Suggestions for a server

[Markos]

Now, i have a community on a forum hoster like Proboards. It's very big, over 100k members and an average of 300 users online. I want to move on an indipendent host, of a server. I have a tecnical expert for the server maintenance, i need advice on choice of a a good hoster (managed, of course).

I will use Wordpress for a cms and Xenforo for forum.

Now, what are the most important parametres for choice a good host for a community? Note that my forum is very busy, but the website on Wordpress is new -> very low traffic. I see that Xenforo is less server intensive that Vbulletin+Vbseo.

I have asked help on a friend that has suggested me the "minimal requirement" for a server of a big community:
A Intel Dual Core at least
4 gb of ram (minimum)
100 gb of first hd
100 gb of 2° hd (for backup).

I see that many hoster offer in the standard plan offers a good cpu but a "little" ram and another offer a worst cpu with a great ram...what more important? What's the difference between raid 1 and raid 2 of hd?

 

[Slavik]

I have always found 1and1 to be fantastic hosts. It depends what you are willing to budget for and if you have any preferences.

Likewise, it also depends how you configure your server to how much you get out of it, for example, having 4gb ram is fine, but if you don't set up to utilise it, it goes to waste.

I would look at going quad core with 4-8gb of ram, make sure you set your threading options in mysql.

Raid wise, raid 1 crates an exact copy of your data onto a second hard drive for redundancy, cheap and cheerful system of preventing data loss due to drive failure.

Raid 2 is no longer in use... afaik I haven't seen someone fofer raid2 for a LONG time. More comonly used is raid 5 which requires 3 hard drives and stripes the data across all of them, so if one drive fails it can be replaced and the data rebuilt onto it.

 

[Shamil]

I can't really add anything to what Slavik said.

 

[AdamD]

Yea, it really depends on your budget, to be honest.
I personally wouldn't go for 1&1, to many bad reviews out there.
If you want managed, there's several good hosts in the USA, like Liquidweb, but they are pricey.

 

[hescominsoon]

if you have a technical expert do you really need a fully managed host? You can save big by renting a root server(which is managed by yourself) if you technical expert is fully cognizant about updates, backups and tuning. go quad core at least. 4-8 gigs of ram with a 64 bit operating system. 10k or 15k SAS drives in RAID1(if you have 4 or more disks then use RAID 10(NOT 01). Ensure the RAID is true hardware raid and not fakeraid.

 

[Markos]

Thank you for all replies.
My budget is 150/200$ a month. I need a good service, possible not too expensive (i'm checking the housing solution of Servint and Hostgator). I'm looking also to a solution for automatic backup of my website (i need at least a daily backup)...

if you have a technical expert do you really need a fully managed host?

Good point, but because this collaborator helps me on his free time, i prefer for the safety of my community to have another help if i have issues/problems...for a fast resolution.

 

[AdamD]

You could get a nice server from Liquidweb for about $220 (fully managed and including whm/cpanel)

This is one of their current offers:

AMD Phenom X6-1055T HEXA CORE (up to 3.2GHZ with Turbo Core technology) Special

• Memory: 8GB RAM
• Primary Drive: 2 x 250GB SATA RAID 1
• Secondary Drive: 250GB
• Bandwidth: 6000GB Monthly Transfer (3000 in + 3000 out)
• Add Windows for only $20
• Go Fully Managed with cPanel/WHM for only $20 more per month!
• Monthly Fee: $199/mon with $0 Setup Fee
• Order now! or see more configurations.

 

[Blandt]

Thank you for all replies.
My budget is 150/200$ a month. I need a good service, possible not too expensive .

Have you considered the cloud ? <Yes it's me again pushing for the cloud >

Rackspace is my recommendation ... you can have what you need for less than $120/month

 

[maidos]

http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq4
i7 for 49 euro per motnh. german server but the company has good reputation and are known to be strict regarding illegal content so their network are clean

another interesting offer from them are the intel 6 cores which retail cost 1000 usd offer 109 euro per month for the dedicated server
http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq10

 

[Markos]

Have you considered the cloud ? <Yes it's me again pushing for the cloud

What's the difference between a server and a cloud? I intend the *pratical* difference.

 

[Blandt]

What's the difference between a server and a cloud? I intend the *pratical* difference.

practically there is no difference .. technically .. that's another story

 

[Markos]

If i have right intended, with a cloud is easier to upgrade your resources? But it seems that there are not a big difference with a vps...

 

[Blandt]

If i have right intended, with a cloud is easier to upgrade your resources? But it seems that there are not a big difference with a vps...

with the cloud you are pooling several server resources together ... VPS is splitting 1 server resources into small virtual servers.... VPS is physically located at one server (the cloud is spread across several servers)
At the end both are virtual servers

But the deal linked by Maidos looks sweet ... Personally though, I prefer US companies

 

[Shamil]

Yea, it really depends on your budget, to be honest.
I personally wouldn't go for 1&1, to many bad reviews out there.
If you want managed, there's several good hosts in the USA, like Liquidweb, but they are pricey.

Like this: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1032563 ?

 

[Slavik]

I just don't get it with 1and1... in the 8 years i've been with them I have never had anything like this happen to me, infact quite the opposite as I state here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/1and1-another-thumbs-up.13440/

Yet I hear other people complain about them LR+C ... but every person I have refered to them also say how amazing they are.

*shrug*

 

[AdamD]

http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq4
i7 for 49 euro per motnh. german server but the company has good reputation and are known to be strict regarding illegal content so their network are clean

another interesting offer from them are the intel 6 cores which retail cost 1000 usd offer 109 euro per month for the dedicated server
http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq10

Except, he wants a managed service and Hetzner servers aren't managed. (they do have a "managed servers" section, but it's very vague as to what that actually encompasses)
Hetzner IS good though, they seem to have had a rough ride in the past, but they are improving.

 

[maidos]

webbycart can accomodate that part as they harden, optimize and help you installng third party script for 35 usd per month

http://www.webbycart.com/
i tried them before, recommended since they respond very quickly

 

[Markos]

Thank you all...i think i choice an european host, because my userbase is italian (but not italian host...our "bandwith" it too pricey!)...or maybe an US host with a cdn for a faster site...

What suggest me for the web server? I have readed that Apache is a "eater of resources" and many user suggest to use ngninx and LiteSpeed.

 

[Slavik]

Look into cherokee, i've been testing it as of late and find it very good.

 

[maidos]

for me personally i run only apache but its very optimized, my site(s) attracts 200 000 daily visitors and apache does it good as long as you optimize it correctly. i just use ssd to store the database and everything else on traditional hdd, and nothing more and server load goes 0.60 0.54 0.78

i also use memcache so it consumes 1gb which is not alot, got 16gb ram

I had nginx before but ran into so much problem with the random downtime and the gateway error, for me i had hard time pinpointing the issue so i went back to apache and never looked back