Cloudways Config & Performance

[dynambee]

So it looks like ThirtyBees works well on Cloudways, and the performance I've seen so far is excellent.

I'm wondering if anyone here is actively using TB on CW yet, and if there are any configuration tips to share? What options should be enabled (or disabled) within TB for the best performance? Any cache tips or pitfalls to avoid?

CW offers Redis and it's easy to turn on, but does anything need to be set up within TB itself to take advantage of Redis?

Currently I am using PHP 7.0 and MySQL 5.6. Would there be an advantage to migrating to MariaDB 10? Any problems with using PHP 7.0?

I'll be happy to share any issues & tips I face with Cloudways and/or Cloudflare with TB and would be most appreciative of any thoughts from others!

[MockoB]

I just saw @lesley answered some of your questions in the other forum. I think it would be nice to share here some basic settings for best performance also, something to be used in the docs section. Not everyone is familiar with the new thirty bees chaching options and I am pretty sure the full page cache could cause some problems if not used correctly.

[wakabayashi]

I agree with MockoB, but it's also a question of ressources. I think people who are familiair with caching and server stuff are welcomed to post an article here, in docs or in blog. I don't know enough about this topic. That's why I invest my free time more in translations.

[Havouza]

Just curious. It seems to me that Cloudways is so popular. I looked at their pricing and I must say I am absolutely not impressed. So why this hype?

[wakabayashi]

I was on cloudways before? What is not good with their prices? I think it's very good offer from them. Are you on a shared server?

[Havouza]

I have a VPS. 6-core processor, 30 Gb guaranteed RAM 2 Tb diskspace SSD, 1 Gb port, Unlimited traffic 19.99.

[dynambee]

It really depends what you want from a host. For example, I have a 1Core/2GB/40GB/2TB plan on Cloudways, based on a VULTR server, and it costs $23/month. If I went directly with VULTR the same plan is $10 a month.

So what does Cloudways provide for that $13 a month? They provide management infrastructure on top of the bare VULTR (or other cloud provider) platform.

If you go with something like VULTR directly you, the user, have to configure and manage everything yourself. Want a database? How about Elasticsearch? Redis? You get to install, configure, and manage those features yourself. Want to host 5 different stores and a development platform on a single server? You get to configure that and set it up. Want a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, or even better, one for each of your stores which each have several domains/sub domains? You get to set that up and manage it too.

For some people that is fine, for others it is desired or even required. For a lot of people though that's a royal PITA and will lead to a huge mess in short order. Personally I could set that stuff up myself if I had to, and I could learn how to do the parts that I don't already know how to do. Unfortunately I have limited hours in each day and I'm quite busy with other projects. Paying $13/month to have someone else take care of that is a good deal for me at the current time.

Another reason I like Cloudways though is that they do work directly on top of VULTR, and for what I am doing I want to have different servers in different parts of the world. Site focused on Australian customers? Hosted in VULTR's Sydney datacenter. Site focused on UK customers? Set up in London. Likewise for other countries.

So while it is certainly possible to find cheaper hosts than Cloudways they do provide good value to many people.

[Havouza]

Well, All was installed from beginning, mail ftp, redis, MySql, MariaDB, 1 pro SSL and unlimited Let's Encrypt, Backup in the datacenter or on Dropbox. I can have as many stores as I want, Super support. But as everything else, taste and skills are different

[dynambee]

Definitely, different hosts work better for different people. Low cost hosts that offer "unlimited traffic" always concern me due to past low performance experiences. If things are working well for you with this host then that's great news for sure.

Back on topic though, as posted elsewhere it is possible just turn Redis on in the Cloudways control panel and no additional settings in TB are required. Edit: Caching must be turned on in the TB back office (Advanced Parameters --> Performance), saved, and then Redis selected as the cache type, and then saved again.

Any information on the various TB back end settings for caching and performance would be most appreciated. Is there any way to use a subdomain on cloudways to serve cookieless static content?

[Havouza]

HostEurope is definitely no low-cost provider. In European terms quite costly but premium with a lot of awards. During ten years no problems Low cost/ low quality providers are providers like Hostgator that I should not touch even if I get paid for it. One time was enough. And ofc you need to set the TB to use Redis even using Cloudwave. We have not reached the level of software making assumptions yet

[dynambee]

One can debate hosting all day, so I think we'll have to agree to disagree. You may find it interesting that GoDaddy just bought HEG though. In the end if HostEurope meets your needs then they're the right host for you.

As far as Redis, @lesley (one of the people who helped set up TB) stated on the PS forums that no additional configuration is necessary when using TB on CW. Turn on Redis and it works. You can see the post here: https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/597927-who-has-the-fastest-ps-site/?p=2537438

Edit: Caching must be turned on in the TB back office (Advanced Parameters --> Performance), saved, and then Redis selected as the cache type, and then saved again.

[Havouza]

The Hostgator purchase is old news, but should it affect Hosteurope performance I would be the first to leave.

About Redis. I dont know if it can be called configuration, but you still have to choose to use cache AND choose redis as the system

[dynambee]

The Hostgator purchase is old news, but should it affect Hosteurope performance I would be the first to leave.

The purchase of HEG by GoDaddy (not HostGator) was announced a few months ago but was only finalized a few days ago. If changes are coming they will probably take a bit more time to appear, sometime later this year seems likely. If I was a customer I'd certainly be a lot happier to be acquired by LiquidWeb (like WiredTree was in January) than to be acquired by GoDaddy.

About Redis. I dont know if it can be called configuration, but you still have to choose to use cache AND choose redis as the system

I see what you mean. I hadn't actually tried this yet, but yes, caching must be turned on, saved, and then Redis selected and saved. I'll edit my posts above to reflect this, as the point of this thread is supposed to be how to get the best performance out of TB.

[Havouza]

Just a last uestion because you seem to know a lot about Cloudwave. Is it possible for me as a customer to have my own customers with their own user login?

[dynambee]

Cloudways allows you to create "team members" that you can limit to specific servers and/or to specific applications within that server. So if you have a client that has two TB sites that you are hosting for them you can limit their access to just those two TB applications. You can also give employees within your own business their own access credentials and decide how much control they have over your Cloudways account. It's not really designed as a reseller system though as all "team members" long in through the Cloudways platform itself so they are going to know where & how you are hosting their sites.

[30knees]

@dynambee Are you still happy with Cloudways? And did you discover the answer to your question from the first post "Currently I am using PHP 7.0 and MySQL 5.6. Would there be an advantage to migrating to MariaDB 10? Any problems with using PHP 7.0?"?

[dynambee]

Yes, very happy with Cloudways. They're not perfect but for me they provide a great balance between doing everything myself and being on a shared hosting platform with crappy performance.

PHP 7 is fine, fast and stable.

MariaDB 10 is better than MySQL 5.6. MariaDB is run by the people who originally developed MySQL before Oracle bought it. Shockingly (lol) Oracle has let MySQL languish so it was forked and MariaDB was born. That said I am still using MySQL for now.

Cloudways has also recently upgraded their Elasticsearch offering to 5.4, the current version.

[Tomik]

using CW with php7 and mariadb everything works fine :) bit more expensive then it used to be but still.

[30knees]

I'd like to revisit the question of configuring Cloudways for thirty bees.

On the server management side, what about? - HTTP/2 - PHP version - MySQL version - Elasticsearch - Redis - PHP FPM

On the application side, what about? - Varnish

And from what I understood in this thread, in the shop itself, under Advanced Paramters> Performance, we should do: - Activate Cache - Select redis as the type of cache

What about? - Full page cache - CCC> Apache optimization - Smarty cache

Thanks!

[Troy.Roberts]

@30knees Most of those you don't have to configure for cloudways, that's part of their value, all those bits are already configured when you deploy an app.

HTTP/2 - Works well with TBZ, you just have to turn it on

https://support.cloudways.com/enable-http2-on-websites/

PHP Version - 7 and 5.6 both work well on cloudways.

https://support.cloudways.com/how-to-upgrade-to-php-7/

MySQL Version - I use MariaDB myself, can't speak to performance vs MySQL

Elasticsearch - As far as i know not supported yet on the cloudways platform but @mdekker says soon

Redis - Have it enabled, seems to work well

https://www.cloudways.com/blog/redis-cache-now-available/

PHP FPM - Don't have it enabled personally maybe someone can say

[30knees]

Thanks! Yes, with "configuration" I truly meant "activation".

[Troy.Roberts]

@30knees

Most of those are under the settings and packages section of your server config

[30knees]

Thanks - I meant more should one activate them. :-) As in whether it makes sense.

[Troy.Roberts]

Ahhh, they each make small performance gains, it's kind of hard to see as cloudways is soo fast right out the box. But it's not gonna double the speed or anything imo.

I turn it on because i'm anal about performance so if it means a speed gain i'm enabling it.

I'm sure if you were benchmarking with 50 simultaneous users making 500 http requests a second then yes you should carefully consider it. I personally would love to have that kind of traffic myself.

[30knees]

50 simultaneous users would be a dream! Still quite a way to go for that. But if the settings can't hurt I'll activate them once the shop is up and running smoothly.