You are already getting replies, but here's more. On Wed, 2007-02-07 at 11:44 -0500, Ted Roche wrote: > A client with a database-backed LAMP application is considering > moving to a new hosting provider for their system. Surfing the web, > they find all of these $6.95/month deals and can't figure out why > anyone would pay more. Try to find a phone number for those folks. Usually support is only available through email. If the site is used to post pictures of the grand-kids, that's probably good enough. If something goes wrong and you want it fixed in hours, you probably need a phone number.
> I know there are a number of folks on the list > who provide such services for themselves or their customers, and > would welcome feedback, from what questions should be asked to what > features we should be looking at. (I should explain "we" - I am the > developer of the app, and an adequate sysadmin, and will likely end > up installing, configuring and maintaining the system) > Back in my days of being an ISP, I neglected the web hosting side of the business because I thought it was too hard to compete against the cheap hosting outfits. That was a mistake. Your local ISP will provide hosting at reasonable monthly rates ($20 - $50) and provide real support. (A local ISP who is still in business succeeds because of the support provided to customers.) You need to realize that $7/month is not going to include much beyond static web pages. The main downsides to your relying on you local ISP is likely to be somewhat limited bandwidth and limited backup power. The upside will be having a vendor who actually values your business and who has the expertise to help you succeed. MV would be a good place to start. > Bandwidth: minimal. The system is a custom query application used by > a small number of customers. Data is plain 'ol HTML with a few token > branding graphics. > > Basic software requirements: > Linux > Apache 2.x > SSL > PHP 4.3 or better with the ability to add PEAR modules > MySQL 4.1.19 or later or 5.1 > ssh/scp access, preferably on a non-standard port > rsync support > ability to add custom cron jobs > outgoing email, a few a day. > > Storage: data is dinky, a couple of megabytes, HTML, CSS and .js > files a few hundred K > > Reliability: of course, clients expect web presence to work like > dialtone: five 9's at no extra cost. A flaky ISP who blinks on and > off is obviously undesirable, but the client is not going to pay for > their own standby diesel generator, either. What's a realistic > expectation, and how closely is it tied to "you get what you pay > for?" In terms of mission-criticality, uptime is good, but going > black during a natural disaster is not a deal-breaker, as long as the > machine does a good shutdown and recovery. > > Security: Client requires https communications, so a certificate is > mandatory. Only one httrps per IPaddress/port combination, so an ISP > would be charging extra for that, too. > > The data is confidential business information, so there would be a > concern with sharing an instance of MySQL and Apache. What are > opinions of the current technologies of VMs and VPSes and UMLs? > > So, what are folks doing, and why? It sounds to me like data security could be a driving factor. I would not use virtual-web-site based hosting to distribute data that *must* be tightly controlled. In general, the virtual sites are publishing data to the world and read-permission security is not critical. You don't want to be the only web site on the server with top-secret data. A virtual server gives you near total control of the system. You should be able to configure any necessary security controls. If you are more paranoid, you would get your own dedicated hardware. I'm using tummy.com for my production virtual-server. > > > Ted Roche > Ted Roche & Associates, LLC > http://www.tedroche.com > > _______________________________________________ > gnhlug-discuss mailing list > gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org > http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ -- Lloyd Kvam Venix Corp _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/