This post has been guest blogged by Sarah Scrafford who regularly writes on the topic of best web design degree also she invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries.
When you’re a newbie on the Web and bound by tight purse strings, shared hosting is the only option that seems friendly enough. And so you put up your site, invest in a few marketing tactics, and get your readership up to profitable and satisfactory levels. All of a sudden a shared host seems to be inadequate for your needs and you’re urged to contemplate an upgrade to a virtual private server (VPS). There are two major reasons why the move from shared hosting to VPS takes place:
When site traffic starts to surge:
It’s a good thing, no doubt, when the traffic to your site starts pouring in. You’re gaining in popularity, but your shared host will most likely not be able to keep up with the number of visitors you’re getting. This is because you’re sharing bandwidth and storage space with the rest of your compatriots the server, and your readers are going to find the going slow when they try to access your page. Moving to a virtual private server will guarantee you fixed bandwidth and memory space, advantages that come with a dedicated server, but without the associated costs.
When your site faces one too many outages:
Even if the traffic to your site is not too heavy, there are times when you find your site down more often than you’d like. This is because of some underlying fault with your web host or because the sites that share space with you on the server are hogging all the bandwidth available. This calls for a move to another shared host or a virtual private server. Moving to another shared server is akin to jumping from the fire into the frying pan, so you’re better off shopping around for a good virtual private host.
When you need to send out an unspecified number of emails in a short time:
Most shared hosting services allow you to send only a limited number of emails within an hour, so if your needs exceed this number, you’re going to need to upgrade to VPS.
To Move
To make the move from shared hosting to a virtual private server as seamless and painless as possible, there are a few things you need to ensure:
That you have the same control panel as in your shared host:
This is to make sure that you don’t have to get accustomed to a completely different environment from the one you’re used to.
That you have enough memory to suit your needs:
While a VPS offers you segregated memory; you still have to make sure that the capacity is enough to meet the traffic (both present and future) needs of your site.
That you know how to set things up:
Especially if you choose to go with a Unix or Linux-based host. You must know at least a few basic commands that will allow you to configure and optimize your site.
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