So which one of these two web hosting plans gives you the best value?

VPS Hosting Value

VPS is an acronym for virtual private server.  I won’t go too deep into the dictionary definition, but in a nutshell this type of hosting plan is a virtual machine setup on a server.  A web host can run a series of VPS accounts all from the same server (as they do with shared hosting) however, VPS hosting gives you more server resources to work with (such as RAM and CPU power).  If you are just running a series of websites and have no idea how to be a server administrator – VPS is the best upgrade you can make.  You can get the power of a dedicated server environment at a significantly cheaper price.  The drawback with VPS hosting is that you might not be able to do some advanced server side configurations.

Dedicated Hosting Value

A dedicated server or dedicated hosting plan would be you renting an entire server to do the work you need to have done.  Unless you get it fully managed (which will be costly) you will be responsible for keeping all the server side things like the control panel, PHP, MySQL and other things of that nature all updated yourself. If you know how to do all that, this isn’t a problem.  Your average guy on the street might have no clue how to do this so this is already the first drawback for the service.  The advantage to dedicated hosting is that you get to set things up however you see fit.  The window of customization is fully open for you to tweak and configure things to fit your needs.

Overall, I think most people will find that VPS hosting offers more value than a dedicated server hosting package. The one thing it comes down to for me is that you can get the best of both shared hosting and dedicated hosting all wrapped into one package.  You can get the server side things totally managed by the web host, as you would with shared hosting.  VPS hosting also offers you more RAM and CPU usage, which is necessary for any popular website of any type. If you have another opinion though, feel free to share them in the comments.  Would love to hear a viewpoint from the other side of the fence.

So, why is this happening?  I do think that costs have a big part to play in it.  Dedicated servers cost more to run than some of the alternatives out there.  They are bulky and hard to maintain once they get so old.  It would be like you buying a pair of shoes and the company that makes the shoes has to guarantee they still work, so every couple of years they send you an update pair.  In the long run, dedicated hosting has reached its peak of usefulness. 

VPS hosting has also grown by leaps and bounds as the eventual successor to the dedicated server hosting setup.  It is much easier to scale, setup and maintain. The only drawback for some would be the fact that it doesn’t exactly offer the customizability you might have with a dedicated server.

Some people might call me crazy for saying dedicated hosting is on the way out.  However, those same people might have never noticed the free hosting providers of the world going out of business left and right either. 

Time to take a look at another hosting term you might have heard of but didn’t really know what it means.  FFMPEG hosting is the word up for review today. This is a term that is used to refer to any time of hosting that provides an assortment of of recording, converting and streaming tools for audio and video on the server side.

FFMPEG is an open source project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data.  When it is on a hosting server, it’s job is primarily to handle the online conversion of video or audio formats into another audio or video format that is more suited for the web. You can then embed the multimedia file into a player to be played on the website itself or to be taken elsewhere and played on another website.

So, to give you the short version – it is the server-side technology you need to run your own YouTube clone script, like PHPmotion.

So, what are the basic requirements for FFMPEG hosting? Usually, you need a dedicated or semi-dedicated server to do these types of work because the audio or video conversion is often taxing on the server.  However, many VPS hosting accounts should be able to handle it these days too.  There are even a handful of shared hosting plans out there that say they are fully compatible with the whole FFMPEG hosting setup too.

FFMPEG hosting is just one more flavor of web hosting to look for out there.  For webmasters who want to start up their own video sharing websites, it is the basic foundation they need to get up and running.  For the rest of us though, we can really live without it.

Nobody likes having their web hosting account suspended for any reason.  Going through a server resource usage suspension though can be on of the more stressful combination of web site hosting problems because of the many factors that come into play.  Let me see if I can help you, to make your next server resource suspension at least go a little smoother, or at least let you know what you can expect.

Notification of the System Resource Usage Problem

Now the situation starts with getting some sort of notification via e-mail about the problem at hand.  Often, web hosts will give you details on where the script is hosted on your site that is causing the problem.  It is often up to you to decide what that script is though.

Next, you have to figure out a way to disable that script or disable the part of the script that is causing the problems.  For example, if you were using WordPress to manage your web site, turn off all the plugins.  I wouldn’t disable WordPress all together, but switching off the plugins or changing to the default theme might help find the cause of the problem.

Fixing a Server Resource Usage Problem

The truth of the issue is you will have to turn things on and off, disable this, delete that and more.  It will take some detective work to find the root of the issue that is causing the shared server’s RAM and CPU to go up so much.

Your web host will often review your account status ever 24 hours or so, to see if your changes are having any real impact in reducing your server resource usage.

Although it sounds like a way to get more money from you, upgrading to a VPS or dedicated hosting plan are a reasonable fix for the problem too. Your web site might have grown in popularity and usage so much, it is time to look for a hosting plan that will give you more proverbial “elbow room” when it comes to RAM or CPU usage.

I hope that helps with fixing your own server resource issues or, at least, lets you know what you can expect if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.  Feel free to post your own tips or questions in the comments, would love to hear what you have to say about this debatable topic.

You can sort the dedicated hosting offers by:

• Management
• CPU Type
• Bandwidth
• Memory
• Disk Space
• Platform
• Price

The HostMonk web site was founded by a group of IT professionals who found themselves spending way too much time sifting through hosting plans to find the best deal.  So what did they do, they built a tool that helps you sort dedicated web hosts more easily.

Here is more on why and how they think they are different in comparison with other web host ranking tools:

Choosing a hosting service is a decision that will affect the way you work and impact your customers’ experience. The choice should not be made on the basis of which provider buys the largest banners or spends more money getting your attention. The choice should be made according to the facts.

HostMonk is committed to bringing you a thorough index of the world of hosting services. We present the facts for you to make your decision. What you see is impartial, based on the cold hard facts with nothing added or removed.

The beta web hosting tool currently compares 2,901 different dedicated hosting plans.  Go check it out at HostMonk.com.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 185!
Running Time: 13 minutes | File Size: 5.94 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode:

• What is the nofollow Link All About?
• Find Out Who is Copying Your Content
• Compare Linux Dedicated Servers and Deals
• Best Way to Find Web Hosting Coupons
• First All Virtual Web Hosting Conference is Coming

Here are this week’s web hosting news headlines:

• Credit Cards Compromised in WHT Hack – Dedicating this week’s news segment to more coverage on the webhostingtalk.com hack, the recent announcement that credit cards were compromised and what you need to do to protect yourself.

Trivia Question – The first version of the Apache web server was created by whom? (to find out the answer, be sure to download and listen to this week’s podcast!)

Hope you enjoy this week’s broadcast.  Thank you all for tuning in!

On today’s show I am going to speak with Aplus.net’s CEO Phillip Spencer on what exactly they do and his own views on the web hosting world.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 183!
Running Time: 6 minutes | File Size: 2.55 MB

Here are some of the questions we will cover in today’s interview:

• What is Aplus.net and how long have you been around the hosting industry?
• For those who have not been to your web site, this question might be a little out of the blue, however – who is Jeff?
• Looking back at the past few years, in what ways do you
  see the hosting industry changing?
• You also have a blog. As one of the few hosts that do this, do you feel it has hurt or helped your business?
• If somebody out there is looking for a web host, could you give me a quick reason why they should turn to Aplus.net?

Also here are a few resources you might want to check out after listening to the interview:

• Aplus.net’s Official Web Site
• Aplus.net’s Blog

Many thanks to Phillip for being on today’s show. If you would like to come on and speak to the entire web hosting industry, feel free to contact me at mitch@mitchkeeler.com.

Many thanks to all the great people at Peer 1 for putting together this series of videos, and hopefully we will be seeing many more great ones in the future.  If you are a web host, or you have found a web host that has also been putting videos up online, be sure to let me know at mitch@mitchkeeler.com.

Disadvantages to Virtual Private Server Hosting

For those of you who are used to paying $5 to $10 a month for web hosting, the jump in price might be considered the biggest disadvantage.  Often VPS hosting accounts go for $40 to $50, which is more than some people wish to pay.  With a VPS hosting plan, you might also need to know a little more about server-side administration.  You will need to become familiar with application installation and maintenance.  Of course you could also hire somebody to do this, or see if the web host has an option for them to do it, but then we get back into discussing price again.

Advantages to Virtual Private Server Hosting

Now where are the advantages of VPS hosting?  With a VPS hosting account, you will have more access to CPU, RAM and other server resources that may have been limited to you with a shared hosting plan.  Also, in comparison with dedicated hosting plans, the VPS hosting is often cheaper.  You would also be sharing that server with a few amount of people, so you will have to be less worried about what your proverbial neighbors are doing with their accounts that could get yourself and the server in trouble.

Most people come to VPS hosting once they have outgrown their shared hosting plan, but are not yet ready for a dedicated hosting server.  Virtual Private Servers are a great choice for those who are wanting to move way from shared hosting, but are not ready to commit themselves to the work that it takes to keep a dedicated plan up and running.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 182!
Running Time: 11 minutes | File Size: 5.01 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode:

• How Payment Processing Works
• Find Available Domain Names – Domain Pigeon
• Virtual Private Server Advantages and Disadvantages
• Faster Domain Search with DomainTyper

Here are this week’s web hosting news headlines:

• Aplus.net Provides Google Webmaster Tools to Clients
• Japan Cybercrime Grows by 15.5 Percent

Welcome to my web hosting school of hard knocks. On this very podcast, week after week, I do my best to help make the wild and wacky world of web hosting make a little more sense for everybody out there.