Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Detailed Question; which host?

[kleight]

I'm a freelance designer and want to start a site using Drupal that allows clients to log in and download files. First of all, is there any caveat or alternative to this? (Sorry, if this isn't the place to ask that.) I want the files accessible to anyone with that client login, so that I am not keeping track of emails with huge attachments. I figured this was a good solution, but graphic files can be very large.

I also have plans for a much larger endeavor with a possible high number of international users, pdf down/uploads, podcasts etc.

My first question is should I find a different hosting plan for each project? While the freelance site is an immediate project, I don't know how long it will take me to get the second one going. (Although paying for the resources might prompt me to work on it sooner.)

Secondly, most importantly, I am a little bit confused about the bandwidth/data transfer rates of various hosts.

Peakhost seems to offer what I (think I) want for $16mo w. 300gigs bandwidth. Hostgator says 'unlimited bandwidth' for $13mo. And Media Layer (who's site I prefered visually) has the highest $20mo with only 20gigs of data transfer. As I am just starting out, I don't really know how much data transfer I need. Any clarity on this or suggestions of other hosts is greatly appreciated.

[TonyB]

Well peakhost and hostgator are overselling their bandwidth. The assumption is not every user is going to use 300GB bandwidth a month or whatever the limit is. So the larger amounts are to entice users with the assumption that they will only use a fraction of it (say 3GB). Not to say either of them are bad they play the percentages and if they do a good job they provide great hosting for the majority of their customers.


As for splitting the sites up, it might be a good idea if you expect one to use a lot of CPU or memory due to traffic. Because otherwise if one receives a lot of traffic the host may very well shut down the entire account opposed to just the one site.


So you've given resources (although I don't you'll need that much). What sort of other features are you looking for? Just normal PHP4, PHP5, MySQL? Or is there anything else you're looking for? Also what sort of support response times would you need? If any maybe you just need a running site and don't really ever need support unless something is down.

[Jedito]

Drupal is such a resources hog, you don't want to go to a host offering a dedicated server resources for the price of 2 burgers.

[RSNET-John]

In addition to what was mentioned above, I doubt you'll need anything special or even a lot of bandwidth.

Find a hosting solution that will allow you to password protect folders right from within the control panel, this way you won't have to use drupal as a front end. Let me know if you need more information in regards to this.

[boggles]

Site5 is only $8 per month and has better specs. 700GB space, 7TB bandwidth per month.

[Mix]

Originally Posted by boggles

Site5 is only $8 per month and has better specs. 700GB space, 7TB bandwidth per month.

Talk about extreme overselling

[smextech]

as some one told at the start its not about geting the largest offer its about getting the offer that is closest to reallity. When you decide to host with a overselling host you also are taking the risk that you may get banned when you use more than 10% of the promised resources. its not a must but you can. Thier calculation is simple if i can get 100 people to host with me for 5 dollar and they use only less than 10% of the resources i offer its profitable and then one guy from this 100 starts using more than 10% that means the scope to squeeze in mroe sites to that server is reduces.

its never 100 usually they go to numbers you cant even imagine could be put on a server. So its always better to go to people not over selling because you know what you get and you dont get banned for using what you have been allocated bcs is really allocated to you even in thier calculations.

SO GO FOR SOMETHING REAL