Just Creative Design Bursting Its Banks
Written by Jacob Cass on Saturday, August 30, 2008 – 2:30 pm
Over the past week you may have been getting error messages or time outs when trying to connect to JCD and this is due to the large amounts of traffic we have been receiving so sorry about that… We have burst our banks in regards to shared hosting and it is time to upgrade - again.
At the moment I am on a unmetered hosting plan* which means I get unlimited bandwidth, something that is needed on this site… you guys on average are downloading 650GB a month just from this site alone. The bandwidth, however, is not the problem - it is the strain put on the database from the amount of users requesting pages throughout the site. This was the reason I got banned from my own website (different host) back in January.
Upgrading
Anyway, to the point… over the next week or so, I will be changing either to a semi dedicated plan (ie. one server shared by 4 users only) or a VPS (Virtual Private Server) to keep up with the demand so if there is any trouble, that is why.
On another note, I just came across Ratified.org - a site that ranks Australian blogs… JCD is ranked #8 Blog in Australia which is pretty cool.
You can see some of the bandwidth stats below.
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32 Responses
to “Just Creative Design Bursting Its Banks”
2 Trackback(s)
- Sep 4, 2008: Just Creative Design Upgrades To Semi-Dedicated Hosting
- Nov 21, 2008: 2 Days Left To Get Your Entries In + Improvements to JCD
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By Alex Charchar (12 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
Wow Jacob, it’s an odd kind of compliment to your site, isn’t it?
It’s also nice to see that you’re not one of those people who have a successful blog, but hides their stats away. The numbers are very impressive! Congratulations sir
What as it in april that caused your stats to increase by more than double so quickly?
Alex Charchar’s last blog post..To Infinity and Beyond!
By MikeWhoBikes (4 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
I suppose these are the types of problems you want to have now, aren’t they? I hope all goes well with the upgrade.
MikeWhoBikes’s last blog post..6 Best Design Pattern Sites
By Jacob Cass (634 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
Alex,
I guess so, shows that we are growing anyway! It shows the massive leap from February to March!
April stats was a combination of these two posts (4mb pages) viewed 200,000 times.
http://justcreativedesign.com/.....resources/
http://justcreativedesign.com/.....otographs/
Mike,
Within every crisis there is an opportunity… my mate calls it Christunity.
By Vin Thomas (2 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
I would be interested to see which direction you go. I have considered fleeing from the shared hosting slums.
Vin Thomas’s last blog post..iStockPhoto.com » Finding the Perfect Photo
By Richard (5 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
Is that Awstats I see?!
By Richard (5 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
PS, I can recommend A Small Orange (http://asmallorange.com) for hosting - we have a few virtual servers with them, and haven’t had any major problems with them for the 2 years we’ve been using them!
By styletime (10 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
man your stats are very enviable, one day!?
congrats on the #8 australian blog title!
styletime’s last blog post..Twun-liners: Jon Phillips from none other than Freelance Folder
By Andrew Kelsall (28 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
I only hope that my own site maybe has the stats that yours has one day, that’s why I host mine with a grid-service-based hosting plan, just in case!
This can handle many hits and major traffic spikes…and survive Diggs…
Andrew Kelsall’s last blog post..What do sheep and my blog have in common?
By Peter (18 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
Hi Alex, wow man! Thats awesome!
Loving this blog, its like the google of all things design-related on the net!
Peter’s last blog post..A world gone mad
By Peter (18 comments) on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
correction: Jacob!
lol, am in weekend mode lol!
Peter’s last blog post..A world gone mad
By sean (13 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
wow, i’ve just started to look at the blogging game and that sort of traffic is amazing! well done - hope i can learn a thing or two.
ps. i’m no graphic designer but i’d love any feedback on the look of my simple lil’ site.
sean’s last blog post..Gee…
By Brian Yerkes (47 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
Jacob, have you ever considered hosting your image files away from your website’s server? This is definitely an option you should look at, as the image files being hit so much can cause your bandwidth problems…their are many free image hosting sites out there.
By Brian Yerkes (47 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
That’s weird, my “latest post” has stopped showing under my comment on your site…think it may be a problem since launching my re-design…hope you don’t mind a quick test Jacob! thanks
By Andrew Kelsall (28 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
@Brian Yerkes,
I’ve just had this problem, and I have been in contact with the CommentLuv pluggins author, Andy Bailey. His plugin has a 3 second-timeout limit for page load times. If you check out your sites load time on http://internetsupervision.com.....kes.com%2F you will see your load time is over 5 seconds after your blog re-design.
Hope this helps Brian, if you need further assistance with this, I’ll be happy to explain further…
By Kelly (54 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
Jacob,
Congratulations on a problem everybody would love to have, and of course, WOW about being #8 in Australia. All at only 9+ months old! You’ll be off the charts by this time next year. Wonderful!
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Happy Small Business Friday: The Merriment Post
By Jacob Cass (634 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
Vin,
I believe I am heading for the semi dedicated at this stage but I am still awaiting reply from my hosts.
Richard,
Thanks for the recommendation.
Yeah awstats all the way
StyleTime,
Set a goal and go for it! I have to laugh when I set a goal back in January to have 1000 subscribers by the end of the year. Blogging is addictive.
Andrew,
Every time JCD has hit the front page of Digg the site has been brought down but only for a few hours. I am not so concerned about it as it still registers around 50,000 hits while it is up but it would be nice to survive the digg effect… but without the price tag.
Thanks for the tip on CommentLuv also.
Peter,
Thanks… being compared to Google, that is awesome!
Sean,
Had a quick look, it is like what you said… simple. Have you had a look at the many free themes available on the web?
Brian,
I did consider it however it is just another complication whenever you have to change hosts however if I ever choose to go to an Australian server I would have to do this as bandwidth here is so expensive in comparison.
Kelly,
Thank you and yeah it is quite impressive in just 9 months, particularly because I hadn’t even heard about blogging before (other than for a personal diary).
By Qbrushes (3 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
Hi Jacob, I replied to your post on whirlpool regarding all this, check it out if you haven’t found a new home yet
Qbrushes’s last blog post..Creative Doodles
By Doug C. (39 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
I can help: send some of that traffic my way [wink].
Doug C.’s last blog post..No More Cartoon Face
By Kelly (54 comments) on Aug 31, 2008 | Reply
Jacob,
Then a coworker suggested I check out one he’d heard of (and of course I wasted an afternoon clicking from one blog to another, following links), and someone else said “You could do that,” and last August I started writing without a blog to see if I really felt like I could keep up, and boom!
(My Mom still refuses to read my blog. She thinks all blogs are porn. *sigh*)
Until later,
Kelly
By Jacob Cass (634 comments) on Sep 1, 2008 | Reply
Q Brushes,
Thanks I have left a message on there also, I appreciate the help a lot. This plan is looking quite tempting if my current hosts can’t put together a VPS for myself or semi dedicated… They are so slow to reply, it is frustrating.
Kelly,
And “Boom” your addicted. Funny about your mother!
By Kelly (54 comments) on Sep 1, 2008 | Reply
Jacob,
Totally addicted.
She’s a corker. No amount of saying, “Ma, you’ve known me all of my years of life, how likely is that?” does any good.
I thought they were just diaries, she thinks they’re just porn. (She’s not alone, either. Several friends of mine said that when I started MCE, which let my mother off the hook in my mind.)
My daughter said this morning, “Wow, your friend who you wrote for is Very Important now, isn’t he? Did you help him get important?”
I said, umm, no. I helped him ease his mind on the Grand Tour, though.
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Happy Small Business Friday: The Merriment Post
By Tracey Grady (15 comments) on Sep 1, 2008 | Reply
Well done Jacob. I noticed that your blog ranks higher than Yaro’s too.
@Andrew, I have noticed the same problem as Brian when commenting on JCD, sometimes but not all the time. Thanks for clarifying the reason why.
Tracey Grady’s last blog post..Irresistible Websites Part Three: Textures
By Brian Yerkes (47 comments) on Sep 1, 2008 | Reply
@Andrew,
Thanks very much for the info. Not sure what I am going to do…possibly remove the video spot from the homepage…I already removed the “today, I’m reading” section…and that didn’t help much. Thanks for the info Andrew
Brian Yerkes’s last blog post..Logo Design Case Study | Bayfront Bistro
By Nick (11 comments) on Sep 2, 2008 | Reply
Nice! If you’re still looking for hosting, I could help out
Nick’s last blog post..Quarkbase
By Jacob Cass (634 comments) on Sep 2, 2008 | Reply
Kelly,
Grand tour eh?
Tracey,
Strange about the commentluv thing, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Nick,
I believe I am going with Semi Dedicated with my current hosts Solid Internet but thank you.
By Micah (2 comments) on Sep 3, 2008 | Reply
I’m always impressed by people who can do a blog of this size on their own. Great work!
By Dainis Graveris (35 comments) on Sep 3, 2008 | Reply
You are doing great job - no wonder, there is nice outcome too!
But yeah, some sexy stats you’ve got! Good luck in future!
Dainis Graveris’s last blog post..48+ Greatest Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts
By Qbrushes (3 comments) on Sep 4, 2008 | Reply
Hi Jacob, I’m curoius to how much they’re going to charge you because I might be intrested my self.
Thanks
Qbrushes’s last blog post..Top Photoshop Tutorial Sites to Check out
By Jon (9 comments) on Sep 4, 2008 | Reply
I’m confident with some aggressive caching, you could still host that on a shared hosting plan.
By Jacob Cass (634 comments) on Sep 5, 2008 | Reply
Micah, Dainis
Thank you.
Qbrushes,
It is $49.95 a month for semi dedicated hosting (only 3 users).
Jon,
This was the reason I changed, it just couldn’t keep up and I use caching.