Website Performance Question

[atechstl]

I currently have a VPS with 384mb of Ram on the Freedom Plan. I have a customer intrested in moving his website to us but he states that his website gets about 250,000 hits per month. He currently sells vitamins on it, and would eventually like to add a forum.

Can my VPS handle this or should he have a VPS of his own?

[EuroNut]

With that sort of traffic and plans for the future he's probably looking at a dedicated server.

[atechstl]

Well, I honestly would like to stick with Jag for this client. But they don't appear to be offering Dedicated Servers. Do you think I can offer him a High end VPS?

[EuroNut]

Jag's dedicated server offering are on their web site here

You could possibly try going with a high-end VPS but the type of site you describe sounds pretty resource-hungry. It's not just the memory, bandwidth and disk space used that you need to consider - An active "shop" type site uses a lot of CPU, and they're thinking of adding a forum too. If you try it with a top-of-the-line VPS it would not surprise me to hear that it was using more than its fair-share of CPU resources on the node the VPS is on and Jag would be asking you to upgrade to dedicated, possibly with a site suspension for over-use while you get them moved to a server (which can take a few days to get ordered and built for you). My inclination would be to get them onto a dedicated server from day 1 and avoid future hassles (and potential loss of the customer).

[the_ancient]

None of what you posted would be a good judge the level of service the cleint would need

Hits alone are not a good judge..

Is this a Static HTML site?
Is this a Ecommerce Site?
What kind of Database does he Use?
How many of active USERS (not hits) does the site get.
How is the traffic Spaced out (evenly, or in waves)
Has the site been performace optimized?

What type of plan is the site running on currently?
Any performance issues now?

That would be a good start

[atechstl]

Sorry,

He currently has a website that sells vitamins. This website is provided by the company he goes through. He pays them hundreds of dollars per month and they host it and so on. We are going to provide him with a similar website using Oscommerce plus he would like a forum attached to it.

I have not verified how many actual userers hit the website, nor do I know how the traffic is spaced out. I am currently seeking this information and will report back.

[the_ancient]

Sorry,

He currently has a website that sells vitamins. This website is provided by the company he goes through. He pays them hundreds of dollars per month and they host it and so on. We are going to provide him with a similar website using Oscommerce plus he would like a forum attached to it.

I have not verified how many actual userers hit the website, nor do I know how the traffic is spaced out. I am currently seeking this information and will report back.

Ahh,

Well since your switching platforms it really does not matter,

Since your using osC you dont need customization of the hardware therefore I would advise agaist any VPS,

You MIGHT be able to get by on a SDX plan though depending on how much traffic the forum gets in addition to the shopping cart