I'm launching a new site and am just in the research/setup phase. We are currently located on our buddies home built server (read: pieced together linux box) but are going to move onto an actual server.

My question to you folks is what do you recommend? For all my other web projects I used basic, 10-15 bucks a month servers that promise unlimited bandwidth/hosting and the moon to anyone that signs up, and fail to deliver in times of need. From my research I can tell that a semi-dedicated server is what we need (well, what we think we need), so I'm asking for recommendations.

We do not need it fully managed so long as we have ssh access, and are looking for something relatively cheap (~50 a month) with upgradability. Since we are doing market tests now we do not require much, but we do expect a dramatic increase in traffic come September-October.

I would recommend you to look for vps directly then. I don't know what exactly is a semi-dedicated server, but a vps could suite you just perfect.

And for 50$/month, you could find pretty good deals.

Looks to me like you're after what is commonly called a VPS. Servint and Liquidweb come to mind as reputable providers of managed VPSes, but that's not exactly what you're after.

While you're just in the testing phase, shared hosting from a reputable provider could still do the trick.

VPS:

The server is sectioned off using a VPS panel or software which limits you by CPU, Memory, Disk Space and Bandwidth. The resources you're provided with are the resources you're able to use. Generally, there is a burst limit with the memory (for instance, you're provided with 512MB RAM which is burstable to 2GB).

Semi-Dedicated:

In most cases, you're on a shared hosting server with fewer customers per server. CPU and Memory are not provisioned and you're competing with other customers on the server for the same resources. The CPU and RAM on the server are split across all customers on the server without hard limits on usage.


If you have a more resource intensive website, SD may be for you, however, if you need hard limits on what you can use, VPS would be the way to go.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages and it's really up to personal preference.

Semi-dedicated servers are basically like very large VPSes. Typically, the purpose of this is so that everyone gets a much larger share of the CPU and memory than you would otherwise get on a basic VPS.

It depends on your needs obviously, but if you want reliability, you should opt for a semi-dedicated server/large VPS or even a dedicated server of your own. The latter is probably overkill at the moment for a new project, but you should ensure that your hosting company will allow you to upgrade to something like this in the future.

I'd also recommend Servint for a managed US VPS provider - some of their plans are quite expensive but they are very reliable and there for you when you really need them to be.

Dan

Originally Posted by ldcdc

Looks to me like you're after what is commonly called a VPS. Servint and Liquidweb come to mind as reputable providers of managed VPSes, but that's not exactly what you're after.

While you're just in the testing phase, shared hosting from a reputable provider could still do the trick.

Servint is the best VPS I have ever used. They are great and won't charge you to install extra software on your vps. Most other VPS hosts will charge you a hourly rate to install 3rd party software.

I've been using KnownHost for a little over 2 years for my VPS, and I've been incredibly happy with the results.

I'd like to mention A2hosting.com VPS plans. All VPS accounts are powered by the state of the art OpenVZ virtualization platform. OpenVZ provides full isolation from other VPS instances on the same host machine ensuring that the resources allotted for the VPS account are always available.

Just let you know that semidedicated is the same as shared web hosting. I think that you have to understand that as a difference beetween VPS and shared

There are semi-dedicated plans where there like 15 accounts on the server, it's in jaguarpc.com offers now (they offer free endless disk space btw))), but it's the same shared account, so I guess it's wiser to choose a vps plan, at least you'll have more control over your resources and ability to install whatever you want. No problem to choose a good vps plan today with so many discount deals around, HostV.com offer a double amount of RAM and 50% off, Asmallorange.com offer now 2 months for free if you get a year subscription.Hope this will help.

There are semi-dedicated plans where there like 15 accounts on the server, it's in jaguarpc.com offers now

At the $30 they charge I don't think they state or limit things to 15 accounts per server. All they promise is at least 6x the resources compared to their shared hosting package.

Your better off getting a VPS. Liquidweb is a good and respectable site for VPS.

As rule CPU is under control. And that doesn't matter how accounts are there on the server.

I just want to say that I do agree with other guys here. VPS better then Seidedicated. And for your budget you will be able to find good deal. I would recommend you have a look at: JustGotVPS.com or VPSlink.com for good VPS services which are cheap and stable.

Semi-dedicated is just another term for a shared plan, unless you get a semi-dedicated plan with like 2 accounts on the server, butt his will cost you as much as a high-end vps server.

I'd say go for VPS.
Just my .2 cents.

vps is something you should look into. liquidweb has been good for us for dedicated. i imagine their vps is decent.

I'd say that a semi-dedicated plan is closer to a shared deal rather than vps in the degree of control over server resources.
VPS will definitely be better, especially if your budget allows to go for a good vps deal.
I'd point out Solidhost.com offering VPS deals with free Cpanel and pro-active support.
There are also providers like GlobalTap.com and VPSLink.com, so plenty of deals that would fit your budget and needs.

That is correct. But semidedicated is not tataly the same as shared web hosting....

I have seen that UtropicMedia.net provides reselling based on their world-class semi-dedicated packages.
Different CPU Levels, dedicated IPs and Live Chat Software are offered on their reselling with no setup fees.