Server location ?

[gunni]

Hi all,
My site greenpillow (dot) co (dot) il is hosted on a well known US server, shared host plan.
My main customers are from Israel.
The question is whether to move the hosting server location to Israeli server or not due to Speed issue.

My site first page loading time is more than 6 seconds (from Holland location. US loading time is not the issue).
I know I need to work on it and could improve it but would it make it so much better ?

ZC 1.5.5 Parse Time: 0.479 - Number of Queries: 128 - Query Time: 0.070663970092773

Thought on a CDN solution but the hosting company does not have it and Dr. Byte not recommends it.

Also what about Google ?
One of Google Pagespeed tests remarks is the server speed which is 0.36ms -0.43ms.

Also there is a rumor regarding SEO that Google checks server location & url (co.il) and in my case
the rumor claims the site needs to be hosted in Israel.

So...what should I do ? Moving to another server is not so easy task for some of us considering that servers
configs are not the same...

BTW, the Israeli server plan I found is hosted on a cloud server, which I saw for some reason that Dr. Byte not suggesting
it for Zen Cart SQL. why?

Need to say that all other issues of the US server are very good (support, uptime etc').

[RodG]

The question is whether to move the hosting server location to Israeli server or not due to Speed issue.

This is never an easy question to answer.

My site first page loading time is more than 6 seconds (from Holland location. US loading time is not the issue).
I know I need to work on it and could improve it but would it make it so much better ?

ZC 1.5.5 Parse Time: 0.479 - Number of Queries: 128 - Query Time: 0.070663970092773

Thought on a CDN solution

A CDN seems to be an ideal solution based on what you have just stated (location)

but the hosting company does not have it

This isn't something where the hosting company has any say in the matter. It may be true that it isn't supported by the cPanel software configurations that they have made available to you, but the CDN is 'higher up' up the hierarchy as to how web pages are served to the end user.

and Dr. Byte not recommends it.
but the hosting company does not have it

I've not seen (or don't recall seeing) where DrByte has 'not recommended' the use of a CDN, and I'd think (but not say) he is a bit of an idiot for not recommending it (and trust me, DrByte is not an idiot by any stretch of the imagination).

I'm *sure* that not all CDN's are created equal, and I'm also sure that all CDN's have their own "gotcha's" (unexpected or undesirable side effects) but I've been using a CDN on several (not all) of our hosted sites for several years now, and I've been so impressed that we've recently taken the plunge and now use a CDN for all of the sites we host.
Not an easy decision - because it places all of our eggs in one basket (we now have a single point of failure). but most folk already have a single point of failure (their web-host) so this aspect is a bit of a moot point.

Also what about Google ?
One of Google Pagespeed tests remarks is the server speed which is 0.36ms -0.43ms.

Due to the nature of a CDN, pagespeed should improve, because CDN serves static content from the most local CDN server from where the request originates.

Also there is a rumor regarding SEO that Google checks server location & url (co.il) and in my case
the rumor claims the site needs to be hosted in Israel.

TBH, I'd say forget anything and everything about google and SEO. Having said that, both location and speed gain a benefit with the use of a CDN - but again, not all CDN's are created equal. Some may have a server in every country, some may only 2 or 3 servers in countries that have a a very poor bandwidth.

So...what should I do ?

I'd say give 'cloudflare' a try (it's the one we use. I/we have no other association with them, financial or otherwise). Your hosting company doesn't need to 'support' them, but you do need to 'delegate' your domain to use the cloudflare DNS servers.

BTW, the Israeli server plan I found is hosted on a cloud server, which I saw for some reason that Dr. Byte not suggesting
it for Zen Cart SQL. why?

Need to say that all other issues of the US server are very good (support, uptime etc').

I cannot say (but I can certainly imagine) why DrByte isn't suggesting this, other than the fact that a CDN and a 'cloud' server have a lot in common - and that includes many of the pitfalls and downsides.

All I can say is that you have nothing to *lose* by trying a CDN - If it causes you problems, or provides no gains, it is easy to revert back and consider other options.

DrByte *does* have good reasons for *not* recommending CDN's (or cloud) - some perhaps even 'selfish' (they introduce a layer of problems not directly related to ZenCart, but he and the team will be expected to support them anyway).
There's also security issues - but sorry, security these days is a myth/joke anyway ,and I tend to get shutdown whenever I go there. <sad face>

Cheers
Rod

[Website Rob]

Appears you do use a CDN (cdn . jsdelivr . net) but in a limited way; only for emoji's. Noticed a few other 3rd party connections which will somewhat slow down page load regardless of where your site is hosted.

I would say that if the majority of your Clients / Sales are from Israel it "might make sense" to host in Israel. Mind you, people in Israel may be used to waiting a few seconds longer knowing the majority of sites they visit are not hosted in Israel. BTW, for somewhat of a comparison test I looked at loading your site from India with me in North America and it was about 1.5 seconds slower.

Meaning if hosting your site in North America means your Israel Clients are only waiting 2 or less seconds longer, then it might make sense to leave hosting where you are; presuming you also want to focus on fast load times for North American Israelite's. I personally don't see the value in using a CDN but if I had to or was recommending one, in your case you could use: images.greenpillow .co .il. Also work on Browser caching certain file types to help speed up load time. Your site loads fairly quick now but as we know, faster page loads are always a good thing.

[gunni]

Thanks Rod & Rob,
Rod - from your experience, can I use Cloudflare Free plan ?

Rob - you are right. I have now CDN for external JS that uses it for Accessibility.

Bottom line - is there any X number of seconds for full page load that I can messure and decide
if need to migrate or not ? (of course after solving other issues of slowness)

[RodG]

.
I personally don't see the value in using a CDN but if I had to or was recommending one, in your case you could use: images.greenpillow .co .il.

Mind if ask why you recommend this one? (other than il based, which should be irrelevent anyway, as it defeats the principle) I've not heard of them (not surprising) but a quick google search wasn't very revealing either.

I must say, I'm a little surprised that you've found "no personal value" in using a CDN, because as a hosting reseller (or am I wrong about this?) I'd have thought that you would be more keenly aware than most folk as to the benefits they can provide. We (as a hosting reseller) are saving an average of approx 130Gigabyte of data traffic per month from just a single customer. IOW, the CDN is saving us more data than some reseller hosting plans even allow).

Having spent the last month or so seeking out and triaĺling various providers of reseller accounts it has also become quite apparent that most of them seem to be actively pushing CDN usage these days (Typically cloudflare as that is natively supported by cPanel) which is another reason why I'm curious as to why you've gone against the current flow.

I do appreciate on a site by site basis many people won't see any benefit from using a CDN, but for a busy site (and hosting resellers) the benefits are indisputable.

Sorry, I don't wish to appear to be up myself here, but we do have a bit of a history, and I can't help feeling that you could perhaps just be trying to be contrary rather than helpful?

[RodG]

Yes, you can use the cloudflare free plan. However, I don't know how nicely it will play with the CDN that you are using for Accessibilty (which If I understand the landscape correctly, will be more essential to you, for legal reasons, than faster load times.

When talking load times, there are always two. The initial page load time is always going to be a little longer than subsequent loads. I believe the current recommedation is no more than 3 seconds for either. In my opinion even up to 10seconds is acceptable, but ultimately what really counts is how your site compares with others when viewed from a given location. (IOW, what speed is the customer accustomed to) .. So sorry, no real answer to this one. (a good CDN will serve cached data from the server closest to the requestor though, so that has to help performance no matter what.

[gunni]

Thanks Rod,
As I understand, to use the Cloudflare I only need to change the DNS records.
I hope that no "dead" time will occur with this switch ?

[Website Rob]

Mind if ask why you recommend this one? (other than il based, which should be irrelevent anyway, as it defeats the principle) I've not heard of them (not surprising) but a quick google search wasn't very revealing either.

Nothing towards you at all Rod, it really is a personal preference. Yes, there is the savings on data transfer and possibly some other benefits but it is something each website owner has to decide.

If you look closely at the CDN I did suggest (images.greenpillow .co .il) you'll note it is a sub-domain of the OP own Domain name. Using your own hosting account/sub-domain for a CDN gives a lot of upside with very little downside.

I don't prefer other CDN's because:
- it's another account to manage
- what exactly is one giving up in the exchange regarding rights & permissions
- giving up website information to another (to do who knows what, with it)
- another point of failure (which you mentioned earlier)

I hold the same when it comes using other sites for JavaScript, Fonts, etc., as I don't see in the point it that either. But that's just me.

[RodG]

Thanks Rod,
As I understand, to use the Cloudflare I only need to change the DNS records.

Sort of Correct (albeit, the terminology is a little off). What you will be changing is the domain name *delegation*, the DNS records will remain the same.

I hope that no "dead" time will occur with this switch ?

There will be zero downtime - Not even a millisecond.

You must do things in the correct sequence though - For starters DO NOT do any DNS/Delegation changes until *after* cloudflare give you the names of the servers that you will need to delegate too.

IOW, the procedure.
1. Create a user account on Cloudflare (assuming you don't already have one)
2. Click the 'add site' button and enter your domain domain name.

At this point Cloudflare will attempt to copy all of your DNS records from your existing nameservers. Once it has successfully copied the DNS records you will be informed and requested to change the delegations. That is pretty much it. It will take up to 24hours for the delegation change to propagate - but since both the old and the new nameservers will have the exact same records (IP addresss, cNames, etc) this isn't going to cause any issues or loss of connectivity.

Cheers
Rod.

[gunni]

Great. Sounds like nothing to loose as you said.
By the way, should I worry about servers configs problems with the CDN ? like I needed from my current host company
some specific changes to allow some things etc'. CDN is different or should I face problems ?