1. Choose the right data center location
Locating your server close to your users can have an enormous effect on speed. The closer the server and user are to one another, the lower the latency (delay) in server response. This means a faster service (faster page load times, more responsive applications) and no lag – crucial for VOIP applications and gaming to name but a few uses.
Myrohost currently offers a choice of five data center locations, strategically situated to serve major markets via our patented network technology which guarantees the shortest and fastest global fiber optic routes to each user. These locations include Amsterdam for Europe, Singapore for Asia, Montreal for North America, Dallas for Latin America and Santa Clara for Silicon Valley and the West Coast of the USA. And there are two more on the way.
To give an example of what improvement might be gained through correctly locating your data center, in one test users in Brazil saw a 0.5 second difference in latency (delay) between our Dallas and Montreal data centers.
2. Get the right hardware
Finding the balance between budget and performance is all about understanding your servers’ resource needs, and how your CPU, RAM and storage resource decisions respond to them. One or more of these elements may be critical to optimizing the performance of your website, database and or application, while another may not be needed at the levels offered by a ‘best-fit’ hosting bundle. Although improving speed is more concerned with increasing resources, saving money by not over-provisioning unnecessary resources means you have more budget available to put where it counts.
Myrohost dedicated server configurations are engineered to respond to a wide range of common workload profiles. But crucially, many configurations are also customizable. And perhaps most importantly of all, we’ll be able to advise you free of charge on your hardware needs if you chat live on our website about your requirements. We can also advise you on the best disk RAID use for your applications.
3. Ask about network latency
A data center close to your user base does not necessarily guarantee the fastest possible server responses times. When choosing a hosting provider, it’s extremely important to reassure yourself that your chosen provider invests in its network with the aim of reducing latency (delay) as well as guaranteeing uptime/connection. That means investment in quality hardware and engineers, and regular maintenance and improvements. When you buy hosting, you’re buying infrastructure. So don’t just look at the server specifications and price, but make sure that they are using the best switches, fiber optic transport, carrier hotels and bandwidth providers.
Consider Myrohost as an example. Myrohost has been investing in its data centers and networking since our establishment in 1996. Our strategy has always been to build long term relationships with premium suppliers and partners. And we have a team of network engineers whose sole aim is to use the latest technology to reduce latency and make your service as fast as possible. We also have patented technology that chooses the fastest available route between your server and the user – guaranteeing the lowest possible latency within our network every time.
We strongly recommend choosing a hosting provider on the basis of their networking and reliability record, not just their server specifications.
4. Understand your traffic and bandwidth arrangement
Many hosting bundles – whether for dedicated or cloud servers – do not include traffic in the headline price. This can make prices misleading and difficult to compare. Depending on how your hosting plan is charged, bandwidth may represent a large portion of your monthly bill. In cloud hosting, for example, the pay-per-use model extends to traffic (as well as the time the server is live). In dedicated hosting, only a few TB of traffic are typically provided before additional charges are incurred per GB.
Paying for traffic/bandwidth isn’t necessarily bad, but you should make projections to understand the cost you may incur each month. 3TB of traffic is actually a lot of traffic. It’s far more than you could manage with an ‘unmetered/unlimited’ (but shared) VPS. But it’s also a fraction of the c30TB maximum traffic that a high traffic application can get through in a month.
In addition to knowing data transfer prices, make sure that a high speed of 100Mbps bandwidth is assured for each of your servers. Shared hosting or VPS, and even some cloud servers, cannot guarantee a minimum bandwidth speed. On the other hand, most professional providers can deploy 1Gbps network connection if you need it (in addition to published prices).
Many of the customers to which we’ve spoken place server and data transfer speed at the very top of their list of priorities. This is why Myrohost offers high or unmetered dedicated hosting at a comparable rates to other providers who only include a few TB at before additional bandwidth is charged. Myrohost Cloud Servers offer free bandwidth/traffic at the time of writing. And we provide 100Mbps bandwidth as standard with all dedicated and cloud servers, with 1Gbps available for deployment on demand. Why? Because its what our customers tell us they need when data transfer speed and volume is critical to their service.
5. Invest in CDN
If you have a website, it’s worth investing in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) service. A CDN caches static content from your website and serves it from locations all around the world depending on your website users location. CDNs can be very easy to deploy, and can be just as easily configured to optimize content delivery. By simply caching and serving content locally, a CDN reduces both latency and load times. They are one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to speed up your website. If you want to use a CDN, either now or in the future, make sure that there is no impediment resulting from your hosting arrangement.
CDN is crucial to maximizing website speed. That’s what our customers tell us, and, you guessed it, it’s why we also offer a market leading CDN and website security suite, accessible via the Control Center along with all your support, payment and server access information.
Friday, June 24, 2022
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