[doconline]

I am just wondering if anyone has experience of these? I have 8 websites which are currently hosted on a reseller webhost package, easy to set up / administer with cPanel. However, I think it might be a better way to go with VPS, I am building more and more sites and this may solve my hosting problem.

How easy are they to set up and transfer my domains over?

Thanks in advance,
Paul

[openmind]

Do you know how to secure a server from attack?
Do you know how to patch a server?
Do you know the ins and outs of FTP, DNS etc?

If not, and a VPS is unmanaged, then you will have more problems, not less.

A VPS is effectively your own server, a chunk of the actual server several VPS systems reside on. Yes it will increase your resources but at the same time, unmanaged for you, could create more problems than it's worth so it should be carefully considered.

[RawRob]

You can get managed VPS services, and even semi-managed, which is what I have. I use a VPS for all my websites, it has cPanel and WHM installed so it was fairly easy to transfer my sites from another cPanel server.

It offers all the flexibility of a dedicated server but without the cost. But as Phil says, it does also mean you really need to know a little more about managing the server.

By the way Phil, do you offer VPS hosting?

Rob

[openmind]

Originally Posted by RawRob

By the way Phil, do you offer VPS hosting?

Rob

Not yet but it is a service I am hoping to launch shortly...

[mfleming]

I have a VPS from bytemark.co.uk who provide, in my experience, an excellent service. Their prices are competitive enough to make reseller accounts look a bit pointless. That said with a reseller account you do not have the hassle of backing up the server or applying any software updates/patches so think carefully about this.

The company I am contracted to host everything on Namesco reseller. All I have to do is backup a copy of the work and upload it and thats the end of it for me. However I suppose you will be relying on the hosting company to do the backups. With a VPS you can back up the whole machine easily with rsync or similar rather than ftp'ing into many individual accounts.

Bytemark have an interesting option to manage your VPS over FTP to make life much more easier without the licensing costs of plesk/cpanel etc and the hassle of command line over SSH (the way im doing it now )

http://src.bytemark.co.uk/trac/bytemark-vhost

[Kent Tiger]

I'd second Bytemark, their service is first rate, and I notice that they are now offering a dedicated server for £45/month which might well suit you. You also get DNS - ie control your own DNS on their servers, SMTP relay, backup space and their watchdog service to monitor your server. All their servers have serial console access, so in the event that you really screw things up, you can still get in to sort it out, even power cycling or re-imaging if necessary. Quite a difference to having to pay for someone in the data centre to do that for you.

But, and it's a big but, as Phil pointed out above, a lot of things suddenly become your responsibility. Their support is good and there is help in their forum, but if you get hacked it will be your problem.