I made a PHP and MySQL application for my client. They have asked me to help them with hosing. I have problem finding suitable host.

The database is about 500MB. Traffic to the site is very modest, may be 100 visitors per day. Transfer is also small.

I don't want to be a reseller. I don't want the responsibility for small money. I want to leave on vacation for two weeks and not think about this stuff. Phone calls at 3 AM are also not welcome. This is why buying dedicated and sharing it amongst clients is not an option.

I am sure they would pay as much as $50 per month, for a VPS for example, but I feel bad setting them up this way because they simply don't need this.

All they need is a solid shared host, but I can't find many. Most promise stupid amounts of storage and bandwidth and obviously are geared towards lamers who will upload 50 MB of photos and create a forum that no one will ever visit. The lamer will be proud to his friends that he can store hundreds of gigabytes and has unlimited bandwidth.

What about professional developers that seek serious shared hosting? Who caters to them? I think a fair price is between $15 and $30.

Why are there no specs in the hosting industry? Go to any other product web site and there is a flashy page that tells you that a real man with a lot of chest hair would buy this product, but there is also a page called technical specs for the geeky guy. There are no such pages on hosting sites. How much RAM is allowed? How much CPU? How long can script run? How many database connections are allowed? How many email messages can be sent per hour? Even version of PHP and MySQL is often not provided. Why is that?

I would check out medialayer.com (run by user: elix) or cartikahosting.com, both are excellent options for your customers site. MediaLayer actually offers PHP 5 run alongside PHP 4 and has a very nice accelerated PHP 4 environment.

How much RAM is allowed? How much CPU? How long can script run? How many database connections are allowed? How many email messages can be sent per hour? Even version of PHP and MySQL is often not provided. Why is that?
There is a reason for this: it is difficult to police and enforce CPU cycles and RAM usage.

It is a lot of pain to update a webpage all the time with the current version of PHP and MySQL. There are also security concerns: it makes it easier for anonymous attackers to target a host. That said, e-mail the host you're interested in and ask the versions of software they run--anyone competent should be able to quickly answer.

Dreamhost has always seemed geared towards developers IMHO.
The way their system is setup is ideal for these sort of things, the only problem is their absurd provision of disk space and bandwidth, but so far I haven't experienced any problems because of this. Sites load quickly, php is night lightning fast, but still fast enough. They're also about to rework the entire MySQL system to make it better for db management. They also have specific CPU limits, everything else is fair usage.

On the other hand you could try MOSSO. You'd need to get a few other clients on the server to keep down the price, but you wouldn't have to worry about 3AM calls, everything is managed by the rackspace venture company. They also offer an absolute 100% uptime guarantee. It's an interesting setup, you should probably at least look into it a little bit.

I would check out medialayer.com (run by user: elix) or cartikahosting.com, both are excellent options for your customers site. MediaLayer actually offers PHP 5 run alongside PHP 4 and has a very nice accelerated PHP 4 environment.

I second that - medialayer.com is a great host. Elix has some top-notch hardware not to mention his extensive knowledge; trust me, I have seen the server loads - zero accross the board.

How much RAM is allowed? How much CPU? How long can script run? How many database connections are allowed? How many email messages can be sent per hour? Even version of PHP and MySQL is often not provided. Why is that?

I am sure you can get all your questions answered by emailing the hosts in question to find out. :)

The big boys of hosting treat it as a commodity. How many $5/month customers can we fit on a server. Because they know that 100 $5/month customers on a server are much easier to get that 5 $100/month customers (that wont fit on that server).

1) Find a host that doesn't oversell.
2) If performance is a big issue look into semi-dedicated. (The same idea you had about getting a dedicated server and parting it out to your clients. Find someone who has done that, who has already bought a dedicated server, worked out the 3am tech support calls (Note to self: Look into outsourcing 2am "Daddy I need water" calls) and who is as committed to keeping your customers happy as they are their own.)
3) If email is mission critical, put it on it's own IP for that client, if not and you have found a semi-dedicated plan, then you'll probably be ok.

As for versions. Ask. Minor/bug updates are done too frequently to keep the front page of a hosting site updated. (although with a little work, you could scrape together all the appropriate version numbers on a page.. (another note to self).)

As for Emails per hour, ram, cpu. Some of those limits are known and set. Some of them aren't until there is an issue. and a lot of time those issues can be cleared up with simple server reconfigurations and/or reworking the code. The big boys don't usually want to bother reconfiguring a single server to optimize it for one customer. A smaller host will find the configuration sweet spot for your application/load.

-Jason

You might have better luck looking for a smaller company, as mentioned earlier, the big boys (seen advertisingly obsessively) pack em' in tight. Try finding a small to medium sized host that is seen advertising a bit, test their support, demos, etc.

I will second that motion. A smaller company may be better able to accomodate your needs.

Take a look at Netfronts, http://www.netfronts.com (http://www.netfronts.com/)/, I know a couple of the tech guys there and their really good!

I will second that motion. A smaller company may be better able to accomodate your needs.

and probably more willing to help

By far, I would highly recommend TextDrive (http://www.textdrive.com/). I've been with them for about a year now, purchasing a lifetime account.

Can't say enough good things about them. Check their forums (http://forum.textdrive.com/) and ask some of the other community members some questions.

Why are there no specs in the hosting industry? Go to any other product web site and there is a flashy page that tells you that a real man with a lot of chest hair would buy this product, but there is also a page called technical specs for the geeky guy. There are no such pages on hosting sites. How much RAM is allowed? How much CPU? How long can script run? How many database connections are allowed? How many email messages can be sent per hour? Even version of PHP and MySQL is often not provided. Why is that?

True, finding these type of specs is like looking for a needle in a haystack. From a marketing perspective though, Web Hosts try to follow the golden rule. KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid.

If we were to have the "geek specs" chances are the average Joe will look at them, get entirely confused as to what half of the stuff means, and look into another host that doesn't seem to limit everything.

If you do need to know the geek specs, a good Web Host will be able to provide you with an answer. Just shoot an email to their sales or support department.