Hi, I've long looked for a plan that is a step up from my basic plan.

Does business hosting have all the same features as basic?

IF so what are the advantages.  What I'm hoping is there are servers that are less crowded.

Please let me know.

Thanks,
jim

Hi Jim,

MrPhil is correct. The servers are the same, the Business Plan mainly gets you added features at reduced prices such as the the Free for One Year Domains, Dedicated IP, Basic SSL and some other things. The links he provided should give you a good starting point on comparing the 2 plans and what you get with each.

VPS plans range from $28 to $63 per month (Linux); a bit more for Windoze. If that's too big a jump, put in a suggestion for a new hosting plan -- shared but higher performance at a target price. Something in between Basic/Business and VPS. Be sure to put it in terms of "guaranteed minimum performance levels", not "fewer neighbors". If people are willing to pay a bit more to get higher performance, LP might consider offering it.

I would say the Starter VPS plan is what you are looking for.  The price is cheap and you get he performance and reliability of a middle of the ground hosting server. 


That isn't the case at all.  Performance would be better just based on the fact that you are sharing the resources between fewer people.  I'd highly suggest checking out the Starter VPS hosting plan here:

http://www.lunarpages.com/xen-virtual-private-server/

Hope that helps!

Hi Mitch,

I just spoke with Sales and Upgrade.

Here's my issues with VPS.

Any VPS plan or Dedicated does not have the necessary firewall and rootkit check security installed (dedicated doesn't even have the OS installed).  So you can try to figure out how to do that yourself or  pay LP to do it.  Also if you need suPhp it needs to be installed.  So figure around $120 for installation of those items.  They are not being monitored for upgrades, etc., you'd have to do that yourself.  So unless you want to pay for a maintenance plan which is not inexpensive, you again will have to do that yourself or pay $120/hour from time to time.  Again, although I may  consider myself above average as an LP user I don't want to spend my time learning OS security and monitoring for state of the art upgrades to server security . . . that's a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

Then there is the Control Panel issue.  If you want CPanel it costs $35 month.  You can get the free LPControl panel or if you have less than 10 domains the Plesk CP.  The issue here is that if you want to migrate your account it is free only if you are going from CPanel to Cpanel . . . any other migration will entail $120/hour.

So the setup costs are significant.

Then there is the performance issue.  I've been told, and I applaud the honesty of staff that the starter plan will probably not be adequate for my needs.  Now I don't know how many resources I use, but i'm sure there are a lot heavier users than me.

So in my case i'm looking at about $250 setup and $70/month, or I could save half the setup cost and pay $105 month.  That's a far cry from what I'm looking for.

Thanks,
jim

Hi Jim,

The Xen VPS are closer to what you are looking for since they do guarantee you a specific CPU allotment and memory, and looking at your current usages for your account you appear to be within a comfortable range for the starter VPS. 

I do understand that you have a issue with the setup costs. Managing your own server and doing your migration isn't as hard as it first seems, so you may want to consider taking that route.  First thing I do recommend is get familiar with ssh (good link to start : http://www.lunarforums.com/dedicated_web_hosting_at_lunarpages/how_to_login_to_your_dedicated_server_via_ssh-t26372.0.html )

From there, you can install applications and have much more access to your server.  I will be putting tutorials up (I swear, I am just cleaning them up) on how to install suphp, update php, install php modules, and help for doing your own migration from CP to LPCP on dedicated/VPS.

If you have any other question, please feel free to ask.