Hosting Recommendations?

[Christopher Browne]

On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 1:51 PM, Phillip Mills <phillip.mills1-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> I think it's finally time to get rid of my various .../~pmills/... addresses
> and consolidate the information there into something manageable.  (Call it a
> pre-New Years not-quite-resolution.)
>
> What I would like almost immediately:
> - a .ca domain name
> - a few GB of storage
> - reasonable -- whatever that means -- transfer limits
> - a linux (or Unix-y) host
> - ssh/ftp/... access for file management rather than some web-based horror
>
> What I would probably use in the intermediate future:
> - a database (PostgreSQL?)
> - server-side programmability (Perl?)
>
> What I might use in some far-flung future, but don't bet on it:
> - Tomcat/JBoss
>
> Q1: Suggestions?
> Q2: What should I be considering that's not in the lists above?

I'm dealing with A2 Hosting, who seem to be out of Ann Arbor,
Michigan.  Pricing's pretty reasonable; there are choices from few
bucks/month to the skies.  I haven't found real reason to care what
country my hosting is in; from a taxation perspective, foreign means I
don't have to account for GST :-).

Vis-a-vis handling of domains, I would Strongly Urge that the
"availability of .ca domains" NOT be a criterion.  It shouldn't be, at
all.  More particularly, I would NEVER allow my ISP to manage domain
registration for me.  If they do, then it means that it's THEIR
domain, not mine (or not yours!).  And if you ever decide you don't
like their service, if it's THEIR domain, you can't take it with you.

So take that issue out of the mix.  Find a CIRA-approved registrar
from the following list <http://ro.cira.ca/re_choose_en> and see to
registering your favorite name.

Traditionally, with a "basic" hosting plan, you can get only about as
far as having some MySQL databases, and the ability to deploy CGI-ish
stuff in Perl, Python, and PHP.  In order to get Tomcat, you'd need to
have a dedicated server, because Tomcat implies Java, and Java implies
"memory hunger," and you don't get to chew memory on a 1/20th share of
a cheap box.

That has changed somewhat - you can buy "virtual server" plans, where
you get to use a VMWare/Xen image, and get some fraction of a server.
In that case, they tend to offer the ability to use *any* image you
like, so you could use whatever sort of software you like.  Virtual
servers are not totally cheap, but certainly less than dedicated
servers.
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