Web hosting - dedicated servers

[dannyboy83]

Hello all, looking for a bit of advice.

The company I work for had problems last week with their US based web server and are looking for a new one. Does anyone have any good suggestions for a good hosting company - we're looking for a dedicated server.

It will host the website, blog, forum and an 'e-acadamy' which has a login section and potentially many (thousands) concurrent connetions from customers all over the globe. Will be run using either a MySQL or MSSQL database(s).

The current website is static and does not generate lots of traffic (under 1000 hits a week).

Cheers!

[ikonia]

My advice to you - is to purchase a machine yourself and install it in a local uk data center. That way if this is a long term project you'll not waste money "hiring" a machine, and your monthly bill will be lower. Plus if you then change locations/DC's again for what ever reason you don't have to port the data around or reconfigure a new system, you just unplug the machine and move it to your new location, change the IP's and plug it in.

[dannyboy83]

Interesting option, thanks for the reply. I'll siggest it to our Network Admin.

But in case it's not a preferred option, any dedicated hosting packages that anyone would recommend?

[DougMcDonald]

You could always have a read of the best web hosts thread: http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=65758

[dannyboy83]

But are they dedicated servers or shared hosting? Cheers for the link though.

[tiggerai]

We use Rackspace and to be honest, they are amazing. Dedicated server, really amazing support.

[TheAnimus]

If you buy your own gear, think SLA.

When its just one box, i'd recomend renting it, that way if it goes down due to freak hardware failure, your provider will be able to give you another (as all good ones have some redundancy).

[javalord]

We use Rackspace and to be honest, they are amazing. Dedicated server, really amazing support.

They're good until a client wants full support. A client of mine took up full software support - the muppets only installed SQL server 2005 leaving not only all the TCP/IP ports open to the world, but leaving the SA account active.

And dont get me started on their hardware recovery time... just god awful on a few occasions too. Not like it was a particularly special node either!

[javalord]

My advice to you - is to purchase a machine yourself and install it in a local uk data center. That way if this is a long term project you'll not waste money "hiring" a machine, and your monthly bill will be lower. Plus if you then change locations/DC's again for what ever reason you don't have to port the data around or reconfigure a new system, you just unplug the machine and move it to your new location, change the IP's and plug it in.

Since there's currently little actual demand for a dedicated server (note the words potentially), and sourcing hardware support and maintainance for just one node can be far more costly than just renting from a half decent DC, renting is a much better option.

And as for shifting to another provider and porting data - use a decent backup procedure.

[ikonia]

I disagree.

he said he wants to rent a server - therefore he wants a server if its deidecated or rented. If he wants shared services on a server, then he needs to call that out now.

The cost of hardware support for 1-3 years from a company when you buy from then dell/hp etc is buttons, using old hardware can be a bide for hardware support, however there are plenty of 3rd partys supplying support at very reasonable prices.

It depends if this is a short term, 1 year project or mutli year on going project.