Cloud servers vs VPS vs Dedicated servers

I have to admit I'm a total newbie when it comes to this. I have been using dolphin for five years now and still have the original VPS setup through HostForWeb. They setup everything and I have fumbled around with it sense. Now they tell me the reason why I'm having so many problems is due to my outdated OS. I was told through a ticket that I need to migrate to a new VPS and shut the old one down. When I went to the order page on there site I thought I saw a package with a dedicated server for about the same price as I'm paying now.

This is what I have now at $114.95

 HFWSRV-2-E1200 - node..com (09/01/2013 - 09/30/2013)
Operating System: CentOS
Hard Drive Setup: SATA
First Hard Drive: 250GB SATA HDD
Second Hard Drive: None
Extra RAM: Not Selected
Network Port Speed: 10Mbit/s
Extra Bandwidth: Not Selected
Hardware Firewall: None
Extra Ips: Not Selected

This is what HFW is suggesting at $99.95 and a $10/mo reaction monitoring to server.

“thanks for information. The data usage is not high therefore, we suggest to replace current outdated server with cloud server, the cost will be even less - $99.95/mo for a server, and you might wish to add $10/mo reaction monitoring to server. That server will be even more powerful then current machine and with cloud redundancy features vs single point of failure on dedicated server.”

Specs are:
Business Cloud
4 vCPus / 3.6Ghz
4GB RAM
80GB Cloud Storage
2 IPs
$99.95/mo

I think it will fit perfect.

Dedicated server will cost $144.95/mo if you need to stay on dedicated server.

Let us know which options works better for you.

I'm not on a dedicated server, I'm on a VPS, I thought I saw a package for $120.00. I did some searching here and it seems like what I saw price wise was way off from comparison to HFW cloud VPS and dedicated. 

Am I getting hosed?

Yes, you can do better.  Your current config for the VPS is over priced.

Can you do the server work yourself, or will you need to get a server ready to roll with LAMP or LEMP stack preinstalled?

You should shop around out on the net; but read the reviews, as well as compare to what Zarconia and Dolphin_jay can do for you.  It depends on what you can do and not do.  You may see some good prices but they will probably be unmanaged servers without the LAMP or LEMP stack installed.  So first answer my question so we can guide you better.

If you have to move, time to move up instead of sideways.

80 Gigs of storage in this day and age?  And you should probably have 8 gigs of ram.

Want my opinion?

The number you provided HFWSRV-2-E1200 is not a VPS. The VPS number have the letters VPS in it. So you most likley do have a dedicated as they said.

However.

Get a dedicated from the same place i have mine. http://www.zarconia.net/dedicated.php

The Z800 offered by zarconia is better than your current one, has more HD space and twice the memory of what they quoted you, and still costs less money. The big difference would be what control panel your used to. cPanal costs extra.

You should consider it. A dedicated will outperform a VPS.


EDIT: GG Jumped in while i was typing this. I agree with GG. They are over charging for the VPS servers. Their Dedicated servers are over priced to. I think you should move on. There are better hosts out there.

I asked Host For Web about their cloud services. They told me that dedicated is better for streaming media because they use faster systems. I would like to use a cloud server though. Does anyone know any cheap managed cloud server that is good for the money? I need a larger well known company. I can not handle the risk of smaller hosting companies. I looked at Rackspace too and they are freaking expensive!

I want to use Zarconia but I don't know how to manage my own server. I wish they had something managed.

Rack space is way over priced. Even for un-managed.

Sorry. Cannot recommend any clouds. I have tried a couple. Neither performed as well as a dedicated. To me performance is more important than how small a company is. Hell if i could get decent low cost business class bandwidth at home, i would be running my own servers like i used to when i ran a small ISP.

 I know nada about this stuff, but I think it might be time to learn. The good thing is and probably why I pay so much is when there is a problem they fix it for me. What I don't understand is why don't they just update the OS? Why migrate?

 I have a serious question. Exactly what do I need to do to manage my own server? I need exact details. I really want to move to Zarconia. No offense to the other hosting companies on here. How do I manage my own server? You can even message me if you want, but I think it would benefit A LOT of people on Boonex forums if someone could explain the exact steps on how to manage your own server. Thank you.

 I figured so, why can't the OS be updated on my current server? Why is there a need to migrate? Like I said I'm clueless.

A linux server is not a windows desktop home computer. Updating the OS is to risky to the services running on the site. It is safer to transfer sites over to already setup and tested servers.

The server will come with plesk. But if you talk to Zarcon or Nathan Paton who run those servers i am sure they will be able to help you with most of what you need to do. But you will need to learn. Most of what you will need to do can be done through the control panal provided. Once the server has been setup, you will hardly ever touch it.

 But that's what I mean... What do I have to learn?

What version of CentOS?.  It is probably because they will have to pull the server and wipe it clean in order to update the OS.  In that case, you will have to rebuild your site from backups; and your site will be off-line while the server is pulled and updated. 

You will need to learn Linux.  With an unmanaged server you will be responsible for configuring everything from the email server to the ftp server to the webserver.  However, the internet is full of resources for learning.  You can learn as you go along, that is how I learned/am learning; you never stop learning.  I have not had any formal training in servers or linux.

How to setup email addresses for your domains, how to setup Apache for your sites domains. How to setup DNS for your domains. Most of which can be done from inside the control panal. Plesk, or if your willing to pay more you can get the easier to use cPanal.

I do not use any control panal at all. I did install webmin on my server for some stuff. But i do most of it by hand. But now that my server has been setup. I rarely have to touch it unless i need to setup a new domain.

I am not a teacher, so your asking the wrong person about that. I grew up with computers, went to school when main frames and mini computers were in, and micro computer were new. So they are second nature to me and most of it just comes naturally to me. So i have a hard time trying to explain something to someone else.

 Ok maybe I'm not so dumb, got that, but in one of the corresponding emails from HFW they asked me what do you want to do update OS (which is crazy) or migrate which got me thinking and I brought it up here. I appreciate all the input, I really do. Now that I think about it I used to be on a VPS but was upgraded to a dedicated for a little bit more. I honestly don't think the sales department has a clue and after all of this I'm going to have to find another provider. They provide excellent service, but I only need that once in a great while.

I'm with the rest, Zarconia can't be beat really. Have the ZX1000 and has been stable for months. Webmin will get you through most things and google the rest.

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Personally, I hate Plesk.  I use Webmin and Shell access.  Another nice thing about a dedi is that you can decide exactly what you want to go with while others will set the server up and you lose a lot of control.  Take Nginx webserver, a lot of companies won't have that as an option on a preconfigured server.

I have not tried using a Cloud service so cannot comment on it.  I have tried using a managed VPS and was disappointed considering the fee I was paying.  Too often the underlying VPS server could not deal with concurrent workloads applied by the individual VPS hosted on it.  For roughly the same fee I switched to a more powerful unmanaged dedicated server that a knowledgeable friend setup.  The dedi has been running for a few months and has performed much better than the VPS.  A nice bonus is that I've been able to run both "live" and "dev" sites on it.    

@Mayzfieldtv - I sent you a PM to make sure you got your questions answered.

And Thanks to everyone who is recommending Zarconia :)

 Yes, "myhosting.com" offices all over the world and top notch support.

10 cpus

8GB ram

20GB of space in $1.00 increments.

$53.50 a month.. I can't find anything cheaper or a larger corporation.

I do recommend Zarconia, but I am happy where I'm at. 

 I totally agree with Deano. Get with Zarconia.net.  One thing not mentioned is they are Dolphin EXPERTS as well. I use them for 4 sites and have had ZERO issues that weren't resolved immediately.

I had to add an edit here. I was with HFW for some time. Initially they will give you the impression they can take care of business but in the end, you realize there's really only one guy there that can deal with the real trouble. Also, Their domain management system is abysmal and it almost cost me 2 of my domains recently. Stay away from HFW.