I want to preface this little article with this fact: The
optimal environment for an ecommerce website is a dedicated
server. Nothing else offers you the level of control, security,
and customizability as a dedicated web appliance for the simple
fact that the entire server is yours. Unfortunately, dedicated
servers are expensive. You either need to lease them, Co-locate
your own server in someone's datacenter, or pay for a huge
internet connection to your location where you host your own. I
understand that $250-$8000 a month is not in the startup budget
of most new ecommerce sites, so here is the next best thing:
Virtual Private Servers.
Virtual Private
Servers, or VPS, are an intermediate service between shared
hosting (where you get one domain account) and dedicated hosting
(where you get the whole server). With VPS, the actual server
hardware and resources are partitioned up into several isolated
environments which each act as their own "mini" dedicated
server. Each VPS maintains its own control over server software,
mail servers, and independent software resources, parsers, and
programs such as PHP and BIND. VPS minimize the drawbacks that
shared hosting has and gives you guaranteed resources, a secure
operating environment, and distinct advantages in performance
and security.
The advantages of VPS are clear:
Control. While you can not usually change system-wide
configurations such as the base operating system, you are free
to update your PHP version, Apache configuration, MySQL version,
or whatever application related change you want to make. Unlike
a dedicated server where you can really, really screw something
up if you don't know what you are doing, VPS don't really allow
you to break something really important that keeps the server
running. This makes it a great intermediate step in learning web
server administration before graduating to a full, dedicated
server appliance when your business needs to.
You can
have more than one website. You can have multiple domains,
subdomains, IP addresses, whatever. Some web admin panels have
restrictions (like 25 or 100 domain licenses) but others like my
personal favorite, cPanel, allow you to run hundreds of sites if
you want off of one account.
Security. Each VPS acts
like its own isolated environment, and as such your system and
data files can not be seen by any other VPS account on the
server. This is not always the case with some insecure shared
hosting setups, where insecure permissions or scripts on another
shared site can open the whole shared box up to attack. Also, if
another VPS user leaves an SQL loop open and locks up the
database server on their account, your account and resources
continue to operate without interruption because your resource
allocation is completely separate from theirs.
Cost.
While VPS solutions cost more than shared hosting (most are in
the $29.99-$99.99 price range), they are much more affordable
than leasing a dedicated server appliance. The fact is, even the
most mediocre dedicated server is oversized for a startup
ecommerce site, and VPS represent a great value for the new
internet entrepreneur.
VPS are not without
disadvantages though, abet small ones. Here are the main
ones:
It does take a higher level of technical
savvy to maintain a VPS solution than a standard shared hosting
account. I don't really buy into this one though, because when I
ran my first dedicated server when I was 15 years old (yeah,
it's so easy a 15 year old can do it) I only had one learning
resource: The Internet. Everything you ever need to know and
more about running a web server can be found for free on the
internet. Add to that fact that most VPS plans come with an easy
to use web administration interface that is fully supported and
documented and you got it made.
Your VPS host has a lot
to do with the quality of your VPS account. Mismanagement of VPS
appliances by your hosting company may land you with too many
accounts on one server and as a result you may experience
performance hits. Choose your VPS provider wisely.
Depending on your plan, it may be a lot of work to setup. Once
again, this is all related to finding the right VPS provider. A
comprehensive VPS plan will include a ready to go, setup
environment with a name-brand web management console like cPanel
or Plesk. These easy turn-key solutions will have you serving
pages in an hour or two.
I was thinking about
writing a big section on "How to decide if VPS is right for you"
but I couldn't really make any arguments for not going VPS.
Virtual Private Servers are superior to shared hosting in every
way, and frankly if you are running an ecommerce site where your
livelihood depends on your site being available and making sales
you would be a moron not to investigate VPS hosting. The price
point is there, the features are there, and the security and
availability are there.
In my experience, this is
what I think a VPS account should have for an ecommerce setup
(let's use a heavily modified osCommerce setup for example):
It should be based on the Virtuozzo VPS system. These
guys invented VPS, and they do it the best.
It should
have at a minimum 256MB guaranteed ram for MySQL database driven
sites, and at a minimum it should be burstable to 512MB for the
occasional memory intensive query. The size of your database and
traffic should dictate this number.
Disk space is
trivial- I have not seen many ecommerce sites go over 3-5GB with
thousands of products- make sure you get at least 5-10GB so you
have plenty of room for expansion.
Bandwidth is kinda
trivial too- you have to have a lot of traffic to exceed the
100-250GB bandwidth packages included with most VPS plans, and
lets face it- if you have that much traffic you are going to be
making money hand over fist and move up to a managed dedicated
appliance anyway.
Get some sort of automated backup. If
your host does not include it, it's usually a $10-$15 option
that is completely worth it. That way, if you are learning how
to administer your VPS and you break something, your site can be
restored and running again in an hour or two.
Make sure
you are getting it from a reputable company that has 24/7
support. There are lots of places to save $5 when you are
setting up your business but the hosting that runs your
lifeblood is not one of them. Get your hosting from a big
company- they have the experience, the staff, and the systems in
place to keep you running.
Make sure you get a VPS
account with a name-brand web administration panel as this will
smooth out your learning curve. I personally recommend cPanel as
it allows unlimited domains, has its own name servers built in,
and has two levels of admin- appliance control through the Web
Host Manager, and individual domain control panels for each
site. I can't say enough nice things about cPanel.
Whatever company you choose, I hope you will take a look at VPS
hosting. This is your business, and you owe it to yourself and
your customers to have a hosting account that is quick,
responsive, and powerful.
About the author:
Jason Chance is a full time Online Product Manager and contract
developer for the SMB market. He maintain's a site at
http://www.jccommerce.com where he shares what works when trying
to sell and promote online.
Written by: Jason Chance
What is Factoring and Invoice Discounting? - John Courtney Factoring and invoice discounting (known as debtor finance) can
dramatically improve your cash flow by releasing money as soon
as you have completed an order and raised an invoice rather than
having to wait for your customer to pay. This makes...
Credit Card Offers - je Fuller Are you getting sick and tired of all the credit card offers that magically appear in your mailbox? Well, you aren't the only one. Part of the reason why you are receiving so many of late is because the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was changed...
How Managers Can Help Retain Their Best Employees - Susan Cullen A major problem for employers today is attracting the best talent, and then retaining key employees. Research shows that the key ingredient for retention lies within the manager’s ability to understand what employees really want. The survey...
Online shopping – an emotional experience - Steve Hawker This short essay explores the history of online shopping from the author’s perspective. The essay concludes with a list of e-commerce features that should meet the needs of emotional shoppers. A few years ago, someone prophesised that workplace...
Who Abducted the Missing Child? - Jean Butler Who abducted the missing child? What is going on with these people who feel they can walk onto your property or in front of your home and abduct your child? If those parents had installed a hidden camera in their home, the police could use the...
