Hello sok777,
Your server requirements rely on many things. For example:
- Do you run multiple cs-cart instances (a seperate one for every storefront) or do you run managed storefronts from the same cs-cart backend?
- Do your products have a lot of features or not, if so, is filtering a must.
- Is your store multilangual. (For my business this is the case so requests take a bit longer and there are 8 times the amount of feature variants which make filtering and the overall loading of the site very intensive.
- How much room do you want for other applications? I for example have a mail server and a few other things installed on there as well.
- How enterprise do you want it to be? If you are a hobbiest you will probably get away with a cheap hosting server. If your company heavily relies on it you might as well spent those extra hundred dollars on excellent support.
But where should you look out for whenever you choose a hosting service?
First of all I'd recommend that if you heavily rely on support you go ahead and find yourself an enterprise level hosting service. I for example work with true.nl (they have multiple backup systems, provide critical patches within an hour, reply to support tickets regarding your operating system within 10 minutes and so on.)
Secondly, if I were you I would take a look and think if you need a dedicated or virtual dedicated server. The difference between these two things is that whenever you have a virtual dedicated server ram and cpu cores can be added at any time you want. If you have a dedicated server you would need to upgrade your server and perhaps have a few minutes of downtime.
Thirdly, how secure do you want your server to be? True.nl has 24/7 at least 12 people at the same time guarding their server facility and has 2 different ISP's in case one of the ISP's fails to deliver access to the internet. Furthermore they have 2 different and independent power supplyers and the servers have many different backup and fail prevention systems. A few of these include:
1. Daily backup (both databases and disk, you can also manually backup).
2. 2 PSU's attached to the server (in case one defects) and many more of these standard things.
3. They provide system analysis through their admin panel, they will also warn you if anything critical is about to happen. (like inodes getting filled, ram is not enough, etc.)
4. etc.
Fourthly, you should also think where your server should be located. This is mainly because the laws from that certain country where your server is located. For example in Germany you need to have a story about yourself, a privacy policy and many more things (no matter in what language). The best advantage from the Netherlands is that the main fibre glass cable from America enters the country overhere. Therefore your webpage will also load within 1 second in the other side of Europe. (FYI our webpage loads in 3 seconds from Los Angeles).
Finally, if you want to get more information take a look at their website, https://www.true.nl/solutions/e-commerce/ or you can call them at this phonenumber +31 (0)20 305 97 50
Feel free to ask any more questions regarding this.
Best wishes,
PS. Regarding your question for the OS you need to choose take a look at this article:
Are fast update cycles a must for you? Do you need a diverse set of package groups, and access to paid support and training services? Is versatility something you absolutely demand of your operating system?
If so, go with Ubuntu.
But what about stability and security? What if you’re using your distribution to host mission-critical, highly-sensitive data? Sure, there’s something to be said for fast update cycles, but security trumps that.
If those are questions you’ve asked, CentOS is your best choice – you’ll basically be getting an enterprise-grade Linux distro at a fraction of the cost.
But maybe you’re not a Linux novice. Maybe you’ve been around the operating system for years, and you’re just taking a look at this article to give yourself a refresher. Maybe you’re running a system for which regular updates aren’t absolutely necessary, and you’ve enough experts on staff that the lack of any sort of paid support isn’t really an issue. And maybe, just maybe, you value stability more than anything else.
If that sounds like you, then you’re going to want to roll with Debian. It may be old, but that doesn’t make it any less formidable. That’s especially true with the April 2015 release of Debian 8, which switches to the systemd init system from the SysVinit init system.
https://www.futurehosting.com/blog/the-three-best-free-linux-distros-for-server-hosting/