I'm trying to decide between dedicated hosting and a VPS setup. Make sure I understand this correctly. In both cases, you can control your mysql connections, and you get all of them, so that won't change. The thing that changes between a VPS and a dedicated server is the amount of RAM and CPU that you are given, right?
Having said that, for a site that isn't media intensive (mostly flat page), how am I to gauge how much RAM/CPU I need, especially when the numbers for expected visitors is obviously throwing a dart at a board? Is there any general rule of thumb for how many page views/users/hits translates into xxx RAM/CPU requirements?
I understand this is a almost ridiculous question, as it is difficult to pinpoint something like this, but am I able to expect hundreds of users on a VPS? Thousands? 20? Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
--
Brett Evanson
HYPERLINK "mailto:brettev@gmail.com"brettev@gmail.com
No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.15/1249 - Release Date: 1/29/2008 9:51 AM
Actually it gets a bit more complicated. You're also likely sharing resources like ethernet connections, and still somewhat succeptible to what others are doing.
I also think that media intensive pages aren't going to be where you encounter issues when it comes to drupal. It's more likely going to be related to the requirements of the construction of the page.
One rather extreme example is a client who has seemingly fairly simple requirements and not a huge traffic load but certain elements on the page - for example drop-down menus for the entire site - cause a massive amount of database queries (1100/page) to load each page. Block caching (menus don't change often) and other techniques have reduced this number and helped, but because of the way drupal works it's still a heavy site - and that's with few images and next to no media. It's heavy on the database, a major shared resource.
In short, there's really no way to say that all sites with a certain set of requirements will work with a given solution. I never thought the site I'm speaking of would have these issues (granted it was my first drupal project and i had a lot to learn about the architecture at that point).
In general, drupal is a pretty hoggy system - if you have experience building java/jsp sites, spec your server out similarly to that. If you spec it like you would other php apps you'll probably be disappointed.
.s
Brett Evanson wrote:
I'm trying to decide between dedicated hosting and a VPS setup. Make sure I understand this correctly. In both cases, you can control your mysql connections, and you get all of them, so that won't change. The thing that changes between a VPS and a dedicated server is the amount of RAM and CPU that you are given, right?
Having said that, for a site that isn't media intensive (mostly flat page), how am I to gauge how much RAM/CPU I need, especially when the numbers for expected visitors is obviously throwing a dart at a board? Is there any general rule of thumb for how many page views/users/hits translates into xxx RAM/CPU requirements?
I understand this is a almost ridiculous question, as it is difficult to pinpoint something like this, but am I able to expect hundreds of users on a VPS? Thousands? 20? Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
--
Brett Evanson
brettev@gmail.com mailto:brettev@gmail.com
No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.15/1249 - Release Date: 1/29/2008 9:51 AM
My experience with a cpanel/whm based VPS is that 256 megs of ram is just barely enough for a cold install. I have been running on 512 meg system for over a year through asmallorange.com and have been very satisfied. Some would pooh pooh the use of a control panel for a VPS, but for me it makes life much easier. It does though cause some overhead that other systems do not have. I recently compared the server specs of ASO to Bryght and found that I was better sticking with where I am at. Though I will say that ASO is not going to be nearly as helpful with Drupal related stuff as Bryght would be. I like having the ability through ASO to rebuild Apache whenever some strange system requirement comes along. Over all it has been very stable. Occasionally you have the odd issue where someone else on the appliance is hogging disk time which causes server loads to rise, but other than that it is not a big deal. Unless you are planning for huge levels of traffic in the very short term I would start off with a VPS. I should also note that you can reduce the over head of your VPS by disabling services which may get you in under the 256 meg window for the cheaper VPS plan. Just my two cents!
Jamie
On Jan 29, 2008 1:18 PM, Brett Evanson brettev@gmail.com wrote:
I'm trying to decide between dedicated hosting and a VPS setup. Make sure I understand this correctly. In both cases, you can control your mysql connections, and you get all of them, so that won't change. The thing that changes between a VPS and a dedicated server is the amount of RAM and CPU that you are given, right?
Having said that, for a site that isn't media intensive (mostly flat page), how am I to gauge how much RAM/CPU I need, especially when the numbers for expected visitors is obviously throwing a dart at a board? Is there any general rule of thumb for how many page views/users/hits translates into xxx RAM/CPU requirements?
I understand this is a almost ridiculous question, as it is difficult to pinpoint something like this, but am I able to expect hundreds of users on a VPS? Thousands? 20? Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
--
Brett Evanson
brettev@gmail.com
No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.15/1249 - Release Date: 1/29/2008 9:51 AM
-- [ Drupal support list | http://lists.drupal.org/ ]
Thank you very much for your comment. This gives me somewhere to start.
--
Brett Evanson
HYPERLINK "mailto:brettev@gmail.com"brettev@gmail.com
From: support-bounces@drupal.org [mailto:support-bounces@drupal.org] On Behalf Of Jamie Meredith Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:22 PM To: support@drupal.org Subject: Re: [support] VPS/Dedicated hosting
My experience with a cpanel/whm based VPS is that 256 megs of ram is just barely enough for a cold install. I have been running on 512 meg system for over a year through HYPERLINK "http://asmallorange.com%22asmallorange.com and have been very satisfied. Some would pooh pooh the use of a control panel for a VPS, but for me it makes life much easier. It does though cause some overhead that other systems do not have. I recently compared the server specs of ASO to Bryght and found that I was better sticking with where I am at. Though I will say that ASO is not going to be nearly as helpful with Drupal related stuff as Bryght would be. I like having the ability through ASO to rebuild Apache whenever some strange system requirement comes along. Over all it has been very stable. Occasionally you have the odd issue where someone else on the appliance is hogging disk time which causes server loads to rise, but other than that it is not a big deal. Unless you are planning for huge levels of traffic in the very short term I would start off with a VPS. I should also note that you can reduce the over head of your VPS by disabling services which may get you in under the 256 meg window for the cheaper VPS plan. Just my two cents!
Jamie
On Jan 29, 2008 1:18 PM, Brett Evanson <HYPERLINK "mailto:brettev@gmail.com"brettev@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to decide between dedicated hosting and a VPS setup. Make sure I understand this correctly. In both cases, you can control your mysql connections, and you get all of them, so that won't change. The thing that changes between a VPS and a dedicated server is the amount of RAM and CPU that you are given, right?
Having said that, for a site that isn't media intensive (mostly flat page), how am I to gauge how much RAM/CPU I need, especially when the numbers for expected visitors is obviously throwing a dart at a board? Is there any general rule of thumb for how many page views/users/hits translates into xxx RAM/CPU requirements?
I understand this is a almost ridiculous question, as it is difficult to pinpoint something like this, but am I able to expect hundreds of users on a VPS? Thousands? 20? Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
--
Brett Evanson
HYPERLINK "mailto:brettev@gmail.com" \nbrettev@gmail.com
No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.15/1249 - Release Date: 1/29/2008 9:51 AM
-
Brett Evanson -
Jamie Meredith -
sander-martijn