Sveta and I have been busy. Very busy! Windows to Russia resides on a VPS server now located in downtown Moscow, Russia. What is a VPS server? Glad you asked: A virtual private server (VPS) is a term used by Internet hosting services to refer to a virtual machine. The term is used for emphasizing that the virtual machine, although running in software on the same physical computer as other customers’ virtual machines, is functionally equivalent to a separate physical computer, is dedicated to the individual customer’s needs, has the privacy of a separate physical computer, and can be configured to run as a server computer (i.e. to run server software). (Link to Wikipedia)
So we are almost on a dedicated server and as I write this we share a server with one other company and they sell cars from America. Yes – a big car company from America on a Russian server. I will not tell you who they are. If I did you would be surprised, but I like my privacy and I respect theirs also. With the size of that car company, I would say that we will be the only two ever on our main physical server… 🙂
Sveta and I are building a server of our own and we will be setting up a mirror system in that. We also have another shared host that will be the third backup to the system. A dedicated server became just too much of a financial burden to contemplate and so I have been studying about VPS servers. We found a company in Russia that just fit the bill and they have been fantastic to work with. But do not walk into a VPS server and think that you are on a shared hosting. VPS is your baby and what goes wrong is your issue…
We have already experience that problem: We thought that we had everything perfect and then our server kept crashing. We would reboot and crash. Reboot and crash. I thought to myself that this may be a bad idea! We finally pegged it to a corrupt database on Windows to Russia. One little speck of data wrong and boom – offline. Rebuild the database and it works wonderful and handles the load really good. Windows to Russia had simply outgrown a shared hosting plan…
Sveta an I are like the perfect team when it comes to computers and even life. Sveta is a wonderful programer and a perfectionist at doing things to perfection. Then there is me, the if he can do I can do it also person. I will tackle anything and make it work. I am persistent. Sveta is perfection and I am persistence and the two intertwined, overcome obstacles…
Sveta says that I am what motivates a person like her to do her best. I fearlessly jump off the cliff while holding her hand and together we deal with what may come… 🙂
The company is Hostkey in Moscow. They have fantastic pricing for VPS and they do not do any shared hosting. They have servers in the Netherlands or Russia. They also will set you up a dedicated server if you desire. But money is the issue for a dedicated server. Hundreds of dollars a month does not fit our budget, but $10 to $15 a month for a VPS does fit the budget and yes they have English speaking people working for them…
Now I will not say that this will solve all problems because, well it seems that as I solve one issue another pops up. So all I will really say is that we are trying hard to keep Windows to Russia online and consistent. What that means is that we have had to pull a step at a time out of America’s grasp. I can not trust the American system anymore. We have been blocked, threatened, attacked, overloaded, abused and illegally manipulated…
As you can see we have the site back to normal and even have been able to install the comment section. If you ever see a stripped down template again then you know that we are on a backup server…
Have a nice day and it has been a pleasure to just post today…
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!
PS: Watch – Everything will crash and make a liar out of me! But I will say that Sveta and I have learned a whole bunch about servers after all this…