Home > Programming, Servers & Scripts > Hosting, Servers & Security

---

Help me write you the PERFECT server optimisation tutorial! (27)

---

OK, the votes are in and it's decided: the first STM tutorial or series of tutorials I do will be on server optimisation.

I know that servers are a big problem for a lot of STM-ers of all experience levels, and as several people have said, there's not a lot of affiliate marketing-specific information out there.

I'm collating information and winnowing it down to just the most useful, actionable tips right now. But whilst I do that, it'd really help if you can take a second - if you're interested in this tutorial series - to let me know a few more details about what will be most useful for you to know.

As you'll see, there's a poll up there about your experience with administrating servers! Please let me know where you're at, so the tutorial's not too basic or too hard to understand.

Also, please let me know, either by replying below or by PM if you don't want to make it public, what sort of problems and pain points you've hit with your servers and their optimisation, speed, reliability, and so on! It's very likely that I'll focus on solving specific problems, particularly if more than one person replying has them, so it's definitely a good idea to let me know what's causing you pain in this area!

I don't need super-technical details - "my server seems really slow" or "I lose conversions whenever I get more than X many visitors" is fine - although if you have specific technical challenges, they're good to hear about too.

Let me know, and I'll get on with creating the most helpful tutorial series possible!

---

Being a complete server n00b I would greatly appreciate something like this. Even if I can't provide any technical knowledge please let me know if I can help in any way because I think would be an awesome resource for many STM-ers to have

---

Thanks very much!

One thing you can do - if you've had any server-related nightmares so far, let me know about them! The more info I have on the real problems STMers are facing, the better I can address them and make tutorials you'll find super-helpful!

---

Maybe do a slow apache or slow db server quick tip list?

Here's a couple things I usually do when I'm setting up a new box. I always turn off hostname lookups in apache right off the bat. Occasionally I've adjusted up maxclients if there's a LOT of traffic and resources to spare.

I also run a script to run through and optimize the tables in my mysql databases when things are slow. I used to have tables with 500k+ rows and as the table grew it always helped with performance.

---

LOL

I am not alone in my ignorance. I am in the 57!

Thank you!

---

I'd also love to learn : how in the heck to determine which site template I pirated that has the ability to keep updating my httaccess's that make mobile browsers go to badoink!

It has to be on the obfuscated js or php.

Beyond says separate Cpanles would help.

---

sandyone - unless something decidedly wierd's going on, or you're running your JS server-side (running node.js or similar), it's going to be the php that's updating your .htaccess.

There's a simple fix - just change the owner of your htaccess to something that isn't your web user (I'm assuming you're on a Linux server here) and set permissions to 744. That'll prevent the PHP from messing with it.

---

Looks like the majority have the same issue ...

I'm comfortable installing Prosper and creating databases.

---

What specific things should we look for when buying a server from a hosting company? Like what features , whats important to look for, lite speed or no lite speed, etc.

Ofcourse the more expensive the better but id like to know what specific things we should UPGRADE or make sure we have a lot of in a server for the best tracking redirects and page loads possible.

Currently im on a 200 dollar per month dedicated server...




Thanks!

---

I'm currently on a Storm VPS solution which costs me about $75 a month. I am starting to ramp up traffic which is still very small at < 1000 clicks a day. But I'm completely in the dark as far as how quickly my redirects are happening and if there is any lag? I'm also using a php script to do a geo lookup that is the first thing for all incoming traffic. So how do I know if all of this is being handled as efficiently as possible. I asked tech support and they didn't really have a good answer for me, however they did say apache wasn't optimized and they did that for me.

---

Haha, love the last poll option.

---

Cool! Loads of great responses - thanks, everyone.

Based on all this, plus the problems I see people reporting on STM generally, I've got a really good idea of things to start with. So, Coming Soon To A Helpful STM Board Near You:

1) A guide to hosting - what to look for, what to avoid. As vidivo says, it's a confusing world out there, and a lot of server problems start when you buy the server! I'll cover shared (DON'T!) vs VPS vs cloud vs dedicated as well as common packages to get or not get. I'll be avoiding technical jargon and making the process as clear as possible for everyone here.
2) How To Spot Problems BEFORE They Cost You Money. How to use web development tools to make sure your site stays up, check its load and redirect times, and see whether they'll slow to a crawl when you've got traffic pouring in - BEFORE you spend a penny on traffic. All the kinds of problems naesm mentions, above. Again, this one's going to be targeted at people who know the basics, but wouldn't in any way describe themselves as techies, so I promise a jargon-free zone.
3) A server optimisation follow-along. I'll set up the most underpowered VPS I can find (possibly a free Amazon micro-instance) and use it to run actual live campaigns - and show you all the steps I take to make that possible. This one's going to be a bit more advanced than the other two - although I'll keep it understandable for everyone as much as possible - and I'll be welcoming requests, questions, and suggestions of things to try. Particularly from the two guys who clicked "I'm comfortable writing my own web server" above.

I'm hoping to get one of those tutorials up today, and the follow-along started before the end of the week, so watch this space!

After that, I'll carry on with the optimisation tutorials - the next couple after those three will probably focus on optimising Apache, MySQL and PHP to make your websites load faster and crash less!

---

Bro that's awesome, I can't wait. I got on support with Storm again today for more info if things are as they should be but again not a whole lot of answers other than "your server load is very light"

---

naesm - no worries! Expect the "figuring out what's up" tutorial next week!

---

This would be an awesome tutorial! I'm an expert at uploading web pages and opening support tickets.

I guess I've installed prosper once or twice but that's just following instructions, not like I truly understand what's going on.

---

I havnt read this this completely, so sorry if this was already mentioned.

Optimizing your server for mobile traffic would be HANDY! The conversion differences I've seen from well optimized mobile servers is mind boggling

---

Stackman - it's not an area I'm an expert in, but I've been planning to try some mobile campaigns anyway, so I may well look into it.

Perhaps my server optimisation follow-along should focus on mobile traffic? (I could work out mobile geolocation at the same time)

---

Do you have any suggestions to which web host providers work best for mobile traffic?

---

Any updates on this? Also I would love some information on a VPN client and dedicated IPs could be really good info for people here.

---

First parts went up last week, looking at avoiding problems before they happen - this week I'm going to be looking at speed, speed speed, how to get your LPs as fast as possible, and what happens when you do (aka "How Google boosted their search revenue by 20%").

---

Well as for server speed you guys should take a look at the varnish+nginx setup....

---

Funny you should mention that... Next week's tutorial is on web servers, and I'm going to be discussing Varnish, nginx, and more.

Although don't count Apache out just yet - with a good setup it can still do OK.

---

Yeah apache is doing well but on traffic spikes....

---

I'll have some tips for that next week. There are a few settings that can KILL an Apache system when a traffic spike hits.

---

Apache is a pile of shit. :-)

---

You just made me laugh out loud Tyler! Well done!!!!

---

Hope one of Beyond servers will get included in the comparative test

---

Home > Programming, Servers & Scripts > Hosting, Servers & Security