MarkP
02-25-2001, 09:56 PM
Hi,
I have developed three sites so far and I'm currently working on another 3 sites. I've been hunting around for the best deals for hosting all of these.
I need Windows 2000/NT, IIS5/4, ASP, MSSQL 7/2000, CDO (mail) facilities or alternative e.g. JMail, add SSL to any domain, unique IP for each domain, approx 15GB per month transfer total, add/remove ftp users, configure permissions. I do not need unlimited or massive disk space as is usually offered - my biggest site is 80MB.
One of the most attractive reseller plans I've seen was with http://www.fasthosts.co.uk. This enabled me to resell hosting like a dedicated box would (unique IPs for each domain, unlimited domains) for £50 per month.
However postings about them have not exactly been complimentary and I wasn't impressed with their response to my email questions.
I started with Interland and have reseller facilities with them, but would not trust any Client sites with them after a severe outage that caused me to have to move the one site I had hosted with them and their appalling Customer service - I wish I'd looked at this forum before going with them as it seems I'm not alone.
Hence I ignore the uptime and gloss on sites and I'm only really interested in word-of-mouth recommendation.
I'm currently with a smaller provider in the UK with very good service and uptime but bandwidth is a problem; speed of downloads is very slow at times.
I have never been impressed with any virtual/shared package I've had (service, downtime, speed). Having looked at dozens of Companies so far, emailed a few and not been very impressed with the responses, I'm considering buying my own machine. I can spend around £1500 on a server. I have all my own software.
However the quotes I've been getting for co-location of a single box are coming in at five to ten times that of a shared plan and until I have more sites, I would have to charge Clients so much for hosting that the overall package would not be attractive to them.
As I'm a developer I do know enough to set up and maintain my own box but co-location would have to be in the UK. I've had a quote from Donhost and am awaiting a quote from Globix.
Co-location is attractive to me in that I would no longer need to constrict myself to plain scripting and could create and install my own COM components.
Reading the forums, quite a few people have been in this position before - I know enough to configure and maintain my own box so I don't want to pay an inflated price for dedicated hosting support so someone can reinstall the OS if I decided one day to go in and delete all the dlls in the system directory, but on the other hand don't want to pay hundreds a month just to rent rack space and bandwidth.
It does seem that you get what you pay for; smaller Companies are very friendly and service is great (current provider) but have only a single Internet connection and bandwidth can be stretched; larger Companies offer what I'm after at a price which I'll struggle to pay at the moment.
If any Hosting Companies are reading, you are welcome to email me privately with information, but I'm particularly intersted in hearing from others that have been in this position and can help with advice and perhaps recommendations on the best course of action in this situation.
Many thanks!
[Edited by MarkP on 02-25-2001 at 09:06 PM]
I have developed three sites so far and I'm currently working on another 3 sites. I've been hunting around for the best deals for hosting all of these.
I need Windows 2000/NT, IIS5/4, ASP, MSSQL 7/2000, CDO (mail) facilities or alternative e.g. JMail, add SSL to any domain, unique IP for each domain, approx 15GB per month transfer total, add/remove ftp users, configure permissions. I do not need unlimited or massive disk space as is usually offered - my biggest site is 80MB.
One of the most attractive reseller plans I've seen was with http://www.fasthosts.co.uk. This enabled me to resell hosting like a dedicated box would (unique IPs for each domain, unlimited domains) for £50 per month.
However postings about them have not exactly been complimentary and I wasn't impressed with their response to my email questions.
I started with Interland and have reseller facilities with them, but would not trust any Client sites with them after a severe outage that caused me to have to move the one site I had hosted with them and their appalling Customer service - I wish I'd looked at this forum before going with them as it seems I'm not alone.
Hence I ignore the uptime and gloss on sites and I'm only really interested in word-of-mouth recommendation.
I'm currently with a smaller provider in the UK with very good service and uptime but bandwidth is a problem; speed of downloads is very slow at times.
I have never been impressed with any virtual/shared package I've had (service, downtime, speed). Having looked at dozens of Companies so far, emailed a few and not been very impressed with the responses, I'm considering buying my own machine. I can spend around £1500 on a server. I have all my own software.
However the quotes I've been getting for co-location of a single box are coming in at five to ten times that of a shared plan and until I have more sites, I would have to charge Clients so much for hosting that the overall package would not be attractive to them.
As I'm a developer I do know enough to set up and maintain my own box but co-location would have to be in the UK. I've had a quote from Donhost and am awaiting a quote from Globix.
Co-location is attractive to me in that I would no longer need to constrict myself to plain scripting and could create and install my own COM components.
Reading the forums, quite a few people have been in this position before - I know enough to configure and maintain my own box so I don't want to pay an inflated price for dedicated hosting support so someone can reinstall the OS if I decided one day to go in and delete all the dlls in the system directory, but on the other hand don't want to pay hundreds a month just to rent rack space and bandwidth.
It does seem that you get what you pay for; smaller Companies are very friendly and service is great (current provider) but have only a single Internet connection and bandwidth can be stretched; larger Companies offer what I'm after at a price which I'll struggle to pay at the moment.
If any Hosting Companies are reading, you are welcome to email me privately with information, but I'm particularly intersted in hearing from others that have been in this position and can help with advice and perhaps recommendations on the best course of action in this situation.
Many thanks!
[Edited by MarkP on 02-25-2001 at 09:06 PM]