Switching to New Server
Just a note that PerishablePress.com will be migrating to its new home at Media Temple. Thanks for your patience as the DNS propagates. If you encounter anything seriously weird, like unexpected errors or anything, please comment on this post or send an email. As always, thank you for your help.
Okay – here goes nothin’!
<flips switch>
Catch you on the other side!
Note: If you can read this, the site is at (mt)!
About the Author
Jeff Starr = Web Developer. Book Author. Secretly Important.
9 responses to “Switching to New Server”
Congrats on the switching! Everything looks good from here :)
Thanks! Looks like it’s all working out great. At first I was concerned about how the extra traffic would affect the server, but so far everything is working great!
Jeff,
I wish you the best of luck at MediaTemple.
We just finished migrating away from MT due to the severe, consistent and recurring problems we were having.
As you evaluate your new hosting environment, please pay particular attention to their DNS errors and MySql failures. This almost killed our business.
Best,
Bob
Hey Bob, Understood. Thanks for the heads up. Btw, which service (grid, dv, etc.) did you have with them?
Jeff,
You’re not going to like it: (dv).
I got fed up with all the moving around – so I took the plunge and finally figured out Amazon EC2.
When I got it up and running, I had the feeling I had discovered the future… No kidding…
Best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the tip on EC2 – amazing to see how far Amazon has come with their hosting service. I really need to revisit and see what’s now possible.
That’s a great quote, and it makes me wonder why you felt that way. I mean, I got a great feeling finally switching from shared to virtual/private, but nothing quite so fantastic!
Jeff,
Anecdotal at best, here goes…
For one, I can create as many instances as I want and keep them dormant until I need them – at no cost, except for the main instance. How long they stay dormant and how many stay that way can be automatically controlled by demand using Amazon tools. I guess it’s why they call it “elastic cloud computing” – and it works.
I now also keep all my SQL databases on a dedicated Amazon RDS instance, which is constantly backing up my data and which lets me restore to a specific date and time. An untold luxury anywhere else…
With EBS storage, I can move my data from one instance to another in as little as 4-5 clicks.
The basic cost of an instance is $14.40 / month for a micro instance which is already much faster than our (dv) at Media Temple and much, much faster than the (grid) we also had there.
When I said I believed I had discovered the future, it was mostly because Amazon EC2 + RDS + S3 gives me the ability to build systems that can compete with the BIG players at a fraction of the cost and without having to forego many of the bells and whistles.
We provide a number of hosted services, using WordPress as a platform. We have such things as an SMS gateway, as well Kunaki, GotoWebinar and GeoIP integrations where we absolutely need speed, scalability and, of course, stability. At the drop of a hat, we may have to process 50K-60K transactions. These were the things we though we would be getting at Media Temple.
Most of our services integrate tightly with Infusionsoft and we need a good and fast server-to-server connection with Infusionsoft’s data centers. Due to its frequent DNS failings, Media Temple really hurt us. A lot of the callback transactions would simply fail.
We license infusionWP, a WordPress-to-Infusionsoft plugin to some 600 sites. Our license server was on an MT grid server. It was excruciatingly slow, timing out much too frequently and caused us severe customer relationship problems.
I “discovered the future” when I switched to Amazon and things just worked, fast and reliably. And I can compete with the big boys, too, without having to sell the company.
The only initial drawback to Amazon is the steep learning curve in comparison to CPanel and Plesk systems. After doing all the hard work manually, I re-discovered Webmin and I have much more control. In short, there’s no going back.
Another Amazon drawback is the price. It’s cheaper than Media Temple, don’t get me wrong, but when you start tasting all the heretofore “forbidden fruits”, you start building a real system. Our current hosting costs are at around $800/month compared to the +/- $250 at MT. But, very important, we were able to translate the additional $550 costs into several thousands in additional income. So, in our case, we’re fine with the additional costs.
Things at Media Temple may have improved since October but I’m not willing to find out the hard way. We suffered enough from March to October.
I truly hope it goes well for you, though, as I really like what you and Chris do and have done.
Best,
Bob
Thanks for the inside view, Bob – it really opened my eyes to some things. It sounds like Amazon hosting is the way to go if/when I outgrow the (dv). I now get why ‘discovering the future’ would be the feeling after setting up something like that. It’s some pretty mind-boggling stuff indeed.
About the frequent DNS failings, I have experienced this (I think) at (mt). I’m using Mint Statistics for this and several other sites, but now seeing issues with about half of all recorded IP addresses resolved as
0.0.0.0. Do you think DNS failings are involved somehow?Thanks again for the great info.
I’m not familiar with Mint but I do know that when their (mt) DNS fails, it’s very pervasive – taking everything down with it: web, mail, rDNS…
They have a lot of work left in that area.