I'm in the process of finding a new home for my site. I haven't been in the market for several years so I'm not really up on what a RaQ can do. I have 1 "high" traffic site and 5 other very low traffic domains. The http v1.1 compliant browser thing has been a problem because of the multiple domains on a virtual server.

I'm currently running on a server shared with 80 other users. Most of my bandwidth is forum related (WebBBS) and I have a user web page design script and user email through a catch-all account.

MySQL is important and PHP will be important for me in the future and possibly even programs like ImageMagick to make thumbnails for a low volume photo gallery (1 new picture an hour). Some form of e-commerce may be important to collect advertising money.

Also I would like to be able to give some of my users sub domain names , and their own FTP account.
I xfer about 15 gigs a month with the graphics scaled back to the max, so I figure that could easily double in the future.

With that in mind are there any factors I should consider to deciding between a RaQ or Dedicated server?

And...what's up with these Dedicated hosts who brag about using hot-swap drives then charge you $250 to upgrade to a better server. Shouldn't it be as easy as unplugging the drive and plugging it into a box with a better processor? Or am I missing something? Is it that difficult that it costs $250 or do they WANT you to look around for a new company?

Thanks for the help and any hosting suggestions would be appreciated.

Kirk

[Edited by Kirk22 on 02-05-2001 at 11:58 AM]

We having owned a RaQ, I can tell you that if you don't have much experience running a server and don't want to learn it might be perfect for you. Easy to add domains and maintain (for the lost part).

Since you are only adding a few domains, there's also the, "Well if I could just figure out how to do it a few times, I'd be set" factor as well.

If you are thinking RaQ3, note that you'd have to install mySQL and php yourself (or have someone do it). RaQ4's come with it installed stock.

My experience, stick with linux boxes! NO cobalts!

Chicken, which website did you get mysql and php from?

there is a pkg file for mysql. you can also obtain mysql from mysql.com, as for php, php.net.

the only thing i dont like about my Raq is that it reboots on its own lol. Hopefully thats fixed as tera-byte moved the harddrive to a new box so i hope it was just a hardware problem.

Originally posted by Dylan
Chicken, which website did you get mysql and php from?

Actually, I didn't do the install of the original SQl and php on the RaQ3 (which is no longer up). The RaQ4r came with both pre-installed, so...

Originally posted by Dylan
My experience, stick with linux boxes! NO cobalts!

Chicken, which website did you get mysql and php from?
The Cobalt *is* a Linux box.

Heh, though you see that a lot. Just non-RaQ linux I guess he meant :)

It's a matter of knowledge vs. power.

If you only want to run websites and have an optimized php/mysql use, a RAQ will do just fine.
But when you want to run other applications which are more CPU intensive, a standard box will be superiour to a raq.

Then there is knowledge, if you are new to linux, you'll be lost on a normal linux box, while a RAQ will let you do virtually everything from it's control panel... That's what gives the RAQ it's mean of existance, it's easy, even a 5 year old could work with a RAQ...