[Web4lib] shared hosting vs. dedicated server

[Mary Beth Faccioli]

I'm very familiar with the needs of small rural libraries in Colorado - I'm a consultant for the state library here and work closely with them.  I have colleagues throughout the state running their library sites on shared hosting (not VPS).  Since you're talking about a small library serving a small community, the very valid issues brought up by others (e.g. high traffic) will probably not come up for you.  You may want to see what kind of existing data you can get from the county to make sure.  A good shared host like Bluehost will spend time corresponding with you about your needs, with disk space usage, CPU usage, memory, traffic etc, so you can be somewhat assured that they can handle your situation. 

I run a VPS for one of my bigger sites, and without knowing more about your situation, I would stick my neck out to say that a VPS is overkill for you.  You do need to know a lot about setting up your account properly with a VPS.  I needed a crash course in Linux to work with mine, and I'm still learning.  I would be very surprised if you need something this robust for the situation you've described.  Additionally, this approach costs much more than basic shared hosting.

I wouldn't see any harm with starting out with the simple approach - using a shared host like HostGator (not their VPS option) or Bluehost - and seeing what happens.  If you're paying monthly you can easily move to VPS without wasting any money, if you find you need it.  But again, knowing what I know about the rural libraries in my state, I would answer your question with a "no" - there's not necessarily a reason to have a dedicated server to run a small rural library site.

Please feel free to contact me if you want to talk about this more - I consult with libraries a lot on this.

Mary Beth Faccioli, MLIS
Instructional Design and Technology Consultant
Colorado State Library



--- On Sat, 2/19/11, BRIAN TINGLE <brian.tingle.cdlib.org at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: BRIAN TINGLE <brian.tingle.cdlib.org at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] shared hosting vs. dedicated server
> To: "Andrew Hankinson" <andrew.hankinson at GMAIL.COM>
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Date: Saturday, February 19, 2011, 1:47 PM
> 
> If you have an all static site, you could now use Amazon S3
> to host sites
> 
> http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2011/02/website_amazon_s3.html
> 
> There was a very cool presentation at code4lib where Sean
> Hannan presented about the toolchain he uses to build a
> pretty advanced site using all static files  http://www.slideshare.net/MrDys/lets-get-small-a-microservices-approach-to-library-websites
> 
> 
> On Feb 18, 2011, at 10:51 PM, Andrew Hankinson wrote:
> 
> > A reasonable middle ground would be a VPS (Virtual
> Private Server) solution, where you essentially get full
> access to a machine to install and run whatever software you
> want. They are usually more predictable with their load
> issues than straight shared hosting, since the system
> resources are dedicated and partitioned between VMs instead
> of shared. (Accordingly, however, some of the low-end
> offerings are pretty anemic.)
> > 
> > VPS sites can range in price. TinyVPS (http://tinyvps.ca/) starts at $5/mo. Slicehost (http://www.slicehost.com/) and Superbytes (http://superbytes.net/) offer more pricey options. (I
> have no experience with any of these, though)
> > 
> > If you like the flexibility of a dedicated server, but
> don't want to shell out for hardware + sysadmin time, you
> might look into those options.
> > 
> > On 2011-02-18, at 7:37 PM, Morgan A. Brynnan wrote:
> > 
> >> Greetings,
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> I'm new to the list, so hope this is an
> appropriate post.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Has anyone had luck using a shared hosting model
> for the web side of their
> >> library page and a dedicated server for the ILS?
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> I'm working with a small rural library in an
> economically depressed area.
> >> They currently share a dedicated server with the
> county government that
> >> hosts their site & ILS on a dedicated server.
> The county uses a CMS, and in
> >> order to escape the CMS, they must move their web
> site off of the county
> >> server.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> I've found some excellent prices with national
> hosting/domain name
> >> companies. Do they absolutely need a dedicated
> server for their site, which
> >> is about 10 times the cost of shared hosting? The
> ILS (Voyager) would stay
> >> on the dedicated county server.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Thanks for any thoughts.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Morgan
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Morgan Brynnan, MLIS
> >> 
> >> mbrynnan at gmail.com
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Web4lib mailing list
> >> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> >> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >> 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web4lib mailing list
> > Web4lib at webjunction.org
> > http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> > 
> 
> 
> 
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