Running a high-volume website (like MSE)

djohnsonhk

I'm curious: how easy is it to run a high-traffic/volume website such as MSE?

I'm thinking of setting up a website which could potentially draw in a few thousand users (whether or not they're online at the same time who knows), but don't know where to begin.

Is it better to have a hosted solution, or to purchase/rent your own servers?

Are there hosting solutions that can scale (in capability and price) depending on your network traffic?

Obiously MSE gets a lot of traffic, so if any of the webmasters here could give me a few tips, I would be ultra-grateful!

Cheers,
David

colin79666

It really depends on the sort of pages you are serving up. Plain old html pages don't require a powerful server so you might get away with shared hosting.

If you are going to go through a lot of bandwidth (serving up video, large files etc) then you will need to be looking at a dedicated server.

If you are going to be serving into the hundreds of thousands or millions a day then you will be heading into the direction of having several load balanced servers. It gets expensive from this point on.

Flexible_Friend

Personally, I would start with a shared hosted server with an average amount of monthly bandwidth allocation and take it from there.

Web site content/downloads and the number of visitors will determine your bandwidth.

A dedicated server usually means that you have to run it yourself from a technical point of view so unless you are highly technical, leave it to the experts and go for the shared hosted server option.

Explain to your web host what your plans are so that he can best advise you and make sure that your web site doesn't adversely affect other web sites on the same server.

Remember, you can always upgrade or move your website at a later date, so be realistic at first to keep your initial costs down.

Hounslow_Penguin

With hosting, start small and work your way up; no sense in paying for things you're not going to use in the beginning - always best to outgrow than to stagnate

Although it's always a good idea to shop around thoroughly for services and rates, I personally recommend A Small Orange as a host, as we have never had problems with them, and they have some good plans at good rates. Of course, it does depend on where you're looking to get the most site traffic from; if you're looking for more UK-based visitors, it may be an ideaa going with a UK-based host, although I've often found UK hosts to be a little more expensive.

Also - take time to email the hosts with any specifics you might like on your account, or see if they can tailor a package to your requirements. In a competitive market, hosts do have to vie for your business, so it's in both your interests to strike a good deal.