I fell in love with the grid (gs) back when I signed up and up to the last minute. It was easy for me to ignore the issues with loading times, downtime and other problems as I was one happy customer. Mediatemple is family, but you just can’t stay at home for the rest of your life.
Before this article was written, Archon Digital took eons to fully load which I find to be really frustrating a lot of times. It has been on a Mediatemple Grid Server ever since the domain was bought in January 2007 and moving away from their lovely control panel was like moving away from home for the first time.
Evolution by Choice
As far as I can tell, I’ve already outgrown the Grid. I’ve outgrown not the capability and limitations of the system, but more on what else I can do and learn from it. I craved for root access and the freedom of being able to fully configure my own server.
The next step was definitely going to be a VPS for me and back then I was choosing between Mediatemple‘s DV hosting and Slicehost VPS. The decision was made early last week, where I concluded that learning how to setup my own box from scratch would be more beneficial to me in the long run.
I enjoyed using Mediatemple’s Grid Server (gs) hosting and have had good experience with their tech support and all their friendly staff as well. While there were indeed numerous outages, I still consider Mediatemple a great hosting company and their upcoming Cluster Server (cs) will most probably a better successor to the Grid.
Other problems I encountered with the Grid were related to certain TXT DNS entries which I badly need for domainkeys and others to work. Those who regularly visit my site can probably tell the difference on how much the loading time has improved. From a previous 1.0 to 8.0 seconds to a speedy 0.56 seconds
Why Not Shared?
You really can’t make me go back to shared hosting. I have nothing against it as it works real well for a lot of people, but I really feel more like I’ve outgrown it long ago. Even tried reseller hosting for a few sites last year but to me it’s still just shared hosting with a few added perks.
I also run a few other sites that require more resources and you would probably hate to be my neighbor in a shared hosting box.
What Next?
So that’s about it. I just need to transfer a few sites off to another hosting account and will then officially close my grid server account. I have documented how I set up my NGINX setup and compiled most of the information on a new article which will be posted here soon.
![Brief Downtime Due to Server Upgrade <p>Archon Digital was down for less than 30 minutes this morning due to a system upgrade on the server. The Ubuntu server hosting this site has upgraded from Gutsy 7.10.1 to 8.04.1 LTS Hardy Heron, a move which was long overdue but was put on hold for the longest time due to technical problems encountered [...]</p>](http://archondigital.com/wp-content/themes/archondigital/timthumb.php?src=http://archondigital.com/wp-content/uploads/ubuntu-lead.jpg&h=100&w=100&zc=1&q=100)
![Rackspace Acquires Slicehost and Jungle Disk; <p>Archon Digital’s hosting provider, Slicehost and one of the internet’s most reliable online storage providers, Jungle Disk has both entered into an agreement to be acquired by Rackspace Hosting, Inc. The announcement was made on October 22, 2008 on their respective websites. How will this affect Slicehost users? Slicehost annouced they are planning changes for [...]</p>](http://archondigital.com/wp-content/themes/archondigital/timthumb.php?src=http://archondigital.com/wp-content/uploads/bang-lead.jpg&h=100&w=100&zc=1&q=100)
![A New Slice of Life – Slicehost <p>One of the main things that I do find interesting with blogging has never really been about making money online but more on the design part of things. Two weeks ago I got myself a 256 slice from <a href=”http://www.slicehost.com” target=”_blank”>Slicehost</a>. I figured this was a worthwhile investment for most of the sites I run [...]</p>](http://archondigital.com/wp-content/themes/archondigital/timthumb.php?src=http://archondigital.com/wp-content/uploads/slice-lead.jpg&h=100&w=100&zc=1&q=100)
17 Comments
Someday, when my online ventures turns BIG, I’m gonna get a dedicated hosting plan. Hehhe
bendzs last blog post..A Tantric Affair
Dedicated hosting is too rich for my blood for the time being, plus my blog / site is not generating that much income to cover the expenses for a dedicated hosting plan. -_-
Deimos Tel`Arinds last blog post..Silent Thoughts – Grateful Heart
It’s a VPS account not really a dedicated box, the setup is similar but on a smaller scale. $20 just like my previous Mediatemple host.
Getting a dedicated box is very expensive for me at the moment and would have no need for it right now.
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Hi…
You have a nice blog template and content. I like it
I will subscribe you, hope you want subscribe my blog also
Oh, yea, how I can put widget “Advertise Here” like in your site? Where I can find it? Can I get one?
thanks
I just got a VPS and I really like it. I outgrew my shared hosting. It’s the 2nd (well, 3rd or 4th if you count crashes) time I’ve set up a *nix server so was fun!
Cynthia Blues last blog post..Angel Barks
I had never even heard of dedicated hosting. I am such a noob.
sogeshirtss last blog post..Final Text!
I’ve had my service go down a couple of times (I’m still on shared hosting), so it is good to get info on the alternatives. Thanks!
baldeagles last blog post..Why I Won’t Do Pay Per Post
I’m in the same predicament right now, actually. I have Mediatemple’s Grid Service, and to be honest, I’m not very happy with the excessive outages. I’m paying more for *good* shared hosting, and the down time is more than my $8/month Hostgator account? Give me a break.
Anyway, I’m thinking about going to VPS, but I’m not sure with whom yet. I was considering WiredTree and LiquidWeb; I heard good things for both. Any recommendations?
Car Blogs last blog post..1964 Ferrari 250 LM To Be Auctioned This Weekend
So you’ve decided and moved to VPS. Good for you! All the best and hope it works out for you.
If MT doesn’t work for me, then I know who to ask. Hehe
Btw, its my first time to visit this blog and I’m impressed. Great job with the custom theme. I’m adding you to my blogroll and will be visiting often.
Jaypees last blog post..PinoyLancer: Freelance Hub
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You should check out Hostgator for dedicated servers, but if you want VPS there are a lot better ones, but I just brain farted and can’t remember the name. I only recall it was about $40/month, which is a steal for a VPS server
I don’t have the money to pay for servers either, but if you talk to hosting companies about getting sponsored, you may just get it
-Mike
Mike Huangs last blog post..Ripping Off A Blog Theme
Thanks for visiting…
I use OIO Publisher for my advertising you can click on the banner ad I put up
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I remember trying more than eight times before finally getting it. Particularly the FastCGI thing.
and yes, it was a lot of fun setting up NGINX
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It’s never too late to learn
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Running your own setup involves a lot more work but it’s worth it.
So far, I’m still having fun and learning at the same time.
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I am now with Slicehost. My site now loads much faster and haven’t had any downtime since moving.
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Thanks for visiting, I read your blog as well
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I went ahead and signed up for Slicehost $20 per month.
archondigitals last blog post..Permalink Migration on WordPress
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