me several thousand dollars if they choose not to do a prorated refund, which they say they don't do. I am only 6 months in to a three year VPS plan. But... I am getting desperate. I also like the idea of supporting a Texas business. I wish I had known about you before I signed on with Hostgator.
JonathanW
Well-known member
Hey! I'm going to try to address each question individually. If I miss any let me know!
Do you know anything about your current resource usage? Having this would help a great deal as you may not need that much. You might be far better off by dropping down a little on resources and adding Litespeed webserver, for example. I bet a good starting point for you would be something like the MVPS-3 from https://www.knownhost.com/managed-vps.html or Cloud-2 from https://www.knownhost.com/managed-cloud-kvm-vps.html.
This shouldn't be an issue.
Yep, cPanel with AutoSSL from us as well.
Sure, by default a VPS will come with 2 IPs and additional IPs are only $1/mo/each.
Since you're coming from a cPanel server we'll handle 100% of it - you just have to make the necessary DNS changes (update IPs on the registered NS at GoDaddy). If you transfer the domain to us we can even do this for you.
For full-transparency, our main office is in Birmingham, AL but we do have a datacenter in Dallas so most of your users should see slightly lower latency to Dallas as opposed to Utah where HG's servers are.
If you'd like me to take a closer look at your current resource usage shoot a ticket over to sales@knownhost.com and ask for me. I'll need to get your server login details from ya so I can login and see what's actually needed.
Do you know anything about your current resource usage? Having this would help a great deal as you may not need that much. You might be far better off by dropping down a little on resources and adding Litespeed webserver, for example. I bet a good starting point for you would be something like the MVPS-3 from https://www.knownhost.com/managed-vps.html or Cloud-2 from https://www.knownhost.com/managed-cloud-kvm-vps.html.
This shouldn't be an issue.
Yep, cPanel with AutoSSL from us as well.
Sure, by default a VPS will come with 2 IPs and additional IPs are only $1/mo/each.
Since you're coming from a cPanel server we'll handle 100% of it - you just have to make the necessary DNS changes (update IPs on the registered NS at GoDaddy). If you transfer the domain to us we can even do this for you.
For full-transparency, our main office is in Birmingham, AL but we do have a datacenter in Dallas so most of your users should see slightly lower latency to Dallas as opposed to Utah where HG's servers are.
If you'd like me to take a closer look at your current resource usage shoot a ticket over to sales@knownhost.com and ask for me. I'll need to get your server login details from ya so I can login and see what's actually needed.
tourmeister
Active member
Current resource usage is not really good indicator. I used to run 2500-3000 users a day on the site on average, anywhere from 500-1000 new posts per day, and around 5-10 new users per day. Then, the email issues started a few years ago, unknown to me, and those numbers all started dropping. Now I get maybe 400-500 users per day, 50-100 new posts per day, and maybe 1-2 new users every few days. Many of the users that still visit the site tell me they don't get emails.
Part of my goal is to get the email working so I can reestablish contact with users that may not have been on the site in a long time because of the email issues. So hopefully, the numbers will start going back up again to where they were before and the site will begin growing again. I use G Suite for all my email other than for the outbound emails from the forum itself.
Current size of the install is around 20GB (after 15 years of being online). That will likely start growing as well because I have made changes to how we use attachments. I previously limited attachments to 640 X 480 and five per post, which tended to make people use external image linking for things like ride reports. However, because XF makes using attachments so freaking easy, I have upped the max size to 1600 X 1600 with no limits on the number per post. I am also running an Add-On that converts ALL old links and new linked images to attachments as soon as they are posted. This way I never have to worry about dead links in ride reports. So my disk space usage will go up compared to what it has been.
So no double opt in nonsense?
Excellent.
Also excellent!
Well, I have a couple years to go with GoDaddy on the domain hosting stuff and so far they have been good for that. So I'll leave that be for now.
Well, Alabama is one of the few other places I have lived ;-) Jacksonville, near Anniston.
I ride an 07 BMW R1200 GS and a 2010 KTM 530 EXC. The bike forum is Two Wheeled Texans (www.twtex.com). It has been up and running for almost 16 years (will be 16 in Feb).
JonathanW
Well-known member
Correct on the emails/opt-in stuff.
In that case an MVPS-4 or Cloud-3 will basically be equivalent to what you have now (on paper). I can guarantee we can get your site running way better than it does now for sure. I'm a bit of an XF fanatic myself so I'll be overseeing everything our staff do for you
I still strongly believe dropping CPU/RAM a little and using the money saved to add Litespeed would benefit you greatly. I helped @Jaxel a bit back in https://xenforo.com/community/threa...-size-xenforo-deployment.147115/#post-1250051 and it worked out well for him
Either way the MVPS-* and Cloud-* lines are very flexible and either can be upgraded pretty much instantly should more be needed, large spikes, etc. We have unlisted plans on each (MVPS-5 and Cloud-4) to stretch them farther than the advertised plans.
We will also make sure your email is setup and working properly! One thing I would recommend is go easy at first on the emails to build up the IP's reputation. Perhaps wait a month before sending your "we're still here" blast to everyone. That will give Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook/etc. time to realize that mail traffic from your IP is legitimate based on the normal transactional XF mails and not just block it early on for seeing a huge volume increase out of nowhere when you email everyone at once.
In that case an MVPS-4 or Cloud-3 will basically be equivalent to what you have now (on paper). I can guarantee we can get your site running way better than it does now for sure. I'm a bit of an XF fanatic myself so I'll be overseeing everything our staff do for you
I still strongly believe dropping CPU/RAM a little and using the money saved to add Litespeed would benefit you greatly. I helped @Jaxel a bit back in https://xenforo.com/community/threa...-size-xenforo-deployment.147115/#post-1250051 and it worked out well for him Either way the MVPS-* and Cloud-* lines are very flexible and either can be upgraded pretty much instantly should more be needed, large spikes, etc. We have unlisted plans on each (MVPS-5 and Cloud-4) to stretch them farther than the advertised plans.
We will also make sure your email is setup and working properly! One thing I would recommend is go easy at first on the emails to build up the IP's reputation. Perhaps wait a month before sending your "we're still here" blast to everyone. That will give Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook/etc. time to realize that mail traffic from your IP is legitimate based on the normal transactional XF mails and not just block it early on for seeing a huge volume increase out of nowhere when you email everyone at once.
Kevin
Well-known member
Is the West Chester location just a mailing drop then or do you guys have an office there as well? I used to work down there and was always tempted to drop by. (OK, dropping by would've been an excuse for me to drive thru town and stop off for some jambalaya from High St Cafe, but, still...
)
JonathanW
Well-known member
Is the West Chester location just a mailing drop then or do you guys have an office there as well? I used to work down there and was always tempted to drop by. (OK, dropping by would've been an excuse for me to drive thru town and stop off for some jambalaya from High St Cafe, but, still...
It's a mailbox. We have a few sales/billing staff that work out of a private unlisted office in PA.
If you're ever in AL you're more than welcome to drop by though!
tourmeister
Active member
I have to say, the difference between KnownHost and Hostgator is like night and day. I sure wish I had found these guys before I signed up with HG!!
The whole transfer process, from setting up my cloud server from scratch to the final transfer of all content from my old VPS at HG was very smooth. Downtime for my site to transfer the live database was maybe 10 minutes, if that. The difference in page load times was immediately noticeable and VERY dramatic. Even my users commented that the site was responding much faster. And this is before any performance tweaking has started. Jonathon has been a pleasure to work with.
The whole transfer process, from setting up my cloud server from scratch to the final transfer of all content from my old VPS at HG was very smooth. Downtime for my site to transfer the live database was maybe 10 minutes, if that. The difference in page load times was immediately noticeable and VERY dramatic. Even my users commented that the site was responding much faster. And this is before any performance tweaking has started. Jonathon has been a pleasure to work with.
Rusty Snippets
Well-known member
This thread has me very interested. I have a couple of domains that I just fiddle around with, personal stuff and learning. I've been with Lunarpages forever, but they seem to want more $$ to do anything. Like they want $75 to set up SSL, not including the cost of the cert!! I'm just a little guy, can't afford too much. So I was going to buy an extension to my Xenforo for the upgrades, but I can probably wait for that until next month, if I change hosts this month. I'm running a very new installation of 2.0, so waiting for 2.1 to come out would be fine for me.
How hard is it to set up the SSL?
Thanks!
How hard is it to set up the SSL?
Thanks!
JonathanW
Well-known member
That's ridiculous!
SSL setup is easy. In fact if you buy a cPanel server (or shared hosting) it's free and automatic (AutoSSL/LetsEncrypt)! Our support team will install a cert from you for free, or we have paid certs for only $30/yr which we'll also install at no extra cost!
Rusty Snippets
Well-known member
Chatting with Deborah now.................
Rusty Snippets
Well-known member
So I just placed an order for shared hosting. Woot woot!!
JonathanW
Well-known member
We are thrilled to have you!
Rusty Snippets
Well-known member
I gotta tell you, I'm right proud of myself tonight! I copied all of my files to the new host, created a database, imported tables from old database, updated the config.php, site finally propagated, and it works! Not one problem! Even the SSL worked! And yes, noticeably faster! Thanks again!
tourmeister
Active member
I've been switched over to KH since Jan 4. The change over process went incredibly smooth and fast. Since then, I have had to pester the tech support folks for various odds and end. Even when I have contacted them in the wee hours of the morning (midnight to 4:00am), they have been incredibly responsive and invariably have solved my issues in a very short time. They also seem to be very familiar with XF, so even when the issues have been XF related, they have been a great help. Most recently, they helped me get things setup right so that the Push Notification system in XF 2.1 works! That was another 2-3am problem
Rusty Snippets
Well-known member
Yep! The push notifications need the gmp extensions installed, they fixed me up within the hour!I've been switched over to KH since Jan 4. The change over process went incredibly smooth and fast. Since then, I have had to pester the tech support folks for various odds and end. Even when I have contacted them in the wee hours of the morning (midnight to 4:00am), they have been incredibly responsive and invariably have solved my issues in a very short time. They also seem to be very familiar with XF, so even when the issues have been XF related, they have been a great help. Most recently, they helped me get things setup right so that the Push Notification system in XF 2.1 works! That was another 2-3am problem
JonathanW
Well-known member
It will be in our default OS templates for VPSs shortly since we want to be as XF friendly as possible
Out of curiosity, where are your shared hosting servers located? I know you guys got the 4 locations (Baltimore, Dallas, Seattle, and Amsterdam), but I don't see if they're specific to what they host besides being able to choose from those 4 for a VPS. Also, I'm assuming the active SQL connection limit is prob 25ish, right? I don't ever hit it, but I thought I'd ask at least in case I do and need to move to a VPS in the future at that point.
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