[Web4lib] shared hosting vs. dedicated server

[Shelly Drumm]

Without knowing more about the intended nature of the library's website, I'd
second Mary Beth's recommendation.  I've done web projects for small rural
libraries in Utah, Florida, and Colorado and have in all cases had great
success with hosting library websites built on WordPress on Bluehost.  In
fact, in the Utah project, we had one shared hosting account managed by the
Utah State Library that hosted about 13-15 different library websites on
unique domains. No problems with downtime or anything else, for that
matter.

The amount of traffic you're looking at for tiny libraries, and the likely
level of complexity of the site (I'm guessing it's relatively simple) don't
warrant the expense or complexity of even a VPS, IMO.

But yes - definitely talk with your host of choice before making the leap to
make sure that their service will meet your needs.  If you're planning a
complicated site and expecting a lot more traffic than many small libraries
get, you may need something beefier.




On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM, <web4lib-request at webjunction.org> wrote:

>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:30:30 -0800 (PST)
> From: Mary Beth Faccioli <mbfaccioli at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] shared hosting vs. dedicated server
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Message-ID: <737407.40399.qm at web110603.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> 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
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>