Glenn's Blog

We've endured so many problems with running this website on a shared web host and have reached a point where we've out-grown the server. We're currently testing a Virtual Server and will be moving soon. Registered users will receive an email alert telling them that the access to WestCoastGearHeads.com may be intermittent while the domain name re-points to the new server.

There are lots of advantages of moving to a Virtual Private Server (VPS). This is a bit technical so, just know it's for the better.

Most importantly, Performance Increases - since we control the websites on the server. For the short term, WestCoastGearHeads.com will be the only website on the server.

Configuration - We control how the server is configured allowing us to use performance enhancing mods including caching not commonly found on a shared server. We will also control configurations and updates of core applications such as mySQL and PHP allowing us to stay us to stay up to date as needed.

Monitoring - A disadvantage with the current shared server is the inability to know when the server is having challenges and what is causing the challenge. The new server will allow us to utilize alert tools to warn us when there is an issue so we can work on a fix asap and determine how to avoid the problem in the future.

We're pretty excited that we are forced to make the leap. It puts more responsibility in our lap, but gets us away from the constant issues faced when sharing server resources with many other websites. Stay-tuned and we'll let you know when we are close to making the switch.

Glenn