It is time to move host again. This time round, the decision to move is not because of any negative experiences. SharkSpace (acquired by eleven2) was a fantastic host for me. It has great support, uptime, amazing servers and brilliant pricing. There is simply nothing wrong with the host and considering the price that I was paying, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Yet I’m on the move again, and let me tell you why.
My previous shared hosting account was sufficient due to the low traffic I was getting and the simple applications (primarily WordPress) I was running. SwiftWorld, as much as I hate to say it, had grown a little through the years. It is no doubt still growing (slowly but steadily, so I say) but at that rate, my hosting plan was more than enough to handle the load. Nevertheless looking towards the future and planning ahead, I decided to “upgrade†to a Virtual Private Server (VPS).
Okay I admit I found a brilliantly good deal and it just seemed too good to be true. It is so very cheap and for the specifications that I am paying for, should it work, is just a god sent. Search up ChicagoVPS and you will see the deal that I’m talking about. Not going to recommend them just yet because you never know with such cheap prices they might overload the servers and everything comes crashing down. It is such a risk to be on such hosts where they promise so much for so little. SharkSpace was something like that as well. They provided a great deal at that point of time and it was simply too good to resist (add on the woes I had with the prior host before them, I had to get it). I searched them up, read reviews and try to judge them based on the “truth†the internet provides. Sure enough my research proved useful and I signed up with a reliable host that served me for years.
ChicagoVPS had a major setback months ago (they were hacked and data was compromised. The way they handled the situation wasn’t too ideal as well but they got through it. Lots of negative opinions due to that trouble they had.) They aren’t as established as SharkSpace and the price that they are charging raises even more eyebrows. Yet, I moved. You have to give them a try yes? That was what I thought when I signed on with SharkSpace. Couple that with the curiosity and hunger to tinker with computers the VPS they offered was a gift I had to accept.
So far so stable; the performance is also definitely geared for higher traffic and load. It was fun as well setting up the different packages and applications at the server side. It was something like DIYing my NAS, just that this time round I installed web serving capabilities. The main issue and worry I have is the security of the server. I’ve read up on how to secure this and that but I ain’t no professional. There are bound to be security lapses and hopefully, should they be found, will not be exploited. Do feel free to share if you do know of any tips on further securing the server or common mistakes people make.
I’ll be back again in a month to review what I have and in half a year time again should the host still be alive. I am still paying for my SharkSpace account until I feel confident enough on ChicagoVPS reliability and whether the cheap deal is not just a sham. Oh and yes, backups, loads of them.
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