Dedicated Server 1&1

[Sally Dickson]

Hi,

I am reviewing my hosting as the traffic to my websites/shops is growing.

I currently have a shared server on 1and1 and was looking for a dedicated server arrangement.

Obviously it would be easier for me to stay within 1and1, so any feedback from anyone with experience using dedicated servers on 1and1 would be very welcome.

[I-CC]

Only thing would be aware about is the service is based in Germany, so domains that are not .co.uk will have issues with appearing under UK search results, the likes of .com, net , tv etc, basically non .*.uk domains.

[pinbrook]

if you feel you want to give us a 2nd chance we have semi managed dedicated servers.

you will still manage your sites in the Hsphere contol panel, but with the luxury of a dedicatedserver driving your sites.

we look after firewalls, anti virus etc etc.

Its a way of having a DS without getting your hands dirty.

I'm having a good day today, I've just had another client come back to Pinbrook, after trying out a different hosting company and not getting the service (not Techno I hasten to add)

[Sally Dickson]

Thank-you

I do have .com and .tv domains.

How exactly does it affect search engines - is their a workaround, or is it simply a case of hosting in th UK.

Thanks,

[Duncan Rounding]

Not sure about .tv domains - but for best results .com sites should be hosted on servers resident in the USA. We had problems getting listed with .com domains on 1and1 servers and changed to .co.uk domains as a result.

[pinbrook]

it is always better to host in the UK.

to rank in a co.uk engine you need to have either UK hosting or a UK TLD. Although both is better.

a com or TV hosted in Germany is never going to rank well in co.uk engines.

As time goes on and more extensions are released the extension is going to be more important see the recent thread about eu domains

I still don't understand why websites that are targetting the Uk use a com TLD, it seems extremely counterproductive.

I rarely look past the front page of a com site unless it hits me in the face that it is really a co.uk. Why spend time searching for products only to discover the site is US based.

My behaviour?
if I'm shopping I only look at co.uk sites
if I am after tech help I look at com sites and other english speaking sites

[Sally Dickson]

yes but...

Is there not a problem with downtime due to DNS repointing when you change host provider?

[pinbrook]

Yes there will be downtime.

This can be minimised if your sites use SSL as they will then have their own dedicated IP.

When a site has its own IP you can upload to both the old IP and the new IP Orders will go to one site or the other during propagation time, depending which IP any DNS server holds for asite at the given time.

[Mike Hughes]

Not quite Jo. (and not what you would want as you really want all the orders on one machine AND the IP address is unlikely to be moveable)

If you have a dedicated IP address for your present hosting and get a new dedicated IP address for the new hosting, then all you need to do is upload your site to the new server location and then re-direct the old IP address to the new one. That way there's very little downtime

Mike

[PaulGrimshaw]

just going off topic a sec - one of my sites is running .com on a uk hoster and is in the top 10 consistently on google.co.uk for my keywords. So I think, whilst it is taken into account, its probably not the most important factor.

I would say though, geo location stuff is getting more important for things like google local etc, so might be worth moving now rather than later.

Paul.

[pinbrook]

Not quite Jo.

Having orders come into 2 sites is a very temporary situation. If the domain being transfered is a co.uk then it will usually move within 24 hours, thus you only have to check 2 sites for that time scale. You use the import/export function within network settings to check the site at the old IP and the new IP. There is no question of moving the IP as Mike says they aren't moveable

This is the method we use to move actinic sites with SSL, it hasn't let us down yet, and virtually elimainates downtime as the domain is always pointing one one or other IP.

Having further explained my method, Mike's method of uploading to the new IP and forwarding from the old IP to the new IP works just as well and is probably a little more simpler than my method.

[pinbrook]

to rank in a co.uk engine you need to have either UK hosting or a UK TLD. Although both is better.

Paul, this sums up your situation, your com is hosted in the UK therefore it ranks

[PaulGrimshaw]

Jo,

How does your hosting work? Is it a strict 12months, or can you move up/down contracts if the bandwidth use changes?

Thanks,
paul.

[pinbrook]

Paul

I'll PM you

[BillS]

I use a dedicated 1and1 server and, despite the negative reviews I have heard about them I am extremely happy with them. Apart from occasional critical windows updates, which rebooted the server yesterday, the server was up for the previous 57-days...so far, touch wood, no downtime at all. And, being the only website hosted on the server I have non-contested CPU time.

Having complete control of the server/operating system is a must for me - but if you're not happy to manage the server yourself then use someone like Pinbrook who, from his activity on this site, appears to offer an excellent service.

I can't comment on the .COM issue on German Hosts - but my site, which has been running for 2-months now, seems well indexed...

Cheers,

Bill.
Spices of India

PS: all [constructive] views on my first site welcome...