Time For a VPS

This is what a nod on WoW.com does to your website traffic.

I actually looked into a VPS a few months back when I had a moderate increase in traffic. At that time, my site was devouring in upwards of 70% of the server resources, thus violating my webhost’s Terms of Service. They were gracious enough to give me a period of a few days to relocate HuntsmansLodge.com before they shut me down. Fortunately for me, armed with my vast knowledge about the internets and data driven applications, I was able to troubleshoot the matter and optimize the site to reduce server resource demands. 😉

My shared hosting plan was able to ride out the storm which was The Worgen Madness, when my site visits increased to 200%-300% above normal. However, shared hosting isn’t quite prepared for the ripples of the WoW.com Effect.

I was pleasantly surprised at how many visits my site was getting yesterday, but sort of scratching my head as to why. Then later that evening I looged on and was given a “grats on the WoW.com mention” by my GM. My response was, “huh..?” He then replied that WoW.com featured my site in one of their articles that day. *gasp*

I see… that would explain things…

Pretty cool stuff indeed, but now my hosting company is giving me an ultimatum.

I received this message in an e-mail today:

Dearest Garwulf, Defender of the Alliance and Protector of the Light, (actually, I added this bit for dramatic effect… I go by another name IRL)

I am reopening this ticket as it appears huntsmanslodge.com has simply outgrown our shared services and is exceeding our FUP to the point to spike global disruption. I’m forced to mention that you will need to seek alternate hosting for this domain as can no longer jeopardize the integrity of the server resources.

May Elune Light Your Path, (they didn’t say this either… just sounds more fitting in a WoW blog)

Web Hosting Company’s Customer Service Guy

So there ya have it. It’s time to step my game up and take this operation to a VPS. For those not in the know, VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. A VPS is a provisoned portion of a server which allows you to run your site(s) in an isolated environment. That way you don’t run the risk of hogging resources from other sites and vice versa.

While they’re not as spendy as say, a Dedicated server, there is a noticeable price increase. Ultimately, it’s going to cost me about 6 times the dough of its current plan.

I’m going to perform this upgrade regardless because I enjoy mainatining this site and connecting with you folks. However… if you’re a fan of this site and you feel like offering me a small token of appreciation, then I will gladly accept any gift you feel bestowing upon me. While this site is fun as hell to develop and maintain, it does take a ton of time and there are costs associated with it. I try to offset the time and monetary investments with advertising revenue, but it doesn’t really amount to as much as you may think. 😐

Along with my graduation to a more stable and powerful server environment, I intend on upgrading the site in the not so distant future. I’ve had an overhaul plan brewing, but I just haven’t had the time to execute it yet. it’s coming though. 😀

All for now… see you next time…