Shared Hosting FTP Limits: Marketing or Performance Issues?

EMaree

a demon for tea
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
4,655
Reaction score
839
Location
Scotland
Website
www.emmamaree.com
I'm getting regular e-mails from my host saying I'm hitting FTP limits. The cynical side of me thinks this is just marketing to try and get me to buy a VPS, but... I'm also worried they're legit e-mails and my site is performing poorly.

I'd love some AWer advice on if this is an actual performance issue or just marketing.

Tech Specs

So, I host two Wordpress installs: my primary site emmamaree.com, and a secondary site I use for theme tests/generally keeping the domain active and hope to one day turn into a portfolio site.

Both installs have automatic updates turned on for pretty much everything. Both have the plugin list slimmed down as much as possible while still doing what I need. Both seem to run okay, for cheap shared hosting sites: emmamaree.com goes down occasionally, but never for more than fifteen minutes.

The E-Mails

Hey Emma,


Our monitoring systems show that one (or some) of your user accounts may be making your web hosting account operate inefficiently. We noticed you’ve frequently hit the memory limits of your shared hosting plan over the last couple weeks. When this happens, our system automatically stops web processes which could be negatively impacting your server’s performance. This means your visitors may see errors or be unable to access your website at all for brief periods of time.


These are the FTP/shell users on your account, alongside the number of times they’ve hit their memory limits:


[FTP user]: 302


Here’s what you can do:

1. Leave Everything As-Is
If you’re satisfied with your current website performance, then we are too! You can leave things unchanged and our systems will continue stopping processes as your site runs into limits.

2. Optimize Your Website
You may be able to improve your website’s performance so that it runs more efficiently. We’ve put a lot of effort into building some really comprehensive documentation that will help walk you through the process of optimizing your site. We’ve also got some WordPress-specific optimization instructions that you may find helpful. Remember, you’re not in this alone - we’re here to help!

3. Upgrade to VPS – THE EASIEST OPTION
If optimization efforts don’t get the results you want – or if you just don’t have time to go through that process – consider upgrading to a fully-managed Virtual Private Server.

Move to VPS

See why I think it's marketing? I mean, it looks like a marketing e-mail.

But I get it almost every month, with different FTP limits each time.

6 Feb 2018: 302
10 Jan 2018: 338
Sep 2017: 155
Aug 2017: 178

In Sep/Aug 2017 they used a different template for these e-mails, which also felt like them just shilling virtual private servers:

Hi Emma!Our monitoring systems show that one (or some) of your user accounts may still be putting a high load on your hosting server. We took a peek and noticed you’ve frequently hit the memory limits of your shared hosting plan over the last couple weeks. Each time that happens, your website can become unstable as our automated process watcher system restarts it.

Here are the FTP/shell users on your account, alongside the number of times they’ve hit their memory limits and caused system restarts:

[FTP user]: 178

If you’re happy with the performance of your site, then we are too! Your site may continue to run into your shared hosting plan’s resource limits, and our automated system will restart your hosting processes as necessary.

If you want to improve the performance of your site, you can try to optimize things with the help of our Knowledge Base, or enlist the help of a skilled webmaster to help you.

If optimization doesn’t get the results you’re looking for - or if you simply need more power - you may want to consider upgrading your hosting to a fully managed Virtual Private Server (VPS). You’ll get instant access to scalable resources tailored to your site’s exact needs.​

Learn More about DreamHost VPS!

Our managed Virtual Private Servers are just as easy to use as your current hosting. You’ll interact with the exact same control panel for not much more than what you’re paying now. The difference is your sites will have more resources available to them and will be virtually “walled off” from the actions of other customers.

We’re so confident you’ll love the DreamHost VPS experience that we’re offering you $15 off your managed VPS hosting if you sign up within the next 30 days*. If you’re not thrilled with your VPS performance, one click in the control panel is all it takes to go back to the hosting you’ve got now.

Try Your Free VPS!

I've done the optimisation recommended in their e-mails: it satisfying in the moment but nothing really changed.

The e-mails come from [email protected], which feels like it says it all, but I want to check before I disregard these e-mails.
 
Last edited:

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
What they're really seeing is that you're using too much RAM on the server (memory limits).

And you could easily get the same message on a VPS; I have.

So yeah, ultimately it's partly / mostly a sales pitch.

One thing that might help is if you're using the JetPack plugin ask yourself if there are any of its features/settings you can turn off, or maybe, if you can turn it off entirely.

The other thing to do is check your image sizes and consider optimizing them; make sure that they are only 72 dpi. Use .jpg and not at the "Best" setting, say c. 70% or so.

Consider making images smaller in terms of pixels, if you think it won't matter.
 
Last edited:

Marissa D

Scribe of the girls in the basement
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
3,071
Reaction score
365
Location
New England but hankering for the old one
Website
www.marissadoyle.com
I'm so glad you brought this up, EMaree, because I've been getting a very similar email from my site host. I suspected it might be a sales pitch because its timing was highly suspicious, and sheesh, it's not like I get thousands of hits a day or have any ecommerce going on. Thanks for the image suggestions --I'll try that too.
 

EMaree

a demon for tea
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
4,655
Reaction score
839
Location
Scotland
Website
www.emmamaree.com
@Marissa - I'm glad it's not just me!

What they're really seeing is that you're using too much RAM on the server (memory limits).

And you could easily get the same message on a VPS; I have.

So yeah, ultimately it's partly / mostly a sales pitch.

One thing that might help is if you're using the JetPack plugin ask yourself if there are any of its features/settings you can turn off, or maybe, if you can turn it off entirely.

The other thing to do is check your image sizes and consider optimizing them; make sure that they are only 72 dpi. Use .jpg and not at the "Best" setting, say c. 70% or so.

Consider making images smaller in terms of pixels, if you think it won't matter.

Thanks Lisa, that's honestly so reassuring to hear. I've been optimising my images a lot more since these e-mails started arriving, so if nothing else it's gotten me into good habits.

I'll be poking around with Jetpack tonight to see if I can scale that down too.
 

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
I'll be poking around with Jetpack tonight to see if I can scale that down too.

JetPack is really useful for some things, but it's a memory hog.
 

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
13,979
Reaction score
1,533
Location
Wisconsin's (sore) thumb
Website
www.firefromthesky.org
I've heard that Jetpack is an awful hog, so I've avoided it. It's best to use as few and as light plugins as possible. Everything Jetpack offers is available in separate packages, so unless you really "need" almost all of it...phooey!

As for image optimization, this is also a usability issue for your viewers, who might not all have the fastest Internet connection. Slow loading will not endear your users. Those using phones with limited bandwidth usage are even more penalized by encountering a "heavy" site. If one visit wipes out their monthly quota, they aren't likely to come back.

One of the reasons I love IrfanView is the batch processing it can do. A friend whose site I set up and do a lot of maintenance on uploaded so many unreduced photos that he maxed out space. I downloaded, deleted, and re-uploaded everything dozens at a time, just running one batch after another with the same settings to shrink both pixel and byte size. The re-uploaded images were just as good to look at, but took a fraction of the drive space. And the bandwidth.