I'm going to be on CNN: how do I keep my bandwidth costs and usage controlled?

February 5, 2004 12:37 PM

I just found out that CNN is going to cover something I did on my website! Despite the anxiety involved in appearing on television, I am concerned that the bandwith on my godaddy account won't be nearly enough to accomodate the massive hits I will probably get. What do I do? Just pay for more bandwith? How much? Please help!
posted by adrober to computers & internet (16 comments total)

Contact godaddy and ask for help setting up a bandwidth throttle in advance?
posted by sudama at 12:41 PM on February 5, 2004

CrisisHost sounds like what you're looking for. I haven't used them personally, but I know they came through for the downhillbattle crew during a sudden popularity crisis ;-)

Either make a simple PHP script to do some load-balancing and randomly send 75% of your visitors to the CrisisHost mirror, or just use mod_rewrite and send everyone that way until it blows over.
posted by Aaorn at 12:46 PM on February 5, 2004

Do you know what bandwidth restrictions your account has?

You might try distributing the site a bit. Serving images, javascript, css, etc. from another host(s) could help. If you're using php and using header and footer files with an include() functionyou can even host those off site.

In other words, create a poor man's load balanced server farm.
posted by y6y6y6 at 12:50 PM on February 5, 2004

After checking out the potential reason for your new-found popularity, you can rest assured two things - A) You will get a LOT of hits, and B) It will die down within a week or two, leaving you with many new loyal foodie readers. Congrats! All in all, it's a good problem to have.
posted by pomegranate at 12:53 PM on February 5, 2004

y6: What good would having stuff you include server-side be on a different server? It'd still have to go via the server running the PHP script.
posted by fvw at 1:04 PM on February 5, 2004

I should mention that my knowledge of computer/internet stuff is incredibly limited. Maybe I'll just (as sudama suggests) call GoDaddy and tell them the situation. Thanks!
posted by adrober at 1:10 PM on February 5, 2004

Looks like GoDaddy accounts have 1-2 gigs of transfer. For reference, when my site got linked at LockerGnome I was eating through that much bandwidth in less than an hour.

fvw - Ummmm...... Nevermind. I seem to be a few fries short of a happy meal today.........

Let me know if you need a place to dump images during the storm.

And yes, calling GoDaddy should be at the top of the to-do list. They *will* charge you if you go over your bandwidth. Might be nice to see what your options are up front. If the charge is $10 per gig over your limit then you may end up paying several hundred dollars.
posted by y6y6y6 at 1:25 PM on February 5, 2004

As long as you have the little plastic toy, nothing to worry about..
posted by fvw at 1:35 PM on February 5, 2004

I am a little confused, though. So my domain name is housed at godaddy; I run the site at Typepad. Will Typepad get slammed too if I get tons of hits? Or just my domain name at GoDaddy?
posted by adrober at 1:36 PM on February 5, 2004

You'd probably want to move any mp3s and videos off your page right now.

If godaddy is your registar and not your host, I don't think you have to worry godaddy. Typepad on the other hand is what you have to be concerned about.
posted by bobo123 at 1:41 PM on February 5, 2004

Oh wait, you are hosted on Typepad, not godaddy.

You bought your domain at GoDaddy, but they don't host it. They don't charge for DNS lookups as far as I can tell, so your only worry is with your host, which is Typepad in this case. Contact Mena, Ben, Anil and the gang at typepad and I expect you'll be fine (or it will be cheaper than you think).

Enjoy the ride, doing a CNN interview is nerve wracking but fun.
posted by mathowie at 1:50 PM on February 5, 2004

Congrats on the CNN story! Since you're hosted on TypePad, i sent you a private email about what we can do to handle the traffic overage. As far as the server holding up to the load, that shouldn't be a problem at all, we've had sites get *tons* of traffic without a slowdown.

In a more general sense, you shouldn't worry too much as CNN (or any TV network) doesn't generally drive that much traffic directly to a website, since people have to remember a URL, go to the computer, and type it in or google it. That being said, it is a great thing for your resume and to raise your site's profile, so enjoy it.
posted by anildash at 2:05 PM on February 5, 2004

ooh, so I am curious what it is.
posted by xmutex at 4:07 PM on February 5, 2004

It's the anet-Jay ackson-Jay upcakes-Cay ecipe-Ray
posted by mathowie at 4:42 PM on February 5, 2004

CNN (or any TV network) doesn't generally drive that much traffic directly to a website

Unless it ends up linked from a page on CNN.com that AOL or AOL News somehow decides to tout. Being 2 or 3 clicks away from the AOL Welcome Screen is no joke, traffic-wise. That doesn't seem likely in this case, though.
posted by staggernation at 5:05 PM on February 5, 2004

Congrats abrober, also saw links to your site on Boing Boing. First saw it on the MeFi announce list. Now CNN. Talk about a quick ride.
posted by stbalbach at 6:44 PM on February 5, 2004