Need to upgrade to a dedicated server.

[gatorgrad]

Question... kind of a big one I guess.

I've outgrown my current Hosting set up. 20GB storage, 195GB bandwith and I'm using nearly all my bandwith the past two months (thank God Feb. is a short month.) and on top of that my sites are starting to really slow down during peak hours. I'm gonna have to upgraded.

Question is.. what do I need to learn in order to run a dedicated server.

I know nearly all dedicated servers are unmanaged. what will I need to do to "maintain" my server and keep it secure.

I'm not a newbie to domaining but I am a newbie to dedicated hosting.. so I'd really appreciate your advice!!

[JRBHosting]

You will need to know about *NIX management, cPanel (or whatever control panel you use) root administration, and other things.

[GeorgeK]

There are lots of managed dedicated servers out there (e.g. theplanet.com).

[typist]

You should learn the basics about cpanel, but it's not impossible to do it "on the job".

I'd suggest you find a reasonably priced unmanaged server with the features you need (cpu power, ram, peak network interface throughput, uptime eg. harddisk redundancy, etc), add off-site backup, and finally find a different company to monitor and run your server.

my suggestions (not affilitated in any way, but I've recently evaluated a similar setup):

get a Celeron 1.7 for 49$/month or if you need more cpu a Pentium 4 2.4 for 65$/mo, both with 1 gb ram:

https://www.dedicatednow.com/closeouts.php

Add cpanel for 20$, and only if needed also a faster nic and more disk. The fortress itx datacenter in NJ is among the best imho (I've had my sites there for years).

Ask http://www.platinumservermanagement.com/ if they will migrate your sites for you. Normally this shouldn't be a problem, but you can also do it yourself.

For 29$ a month they'll proactively monitor your server (and reboot it if it goes down), manage it according to your instructions (including installation of sw from cpanel and normal maintenance), and restore everything from backup if anything should go wrong.

Before you shut down your old Hosting account, find an off-site backup provider, like http://rsync.net/ or the new amazon storage service and get your server management guys to set it up.

[Raider]

Assuming the content on the server is non Adult, from what it sounds, you dont need a dedicated server, you can find a shared server from a host provider that only has a few clients on each server, one that doesnt overload them, and you can customize how much storage you want. If you go dedicated, there are hosts that will manage them, just look around and make sure you find one in your area, there are some dishonest hosts out there that can easily take advantage of the situation.

[jdk]

Feel free to contact me as I may have enough space on one of my many dedicated servers I managed to create a custom plan for you.

[JRBHosting]

I fell victim to the same scenario that RaiderGirl describes...now I am out thousands of dollars worth of data due to it.

Live and learn. Then sue

Jason

[jdk]

Whatever you do, DO NOT go with Hosting off of eBay. (No offense if someone legitimate from here advertises there). I fell victim to this once. You get those "unlimited" plans for $5/mo. Well these hosts put THOUSANDS of clients on these servers causing major problems and a lot of downtime. After a few months of chargebacks and complaints, they simply close down shop and start it up under a different name. This is why you should never go into a hosting plan paying for the year up front, unless the company is known or you have been with them for a while.

[turner67]

i wouldn't get a ded. just go with either a VPS or a nice shared plan where they limited the plan to no more than 5 users

[Acro]

Shared Hosting is bad for high traffic web sites.

I use Softlayer.com for my hosted sites and I highly recommend them.

[tonyfloyd]

check out hostgator....ive been using them and very pleased since my switch over to them......see my sig....

tony

[Raider]

I'd like to know if this is a adult site or not?...You have fewer options if it is.

[turner67]

To the thread starter you can find decent priced managed dedi's if that's what you need.