I'm building an e-commerce website, big database, in Toronto, Canada, est. 2k transactions a day, I don't know how many hits could be.
I have only a little knowlege of webmaster stuff, we don't have professional here.
We want to have one with fast connection, inexpensive, easy to manage.
Can anybody help me to decide what kind of webhosting I should have and where can I find them? We want Windows platform.

Thank you so much for any help.

Peter;)

If you are going to be doing online transactions you should invest in getting an it team. if you dont know how to set up the servers your customers information is not going to be safe.

i would hire a consultant.

Hey there... I'm feeling chatty today, so maybe I can help.

We're an all Microsoft shop and have been running our own hosting facility for a long time... but tired of doing so for a long time minus about 1 day... so we're switching everything to dedicated/managed...

It sounds to me like you do NOT need a dedicated or managed hosting solution, and could be fine with a shared platform... BUT I WOULD NOT EVER AGAIN get commoditized shared hosting... we tried that early on before we grew a lot and hated it...

Many of them have unaccepatable policies with regards to security and development... for instance, say five years ago when we were trying it out, we had many sites go down becuase they allowed self-registering of .dlls... and when another customer writes bad code... it can wreak havoc everywhere... plus, commoditized means you get what you pay for...

Beleive me, I've tried to save a buck every chance I could, and have been down EVERY ROAD... and nothing is worse than when something goes wrong and you get blamed.. even if it's not your fault

SO... if you're not interested in making money on hosting now... or reselling services... I would STRONGLY encourage you to separate the two parts: (1) development, and (2) hosting... that way, at least, when you have developed the great system, you're not going to have to deal with a lot of problems because you're not-so-great hosting solution -- which you have become responsible for -- is not working out.

With that in mind, the best solution we could find for SHARED services was MaximumASP... but then again, we had a lot of specific needs (e.g. Windows Server 2003, .Net, ability to develop customized .DLLs but a REQUIREMENT on the part of MaximumASP that they review and test all such .dlls).... lots of good things like that.

Now I was even considering moving all of our stuff there (they have dedicated solutions), but one salesman said the WRONG thing to me and blew the deal.

As such, I am now (after getting one more question answered) going with The Planet...

I, like you, am interested solely in MS solutions... and they were the ONLY one (in the low-price arena) who has major MS experience (in fact, 4 certified in-house guys).

So if you really wanted to go managed/dedicated... I would suggest them... even though I haven't actually EXPERIENCED their service yet... but so many other people have... so I have faith.

What you could do is go with one of their, say, $149.00 servers wth a $25.00 support package... but alas, what the other gentleman said was true, you would need to setup the things out side of their realm (e.g. SQL Server, shopping cart system, etc.)....

Hope this kind of helps! (Probably just adds more confusion!)

By the way... if saving every dollar (perhaps in lieu of satisfactory service) is not the issue, then shared with Maximum could work well for you.

I just looked, though, and for you it may seem ridicuouls since it's essentially the same thing you'll find elswhere... but costs $159.00 per month!

Ugh... tough call... I couldn't and wouldn't recommend and commoditized hosting services ever... too many sleepless nights with those... check out ACTIONJACKSON.COM... they usualy have some good stuff on this subject.

Thanks!
Actually, I'm even not sure what is right for us, dedicated or managed, or shared, the web developing is not problem, we hired outside person doing that, after they handed website to me, all would be rely on myself, it might be dangerous, right?

I don't know about consultant, maybe it's too expensive for us.
Anyway, I got a lot from your gus, thanks.
Peter

Hi abilify
Do you mean theplanet superserver plus siver level service?
do they have backup service?

MaximumASP provide only 60G per month, is that enough for my site?

Hey.... I think you might probabaly NOT want to go with Maximum ASP, becuase it's focuses so heavily on high-end stuff you might not need, and they charge A LOT for it.

Here is the chief question: With this new site, is it for you or a client? And, does your agreement with them essentially say that YOU are hosting the site??? Or, can you develop the site and outsource with another company for hosting???

To me, that's one of the biggest issues, especially when you're not going to be going with a nearly fool-proof hosting solution...

I was referring to that inexpensive Planet solution.. yes... and NO, I don't think they do backups....

If you can answer those above questions... I can probabaly give you better advice.

It's my own website, it's an e-commerce site selling different goods. I don't host sites for others. We would update the site frenquently by ourself by our staff from another country.
We are selling to mostly North Americans, we need the fast connection and reliable hosting service. We expect a fair quantity of hits and transactions, maybe two to five thousand transactions a month, we do offer forums for our buyers.
Could you recommand me the best hosting solutions?
Thank you so much.

Okay... so it's your own site...

Well, since you DON'T have any experience with software and managing servers, you're probabaly better off NOT going dedicated... because even if you purchase a manged option, you still have to deal with the server yourself.

If you can handle the expense, then Maximum ASP WOULD be good... because you don't have to worry about the server... managing the server, etc., and the virtual server you get would have the software you ned installed, and you can get additional things as upgrades... it's pricy, I know, but it's GOOD...

www.invotion.com looks pretty good too, and it's less pricy... I found them at ActionJackson.com.

I would pick from this list: http://www.actionjackson.com/hosts/default.asp

COMPANIES I KNOW OF THAT ARE GOOD, INCLUDE:

www.maximumasp.com

www.appliedi.net

www.activehost.com

Then, go here: http://www.actionjackson.com/forum/default.asp

You can browse through there for ideas and ask your question there...

Those top rated hosting companies are good and have EXACTLY what you are looking for... same type of operating system and the like.

I would at this point strongly suggest you go AWAY from dedicated, as it's not right for you (IMO) unless you pick up someone who can handle it or pay a lot for someone to admin it... and it's NOT NECESSARY to overpay, there are companies who can give you what you need, grow with your needs, and take care of and manage everything for you.

Hope this helps!

Check this out from ActiveHost:

Business Plan Starting at $19.95

Our most popular plan, the Business plan gives you the resources to build an eCommerce enabled site, as well as the flexibility for growth. This plan offers all the features you need to get your Web business up and running.

100 MB hard disk storage
10 GB monthly transfer
20 POP e-mail accounts
eCommerce enabled
ASP.NET hosting enabled
Site Statistics



Now the guys in the webhostingtalkforum would say 10GIGs is nothing... but you can grow with it and get more... and the reality is, 10GIG is a lot for many sites... even if you start growing quickly... you can up to 50, 100, or more...


They have this plan, too, with more: Enterprise Solution Starting at $99.95

Trust your mission-critical eCommerce operation or high-traffic site to ActiveHost's Enterprise hosting. Building on our Developer package, this plan gives you the storage, bandwidth, and performance necessary to take your Web site to the next level.

300 MB Hard disk storage
40 GB monthly transfer
75 POP e-mail accounts
eCommerce enabled
ASP.NET hosting enabled
Microsoft SQL database included

The point is that I think you're better off paying for the features/management/Commerce capabilities/and 'out of the box' software setup they'll provide than you are paying for a ton of bandwidth up front... this will just make your job that much easier.

Thank you so much.
but one more question, should I consider the issue of monthly transfer?
Is that enough for my site?