iOS App Web Server (Scalability)

[oo7ml]

Hi,

I am new the App Web Server enviroment as i have been using Parse.com for all of my backend needs up until now... however i find Parse.com is just a little bit too slow to load data to an app.

I have a few questions which i hope someone can help me with please:

01 - can anyone recommend a good hosting company for an App Web Server? Is their a key player in the market, or is there a huge amount of companies, all providing the same service?

02 - what is the best way (or is it possible) to set up an App Web Server on a small scale (low bandwidth and storage), with an option to upgrade it to a higher scale (high bandwidth and storage) WITHOUT having to change hosting provider and server... so that users don't actually have to upgrade the app because it's using a new higher scale server.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Cromulent]

Hi,

I am new the App Web Server enviroment as i have been using Parse.com for all of my backend needs up until now... however i find Parse.com is just a little bit too slow to load data to an app.

Running your own servers can be a rewarding experience but it also requires excellent knowledge of your server operating system. In the web hosting world that basically means you have a choice between Linux and Windows Server. Of course I'd recommend you choose Linux since it is cheaper and is just as stable as Windows Server.

Mac OS X Server is not an option really. All the decent hosting providers are either Linux shops or Windows shops (with a few using FreeBSD instead).

All of the services I'm going to recommend are unmanaged which means if there is a problem with the server configuration then it is your responsibility to fix it. The hosting company will NOT help you. They will only assist if there is a hardware issue or if the network goes down for some reason.

If you don't know Linux then give up now and pay someone else to manage this for you. You won't be able to do it yourself. Running servers is complicated business and requires enough knowledge to make sure that you don't leave vulnerable servers exposed to the internet which hackers can then exploit.

I have a few questions which i hope someone can help me with please:

01 - can anyone recommend a good hosting company for an App Web Server? Is their a key player in the market, or is there a huge amount of companies, all providing the same service?

Personally I'd use Linode. I have experience with them and they offer a very solid infrastructure and fast hardware. The support is also excellent if you need it.

There are lots of VPS providers out there. Amazon EC2, Digital Ocean, Linode, Ramnode, Rackspace etc etc but I think out of them all Linode offers the best service for a reasonable price and you can expand with them almost instantly.

Whatever you do though don't fall for all this cloud hype. The vast majority of so called "cloud servers" are just VPS instances, nothing more. It is just a marketing buzzword. Real cloud services are a bit different to a plain VPS but they also cost more and offer less flexibility.

02 - what is the best way (or is it possible) to set up an App Web Server on a small scale (low bandwidth and storage), with an option to upgrade it to a higher scale (high bandwidth and storage) WITHOUT having to change hosting provider and server... so that users don't actually have to upgrade the app because it's using a new higher scale server.

If you take out a Linode server you can automatically upgrade the plan you are on and it will just resize your server. No changes in your app required. There will only be a few minutes of downtime as well.

 

[oo7ml]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply, much appreciated.

I'll check them out and see what their pricing is like.

I had a managed Rackspace account before for a website, but I thought they were very expensive.

 

[kyussmondo]

Personally I use a Node.js backend. From there you can use a PaaS like Heroku or Modulus.io.

If you have more server admin experience then you can use something like Amazon EC2 or Digital Ocean.