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Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:51 pm
by JellyFish
Hey, I'm thinking of upgrading from a shared hosting to a semi-dedicated server with my hosting provider, godaddy.com.

If anyone on Devnet are familiar with godaddy's hosting or have ever used their virtual dedicated server, and if you don't mind(you'd be so kind too :D) helping me by pointing me in the right direction to learn basic server administration. You could say I'm a bit intimidated at administrating my own web server, I'm only unsure if I have the right knowledge and potential to do so. Could you maybe ask me some questions to determine what I need to know in order to admin a virtual dedicated server?

It be great to know what I need to know in order to manage a server. Do I know enough already, to get by.

I'm not going to be dealing with the server physically godaddy's going to do that part. Instead I'm only going to be remotely accessing the server.

I'm a bit lost on where to start learning server administration skills and which type of server to go with, linux or windows.

Thanks for listing/reading, I appreciate all the support and everything you're doing and already have done for me devnetwork community.

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:01 am
by Chalks
I would recommend going with a linux server. I would also HIGHLY recommend not getting it from godaddy. I recently had to work with their servers for a client, and I despised every minute of it. The windows server that he initially had was really strange, and didn't support php/mysql interaction very well. We switched to a linux server and that was slightly better, but it still didn't support a few key things (like swift mailer). Personally, I love Host Gator.

If you're familiar with godaddy already though, and like their service, then by all means go for it. I just don't really like them. :)

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:33 pm
by Zoxive
I would also say don't go with godaddy. I currently use Slicehost which has been great. I know that devnet also uses it.

Now a few things I'm concerned about. You say you are lost wither to use windows or linux. Now I highly recommend linux, but it all depends how much you know. If you are diving in for the first time, you will have countless hours of confusion not know where to find things. However it is well worth it in the long run to also add this to your resume. Also if you wanted a recommendation for a linux distro I would say Ubuntu is a pretty good one to start out with, and its what I use for my servers and home computer.

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:16 pm
by JellyFish
Thanks for the reply guys.

But not only was I asking which OS I should use, but also what I should know.

I probably would end up going with linux because of all the good things I hear about them. I've never worked with linux personal computer or server. I haven't even worked with windows much(I'm running windows on my home computer). I mean I've opened the MS command line/cmd/MSDOS but I don't know much functions or anything technical. All I know is how to navigate around directories and stuff.

I'm sure there are things I need to know if I'm going to run my own server.

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:36 pm
by Chalks
I mean, if all you're doing is using the server to host a personal website and maybe do a bit of developing on it, you don't really need to know that much. Most hosting providers give you a control panel of some sort to work with, and all you need to know is how to read, and how to point and click. It's when you start actually changing server default values that things start getting confusing. If you're accessing the server through telnet or something like that, that may be confusing too. However, just hosting a website is very easy to do.

I use version 10 of cpanel on my server. Here's a demo of version 11: Cpanel 11

That is fairly similar to what most hosts offer.

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:45 pm
by alex.barylski
One thing I have learned from past experiences with shared hosting and virtual dedicated hosting is that performance wise, the latter doesn't always mean superior. It really only means more control.

Hard to determine if you are capable of managing a dedicated environment, only you really know.

Do you understand LAMP well? Are you familiar with the distro of linux GoDaddy uses? Is it RHEL or Debian or other? The package management systems vary and are important to know at least the basics -- that is what I struggled with the most.

Obviously the more comfortable you are with Linux in general the better off you'll be.

For a web hosting server you really only need knowledge in AMP and understanding core Linux functionality, like file permissions, etc.

You can do without becoming a full fledged linux administrator and mastering DNS, etc.

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:13 pm
by califdon
What is your reason for wanting to move from a shared hosting service to a dedicated server? Unless you have a real reason to do so (performance? learning?), you might just be paying more and inviting more problems. I hosted my personal site on my home computer on a DSL line for about 6 years (and learned a LOT about Linux server administration) before migrating to GoDaddy about a year-and-a-half ago. I now host 8 domains there, on one shared hosting account. They are all very low traffic sites, but I've been very happy with the arrangement (and the cost! Less than I was paying for electricity to run my server 24x7!). Unlike the other guys who have had poor experiences with them, I've found GoDaddy to be highly reliable and their phone tech support is really great. I'm sure that if your site is really high traffic, or very sophisticated, or you have special requirements, maybe another hosting service may be better, but for the kind of simple sites I host, they have met all my expectations and more. My only complaint is their really awkward control panel mess. What I wouldn't give to have c-panel!

Re: Godaddy's Virtual Dedicated Servers.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:39 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
Only you can judge whether you need to upgrade or not. I upgraded myself to a virtual server a few months ago (my blog crashed completely on shared hosting) and it's benefits range into two parts.

Those who state the performance change is indifferent probably haven't pushed their shared hosting hard enough ;). Mine existed in swap space for months before I moved (you could tell by the sluggish loading times). A virtual server should, at a minimum, come with a level of fixed RAM and CPU availability, with perhaps burstable CPU if it's not being used. No one on the same physical server should be capable of crowding you out - on a shared host that happens all the time.

Secondly a virtual server offers you complete control. You can compile, optimise and setup a sweet caching system which is missing from most shared hosts for example. You can also completely screw up of course ;). But don't let fear turn you off - learning how to run a linux system is a great experience.

In terms of requirements.

1. Know how to use the linux distributions package management system. Most stuff can be automatically downloaded, configured, and added to init scripts (let you turn stuff on and off) with very little effort. Only compile when you absolutely need you. Ubuntu and Debian, for example, use the "aptitude" package manager.

2. Know how to configure and compile things. Package systems give you access to thousands of simple to install apps and libs, but you will eventually want to compile things either for newer version, security updates, or simply to optimise/customise.

3. Get to know the local editor well - the command line editor I use most is "nano" (some would kill me for using such an underpowered option but I prefer the simplicity ;)). If it's not installed by default - certainly do so.

4. Get introduced. Slicehost have some excellent documentation about setting up a Ubuntu server from a fresh instance. It has a fair few tips and ideas which will broaden the questions you'll have later. Just because you may not use Slicehost doesn't mean it's documentation is not relevant - any VPS documentation for getting started would be relevant.

5. Ask many questions - we have a linux forum here, no?