Hosting a blog from two servers simultaneously

Hosting
1

Hello everybody,

I am new to the forum and also new to blogging.

I am thinking of a starting a blog. A personal blog, where I would be posting my personal views on a range of subjects.

I had some queries to enquire regarding hosting. I would greatly appreciate an be grateful for any help extended.

I was thinking of hosting my blog from to sources/servers simultaneously.

One server being my Home server. And the other being any one of the paid web hosting services.

I was thinking of some “server-client software”, which would manage visitors to my blog, between the two servers.

For example;

My blog would exist on both servers. I would post content on both servers. While posting the content to my blog, I would program the “server-client software”, my preferred server.

Then a visitor from suppose say, Facebook, wants to visit my blog, by clicking on a link he/she saw on Facebook and got interested. When he/she clicks on the link on Facebook, the “server-client software” should choose between one of the two servers, and select the preferred server, to connect to and bring the content to the visitor. If the preferred server is down, the “server-client software” should then connect to the second server and bring the content to the visitor.

Is this possible?

Is there a “server-client software”, that can accomplish this? Preferably an open-source “server-client software”?

Thanking you.

Regards

2

I have to ask - what do hope to achieve by this setup?

3

Thank you gandalf458, for coming.

By this set up I hope to, always keep a backup of my blog in my control, and good accessibility to my blog at the same time. :smile:

Thank you again gandalf458, for taking interest in my query.

Regards

4

I have a few questions:

What criteria would determine which is the ‘preferred server’?

If you pick a good hosting provider, it will usually promise a 99.9% up-time rate, so is there really a need to have the blog on a backup server to be used in times when the hosting server is down?

Why don’t you just back up the blog files and database on a regular basis and store them somewhere safe instead of running two versions of the blog?

What effect would this set-up have on the way the search engines perceive your blog? (I’m not asking this from any expertise in the field of SEO - just wondering).

Your plan just seems to unnecessarily complicate things IMHO or maybe I don’t quite understand your plan.

1 Like
5

That gives you two versions of the blog - the live copy on the hosting provider’s server and the backup/development copy on your own server where you can try things out without breaking the live copy if what you try doesn’t work. Of course no one but you ever sees the copy on your server.

6

Thank you WebMachine, for coming.

As you mentioned, the preferred server would always be the ‘a good hosting provider’.

But then, Blogs are always on the risk, of going down, even if I take the services of a host, best in the trade.

I value my content on my blog very highly, because I would be pouring out my knowledge acquired through diligent hard work and sacrifice done over the entire period of my life, and also a knowledge which I consider is highly useful to the world.

I don’t want me or the world to loose it due to some technical glitch or some bad hosting practice.

You have given a good alternative, by suggesting a regular backup. But is that possible? Like; is it possible to backup the entire blog along with its theme, settings, content, comments and everything else, just with one click and save it somewhere safe. And then is it possible, [in the worst case scenario, where the host removes and blocks access, to my blog on some pretext], to recreate the entire blog with the help of the backup with one click and get it going on a different host, instantly? Is it possible?

And regarding search engine perceptions; I thought the search engines also would have to go through the same ‘client-server software’, which would guide them.

The fact is actually I am paranoid about the web-host’s services. I have read blogger experiences, with bad hosts. They are no less than nightmares. I have heard people waiting for 45 minutes on the phone to get support from even the most reputed hosts like Bluehost, and the same person called, just to test, the sales representative of Bluehost, and the phone was picked up in two seconds. Hosts are always almost concerned about the profits. They are least concerned about the intellectual property created by the bloggers. And in the Blogging world, even though the content provider is the one who creates, but the host is the one who brings it to the world. The content creator and his audience are at the mercy of the host. That creates paranoia.

Even I felt like; am I unnecessarily complicating things here? But is there a simpler way to achieve what I want? Is it possible to relieve my blog from the control of the host. Is there a way out?

Thank you WebMachine, for your concern. I really appreciate your compassion.

Regards

7

Thank you felgall, for coming.

Actual my idea of keeping the blog on two servers, is to backing up the blog. In case something goes wrong and suddenly on some bad occasion my blog doesn’t exist on the web. I would like to be able to re-establish it again as it was, within the shortest period of time.

Is it possible to accomplish?

Thank you for your concern felgall.

Regards

8

It depends on what platform you want to use for your blog, but content management systems usually store your theme and custom styles in one folder, and the rest is the blogging platform. So when you back up your blog, you usually just need to save the folder that contains your theme, the file that has your database information, and a recent backup of database itself. Then if something goes wrong with the blog, you just re-install your chosen blogging platform, replace your theme and styles, and re-connect the database. (Of course I am over-simplifying this a bit).

If you decide to move it to a different host, of course that is going to take some time - anywhere from an hour to a few days, depending on how long it takes for you to point your domain name to your new hosting account.

Most hosting providers aren’t bad guys to be avoided. Often you will hear the worst stories by searching for reviews of web hosts, because usually people who run into problems are the most likely to vocalize their experiences.

9

So what you’re thinking about is “failover”?

As far as a “one click” solution, I don’t think so. At least not literally. one click.

Though I guess a CRON job could be set up to ship out backups regularly.

As far as “safe”, that is a relative thing. I like to think saving files on my computer is safe, but what if it crashes irreparably? I like to think saving my files on disc is safe, but what if they get damaged?
Some think saving files in the cloud is safe, but is even that 100% certain?

Nothing personal, but if you need to ask about using your own computer as a failover server then it is likely you don’t appreciate the problems that would be involved with that approach.

IMHO best to keep backup and development copies on your computer and transfer the files around when you know the code is stable.

10

At my previous position we delegated admin traffic to another server. So yes this possible. However, I don’t think it’s going make much of a difference with small blog managed by a single individual. I think you’re overthink things. Just toss it on a server and as performance becomes an issue scale up the infrastructure.

11

Thanks WebMachine for the highly informative reply;

I was thinking of WordPress, for its varied tools, templates, plugins, customization etc.

So when we backup, there are different folders for different parts of the blog, A folder for the theme, custom styles, settings etc. Another folder for the blogging platform itself. And another folder for the database. [Database? Pardon my ignorance. Is this the actual content created by the blogger plus the comments by visitors on that content, all put together?].

What is database information?

Do I have to do these backups manually, choosing individual items that I want. Doesn’t the platform have backup facility, that automatically backs up everything necessary to re-create the blog, in case of ruining of the original?

Are there big hurdles in changing a host? Is it difficult to point a domain name to a new hosting account? It shouldn’t be, I suppose? If one is owning the domain name.

Ah, that’s a bit soothing.

Thanks again WebMachine, for that caring reply. Really, it is the compassion of you people on discussion forums, that is keeping the world running smoothly. Love you guys.

Regards

12

Thanks for the informative reply, Mittineague.

Yes really a failover. :smile:

Yeah, I didn’t mean literally :slight_smile: , but I meant smooth and easy transition.

If it is automatic and reliable, that would be something to bank upon.

Yeah, nothing is 100pc.

Yes, that is what seems plausible now, thus far. But which is the best fool proof method of backing up and re-building, is the question?

Thank you Mittineague, for your concern. I appreciate a lot, your efforts to help me.

Regards

Thank you

13

Thank you oddz, for coming.

Actually I was not concerned about the, traffic or the scaling up of the infrastructure. I was concerned about re-building of the blog, if something bad happens and my blog is off the web, becoming not accessible to anybody completely or partly. Something like that.

Thank you for your concern oddz.

Regards

14

I’ve always used FTP to get the files (not so often as they don’t change much unless I’m working on them) and a database export in case I need to import it.

To restore or move to a different host, FTP upload, create the database if need be, and import the tables.

How often the database backups need to be done depends on how much you’re willing to risk losing.
For example, if you do weekly backups, at the most you’ll lose a weeks worth of posts and comments, every month, a months worth, every day, a days worth, etc.

And it is a very good idea to get a backup before doing an upgrade.

You can go back only as recent as your most recent backup if things break.

Things probably won’t break, but if they do you’ll be wishing you had taken the time to deal with the “just in case”

15

That isn’t something you should be concerned about.

16

If you do choose WordPress, all you need to backup (using FTP) is the wp-content folder, the wp-config.php file and perhaps the .htaccess file. Depending on your hosting account, you will probably have access to phpmyadmin, which is a database management system, that you can use to export your database. This whole process should only take a few minutes to do, and it should be done fairly regularly, especially before you do any updates of the core files or the plugins.

1 Like
17

Thank you WebMachine, Mittineague, and oddz, for being there.

I think it would take me a bit of reading on the basics of FTP, database, wp-content folder, the wp-config.php file, database management system, phpmyadmin and .htaccess file etc, to comprehend entirely your valuable suggestions.

May be these matters are connected to the blogging platform and blogging protocol. So I should know the basics about these things.

I will do my homework, and come back. I should get accustomed to these subjects, before I enter into the blogging world.

Thank you for being with me. I appreciate your kind efforts to help me.

Could you guys, please provide me some links, which could give a simple understanding of these matters?

Thank you

Regards

18

Hi, WebMachine.

I am informing myself about the intricacies of Blog creation. Things are become clearer, now.

By the way you said;

Does that mean that, there are different catagories of accounts, where in some have access to the phpMyAdmin and some don’t?

Thank you

Regards

19

No. I just meant that I can’t say for sure if all hosting providers give their clients the use of phpmyadmin. I have only had experience with a few of these companies (all of which do have phpmyadmin).

20

Fine.
I found that WordPress, recommends BlueHost. I will verify what they have in store.
Thanks for the reply, WebMachine.
Regards