Waiting time for PS

Hi guys,

Does anyone have an idea on the waiting time for PS? I just placed an order for one and although the system says few weeks, I would like to get some user feedback.

Also what is the performance like?

All I am after is a stable website running Joomla with fairly heavy email traffic (close to 80 mailboxes). No forums or chat servers but there will be a support wiki.

In reply to:
Does anyone have an idea on the waiting time for PS? I just placed an order for one and although the system says few weeks, I would like to get some user feedback.

I think the waiting time for PS conversion went up drastically during the Blingy disaster. I suspect they're working through the backlog but it's probably worth a support ticket to see if you can use your interest and enthusiasm to go to the head of the line. :)

In reply to:
Also what is the performance like?

Well, it not at all different from the "best" performance on a shared server. The idea is that you configure your PS to guarantee you the resources that your site requires. This is equivalent to the "best luck" case of being on a shared server where your neighbors happen to be slackers. (or at least the visitors to your nieghbors' sites are slackers)

In reply to:
All I am after is a stable website running Joomla with fairly heavy email traffic (close to 80 mailboxes).

Unless your users are all using web mail, this shouldn't really affect your server. Even if they are using web mail, it's never been clear to me exactly where web mail ran - on your server or on some dediated dreamhost web mail server.

In reply to:
No forums or chat servers but there will be a support wiki.

I've found MediaWiki to be a bit of a slug, but I may be an aberration. (just ask around) :)

Use the 3DOM50 promo code for 3 extra lifetime domains and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons here!

In reply to:
I think the waiting time for PS conversion went up drastically during the Blingy disaster. I suspect they're working through the backlog but it's probably worth a support ticket to see if you can use your interest and enthusiasm to go to the head of the line. :)

I don't want to pester them yet, may be after two weeks :) I just signed up with this company account. The company is growing rapidly so eventually we may have to move to a dedicated server.

In reply to:
Well, it not at all different from the "best" performance on a shared server.

All I'm after is not getting clogged because of some fool in the shared server. Want that minimum guarantee of memory and process power. I'm starting with 250MB plan but will move up if I see that we need more grunt.

In reply to:
Unless your users are all using web mail, this shouldn't really affect your server.

95% of them will never touch webmail. That is only for those who travel around and they have their laptops anyway. So I'm not worried about that.

I think the front end of the webmail runs on the webserver and it connects to the dedicated mail server (via IMAP). So if it ever gets slow, it can be because of either of the machines.

In reply to:
I've found MediaWiki to be a bit of a slug, but I may be an aberration. (just ask around) :)

Thanks for that tip :) I have MoinMoin and DokuWiki in my short list. More leaning towards DokuWiki as it doesn't use any database and suitable for relatively small support wiki (more like a large organised FAQ).

My feeling is that if your account is having performance issues they will gladly prioritize you, as you're also impacting the shared server as a whole. If that's the case, send them a message.

I have PS for a while now, and I have see pros and cons in it.

First, it's on average much faster than DH shared, but I wouldn't say like the best of th shared servers. For a Joomla site, you still have all your queries going to a shared mysql server. So I would say a "best shared server" with good neighbors would show a much better performance (also taking into account that your files are stored somewhere else too, which has its own pros and cons).

Then cons:

1- Apache is not configured to be very memory efficient (probably it doesn't have to be in a shared server), and as it's explained here:

http://www.yui-life.com/2008/optimizing-dreamhost-ps-cpu-and-memory-usage-by-installing-litespeed-web-server/

This is not good, when your resources are metered.

2- My sites use very low resources, 250Mb would be fine, but I have spikes in traffic now and then during a day. Which would be fine in shared, but they bring my account down for a few minutes every time it happens. This would not be an issue in shared, but it is in PS (and every other VPS solution for that matter).

This spikes seem to be related to bots, but I really don't have the time to research it and try to block them.

So in a sense you have to set PS for you highest use (and pay for it) and not average use. The swap memory provided doesn't seem to work well for me, my sites become unresponsible even before my PS runs out of memory and starts accessing the swap.

The provided graphs are not much help here, as they are slightly delayed, so they don't tell you what's really happening right now, you have to have top running (I find that if I don't, I'm not able to login while my site is low on memory).

Also average memory usage went up without noticeable change in my sites or traffic, and I would guess this has something to do with the PS setup, So now I need to maintain my resources at about 330Mb.

3- People are having difficulties in switching back to shared. So be sure that's what you really want.

To sum up, I found out that VPSs (not only DH PS) have their cons, and they aren't always best then shared. Specially if your usage is not very average. So while they seem to be the next step from shared, they are not always the best solution.

As far as comparing DH PS with other VPSs, I guess DH PS is much better value, you get all the managed server (like shared) and also you mail and mysql doesn't use you memory. So if you need something like 300Mb here, you would probably need much more in a VPS somewhere else.

Decio.

__________________________
Use promo code US97OFF to get maximum discounts!
Use o código de promoção US97OFF para descontos de até US50!

Thanks for a great post I think you bring up some excellent points that many should think about before just assuming the a PS server is right for them. smile

--rlparker

SAVE YOURSELF AND CANCELL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

My Private Server (greg) was activated a few days ago and since then I live in absolute agony. The Private Server thing does NOT work!

On shared account, I had bad service, I was (and probably I still am, who knows) on the Blingy cluster.

On shared, the service was bad, WWW slowdowns all the time and FTP dead slow, but my sites never went dead. Now- EVERYTHING WENT HO HELL.

All my sites are DOW, my sevice tickers continue unanswered (15 hours by now), nobody does absoluytely anything.

There's probably some memory problem in the PS solution. I can reboot the server and when rebopoted ot works (sometimes) for a few minutes, at marvellous speed. Then it comes to a screeching halt.

So - if it worked, it would be great, really good, I mean.
The trouble is that IT DOES NOT WORK!

If you want to save your ass, just cancell the PS request immediately, before is too late. If you really wanna suffer, ask for PS.

Just an afterthought -

O tried even the very highest setting, the would cost more than a dedicted server, rebooted again - and it still is NOT working!!!

So, definitely, the PS is NO-GO.

A large number of other people have been very happy with the efficacy of PS in achieving its objectives for their sites. I am one of them.

What problems did you observe that caused the slowdowns before you felt you had to reboot the server? Were they memory related or CPU related?

It is true that if you have a very highly trafficked site with lots of simultaneous dynamic requests - particularly if your traffic is very spiky, you'll have to configure your PS to be hefty enough to handle the spikes.

BTW, I don't think that PS can instantly honor immediate requests for large amounts of dedicated CPU and memory. I could be wrong, but I'd think that if you requested CPU and memory equivalent to a dedicated server, that it couldn't be honored because you're physically sharing the server with other PS customers at the moment.

Use the 3DOM50 promo code for 3 extra lifetime domains and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons here!

I've had a VPS for sometime and I'm much happier with it than a "shared" account, well worth it.

If you're running Joomla I would advise going with a VPS for the MySQL also. I run Drupal, like Joomla and other CMS's make heavy use of MySQL, this would be best.

Where Dreamhost goes with the waiting list, I've been waiting 3 months and still no estimate on when it's going to be ready. To be honest if I don't receive it within another week or two I'm going to cancel and move to another hosting company. I've tested other hosting companies and found an excellent one if Dreamhost continues to jerk me around. I'm not the type who jumps ship at the drop of a hat, but seriously over 3 months waiting is totally absurd.

So in summary, put your order in now for a VPS for the MySQL server if you haven't already done so. Dreamhost "shared hosting" account is known to be very slow with CMS's due to it's MySQL performance.

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

In reply to:
Where Dreamhost goes with the waiting list, I've been waiting 3 months and still no estimate on when it's going to be ready.

Have you submitted a ticket inquiring about when you're going to be upgraded to PS? We've heard that a mere inquiry sometimes gets you to the front of the list - particularly if you're experiencing performance problems on your server.

Use the 3DOM50 promo code for 3 extra lifetime domains and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons here!

Numerous times, all with "we're sorry yadda yadda yadda". I post a ticket on average every two weeks, actually waiting on a response on a ticket I sent up today.

BTW my sites are impacted due to the significant dismal MySQL performance .....

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Ah, too bad! :(

I guess the Blingy disaster has taken it's toll and they're just way far behind.

Use the 3DOM50 promo code for 3 extra lifetime domains and $50 off
More Dreamhost coupons here!

Well finally after 3 months my VPS for MySQL was enacted today. Yep, if you're running a CMS like Drupal, Joomla, etc. and go the VPS route get the MySQL package combo, defiantly worth it!

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

I just got added to P.S. MySQL this morning also. I had been waiting since the MySQL version came out.