Recommended hosts for high traffic volumes?

Hey people!

I was wondering what hosts people choose when doing product launches?
I've been looking around for a while, but unfortunately I haven't been
Able to find to much. To elaborate on my question a little bit, I guess
My main worry is server crashes due to high amounts of traffic in a short
Amount of time. Does anyone recommend a specific server/hosting company?

Define high volume.

It's not the bandwidth that will be an issue, it's the load balancing. But any major hosting provider can address that for you if you give them fair warning.

I'm no tech expert though so I'll let others chime in. But even in multi-six-figure promotions, we've hosted with HostGator combined with Amazon S3 for the media files. But we notified HG of the upcoming promo and we had files copied to a secondary hosting account "in case" we needed to flip a switch.

That's probably a very amateur setup. Tech pros and IT types would blow holes into what I just listed... but, I guess my point is, for multi six figures launches, it worked just fine.

The key was to have the download files and the media files on S3 and to notify/warn the hosting provider.

By 'high volume' I meant a large amount of traffic. I'm no tech expert either, very far from it. I'm planning a pretty big launch for the summer so I know I have plenty of time, but this being my "debut product" my nerves will be on edge for the next couple of months. The only real worry I have is some sort of site crash or something that would probably happen to me taking into consideration my horrible record of incredibly bad luck (My luck isn't as bad as I made it seem) but you get what I mean.

I'll have to check with my hosting provider and get some more details from them.

I haven't done as many big launches as Rob but I have always done similar bootstrapping for my launches. I think the important point here is to always have a backup (or two) plans in case something fails. Have the steps to "flip the switch" all prepared, written out, and tested so if something does fail, you are fully prepared to activate the emergency backup plan. Sometimes under the pressure of a live launch and something not working, you can't think straight so if you're not a huge techie like me, it's always good to have everything written down.

For high-traffic/high-volume hosting I would highly suggest the guys over at OKTeck http://www.okteck.com/ .

I do not get anything for suggesting them, but they do currently host JVNotifyPro, IM4Newbies, and all of our other stuff.

The guys behind OKTeck used to be the technical force behind Kiosk.Ws until Kiosk moved from canada to texas. What I like best about them is that they don't just know servers inside and out, they are human beings and you can reach them with a single phone call.

Back when I had a stint as Mike Filsaime's in-house technology guy, if Paydotcom had a single burp, all I needed to do was call Jamie Savard and everything would be straightened out immediately. Since then, I have consulted for various IMers to keep their launches stable and I was able to coordinate with OKTeck for everything from clustering for load balancing to cloud services.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to PM me directly and I can put you right in touch with Jamie or Dan.

Good luck with your launch,

Mike Jr.

Thanks Mike Jr. I may be taking you up on your offer for my upcoming launches! I have heard of OKTeck but haven't used before.

Thanks Mike Jr! Kenster won't be the only one getting in touch with you shortly!

I have my dedicated server with GVO.com. They used to be Kiosk but changed their name when they moved from Canada. I also think Mike Filsaime also hosted with them. I've had a couple of big traffic launches with then and have had no problem so far after many years of service with them.

Hey,

Yep a Dedicated Server with GVO is the best way... they are specialist in hosting IM launches

Thanks

Hey you might want to try BounceWeb they work pretty good for me plus they give you a free trial.

Not sure what types of volume you are talking about but traditional hosting companies like hostgator, rackspace and others typically want to charge you extra for anything outside the box (ie load balancing, database support, etc.) We have had most of our luck using companies that specialize in moving video content, because they are already set up to handle huge workloads and traffic. Company we use is advection.net. Very affordable and most importantly reliable...

Mark

This looks like an older thread.... but for what it's worth we've driven 100K clicks a day through LiquidWeb. Their support is the best in the business from what I've experienced. We have a dedicated on their Storm On Demand system which allows you to scale up infrastructure within minutes. They're awesome.

I've also heard Beyond Hosting has very fast redirects and capacity as well.