Virtual Private Server, is 756MB memory enough?

I have received a warning from my host saying ZC is using too much resources for a shared server and they recommend upgrading to VPS or somehow optimize ZC.

This might be bull and they probably just want me to upgrade. I locked in a very good price prepaid for 6 years and renewing at original price. Currently the same plan costs twice as much and has a few less features.
I haven't done any changes and now I get much less traffic than I did a couple of years ago. Though search bots traffic seems constant.

Anyway, I was checking VPS plans and was wondering if 756MB memory is enough to run a few ZC stores at decent speed. the processor is 2.93GHZ dual core

Who's the hosting company?

Like so many of these things, whether or not 756 MB of RAM is enough depends on a number of things. Such as...

• Traffic levels
• Size of your database
• Complexity of Zen Cart products (i.e. do you use a lot of attributes)
• Presence of custom code, and how well it is written

I'm not sure why your host would complain about using "too many resources." A shared hosting environment is typically configured so that each site cannot go over a certain allotment of memory and processing power. I would follow-up with them, asking if they detected a problem, or if this was just a friendly heads-up.

So they could be trying to up-sell you, but you also really could be hitting the limits of your current package.

tj1:

Anyway, I was checking VPS plans and was wondering if 756MB memory is enough to run a few ZC stores at decent speed. the processor is 2.93GHZ dual core

The straight answer is no, you'll not get a decent speed with these specs. The memory will be the killer. 756Mb really isn't enough. 1Gb should be the absolute minimum to consider, with 2Gb or more preferred.

756Mb will work but it will be plagued with slowdowns whilst data is being swapped in and out from a disk cache.

My advice. Don't try it. You'll be better off with another shared host.

Cheers
Rod

RodG:

The straight answer is no, you'll not get a decent speed with these specs. The memory will be the killer. 756Mb really isn't enough. 1Gb should be the absolute minimum to consider, with 2Gb or more preferred.

756Mb will work but it will be plagued with slowdowns whilst data is being swapped in and out from a disk cache.

My advice. Don't try it. You'll be better off with another shared host.

Cheers
Rod

It seems to me that 756MB would be fine, since on a VPS that is dedicated to the site.

If you aren't seeing any performance issues, then you have enough memory.

If things start to choke, take a closer look.

BlindSide:

If you aren't seeing any performance issues, then you have enough memory.

If things start to choke, take a closer look.

RescoCCC:

It seems to me that 756MB would be fine,

Just out of curiosity, would either of you guys be willing to reimburse the OP for their costs (or pay for further upgrades) should they take the risk?

If so, I have a bridge in Sydney Harbour that you may be interested in buying :)

Cheers
Rod

It's all good now, I don't really know the reason for the warning, the host just said all traffic had been confirmed as legitimate and there's no problem now.

Still I will most likely also get a VPS as I plan on creating a couple more ZC stores with at least 10,000 products each.

So would 2GB of RAM be enough for that, and what about CPU speed?

tj1:

Still I will most likely also get a VPS as I plan on creating a couple more ZC stores with at least 10,000 products each.

So would 2GB of RAM be enough for that, and what about CPU speed?

This is where I'll fall back into agreement with the previous comments made by Blindside & RescoCCC.. It should be fine and If you aren't seeing any performance issues, then you have enough memory.

CPU speed is far less important than having sufficient memory. A dual core ~3Ghz should be fine for this purpose.

Before going this route though please be aware that a VPS requires a lot more maintenance and technical skills than a shared server, and please don't get me wrong, but those people that actually need a VPS are those that have been around the traps long enough to know that the zencart forums are not the best place to find answers about managing your own servers... In other words you could be wanting to learn how to run before you have mastered the art of walking.

Cheers
Rod

I'll be going with fully managed VPS. I really don't have the time or desire to deal with unmanaged VPS.
The reason why I asked in this forum was specifically to know the hardware specs needed to run ZC at decent speed, this being the official ZC forum and all. :)

Thanks for the recommendation.

See what your current stats show for load and bandwidth. That data suggested I did need an upgrade, so I increased my VPS to 2.8GHz, 2GB ram due to occasional slowness. I have 5 shopping carts and a handful of static websites and have gained significant improvement in speed.