Managed cloud hosting: Cloudways + DigitalOcean - deciding on hosting

[mastapa]

Hi all,
this is for the newbies out there just like me struggling to figure out some quality hosting for a reasonable budget while you still don't have any affiliate earnings.

When I started searching for beyond shared hosting and saw VPS and cloud hosting were totaly out of my budget reach, I digged deeper and God-knows-how ended up on DigitalOcean looking at it with misty eyes since there was this awsome affordable hosting that I couldnt handle (read - manage myself). After digging some more I've ran into Cloudways that make it all possible! They do the managing of the cloud server for you! Imagine my happiness!

I've sent a customer request with a few questions, and the response came literally 10min after that, tops! Is this really as good as it seams? Tell me what you think and I invite you to give me any advice since I don't have any experience with hosting what so ever. Thank you!!!

Here are the q's I sent:
"Hi,
I need an advice on which plan to buy. I am interested in combining Cloudways with DigitalOcean server.

More about me and the usage of the potential hosting - I am a newbie affiliate marketer and will be using the server to host landing pages that will serve as a presell pages for affiliate / CPA offers and also as opt-in pages.

I can not say what volume of traffic will they need to handle yet, but I plan to use paid traffic with hopefully good click-through-rate to my landing pages. Since I can not allow a huge budget for buying traffic from the start I gues that traffic would not be too demanding to a server at the beginning.

Can you please advise me:
1) is the 7$ plan enough to get me started?
2) what if suddenly the traffic goes rapidly up, can that 7$ plan (DO512MB 512 MB 1 Core 20GB 1TB ) handle it and what happens to my pages if the hosting properties are not enough? - does it get slower, does it stop "working" what's the worst that happenes if I'm sending traffic to it and it's not functional?
3) in the case of sudden increase of traffic what can I do quickly to prepare my server for it?
a) do I need to create another server
b) do I upgrade the existing 7$ one to a more robust one
c) can this be done automaticly and how so my server is flexible enough to serve the traffic well and fast
d) anything else you can say about this subject.
4) if it's easy to roughly say what plan can take what volume of traffic with no slowing down or crushin the site please specify.

And another q. regarding hosting a tracking tool, in this case FunnelFlux. It says on their website: "What are the minimum requirements to install Funnel Flux?
PHP 5.6+ with the following extensions: ionCube Loader 5.0+, zip, mcrypt, mbstring, json, hash, curl, mysqli, sockets. 99% of the web hosts out there should have these installed by default."
5) Do you advise for the tracking tool to be hosted on a separate server for the sake of speed or any other benifit or can it be hosted on the same server where my landing pages are? What does this depend on?

I am aware that there are surely a lot of variables that should be considered, but I have no experience to know what those are so please feel free to advise me on anything important or ask me additional questions so I get this right "

Here is the answer I received:
"Hello,
Greetings & Welcome to Cloudways.

This is Raheel from Cloudways. Thanks for showing interest on Cloudways. Let me tell you some features in more details and about our own infrastructure above all the five top server providers includes (Amazon, Google, DigitalOcean,Kyup and Vultr) and all the prices which you see on the pricing page is included with Cloudways + Server Provider. These are dedicated server along with dedicated IP. You don't have to pay anything extra to anyone. For more information about our pricing you can check our pricing page [I removed links - forum rules - don't have 10 posts yet]

Cloudways is a place where you can create, manage and grow your business. We have easy to use console its more user friendly and secure and enables you to add 1-click deploy applications including WordPress, PrestaShop, Magento, Drupal and many other applications. Currently we are having Debian 8 supported with PHP 7 available in the console with every launch of a new server. We don't provide Cpanel, But we have our own panel which is easy to use, manage and control your application.You will get access to connect your server through SSH and SFTP. We provide 1 Click Scaling option which help you to increase your server resources to powerful machine anytime and you can add multiple web applications to same server and host them easily depending upon the size of your website and the traffic on your website. You can add team member and give them specific right to application. You can check the below link which can help you to explain about giving access to team member: [I removed links - forum rules]

We manage and support all aspects related to the Cloudways platform (so all functionality in your console). We also monitor and pro-actively react to cloud provider or server related issues. We deal with server security and regularly patch your servers. We offer too one free migration per account.

We also provide automatic backups which is already included in the plan it will cost you $0.33 per GB per month, and if you want to download the backup to your locally this feature is also available : [I removed links - forum rules]
and one click application restoration is available as well which can make you to restore your application to older version if anything goes wrong [I removed links - forum rules]

All of these ionCube Loader 5.0+, zip, mcrypt, mbstring, json, hash, curl, mysqli, sockets are available on Cloudways server. Not only that we have different cache layers (Ngnix, Apache, Varnish and Memcached). We have launched many new features like PHP-FPM, Let's encrypt SSL certificate and HTTP2 as well which can help you to run your website in a better and efficient way. We provide 24 x 7 Live chat support service and ticket support service where our technical team make sure to solve your server issues on time so that you can focus more on your main business and website. Just to remind you that, we are offering one managed migration of each account for FREE. To avail this offer you need to upgrade your account from Trial account to Paid account or you can easily migrate your wordpress website by our migrator plugin which will migrate your website all files.For more information read this KB: [I removed links - forum rules]

1) is the 7$ plan enough to get me started?
Yes, you can start with 512 MB server to test initially.

2) what if suddenly the traffic goes rapidly up, can that 7$ plan (DO512MB 512 MB 1 Core 20GB 1TB ) handle it and what happens to my pages if the hosting properties are not enough? - does it get slower, does it stop "working" what's the worst that happenes if I'm sending traffic to it and it's not functional?
Well if the traffic increases and load on your website get higher then your website might be not able to get accessible or take time to get load/open.

3) in the case of sudden increase of traffic what can I do quickly to prepare my server for it?
We have 1 Click scale up option available, Which will allow you to scale up the server resources.
a) do I need to create another server
No need to create another server if load increases.
b) do I upgrade the existing 7$ one to a more robust one
[/]
c) can this be done automatically and how so my server is flexible enough to serve the traffic well and fast
Unfortunately, this features is not available on DigitalOcean, Yes but we have this option available on KYUP. which can allow you to scale up the server automatically when the traffic will be increases. but scale down process is manual.

4) If it's easy to roughly say what plan can take what volume of traffic with no slowing down or crushing the site please specify.
Roughly are the page views with the server size.
512MB server for 0-20K pageviews/month
1GB server for 20-60K pageviews/month
2GB server for 60-130K pageviews/month
4GB server for 130K-300K pageviews/month
8GB server for 300K-650K pageviews/month
16GB server for 650K-1.25m pageviews/month
32GB server for 1.25 m-3m pageviews/month
48GB server for 3m-4.6m pageviews/month


FREE signup using the link: [I removed links - forum rules]
can help you to compare and test the services and make decision about your hosting solutions. Further, if you need any other assistance feel free to contact me back.
Cheers,
Raheel Alam"

It was one looong post, but I hope it helps someone with hosting decisions

Live long and take action!

 

[Dr. Forum]

Hello friend, thanks for sharing with us this. I will personally say that it is the best starting plan for you. I know you have lots o communication in regards to the future. Let that not trouble you soo much. There is an option always to upgrade the package especially when you find that you have really grown. Go for it buddy.

 

[Dario]

I think in long run it would be cheaper to hire someone to set up your cloud server and getting your server directly from Digital Ocean. You may want to check out this service - TJOSM

 

[azgold]

When I started searching for beyond shared hosting and saw VPS and cloud hosting were totaly out of my budget reach, I digged deeper and God-knows-how ended up on DigitalOcean looking at it with misty eyes since there was this awsome affordable hosting that I couldnt handle (read - manage myself).

Me, too!! Seems like everybody else in whole world knows how to set up a VPS but me. Oh, and now you. I'm so happy that I'm not the only one anymore.

The price of managed VPSs is so high! The thought of trying to figure one out is so scary! But I really, really want one!

I think in long run it would be cheaper to hire someone to set up your cloud server and getting your server directly from Digital Ocean. You may want to check out this service - TJOSM

Read that, thanks Dario. Great price, too! I'm wondering about maintenance, DDOS, etc. How do you even know when something is broken or needs updating if it's unmanaged?


Update: I just checked out Cloudways, only $7/month for managed? Awesome! Even the next level up is reasonable.

Please let us (me) know if you try them, I'm eager to hear what you think. I'm also wondering what add-ons ($$$) might be necessary for a non-techie.

 

[Dario]

Me, too!! Seems like everybody else in whole world knows how to set up a VPS but me. Oh, and now you. I'm so happy that I'm not the only one anymore.

The price of managed VPSs is so high! The thought of trying to figure one out is so scary! But I really, really want one!



Read that, thanks Dario. Great price, too! I'm wondering about maintenance, DDOS, etc. How do you even know when something is broken or needs updating if it's unmanaged?


Update: I just checked out Cloudways, only $7/month for managed? Awesome! Even the next level up is reasonable.

Please let us (me) know if you try them, I'm eager to hear what you think. I'm also wondering what add-ons ($$$) might be necessary for a non-techie.

I got an account with Cloudways but I have decided to go directly with Vultr and I have just ordered a service from "TJOSM" who is a reputable member here and very knowledgeable when it comes to server.

With Cloudways it is more complicated to set up/update your name servers, there is an add-on for it(2,50$ monthly for up to 5 domains), while If I go directly with Vultr I just update nameservers in my domain registrar like this: "
ns1.vultr.com
ns2.vultr.com"

If your site get DDOSed, I do not think 7$/month plan with Cloudways will help you.

Also as your site is growing, it will be more expensive to go with Cloudways:
- Directly with Vultr - 2GB Ram & 2 Core Processor = 20$ monthly
- Cloudways - same specifications = 33$ monthly

Question is what will you get If you pay 13$ + monthly for the same cloud VPS from Vultr?

 

[azgold]

I got an account with Cloudways but I have decided to go directly with Vultr and I have just ordered a service from "TJOSM" who is a reputable member here and very knowledgeable when it comes to server.

With Cloudways it is more complicated to set up/update your name servers, there is an add-on for it(2,50$ monthly for up to 5 domains), while If I go directly with Vultr I just update nameservers in my domain registrar like this: "
ns1.vultr.com
ns2.vultr.com"

If your site get DDOSed, I do not think 7$/month plan with Cloudways will help you.

Also as your site is growing, it will be more expensive to go with Cloudways:
- Directly with Vultr - 2GB Ram & 2 Core Processor = 20$ monthly
- Cloudways - same specifications = 33$ monthly

Question is what will you get If you pay 13$ + monthly for the same cloud VPS from Vultr?

Thanks, Dario! Anything I read on those types of sites, I don't understand, so this helps a bunch.

 

[mastapa]

I just checked out Cloudways, only $7/month for managed? Awesome! Even the next level up is reasonable.

Please let us (me) know if you try them, I'm eager to hear what you think. I'm also wondering what add-ons ($$$) might be necessary for a non-techie.

If I understand right, what Cloudways offers is the full menagement of the server you buy (back ups, troubleshooting, anything that could go wrong). My conclusion that no other $$$ would be necessary for us as non-techies. Do you think I'm right @btmdario?

We manage and support all aspects related to the Cloudways platform (so all functionality in your console). We also monitor and pro-actively react to cloud provider or server related issues. We deal with server security and regularly patch your servers. We offer too one free migration per account.
We also provide automatic backups which is already included in the plan it will cost you $0.33 per GB per month, and if you want to download the backup to your locally this feature is also available : [I removed links - forum rules]
and one click application restoration is available as well which can make you to restore your application to older version if anything goes wrong

I think I need all of that since I know nothing about servers or taking care of them. I just want my sites to work. @btmdario do you think "TJOSM" service do all that? And thank you very much for the insight and recomendation of "TJOSM" service, it comes at the right time and very wellcomed.

Question is what will you get If you pay 13$ + monthly for the same cloud VPS from Vultr?

Yep, this is where my ignorance comes in - since knowing nothing about it I can be sold anything. Though, I think it's fair enough - who doesn't know, pays. But still, if I could get all that Cloudways offers form "TJOSM" service that would be awsome, paying as the problem accurs. Hopefully it won't be a pricey repair What's left is simply being informed as much as possible and colaborate with ethical people that will not rip you off for not having their knowledge and making it a fair price. Besides lack of knowledge the trust is a big issue too. So all checked and verified services and recomendations are golden!


Can anyone please tell me, the layman, what exactly these specifications stand for, what to they mean to me, my site/s and my traffic:

2GB ram - is that the processing memory available and why is 2GB better then 1?
2 core processor - what's the difference in comparisson to 1 core?
45 GB storage - is this the amount of data I can fit into that server (WP sites, images, videos)? How do I know how much storage i need? What does my decision depend on?
3 TB bandwidth - is this how much traffic my server can stand without crushing? What if it's PPV traffic coming in in loads?

If the amount of traffic is crutial element that I would be making my decision on, what do I need to look for? For example, is it different if I do PPV traffic in comparisson to FB ads in a sense of my server doing a good job?

@btmdario I see you went for the above configuration with Vultr, what made you pick that one and not the cheaper ones or the more expensive ones?

Big thank you to anyone for further info

 

[mastapa]

If your site get DDOSed, I do not think 7$/month plan with Cloudways will help you.

I just googled what DDoS is, and... gosh, is this a real and often threat and what can one do to prevent it and is it even possible to recover from it?

The joys of online reality and I don't even have a server yet!!!

 

[azgold]

gosh, is this a real

is it even possible to recover from it?

Yup and yup.

From what I understand, it's a real pain in the butt. Plus, it interrupts your income and compromises your site.

 

[Partyperjoy]

Vast majority of hosting providers are in fact resellers. A reseller is just a middleman between you and the real hosting company. Since resellers depend on the company whose plans they resell, they very often don't have neither freedom nor responsibility for dealing with your problems.Your requests and problems are dealt within the extended period of time. The result is that you pay more for the services you get and you're dealing with the "wrong" person all along the way.

 

[azgold]

Vast majority of hosting providers are in fact resellers. A reseller is just a middleman between you and the real hosting company. Since resellers depend on the company whose plans they resell, they very often don't have neither freedom nor responsibility for dealing with your problems.Your requests and problems are dealt within the extended period of time. The result is that you pay more for the services you get and you're dealing with the "wrong" person all along the way.

Hadn't thought about that part!

 

[mastapa]

@Freddy63

Vast majority of hosting providers are in fact resellers. A reseller is just a middleman between you and the real hosting company. Since resellers depend on the company whose plans they resell, they very often don't have neither freedom nor responsibility for dealing with your problems.Your requests and problems are dealt within the extended period of time. The result is that you pay more for the services you get and you're dealing with the "wrong" person all along the way.

What would you suggest to go with? Are Vultr and Digital Ocean resellers? It's clear to me that CloudWays is a reseller but for the added cost they do the server menagement that's why I was so excited to have stumbled upon them. I thought that hiring a dedicated server menager would be more expensive than go with CloudWays. Am I right?

 

[mastapa]

A reseller is just a middleman between you and the real hosting company.

Is Amazon also reselling?

 

[azgold]

Is Amazon also reselling?

Be a little bit careful there. Amazon is free for a year but I've read that they are expensive after that. I can't say from personal experience but that's what I've read.

 

[mastapa]

Be a little bit careful there. Amazon is free for a year but I've read that they are expensive after that. I can't say from personal experience but that's what I've read.

I've come to the same conclusion.

 

[azgold]

I've come to the same conclusion.

What's a girl to do?

 

[mastapa]

What's a girl to do?

We'll figure it out
Don't know what your into @azgold but for starters (since now these decisions are taking me to long and not moving me in the right direction - and that's actually runing campaigns for CPA offers) I'll do the following:
since I must have tracking anyway I'll pick an offer, pick my traffic and go with AdsBridge - don't have to worry about hosting there for starters, they also offer landing page creator (hmmm... - do have to check do they also host those landing pages for you or not - if not - back to this discusion ), price is very reasonable and affordable to me - and just beginn with the real thing. Guess changing hosts along the way won't kill me... We'll see about that! But I feel trapped in making all these deciosion and I love to research, but again - it's not getting me anywhere. Hopefully help in the shape of a trustworthy hero advisor will come - still, decision is on me, and so is the blame when sh** hits the fan somewhere along the road. But that's life and business. Guess - that's what a girl can do Let's do it! [Closing my eyes, screaming and bungee jumping]

 

[mastapa]

A few updates regarding the theme that maybe will help me / anyone make an informed decision:
(source) Vultr: High Performance SSD Cloud. - if I want DDoS protection on a Vultr server I need to pay 10/mo + the price of a server For the same server configuration (comparing directly Vultr and Vultr through Cloudways) that would cost 10$ (DDoS prot.) + 20$ (server) vs. Cloudways = 33$.

The difference between going directly with Vultr or through CloudWays then comes down to $3 since CloudWays allready has a DDoS protection set up:
(source) How To Prevent DDoS Attacks On WordPress Websites :
"In most cases, you do not have access to invest in the networking hardware used by your hosting provider. Your best bet is to go with a hosting company that hosts at reputable datacenters that are equipped with high-end networking hardware and provide initial level of security against DDoS attacks.
Cloudways hosts its clients on Amazon EC2, DigitalOcean and Google cloud servers with datacenters that are fully maintained and equipped with intelligent hardware running latest software. With no additional cost to its clients, Cloudways already has DDoS prevention at its networking core..." [Regarding DDoS attacks:] "Cloudways provides initial level of security to its clients along with consultation services. Our clients receive fully updated servers with application and server level firewalls that help in detecting unusual behavior of traffic and halting hacking attempts at application level..."
"Cloudways provides many security features to its clients without any additional costs:

1. SFTP access
2. Application Level firewall
3. Operating System Firewall
4. Auto backups, Server Cloning and Auto Healing
5. Dedicated IP on Cloud Server
6. Auto updates and patches of OS and services
7. Application updates and notifications
8. Consultation to help secure against DDoS attacks"

@azgold Thank you for mentioning the DDoS problem because it's now one of the important elements that I incorporate into decision making regarding hosting. In this light, I'm back to Cloudways. Have you made any decisions yet @azgold ?

 

[Dario]

TJOSM

I got my server directly and added nameservers from Vultr directly to my domain registrar. Also I got installed Virtualmin which is a great free alternative of cPanel that will let me to add new domains, sub-domains,etc.

Cloudways is good, but complicated for me without Vultramin or similar alternative of cPanel.

Cloud servers are really great, my speed test - Screenshot

 

[mastapa]

TJOSM

I got my server directly and added nameservers from Vultr directly to my domain registrar. Also I got installed Virtualmin which is a great free alternative of cPanel that will let me to add new domains, sub-domains,etc.

Cloudways is good, but complicated for me without Vultramin or similar alternative of cPanel.

Cloud servers are really great, my speed test - Screenshot

@btmdario Thanks for sharing! Do you plan on doing the security, updates of software and everything related to administrating the server yourself? What does Vultramin let you do? Does it enable you to update let's say Wordpress? Keep in mind I'm probably mixing things here since it's all confusing to me but I'm afraid I couldn't be doing it myself accept if let's say there are buttons to click in Vultramin to do all that is needed to have a secure and good working server.
Do you have any experience with servers yourself? Do you suppose you'll need the help of let's say "TJOSM" and for what parts of maintaining the server and how often? Thanks!