Common mistakes in selecting a VPS

Examples of mistakes in price plans and contract methods

I chose a cheap VPS and the site display was slow.

This is probably the most common pattern of failure in selecting a VPS. This is a typical example of a failure in choosing a cheap server.

VPS price plans are proportional to the specs, so it is unlikely that the price will be dramatically lower.

However, even with a cheap plan, you are less likely to fail in the following cases. 1.

1. the "reason why it is cheap" is clearly stated
2. the provider is reliable and has a good track record
3. there are no problems with insufficient specifications or functions

You made the contract term of the VPS so long that you could not cancel it in the middle of the contract.

This is a common mistake not only in VPS but in server selection as a whole.

In order to make their services look as reasonable as possible, server providers appeal with discounted rates for long-term contracts, which is very appealing.

Of course, the long-term contract discount is only beneficial if you are going to use the service for a long time, but keep in mind that it is risky to sign a long-term contract for a service that you do not know if you will continue to use because it is "cheap.

I signed up for VPS optional services because they appealed to me, but I didn't actually need them.

VPSs offer a variety of options, but you won't know if you actually needed them until you use them.

However, the saving grace in this failure case is that options are often basically cancelable in the middle of the contract. If you don't think you need it, take the plunge and cancel the option.

The contract was automatically renewed after the contract period ended, and it cost extra to cancel the contract.

It is surprisingly difficult to "quit" when it comes to servers. Recently, server operators often set up automatic contract renewal by default in order to prevent users from missing the contract & to keep them on the contract as long as possible.

The most painful case is "automatic renewal of long-term contract", where the contract remains for about a year after it is renewed and you realize that it has been renewed, and even if you want to cancel the contract, it will be wasted without any refund.

To avoid such mistakes, you need to think carefully about how to make a contract.

Failures in choosing a VPS provider

I chose a cheap VPS, but the support was poor and it took a long time to solve problems.

As a server, trouble cannot be eliminated. What is important is how quickly you can recover from a problem.

Cheap VPS often do not have good support, and it may take a long time to solve a problem.

It is important to choose a VPS provider that focuses on stability because some providers have had problems with total data loss, although this is not heard of very often these days.

If you choose a cheap VPS, the security is lax and your site is down due to an attack.

Regarding this, with VPS, security is something you build yourself, so it is not necessarily the provider's fault, but a solid VPS provider will have high security by default.

For example, depending on the provider, some VPSs may have a "no access from anywhere by default" situation and let users open the necessary ports.

Incidentally, when used under the same system conditions (OS, open ports, etc.), there is little difference in security between VPS providers.

The VPS I chose was located overseas and the network speed was slow.

This is a blind spot when choosing an overseas VPS.

Because communication between the VPS and the user takes place through physical optical cables, the farther the physical distance, the longer it takes to send and receive data.

For example, if a user in the U.S. accesses a VPS server in Japan and a VPS server in the U.S., the former will experience a delay of about 300 ms per communication.

Therefore, the region is also important when choosing a VPS.

The fee structure of VPS is complicated, and we could not accurately determine the cost.

This is a common pattern when using a cloud-based VPS.

While a typical VPS includes everything in the monthly fee, a cloud VPS has a variety of additional fees such as the following, which are more complex and can cost more than double the expected fee.

1. data transfer fees
2. additional charge per server utilization
3. additional charge per access frequency

I ran out of the plan I wanted and had to move my site.

This is a common mistake for those who run a website with a lot of traffic.

VPS plans vary from provider to provider, but some providers may only offer medium-sized specs.

If there is no plan available, you will have no choice but to relocate, which will cost you time and money to relocate.

VPS support was not available 24 hours a day and could not respond to problems.

It is important to be able to get support with expertise when something goes wrong with your VPS. Moreover, you should basically choose a VPS provider that offers 24-hour support 365 days a year, because you never know when trouble may occur.

You should avoid VPS providers that offer "support only during business hours on weekdays (e.g., 10:00 am to 5:00 pm)" or "e-mail support only," which slows down the response time.

Mistakes made in choosing VPS features

Choosing the wrong VPS specs cost more than necessary.

The difficult part of signing up for a VPS is choosing the best specs for the best price plan. This is more difficult than you think.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you should follow the steps carefully and take your time to choose a VPS provider and plan.

How to choose a VPS

VPS specifications were out of date and could not support the current site.

All VPS providers these days are firmly committed to incorporating the latest technology, but one common problem is the version of the operating system that is supported.

If a program that runs on a VPS is only compatible with the latest OS, some VPS providers may be behind in their support.

Before signing a contract, check to make sure that it can be supported in terms of specifications.

The VPS does not have a backup function and I lost my data.

This is another common failure.

If you are operating your business thinking, "I won't do anything particularly difficult and backups will be unnecessary," there is always the risk that one day trouble will occur and you will lose important data.

In this sense, it is no exaggeration to say that a backup function is essential for VPS.