The multiple IP patch guy has quadrupled his prices and therefore I'm seeking another solution for my next server and am unable to offer hosting for large lists (>~5000) at this time. Of course, some of my clients send hundreds of thousands of emails from a single IP with fair success... but I would
really like to provide IP rotation on my servers. I'm going to try to develop a patch or accomplish it with an existing one before getting my next server.
I set up Plesk/
1&1 servers with backup, multiple IP (well, I used to and hope to be able to again soon), email/MySQL optimization and more for $300, with ongoing management (security patches, monitoring with cell phone notification, dealing with problems, server additions, etc) for $35/mo.
1&1 servers come with Plesk (demo at plesk.com) which is relatively easy to manage if you have some Linux experience or a passion to learn. There are many Plesk-related forums available such as at
http://forum.swsoft.com or
http://forum.ev1servers.net. I would also be willing to help out from time to time via this forum to further my own understanding.
I have very specific needs, Perl, PHP, MySQL, etc... and need to be able to run them the way I want...
On a dedicated server you can do anything you want. Plesk comes with a lot of bells an whistles... It's really easy to add sites to the server, set up FTP, email accounts, databases. etc. MySQL, PHP, Perl, etc. is all there by default and works for the majority of available scripts.
DOES 1&1 already set that all up for you - or is the user responsible for it?
On managed servers 1&1 will help you with anything you need. They will perform security updates, modifications/optimization as necessary, etc. but I'm not sure about a daily backup script. On unmanaged servers you are the administrator and are fully responsible for keeping it running. If the hard drive explodes you are responsbile for restoring the server from a backup. If you happen to accidentally run a command which deletes every file on the server (rm -rf /*) you will suffer the consequences and again have to restore or reset the server. 1&1 provides a number of useful services such as automated server re-image (base install) and booting into a rescue system (like booting from a floppy disk) should your server become unbootable so you can fix the problem or at least recover your most recent data. The first few times I had to restore servers it was a huge learning experience and took me 6 hours or more... now I've got it down to about an hour.
SO - tell me this, HOW MANY Emails per HOUR could I send using LMP on my own server at 1&1 if I was the only user of that server? 20,000 or 30,000/hour?
I estimate about 750,000 per day with the optimizations mentioned in this forum. That equates to 31250/hr.
if 10 people clicked at the SAME SECOND - it would NOT be able to handle those clicks... but having throttling in place allows it...
I guess it depends on the server. I would think that most servers have a default web and/or MySQL connection limit of 255. I ran out of MySQL connections when I posted a
hot article on my blog (2 Users Online ∙ Most ever was
263 on 18th June 2006, 18:16) but increased the connection limit (and traffic has gone down..) and haven't had a problem since.
You should only have problems if your server reaches such a limit. Therefore I would say your existing server is probably hosting a lot of, maybe too many, high-traffic web sites.