The node load

Recently we have begun to deploy just a very small portion of our overall marketing plans into action. However minor the end result was far beyond expectations. With barely a fraction of our marketing budget in play we set out with a decent stock of vps nodes, thats virtual private server for you noobs out there. A node in this case is just another way of saying a single physical server configured to act as a host to many virtual servers.

With our nodes lined up and more on the way for what we hope will be a slight overstock murphy paid us a visit. We soon found ourselves filling nodes so fast, literally several overnight, that we began pulling select nodes designated for other purposes such as future shared, reseller, and semi-dedicated machines. Still new nodes arrived and those were setup as well until we just plain ran out. Sitting on a pile of orders makes us all warm and fuzzy inside normally…as it should. Sitting on new orders with nowhere to put them while we wait for loads of new hardware is a very unsettling experience. The nodes in service are all well balanced and lightly loaded but still loaded to what we have designated as a safe, acceptable, profitable capacity. We could put a few extra orders on all the many nodes to get the order queue down but where do we draw the line? We’ve opt’d to bite this bullet and gross underestimate in sales head on. Rather than risk damaging our support needs, existing clients and their businesses, and doing what other host do all the time we will just let it ride. Id rather not lose a single order and while every client and order are very important to us, its more important that those clients that have received our stellar services continue to get those services on the same level as they have come to expect. It may cost us sales but the cost of crashing or overloading nodes would be far more damaging to our reputation and more importantly to the livelihood of those clients that put their trust in us to deliver.

This stance is a slap in the face to some and while most hosts would just tuck a few accounts here or there to “get by” its simply not our style. Hopefully its this same jag style that has you reading this post 😉 .  In the jag world : current client > potential new client  and  hopefully that fact is looked upon  in a positive manner despite its negative connotations.