Resource Usage at Our New Virtual Private Server (VPS)

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WiredTree VPS Plans: 256-MB + 512-MB RAM

Today I paid for our second month of hosting at our new web host .. WiredTree (using half the refund I received from cancelling my annual subscription with Lunarpages).

During our first month of service, I've been closely monitoring resource usage .. at our new VPS server. So I have a good idea where we stand.

Everything in the world of Virtual Privates Servers, I learned, boils down to memory usage (RAM). Our hosting plan dedicates 384-MB to the site. (256-MB standard plan, plus a 128-MB upgrade).

If we exceed 384-MB, we would have to purcha$e more memory .. at a rate of $7.50/month per additional 64-MB RAM.

Here's what I found » the highest amount of RAM we've used thus far is 366-MB (see here), which equals 95% of our allowable limit. Kinda close, but this was only a short-term transient (1 hour).

Our highest *sustained* memory use is ~325-MB (lasting a few days), so that number might be more meaningful (85% max). Our average memory use tends to be in the range of 270-to-290 MB (75%)...

.. which is actually pretty comfortable. And it's not uncommon, following a reboot, for our usage to drop down to the 220-240 area, tho these low numbers tend to creep up over time (as Apache caches more pages).

••• today's entry continues below •••

Our VPS server was recently upgraded (Wednesday) to include the maximum amount of RAM it can hold » 16-GB.

So to recap, our memory limit is 384-MB. We can add more at a rate of $7.50/month per additional 64-MB. Our average usage tends to fall between 270 and 290-MB, with our max sustained usage at 325-MB, and our max transient usage peaking at 366-MB.

So you can see how, without the 128-RAM upgrade, we'd be in trouble (having already exceeded our standard 256-MB allotment).

I'm sensitive to the issue of resource usage, since "excessive server usage" was the reason our old web host (Lunarpages) booted us off the "Production server," and exiled us (banished us) to their "Stabilization server."

I spent three long months trying to rein in our use of server resources, doing everything possible .. to avoid having to pay the higher co$ts associated with hosting a VPS server (5 times more expen$ive than Shared hosting).

But in the end, I was not able to lower our resource usage sufficiently to warrant Lunarpages moving us back to the Production server.

Heck, they wouldn't even let me move to a VPS, claiming our resource usage warranted nothing less than a full, Dedicated server .. which I found unlikely, .. which is why we're now at WiredTree.

One of the reasons I've been monitoring our resource usage so closely is cuz I'd like to install the latest Drupal Content Management System (PHP/MySQL-based), and I'm sure that will suck up more of our (limited) resources.

The President of WiredTree (Zac) sometimes pull a support shift. He said the time to start looking to upgrade memory (RAM) is when we start "clipping." Notice the rounded peaks on the graph at the top of the page? When those rounded peaks start becoming flat plateaus, it time to start thinking about a RAM upgrade. Cux the server virtualization software will not let you have/use any more than your maximum allotted amount (except for short-term "burst").

Exceeding that amount will not kill the server, but new processes will faill to start. A reboot would probably reset much of the accumulated RAM .. back to a lower number.

I also been learning lots about Virtuozzo vs Xen (server virtualization environments .. OpenVZ is the open source version of Virtuozzo, which our server uses). Xen definitely sounds cooler. Xen home.

For more along these lines, here's a Google search pre-configured for the query > virtual private server vps virtuozzo xen

 

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This page contains a single entry by Rad published on March 15, 2008 2:37 PM.

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