[LibTech]

Can anyone recommend a good / cheap web hosting company?
e.g. I was looking at Yahoo small business for $11.95 per month.

I just need basic stuff; My own domain name, html, flash, etc (MySQL and JSP would be a bonus but not required).

There are so many v. cheap hosts but it's hard to know the quality.

PS - I'd be interested in the cost of self hosting too. I have XP pro and Linux (Fedora Core) but no static IP traffic will be low

TIA for any advice / links

 

[gtpaul]

I can reccomend http://www.1and1.com

I think they have a free business package for 6 months you might want to give them a try, I haven't had any problems.

 

[particlefx]

I run a website from my home and as long as I keep the cable modem on, my IP address remains fixed. I've been up for over two years now without an IP change. I run Apache, ServletExec, SQL, Merick email server and other free stuff I snagged from work. The only monthly cost is the electricity for the modem, router and server -- which is pretty small. The downside is I can't guarantee 24/7 service (though I seldom have power outages) and my upload rate is limited by cable.

 

[LibTech]

I run a website from my home and as long as I keep the cable modem on, my IP address remains fixed. I've been up for over two years now without an IP change. I run Apache, ServletExec, SQL, Merick email server and other free stuff I snagged from work. The only monthly cost is the electricity for the modem, router and server -- which is pretty small. The downside is I can't guarantee 24/7 service (though I seldom have power outages) and my upload rate is limited by cable.

Interesting...This would work for me (I think) 8)- I thought the IPs were rolled every few days or something. How did/do you propagate(?) the domain name, or do you just use the IP?

 

[LibTech]

I can reccomend http://www.1and1.com

I think they have a free business package for 6 months you might want to give them a try, I haven't had any problems.

8) If the do it yourself way does not fly I'll investigate 1and1

 

[bluesman]

Except for a hot backup site, home hosting is fine & eas

Go to http://www.dslwebserver.com/ for a great tutorial and resource on home hosting.

Open source software is readily available - and it's excellent. I run php / MySQL sites on Apache (all free) from a bare-bones Celeron 1.8 on the cheapest Intel board I could find, with 512 of RAM and three cooling fans - I've got a total of about $300 in my new server, and it's more than adequate for up to 10 simultaneous hits. Before that, I used a 233 PII Dell laptop with 80 of RAM, which was fine although a bit slower than my current server. There are large audio and video files in my main site, which I use to demo my music for prosepective employers.

You can even host from a dynamic IP address - there's simple and cheap software to notify your DNS server of your "new" IP address and keep you hooked up. I use ZoneEdit for DNS service, but there are several alternatives (all free). And if you stay connected, your IP address won't change. Even if you have a power failure and end up with a new IP address, it's a few clicks and keystrokes to go to your DNS service and reset your IP address.

 

[particlefx]

I run a website from my home and as long as I keep the cable modem on, my IP address remains fixed. I've been up for over two years now without an IP change. I run Apache, ServletExec, SQL, Merick email server and other free stuff I snagged from work. The only monthly cost is the electricity for the modem, router and server -- which is pretty small. The downside is I can't guarantee 24/7 service (though I seldom have power outages) and my upload rate is limited by cable.

Interesting...This would work for me (I think) 8)- I thought the IPs were rolled every few days or something. How did/do you propagate(?) the domain name, or do you just use the IP?

I have a domain name. I think bluesman answered your question quite well.

 

[LibTech]

I know I'm biased, but aren't FX owners great? I'm trying to think of any question that someone on here would not know the answer to?! :lol:

I also know that all this info is available for me to find myself, but sometimes there's too much info!

Thanks again.

 

[GarryMac]

I've run a website (http://www.underwater-photos.com), and use 123eHost.com; they have a basic package for $$50/year which gives you 200MB of webspace, unlimited mailboxes, and other stuff. That price does not incude the domain name, which is about $35/year or less. I have used them for several years with no complaints.

http://www.123ehost.com

.

 

[bluesman]

The IP address isn't "dynamic" - it's just passed

Dynamic IP addresses come from the ISP's pool. They "own" a given number of IP addresses, and can assign one to each subscriber if they so choose - this is the "static" IP method. It costs you more because it costs the ISP more to carry one address per subscriber.

They get more users per address if they assign one via DHCP each time a user connects. That way, there are fewer unused addresses at any time and they have more than one subscriber per IP address. If they give you a fixed IP address, they're paying for it even when you're not using it - so their net revenue per IP address is lower. It's possible (but very unlikely) that an ISP with a weak business plan could end up with more concurrent users than available IP addresses at a given time.

I run my own servers because I enjoy doing things myself. But if you don't really enjoy that, 123ehost and others like them are great and inexpensive. And if you have business or other critical applications that need to be available 24/7, home hosting becomes problematic. I have 3-to-5 hour UPS backup on my servers, but I don't have an off-premises hot site in case of longer outages.

Bottom line - home host if you like to do so and if down-time won't be a problem for you. Otherwise, use 123ehost.

 

[LibTech]

Re: The IP address isn't "dynamic" - it's just pas

Bottom line - home host if you like to do so and if down-time won't be a problem for you. Otherwise, use 123ehost.

bluesman - You've summed it up perfectly. This is my position too, and I like (need) to understand how it works.

/Hi, my name is Matt and I've been a geek for 20+ years.

 

[intuitionsys]

No need to reiterate what bluesman suggested. Sounds like he's doing something similar to my setup. With the latest distros you can set yourself up with FREE linux servers without much trouble. There are also free DNS services available but you should offer a donation if you plan on using them for a long time. everydns.net is one. And if you go the home hosting route, get a package with a static IP from your ISP. Saves alot of trouble but as mentioned earlier in this thread there are ways to use a DHCP provided address but I found it too problematic. I have an IMAP e-mail server, Apache, FTP, X tunnelling, Samba and other stuff running on a low powered system without any problems. It's running SuSE 9.1 and it never ever ever crashes.

If you have high bandwidth needs (streaming video to multiple connections, etc.) home hosting isn't a viable option, but if you don't need insane bandwidth, having full 24/7 physical access to your own server(s) is a big plus - and you can learn how everything works behind the scenes at the same time.

 

[gtxjoe]

I am running a server on my home pc also (Comcast Cable modem). My ip has not changed in the last 12 months. If it does, you just update your domain account info, and the website should be backup by the next day

I pay $8.50 a year at mydomain.com for the domain name.

I run Abyss webserver http://www.aprelium.com. It's free and supports sql, php, perl and asp. I have been meaning to switch to Apache, but since it ain't broke, I haven't bothered.

If hosting your own server doesn't work out, you can always move the domain to a webhosting service later.