| Thank you for your thoughtful response. | Much needed insight into what us newbies are unaware. | | Chuck I must admit that I am somewhat of a "hosting newbie" too. I stayed with the same NT host for three years before deciding enough was enough as they never upgraded their servers. I then surveyed 150 hosts over a period of 3 months and with everyone there is always a catch. -Uptime / Upgrades (Hardware) -Service (People) -Value (Dollars for Resources) After trying a few "too good to be true" hosts, ironically including CIHost, my conviction now is that it is best to trade a little value so you don't have to trade uptime or service. For a few dollars a month, I sleep much better knowing that my site is still running smoothly. |Virtual server = shared |server, since dedicated servers are usually way out of my price range. :) | |Daniel Gwozdz OK - I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't having the wrong conversation. You can get low-end dedicated servers for $200-250/month, so if you do websites for others, it wouldn't be that difficult to get 8 - 10 people together and have a really powerful setup for yourself (Dialtone, Rackspace, Catalog), if you wanted to spend the time administering the server. A few hosts offer "high capacity" solutions which essentially place 10-15 people on a server vs. 300 - 400, though I have no experience with these packages. Maybe it would be better at that price to just arrange for a dedicated... Anyway, my comments have probably drifted sufficiently off topic, so I'll hit send before I move the conversation any more off track : ) | ----- Original Message ----- | From: "Boatbuilding Ring" <boatbuilding@boatbuildingring.com> | To: <ringlinklist@gunnar.cc> | Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 10:11 PM | Subject: Re: [ringlinklist] NETFIRMS DISASTER | | | > | > The question is "what do you actually get"? | > | > The answer is easy if you needs are few (e.g. serving static html pages |with low traffic.) | > | > The answer is more difficult if you need to run CGI/Perl or if you need |things like SQL, PHP, etc. to run well, | especially if you | > expect lots of traffic. | > | > The difficulty arises from the fact that: | > 1.) it is very difficult to know ahead of time how much CPU time a |particular script will take when implemented on a | particular | > platform (e.g. RH linux on a PIII 600 server), or how much it will take in |6 months, so you don't know exactly what | you need from | > a host. Of course, peak use is what is critical (i.e. you can only use |your share of server resources, or say 1/400th | of what is | > available on the server, during the peak usage time for that server.) The |cheaper the package, the more accounts will | be on the | > server, and the less powerful the server will be and the less often the |server will be upgraded. | > 2.) hosts most often don't specify exactly how much CPU and resource use |you get with virtual hosting accounts, so it | is a gray | > area. Almost always these issues are addressed on a case by case basis |when an account "disturbs the normal operation | of the | > server".... | > | > So far so good with Ringlink on a $30/month account though : ) | > | > | > | ----- Original Message ----- | > | From: "Daniel Gwozdz" <smage@together.net> | > | To: <ringlinklist@gunnar.cc> | > | Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 9:04 PM | > | Subject: RE: [ringlinklist] NETFIRMS DISASTER | > | | > | | > | > | > | > If you're going to pay $99, it's more or less a small step to pay $160 |for a | > | > virtual server. (That's what I did.. can't wait until register.com |updates my | > | > DNS away from nasty NetFirms.) | > | > | > | > Daniel Gwozdz | > | > The Water-Cooled Volkswagen Ring - http://www.wcvw.org | > | > | > | > | > | > > I too had Ringlink set up on Netfirms and due to endless problems with | > | > > the sendmail, I moved to catalog.com that another member recommended. | > | > > I'm very happy there and have had no problems with it. However in |order | > | > > to get the free hosting, you must register a new domain with them at |the | > | > > price of $35 a year. To move an existing domain there cost a one time | > | > > fee of $99.