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  #1  
08-19-2014, 03:12 PM
deez deez is offline
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I'm looking to move to a more stable and reliable VPS host.

So far i've used Knownhost, Ramnode, and Digital Ocean. I also have a separate Site5 VPS for one of my SaaS websites.

I have about 35 Wordpress sites on my current VPS, but most sites don't get a lot of traffic. The current load time for most of them is horrible at the moment, so I need to find something better. There are a handful of sites that I really care about, but the others not so much. Would it be better to separate them, or can 1 VPS handle them all?

What would be a good VPS host? And what resource levels would be recommend to host that many WP sites?

Is something reliable for <$60 that I can host all the sites on?
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  #2  
08-19-2014, 10:22 PM
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kpmedia kpmedia is offline
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I would assume you experiences with RamNode and Digital Ocean were lackluster.
- DigitalOcean is a terrible operation, and lies about being "cloud" hosting.
- RamNode is fine for what it is -- low-end budget VPS for non-essential purposes (development, etc), and not sites.

Knownhost was a decent choice for a VPS hosting sites (though they're only using Virtuozzo).

Question: What it is that caused you to look at a VPS to begin with?

Based on your usage, I would think that a reseller account would be a better fit. (Forget the "resell" part -- it's a multi-domain hosting plan. There's no rule that you must resell anything!)

The biggest issue with WordPress is that it needs caching. Without it, the site makes way too many PHP and MySQL calls, and slows down the site and affects a server (VPS or dedicated). Almost all plugins are created by fellow amateur coders, so the quality of those varies highly, and can again bog down a site. So the goal here is to use as few plugins as possible -- and especially avoid "related post" type plugins.

Question: How optimized have you made your sites?

If the sites are truly lean, then reseller really is ideal. If you've opted for resource-hog plugins, that a VPS with lots of RAM (2gb+) will be your only recourse.

You have several options here:

(1) Let somebody look at your sites and optimize them. Then they should be fine anywhere. (I'd do this for about $150 for 35 sites.)
(2) Look into Veerotech or Arvixe for reseller hosting.
(3) Look into another VPS.

Question: For the VPS, where are you?

There's several decent locations that I can suggest here -- everything from Europe (EuroVPS) to LiquidWeb (Phoenix) to locations in between.

I'll assume you want cPanel, and therefore 2gb is the ideal starting point for RAM for 35+ typical sites.

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  #3  
08-21-2014, 01:09 PM
deez deez is offline
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Thank you for the response and advice.

I initially had a Site5 reseller account, along with a Knownhost VPS, and merged them to save costs (but putting them on Ramnode was a big mistake - they were recommended and setup by a friend).

My goal was to move all the sites onto a VPS in order to increase performance and response/load times.

--

All my WP sites use a cache plugin, usually WP Super Cache, but it doesn't seem to performing very well. Do you have one that you recommend?

I also have noticed an ongoing problem with WP and security, such as bots trying to access wp-login/admin page. Do you have any security recommendations/plugins? I use Wordfence and BPS Security on almost all my sites to try to lock it down.

Any other plugins or tips for increasing WP performance?

I've also setup most of the sites on Cloudflare - is this recommended?

--

I'll probably need a US based server location, so EuroVPS might not be the best option. And for LiquidWeb, the 2gb plan runs $90+/mo which is probably out of my price range. Anything else you would suggest?

Last edited by deez; 08-21-2014 at 01:48 PM.
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  #4  
08-21-2014, 10:55 PM
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kpmedia kpmedia is offline
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Beware VPS myths!

A VPS does not necessarily have better/faster response times than a reseller account. That's a myth -- often one created and perpetuated by the VPS hosts, not actual independent tests or end users.

One of the benefits of "reseller" hosting -- again, really multi-domain hosting, resale not required -- is that you don't have to manage your own VPS.

If you've not yet read this, you really should
- The Myth of VPS Hosting: Reasons to Avoid It! Part 1
- The Myth of VPS Hosting: Reasons to Avoid It! Part 2

Best VPS hosts

If you're deadset of a VPS, then other exllent VPS hosting options include
- Arvixe
- WebhostingBuzz
- Namecheap
- Site5, which you already use for reseller hosting, so you should be familiar with them
- Veerotech
- Stablehost

Namecheap and Site5 have "no root" managed plans. The Site5 managed plan is a bit pricy, but you get what you pay for -- as you've apparently already discovered with Digital Ocean and RamNode.

The above hosts use Xen, KVM or Hyper-V, which are the best virtualization methods. You'll run into less issues. RamNode was an OpenVZ host, and OpenVZ can be a big PITA.

If you don't mind using a Virtuozzo host, then
- Knownhost, which you're already usede -- curious why you did not like them?
- WiredTree
- FutureHosting

In general, Virtuozzo (commercial OpenVZ) is not great, but these hosts do well to monitor their servers. Issues are therefore far and few between with them.

Half of our audience is USA, half Europe, and we use EuroVPS -- no complaints on either continent, as far as site speed goes.

Reseller hosting = might be ideal


Unless you're doing something special with the VPS server caching (Varnish, memcached, APC, etc), or want to allow the CPU/RAM use to just do whatever it wants (not good!) instead of regulating it with CloudLinux, then I still think a quality reseller plan is your best bet. Site5 is a good host, but the reseller limits tend to be somewhat tight, so I think Veerotech or Arvixe would be a better choice for you.

It just really depends on how much you want to micro-manage the sites.

I've been a server admin since the 90s, and tweak everything as optimally as possible. Even VPS is often not enough -- I needed dedicated server to control everything. But it takes lots and lots of time. Managing a server can take just as much time as managing a site. If you're doing it well, that is! (Poor server management = hacking issues, hardware issues, software issues and more!)

I'm not trying to talk you out of a VPS, but you need to know what lies ahead if you go down that path.

WordPress cache options

In terms of cache, Super-Cache is outdated junk, and the W3 Total Cache (W3TC) plugin is so bloated that it doesn't heko much as a result. The best WordPress cache option is using both DB-Cache Reloaded Fix and Hypercache Extended. Use them both together, and if your site load times are not 1s or less, then you need to look at your page bloat (large images, etc) with a Pingdom page speed test.

http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/

WordPress security

Plugins are mostly useless. You can't protect a system from within the system itself. That's like having the castle moat in your throne room. You need to the moat outside the castle!

This is where a VPS will come in handy, although some excellent shared/reseller hosts implore various security as well.

You need to leverage Varnish and mod_security to keep out the junk traffic. That's just for WordPress, in addition to a good server-wide firewall like CSF. Each of these works in different ways. This post isn't the place to go into this in depth. In fact, some are rather new, and I'm still currently adding them to our own servers. After which, I'll write some guides to share with other server admins. But it will be a while.

It's NOT easy to do -- I'll say that. Even I'm having some issues getting mod_security rules set. Previously, I'd tried fail2ban, with some success, but it was not working reliably.

I discuss security with several hosting owners frequently. Some of us are very proactive.

For Varnish, the commercial cache plugin from Unixy is best. Manual installation of Varnish is not fun at all. You can either buy an owned license, or lease it monthly.

CloudFlare = avoid

CloudFlare usually slows down sites that are on good server. It doesn't speed them up. That's a myth. Only if the host is really overloaded and terrible -- think Hostgator (EIG), Godaddy, etc -- will it help.

The "security" is also somewhat crappy, and often blocks legitimate users from visiting your site. You can secure your own site much better, so that it ONLY blocks junk and not legit viewers.

I would avoid that mess entirely.

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- Need a good web host? Ask me for help! Get the shared, VPS, semi-dedicated, cloud, or reseller you need.
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