Overselling

A

AbbieRose

New member
I realise why people oversell, but I have a few questions.

First up, how does a company decide what an average user is going to use, and therefore how much they can oversell? Second-do they sell until they reach the point that they have sold the 'average' usage in full? Or do they leave a margin?

Finally, what happens when it goes badly wrong and servers come crashing down around their ears? I hear that many companies just claim a TOS violation from the big users and cut them off-but do they ever make reparation or even apologise for downtime to the others that are affected by the repeated downtimes? Or is it just tough luck to all involved?
 
We do not oversell our server, so we keep our dual-core systems with load below 1. usually it's around 0.1-0.5. It will have high load when system doing the backup, so if you have a busy box, it can be frozen when doing backup, or customers will notice slow-down.

Also, for keeping server in good environment, you will need to monitor systems all the time. If there is an account going big, using too much system resources, you will need to ask them for upgrade, or move to less busy server. I guess there is no formula for counting how many accounts on a server, for getting the "average point" usage. It really depends on your server configuration and how busy the accounts on it are
 
Finally, what happens when it goes badly wrong and servers come crashing down around their ears?
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If the average usage is well thought out, then for every server that gets a bit too busy there will be a server that is a bit light on usage. Some accounts can be moved to the empty server. In any case, if the average usage is accurately estimated and the pricing is right, then profit can be made while maintaining good service.
 
ldcdc said:
In any case, if the average usage is accurately estimated and the pricing is right, then profit can be made while maintaining good service.
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This is true, its a number/ratio game. Would be interesting to hear how hosts that do actually oversell work this out.

Anyone out there?
 
Overselling is the thing that can be difficult controlled but if the company controlls it, you may use it.
 
It seems like hosts that oversell use the trial and error method for account placement. Once they start receiving complaints they investigate, move or terminate the offending account and wait for it to happen again.

It's an effective method, however, it's purely reactionary.

It would be much better if they were to monitor their servers closer, they would be able to adjust prior to receiving complaints.
 
Many companies tell you they do not oversell but most do. Its the level of overselling that makes the difference.

If you are heavily overselling to where your server is overloaded and process are either bottle necking or overloading, then that is of course a bad thing.

Then there is overselling where you keep it controlled. What I mean with that is you are not taking overselling to the extreme. You may oversell but your are doing it lightly under a controlled basis, so if hard drives start to fill or performance shows signs of minor deterioration, you have measures to bring in another server into the mix or upgrades that will rectify the situation.

If you do oversell on a minimal level it is all about having preparations for the results of the overselling. Most accounts do not use the full resource or even close to the full resources of the plan they purchase.
 
They can determine the right number of users from their past experience. If their past experience is about 200 users per server, and if the new server is full when there are only 100 users, they will block some big users to decrease the load of the server.

Every company has their anticipation, for reputable hosting provider, when the server reachs its 200th user, even if there is some more space, they will stop. However, for aweful providers, they may continue the game until the server is full.

AbbieRose said:
First up, how does a company decide what an average user is going to use, and therefore how much they can oversell? Second-do they sell until they reach the point that they have sold the 'average' usage in full? Or do they leave a margin?
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They know it from experince, but mostly they are forced to oversell because their competition does it! Ultimately they kick the sites out using some hidden clauses like CPU usage.
 
Overselling is very complicated and for those that do it I assume they have to keep a good idea on their servers majority of the time. That way they won't experience downtime and can suspend any customer who is using up a lot of resources to prevent downtime.
 
It depends of the web host. Some comanies who can plan their development and resources use analytics. You can run stats which tell you how anything about cutomers experience and behaviour... what kind of tools they use, average load or their websites and etc.

There are also shameless oversellers who sel and sel until the server begin going down and then place limits over service usage.
 
Many of the new hosts are kind of forced to try the "overselling method" because they have to compete with the prices big companies promote. As long as it's done carefully and the user is not affected by the strategy, this method shouldn't backfire in the end...

It would be nice if nobody would do it, but then prices would be higher and people would complain about that. :) Plus, all it takes is for one big company to do it and then it seems like everyone else is drawn to this like a magnet. Kind of like it is in sports with the drugs...
 
even if a master reseller does not oversell and his sub-sellers do,
it still has the same impact on the server.
overselleing is not a hting in the past. most people do tis.
simply because, not all his clients probably cannnot
even use up the allocated space./bandwidth.
my opinion is, doi not advetise that you are reselling. it could
be just a talk-in-between you and your prospective client.

but then again, reselling per se is scary :)
 
With the removal of the bigger users, it means that really and truly they are not selling the packages, or the size of resources that they are advertising. So isn't this some kind of false advertising?
 
So isn't this some kind of false advertising?
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I guess you can see it that way. :) Practically, unless you try to use up all the resources you paid for and get banned, it is a not false advertising because you get the service.

It is kind of like the insurance companies. If you get in an accident, they pay you for the damage. But if everybody would get in an accident at the same time, they wouldn't be able to cover it. The same here with hosting, if you only use once in a while more resources than the hosting company anticipated you would and all the other people do the same, everything is good. If everybody wants to use the maximum of resources at the same time, that's when the problems occur.. .
 
You know that is a wonderful analogy. You are right that insurance policies very closely resemble reselling, because just the same, if you make too many claims to an insurance company then your premiums will be driven up and eventually they may terminate you as a customer. I guess I needed that real world comparison.
 
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