VPS/Cloud Servers and Dolphin

I am moving into a new area with VPS and Cloud servers.  I will be renting a VPS or Cloud server to host a Dolphin website.  To help shave some time off of the implementation of the site I am asking those that are already using a VPS or Cloud server to provide me with any information they feel may help me.  For one, as I look at possible configurations, what is the recommended configuration for a Dolphin site that may be hosting approximately 500 members that will be doing the usual blogging, photo uploading, chatting, and some video processing; most just embed YouTubes in their albums instead of actually uploading videos from their local computer.

I am new to the world of VPS/Cloud servers.  In the past all my work has been done on shared hosting since the sites I built were not as server intensive as a Dolphin site.  I am a noob with VPS/Cloud so keep that in mind.  Outline the steps if you would to setting up a site on a VPS/Cloud server and what I should pay attention to.  By the way, should I pay extra for a managed server?

Why not using a dedicated server?

I offer fully dolphin optimized dedicated servers and would assist you in moving the whole site ... if you are interessted just leave me a pm ...

You should read this: http://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/wiki/HostingServerSetupRecommendations

That is basically what we (Zarconia) use.  The default recommendations are fine for shared and low-level VPS, but those with more RAM should consider increasing the values like memory_limit even further.

How much more difficult is it going to be for me to set up Dolphin on a VPS or Cloud server?  By the way, we are limited on funds so will go with the minimum for now and expand as we grow and revenue grows from the members; it is basically a member operated site and will never be intended as a commercial site.  As one that has only worked on building sites on shared hosts, is this something I can do?  I do have some skills of course.  I guess I am a bit nervous about moving to a new area, re: VPS and Cloud.  I am looking at a Cloud server because I have read that Cloud servers are less crowded than most VPSes and can offer better performance.

As for hosting, I only plan on going with a large firm that has multiple datacentres and has been in business for some time.  I have read the posts on terrabyte-hosting.  While I like to support small businesses, in the case of hosting a member site where I am not paying for it, I have to be more secure.

It's not too hard.  As I said, follow those setup recommendations and Dolphin will run fine.  PHP's configuration file is located at /etc/php.ini.  MySQL's stuff is all under /etc/my.cnf.

I won't comment much on cloud due to a lack of experience, but unless it's setup correctly, it can be the same or worse than VPS.  But the only difference between virtualization and shared is that an entire server is virtualized in the case of VPS.  This means you need beefier servers to run these virtual machines, and there can still be overcrowding of the server because the host tries to oversell the number of VPS they can actually support.  The real bonus of a VPS is that it comes with root access and more resource allocations, and the ability to scale as needed.

Also, don't spend any more than around $30.00-40.00 for a VPS.  A low-cost dedicated is around $50.00.  So scale up to that amount, and then look for dedicated after that.

I have a cloud server and it is slow..... I would go dedicated if i were you.....

 RE:

 I just put a new site on a $59/month cloud server and the average page load time is under 2 seconds.

 For what it's worth, I recommend you seriously consider Zarconia.net - they have a great deal of experience with Dolphin and are so good with their support and knowledge. My two cents.

 wow... Is it with HFW? Mine is bloody awfull and its $149, and I have had nothing but trouble with it.

 I am seriously considdering this, But i need to know what i need to learn about server management in order to survive. At the moment I use a managed service, but i dont actually think they manage very much except their abillity to take my cash.....

I have a VPS and i installed Nginx, PHP-FPM, APC and performance is good enough. I am happy with it :D

It is not so much the server but the resources available.  You could run Dolphin on a shared host with a million users if you have the proper resources.  The thing with a shared host is that you can guarantee that the server has way too many sites on it sharing the resources of the server.

I am looking at a dynamic cloud server where I can increase or decrease the number of cpu cores allotted, memory, and hard drive space.  Base figure is 1 cpu core, 1 gig of ram, 100 meg of HD space, and 2000 GB of total traffic.

We don't offer managed services due our lack of zombie voodoo skills, but we can answer the usual question or explain how to do x or y.  Most hosts have some kind of control panel on their dedicated these days, so it's not that hard to use dedicated.  Both Plesk and cPanel have comprehensive documentation and community forums which offer a wealth of knowledge.  Plesk is the default on our dedicated, and that allows for configuring almost every part of the system from a web interface.  So reading the documentation for it should be enough.

For those serious about understanding Linux and server administration itself, I'd recommend a book like the Linux and UNIX System Administrator's Handbook.  It covers pretty much everything while not being too technical.

OK, we have our VPS and they were kind enough to install Apache, MySQL, PHP, sendmail, and phpMyAdmin.  We opted to not have cPanel installed due to the extra $10.00/month.  So that means doing everything through SSH.  Would it be best if we did have Plesk or cPanel installed on our server?  I have only worked through a control panel in the past; so I would have much to learn.

What is the best way to set up Dolphin on the VPS?  Should I place the files in a sub-folder off of the webroot?  I have heard that it makes it harder for hackers when we don't have a lot of files in the webroot.  When I was testing Dolphin on the shared host, I had no trouble with Dolphin in a sub-folder but I had cPanel to use to direct the sub-domains to the proper folder; I don't know about doing this otherwise.  I have FTP access into the webroot.  The hosting company will do the DNS for the server.

Unless you're used to SSH or willing to learn how to use Linux, I would recommend a control panel of some kind.  The extra $10.00/month for cPanel is well worth it in that case.

Make sure PHP and MySQL are configured as explained in that Trac link above, and it should run like it did on shared (or better).  For the webroot, I don't think it matters if Dolphin is under a subdirectory or not.

 I too have a bare bone VPS and i installed ISPConfig on it. It doesn't have a filemanager and could be little confusing when you start using it and came from a cpanel background. But it does the work well. I just add sites and create jailed shell access, ftp for them and then just use ftp to manage file and if ever needed ssh to extract a zip. You could try this type of setup too.

I've done some research on the Cloud solutions, and have found that the best use of our financial resources is a dedicated server (GoDaddy) - it will always have the fastest backbone to the web, which is one issue to address with some of these smaller hosting providers.  What is their backbone speed and access to the telcoms?

Secondly, the main thing that a social network site does, is create lots of data.  Since we have not migrated to 7.1 yet, I do believe it's setup for cloud data hosting.  It makes more sense to have your data hosted in a cloud environment, that will allow you to grow without the need to replace drives on your dedicated webserver.  Unless your site is ramping up with 100's of users everyday, I'm sure you'll be fine with a mid-level dedicated server hosting plan.  When you see that your server's resources aren't throttling, then you get another webserver and start setting up clusters.

I also would suggest that you think about security and backup measures if you really believe your user projections will skyrocket.  A hardware firewall solution is highly recommended as well as knowing your hosting provider will be able to protect their backbone; not only with redundant data centers, but security hardware and software must be used.  Again, if you're super passionate about the site, and anticipate a successful implementation that will drive extensive traffic, a dedicated server is your best option.

Lastly, I would also contract out an experienced webadmin unless you're familiar with how to manage it.  Godaddy does nothing to help me.  Dedicated Server plans usually have ZERO tech support.  They only ensure that the server works, and is online 100%; the rest is up to you.  But don't get intimidated managing a server, just hire a good person, and ensure you get a transfer of knowledge from them.  You really need to have someone on your team know how to manage the backend.

Anyway, that's my 2-cents.

Jethro

Unfortunately, me and another who also has never worked on VPSes, are it   We will learn by sinking to the bottom a few times   I did go with a provider that allows one to easily reconfigure the Virtual Server; adding more ram if needed, more cpu cores if needed; more storage space if needed and even more bandwidth.  So if I see us hitting at the limits of the server we can increase them.  Dedicated will have to wait for when we are better financially.

I just tried to telnet into the server with putty and having some problems.

I just ordered a full dedicated server for $69 a  month.

That would have been out of reach for us at this time.