Earlier today, I received an email from my hosting provider Servint announcing the upgrade of their entire VPS line – Essential, Signature, Ultimate, Super, Super125 and SuperVPS 2x.

The VPS upgrades will give customers up to 50% more RAM and 20% increase in Disk Space. Current customers with any VPS package will receive the upgrades for FREE (no additional charges). These new upgrades along with the company’s decision to reduce the number of customers allocated to each virtualized server means customers will have more CPU resources and will see a very significant drop in server load.

Old Package Specifications:

• Essential – RAM 768MB (Burst 1.5GB); Disk Space 50GB
• Signature – RAM 1.5GB (Burst 3GB); Disk Space 75GB
• Ultimate – RAM 2GB (Burst 4GB); Disk Space 100GB
• Super – RAM 4GB (Burst 8GB); Disk Space 100GB
• Super125 – RAM 4GB (Burst 8GB); Disk Space 125GB
• SuperVPS 2x – RAM 8GB (Burst 16GB); Disk Space 150GB

New Package Specifications:

• Essential – RAM 768MB (Burst 1.5GB); Disk Space 60GB
• Essential+ – RAM 1GB (Burst 2GB); Disk Space 65GB
• Signature – RAM 2GB (Burst 4GB); Disk Space 90GB
• Ultimate – RAM 3GB (Burst 6GB); Disk Space 120GB
• Super – RAM 5GB (Burst 10GB); Disk Space 120GB
• Super150 – RAM 5GB (Burst 10GB); Disk Space 150GB
• SuperVPS 2x – RAM 10GB (Burst 20GB); Disk Space 180GB

Servint is also offering a new hosting package – Essential+ which for only $10 more per month than the Essential VPS package, offers 1GB of RAM and more disk space. To avoid confusion with the coming upgrades, the Super125 VPS package will be changed to Super150 to reflect the new upgraded disk space included in this package.

Current Servint VPS customers will receive the upgrade within the next 30 days while new hardware are being installed. To check if your server has already been upgraded, login to your VPS and check the package specifications using /proc/user/beancounters or the “vpsstat” tool. Or you can just wait for the next email notification from Servint when all upgrades have been completed.

JaypeeOnline has been with Servint for almost two years now and I’m a very happy camper. I can’t say that it has been perfect as I’ve had some issues, the worst being the downtime that happened during a routine maintenance procedure. However, the folks at Servint were always quick, polite and very helpful in solving the issues or in answering questions and inquiries I send their way. One more thing, they have very knowledgeable technicians. Servint have several levels/tiers of technicians so support tickets are forwarded to higher level technicians if the lower level ones can’t fix it.

Need a good and reliable VPS or Dedicated Server provider? Check out Servint!

**CONTEST OFFICIALLY CLOSED AS OF 12/30/10**

UPDATE: Added more cash prizes and a new sponsor.

Today is the first day of December and that “officially” marks the start of the Christmas season. Since Christmas is the season of giving and sharing, what could be a better way to thank my readers and share my blessings with others than to have another Christmas Giveaway, right?

I’ve had two previous big giveaways here on JaypeeOnline – the $1,000+ Christmas Giveaway in 2008 and the $1,500 Thanksgiving Giveaway last year. For this year’s Christmas Giveaway, I’ll be giving away $3,500+ worth of prizes – premium WordPress themes, premium WordPress plugin, web hosting, domains, cash and many more. Of course, all of this won’t be possible without the support and generosity of my sponsors.

PRIZES AT STAKE:
1st Prize
1-year Publisher Plan from Scribe SEO ($324)
1 Pro-Plus package from StudioPress ($249.95)
1 Developer Theme Package from WooThemes ($150)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1-year Freedom-CDN Plan from WP Webhost ($120)
1-year Pro Account from Wibiya Web Toolbar ($118.80)
1-year Starter Plan from Reinvigorate ($100)
1-year subscription to Website Monitoring from website-monitoring.com ($59)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domain (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$20 cash via PayPal courtesy of DiTesco

2nd Prize
1-Year Publisher Plan from Scribe SEO ($324)
1 Genesis/Child theme package from StudioPress ($79.95)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1 Club Membership from Elegant Themes ($39)
1-year Advanced Hosting Plan from Hostentic ($116)
1-year Pro Account from Wibiya Web Toolbar ($118.80)
1-year Starter Plan from Reinvigorate ($100)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domain (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$10 cash via PayPal courtesy of MukhangPera.com

3rd Prize
1-Year Publisher Plan from Scribe SEO ($324)
1 Genesis/Child theme package from StudioPress ($79.95)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1 Annual Access Membership from Flexi Themes ($49.95)
1-year Freedom Plan from WP Webhost ($80)
1-year Pro Account from Wibiya Web Toolbar ($118.80)
1-year Starter Plan from Reinvigorate ($100)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domain (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$10 cash via PayPal courtesy of MukhangPera.com

4th Prize
1 Genesis/Child theme package from StudioPress ($79.95)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1 Basic Theme Package from WP Now ($49)
1-year Freedom Plan from WP Webhost ($80)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domains (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$10 cash via PayPal courtesy of MukhangPera.com

Consolation Prizes
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
6 – 1-year domains (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)

I’m also giving away 5 Globe Tattoo USB dongles courtesy of Abe Olandres of YugaTech ($20/each) to all contestants from the Philippines.

As a BONUS, I’ll be giving away a 15% rebate for website-monitoring.com to all contestants and 2 Golden Tickets to VaultPress. Please let me know via the comment section if you’re interested.

CONTEST MECHANICS:
1. Subscribe to JaypeeOnline’s RSS feed via email. (required)

Don’t forget to validate your email subscription (After submitting your email address, FeedBurner will send you an email with a link on it to verify your subscription). If you’re already an email subscriber, please proceed to step #2.

2. Blog about this contest. (required)

Make a blog post about this contest in not less than 100 words. (Please don’t copy & paste this post). Don’t forget to include a link/trackback to this contest, prizes at stake and the list of sponsors (just the text links, no need to include the banners). If you want, you can use the Christmas Giveaway graphic in your blog post, do that by saving the image and uploading it to your own web server. (No hotlinking please)

3. Leave a comment. (required)

After you have subscribed to the RSS feed via email and published your blog post, please leave a comment on this post using the same email address you used to subscribe and include the URL to your blog post. In case you decide to avail of the bonus points, make sure to include your Twitter username and/or Facebook account name.

*I require this step so it would be easier for me to validate and keep track of each contestant’s entries.

Total = 7 pts

BONUS POINTS:
You can avail of these bonus points to get more chances of winning.

1. Follow me on Twitter and Retweet this post – 2 pts (If you’re already following me, all you need to do is retweet this post)
2. Share this post on Facebook – 1 pt
3. Join JaypeeOnline’s Facebook Fan Page – 1 pt
4. Follow JaypeeOnline on NetworkedBlogs (via Facebook) – 1 pt

Total = 5 pts

Total maximum entry points = 12 pts

CONTEST RULES:
1. Contestants are required to do all three steps under CONTEST MECHANICS.
2. No multiple entries. 1 person = 1 entry (1 person can get as much as 12 points)
3. Prizes not claimed within 30 days will be forfeited and be given to a new winner.
4. Prizes can not be converted to cash.

OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS:
Scribe SEO

StudioPress

WooThemes

WP Zoom

Elegant Themes

FlexiThemes

WP Now

WP WebHost

Hostentic Web Hosting

Wibiya Web Toolbar

Reinvigorate

Privacy Pro

Website Monitoring

Jehzeel Laurente

Abe Olandres

DiTesco

Mukhang Pera

VaultPress

Contest starts as soon as this post is published and ends on December 30, 2010. All entries should be in by midnight (US Eastern Time). Each point is equivalent to one entry that will be put into the list of entries (more points, more entries). Winners will be chosen using Random.org’s List Randomizer and will be announced the following day, December 31st.

Please make sure to check back on this post every now and then for any changes or updates.

What are you waiting for? Join now! You could be the winner of any one of these awesome prizes. Remember, the more points you have, the more your chances of winning! If you have any questions regarding the contest, feel free to contact me.

If you or your company would like to be sponsor and provide some prizes for this Christmas Giveaway, please send me a message via the Contact page.

When you’re trying to purchase something, may it be a car, a camera, a book or laptop, it’s always a good practice to canvass first and compare prices and other details to make sure you get the one that fits your needs and budget. The same is true when looking for web hosting for your blog or website. I’ve done a few reviews about web hosting review sites in the past but I don’t think it would hurt to add another one so you guys would have another place to go to when looking for web hosting reviews.

Webhostingclue.com is a web hosting review site that’s been around for about 2 years. Their goal is to provide users a place to find reliable and affordable web hosting and blog hosting providers and services. Aside from the reviews, Webhostingclue also provides users tools like their Web Hosting Guide that contains tips on choosing the right hosting plan for your blog or website. They also provide coupon codes from different web hosting companies like HostGator, Bluehost, ANHosting, DreamHost, midPhase, LunarPages, etc. to help users save money or cut costs for their business.

DISCLAIMER: This is a sponsored post written for Webhostingclue.com.

Because of what happened, iThemes via their PluginBuddy website, created and released a free WordPress plugin called ServerBuddy. The ServerBuddy WordPress plugin tests the web server’s configuration to analyze the quality of the hosting provider and its server configuration. The plugin looks for problems with compatibility with different WordPress themes and plugins and provides easy to understand explanations to different server settings. It also generates reports and samples of what to ask hosting providers if a problem is identified in the server configuration that needs fixing.

Screenshot:

Another important ServerBuddy feature is Security Testing. This plugin analyzes file permissions of important WordPress files to check if they are properly configured to make sure that the blog is secure and safe from intrusions. ServerBuddy is a must-have plugin for any WordPress blog and great tool for regular WordPress users, theme & plugin developers and especially hosting administrators.

Kudos to the folks from iThemes and PluginBuddy for releasing the ServerBuddy WordPress plugin to the community for FREE. ServerBuddy is easy to install, just download the file and unzip it. Then upload the folder to the wp-content/plugins/ folder on your web server and then activate it. ServerBuddy will show up on its own section below Tools and Settings.

Download the ServerBuddy WordPress plugin

Anyone here hosted on Network Solutions that got hacked during this incident? What have you done to secure your WordPress blog? Anyone else using the ServerBuddy WordPress plugin to check their hosting provider’s server configuration? Please share your thoughts.

I’ve been having problems with my blog recently. If you’ve visited and tried to access JaypeeOnline the past few days, it’s most likely that you experienced some problems viewing the blog. Unlike previous events where the downtime were due to my hosting provider’s incompetence, blog migration or a WordPress plugin conflict, this time the problems were caused by a high volume of traffic. Like many bloggers, I work on increasing my blog traffic and here I am, having problems because of it. Ironic isn’t it?

Because of the efforts and a little bit of SEO work that I put on my blog, the volume of traffic jumped in the last few months and went from double to triple the amount of traffic I had in the first few months of last year. The last couple of months didn’t show any signs of slowing down and the volume of traffic has just kept increasing. It got to the point where my blog is using up more resources and running out of the alloted memory. I’m not complaining at all but I didn’t expect that it would cause me these problems. Btw, having WP Super Cache installed on my blog didn’t help or was not enough to handle the situation.

Anyways, I’ve been busy working on this issues the past few days trying to figure out what’s causing the problem, what I could do to fix it and trying to find alternative solutions. I also contacted my hosting provider and asked for some help. I’m very fortunate to have a very good hosting provider – ServInt, who’ve been very helpful and have provided all the assistance I needed the past few days. Right now, my blog is on a 7-day trial upgrade to a higher VPS account with double the amount of resources. I’m also running a new WordPress caching plugin which is supposedly better than WP Super Cache and is used by a lot of big-time, high-traffic blogs like mashable.com, noupe.com, webdesignerdepot.com, freelanceswitch.com and tutsplus.com just to mention a few. I’m still working on it and will have to fix some of the settings to maximize the caching plugin capabilities and optimize blog performance.

Although I’ve been able to address the issues and have been able to minimize the server load, it’s still a work in progress. Me and my hosting provider will continue to monitor the performance of JaypeeOnline and try to make it work better. If you experience any problems or notice some errors on the blog or any part of the blog, please do notify me via the contact page or send me an email at jphabaradas [at] gmail [dot] com.

I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced during the past few days and I hope that you won’t get tired of supporting JaypeeOnline. Thank you and hope you all have a nice day!