We moved the IPVM application / site to a new server [Update: the site is now 35% faster]
Here's a few technical details for those of you interested in server selection / specs (see previous discussion on picking servers).
Previous - Rackspace
We have been using Rackspace, though that server is originally from Slicehost, a Rails hosting specialist, set up in 2008 (by me) when we started. This server has 2GB RAM, 80 GB hard drive and 2 'vCPUs'. We paid ~$100 per month.
Rackspace has been fine for us, not great, but no major issues. The main motivating factor is that the server has accumulated 5 years of 'junk' from various changes and experiments (especially by me in the early days).
New - Digital Ocean
We have moved to Digital Ocean, which is a hot up and coming provider (see 'the Meteoric Rise of Digital Ocean'). Their main marketing claim is using SSD storage instead of hard drives. The other big practical differentiator is that, for the same price that we are currently paying, they provide 8GB RAM (4x more) and 4 cores (instead of 2).
Why Not a Dedicated Server?
We discussed going to a dedicated server but rejected it (both previous and new setups are virtual). The main issue is that if a catastrophic hardware failure occurred, we would be responsible for setting up our stack on a new machine - an issue that would be stressful and problematic both for us and for our members who would lose access during that time (easily hours, if not most of a day, depending when it happened). The main practical upside would be greater RAM / CPU but with Digital Ocean's 8GB / 4 core / 80 GB SSD setup, that's far more than enough for what we need even when we double traffic again.
Anyway, let me know if you have questions or thoughts.
