Which plan can handle a major traffic spike?

December 24, 2013 4.5k views
alden
By:
alden
Hey guys, I'm about to sign up for a plan right here, but before that, I'd like some reassurance. I've been trying to find a good web host. I've used Hostgator and Blue Host, but they didn't get the job done in terms of handling a major traffic spike. I suffered all sorts of problems with them. I was just wondering if anyone who is using Digital Ocean have had any issues with their servers when it comes to handling a traffic spike. I'm talking like 200k visitors in a day. Would love your input. Thanks!
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6 Answers
andrejevicnemanja December 24, 2013
Digital Ocean is not web hosting, here you get unmanaged VPS that you can scale up with your needs.
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pablo December 25, 2013
A WordPress installation on a 512MB droplet can handle that easily, if properly set up, e.g. with Nginx (instead of Apache); caching; and a CDN for static content.
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alden December 25, 2013
Thanks guys.

It's not web hosting? Ugh well, I'm really not technical savvy at all.

Well my current domain is already being hosted (a standard dedicated package under Blue Host, I shifted from Hostgator, but that account is still up).

I planned to get a refund from Blue Host as I'm experiencing a lot of problems with them.

Is this to say, I can have my domain up at Hostgator still, and enhance everything with Digital Ocean?
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pablo December 25, 2013
"Digital Ocean is not web hosting..."

Last time I check, an unmanaged VPS is more than capable of handling a website. See

1.) How To Install Wordpress, Nginx, PHP, and Varnish on Ubuntu 12.04;

2.) How To Use Filezilla to Transfer and Manage Files Securely on your VPS.

To transfer your website to DigitalOcean, check out the Duplicator plugin or How to Migrate WordPress from Shared Hosting to a Cloud Server with Zero Downtime (but skip the Apache set-up and use Nginx, instead). See, also How To Migrate a WordPress Installation from Apache to Nginx on an Ubuntu VPS.
How To Install Wordpress, Nginx, PHP, and Varnish on Ubuntu 12.04
by Etel Sverdlov
Varnish is an HTTP accelerator and a useful tool for speeding up a server, especially during a times when there is high traffic to a site. It works by redirecting visitors to static pages whenever possible and only drawing on the server itself if there is a need for an active process. This tutorial covers installing wordpress on a LEMP stack (with nginx instead of apache), and then installing varnish.
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alden December 25, 2013
Alright!

Honestly I'm gonna leave it to my programmer, whom I outsourced on oDesk.

I just wanted to make sure Digital Ocean can meet my needs of handling high traffic volume. Been hearing good things about this place!
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logesh December 27, 2013
Hey I can help you in setting up a VPS at DigitalOcean and get your sites migrated from BlueHost / HostGator. FYI, I am running Web Hosting business with my clients sites hosted here at DigitalOcean Droplets.
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