Need Server/Website Help

[bluecat0531]

Alright so When it comes to tech I am usually pretty good. This is mostly in part due to linustechtips and all of you guys. However despite my hours of research I could not find an answer to my question. That question is what I need in order to run a website. Now  there are two possible answers to this that will be affected by the following requirements. It needs to be able to be on 24/7. The website itself will likely be run off of WordPress and will have a few videos pictures and of course lots of text. From what I've gathered I could either rent a server form a business that deals in such matters or I could build myself a server. What I am wondering is what those specs are. And so if you could help me out I could really use the web address of a company that would offer this kind of service or a parts list that I could buy. Any and all answers are welcome. Thank you.

[xQubeZx]

Well if you are not going to get a lot of traffic to the site (Or not like 1000's of people every hour) a raspberry pi could run a decent webserver 24/7 at a really low cost. But if that isn't powerful enough you can build your own server (don't know what specs is needed really but probably not that powerful, its more the internet connection that is important as I get it.) You an buy a domain from alot of dffernet places like "namecheap". They cost about 10$ a year if I'm right could be a bit more expensive for the .com ones and the weirder ones is usally cheaper. I think namecheap do some hosting aswell not sure though but that could be an option if you don't want to host it yourself. But if you are going to get prepared to take some time to properly set up a webserver as apache. The server should run on linux for best performance. Then you can install a FTP server on linux and then remotly add files from a FPT client on your main PC. There is lots of good tutorials for this stuff so if you want some fun building a server just do it. But otherwise check with the domain sellers since they usally also have hosting with sick internet connections.

[Gr0egercesg]

Building a server I would say is impractical.

You need a static ip address, your heavily reliant on your internet onnection, as your site grows you need to expand hardware,

But by using someone to host, its their fault if the site goes offline, the pricing is competitive (fairly reasonable) and most don't limit bandwith.

Personally I wouldn't build my own server, I'd shop around and find the best deal on hosting. Purely because my home internet connection is absolute shite! They get faster speeds in the international space station!

[bluecat0531]

Kay so from what I gather I guess that I will go with the renting option. Does anybody know a good hosting company?

[Master Disaster]

Kimsufi do awesome dedicated servers and it's easy to install LAMP or WAMP for apache, sql, php and Perl support.

I've got an Atom 1.8Ghz dual core with 2Gb RAM and a 1TB hard disc for £8 a month. You also get unlimited bandwidth included. It runs a TF2 server and website with no trouble at all.

They only offer Linux as an install option however you can install Windows Server (or even 8.1) easily then buy a key from Reddit, that's what I've done.

[kirashi]

Kay so from what I gather I guess that I will go with the renting option. Does anybody know a good hosting company?

 

For webhosting, I will give you one piece of advice: Stay away from anything owned or operated by Endurance International Group. (EIG)

Any quick search on the net will reveal their service records. Obviously you can't generalize every company, but most of the hosting companies they've bought over the past 10 years have had labor cuts and reduced support staff who are quick to blame you for server problems, even when the issue may lie on their end.

 

I'll link to an article regarding the best recommended webhosts.

Here's a list of every company currently owned by EIG:

 

000WebHost (000webhost.com)

Sister company of SEOHosting [27] which was later acquired by EIG (see below)

2slick (2slick.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

AccountSupport (accountsupport.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

ApolloHosting.com (apollohosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

A Small Orange (asmallorange.com)

Acquired by EIG in July 2010 [3, 5]

Arvixe (arvixe.com)

Acquired by EIG in October 2014 [4, 9]

Berry Information Systems L.L.C. (berryinfosysllc.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

BigRock (bigrock.com)

Acquired in January 2014 [3, 7]

BizLand (bizland.com)

Former name of EIG. Founded in 1996 [1, 2, 6, 24]

BlueDomino (bluedomino.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

BlueHost (bluehost.com)

Acquired by EIG in November 2010 [8, 24]

BuyDomains (buydomains.com)

Acquired by EIG in the 3d quarter 2014 [9, 10]

CarielWeb (carielweb.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

ComputersConcepts (computersconcepts.net)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

Directi Web Technologies (Directi, directi.com)

Acquired in January 2014 [7, 9, 10]

Dollar2Host (dollar2host.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

Domain.com

Belongs to EIG since October 2011 or earlier [2, 3, 12]

Dotster (dotster.com)

Belongs to EIG since July 2011 or earlier [2, 3, 12]

DomainHost (domainhost.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Dot5Hosting.com (dot5hosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Dotster (dotster.com)

Acquired in July 2011 [2, 13]

EasyCGI (easycgi.com)

Belongs to EIG since July 2009 or earlier [1, 2, 14, 24]

Ehost (ehost.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

EntryHost (entryhost.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Escalate Internet (escalateinternet.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2]

FastDomain

Has become part of Bluehost since December 2006 (or earlier) [11, 24]

Bluhost was later acquired by EIG (see above)

FatCow (fatcow.com)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 3, 18, 24]

(by the way, here’s my negative FatCow review, filled with marketing tips and anti-manipulation advice)

FreeYellow (freeyellow.com)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 18, 24]

Globat (Glob@t, globat.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Homestead Technologies, Inc. (homestead.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2]

HostADay (hostaday.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

HostCentric (hostcentric.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

HostClear (hostclear.com)

Bought by JustHost in October 2011 [6], which was later acquired by EIG (see below)

HostGator (hostgator.com)

Acquired in June 2012 [3, 15, 24]

HostNine (hostnine.com)

Is a sister company of A Small Orange (ASO) [6, 16], which is an EIG hosting (see above).

HostMonster (hostmonster.com)

Is a sister company of BlueHost [6, 17, 24], which was acquired by EIG (see above)

HostWithMeNow (hostwithmenow.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

HostYourSite.com (hostyoursite.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

HyperMart (hypermart.com, hypermart.net)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 18, 24]

IMOutdoorsHosting (imoutdoorshosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Intuit Websites

Acquired in August 2012 [19]

iPage (ipage.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 3, 24]

iPower (IpowerWeb, ipower.com)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 18, 24]

JustCloud (justcloud.com)

Belongs to EIG since February 2014 or earlier [20]

JustHost (justhost.com)

Acquired by EIG in 2010 [6, 21, 24]

LogicBoxes (logicboxes.com)

Acquired by Directi [6, 22], which was bought by EIG (see above)

MailEIG (maileig.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 [12]

MojoMarketplace (mojoness.com, mojo-themes.com, mojo-code.com)

Acquired by EIG in March 2013 [23]

MyDomain (mydomain.com)

Belongs to EIG [2, 6]

MyResellerHome (myresellerhome.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 6]

NamesDirect (namesdirect.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 or earlier [12]

NameZero (namezero.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 or earlier [12]

NetFirms (netfirms.com)

Was acquired by EIG in 2011 [2, 24, 25]

NetworksHosting (networkshosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Nexx (nexx.com)

Was acquired by EIG in 2012 or earlier [12, 24, 26]

OsullivanSystems (osullivansystems.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

PipeDNS (pipedns.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 or earlier [12]

PowWeb (powweb.com)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 18, 24]

PureHost (purehost.com)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 18, 24]

ReadyHosting (readyhosting.co.uk, readyhosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

ResellerClub (resellerclub.com)

Acquired in January 2014 [3, 7]

Saba-Pro (SabaPro, sabapro.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

SEOGears (seogears.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2014 or earlier [3, 24]

SEO Hosting (seohosting.com)

Was part of HostGator [6, 27] which was later acquired by EIG (see above)

SouthEastWeb (southeastweb.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

Spertly

Belongs to EIG since 2013 or earlier [24]

Sprly (spry.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

StartLogic (startlogic.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 3, 24]

SuperGreen Hosting (SuperGreenHosting, supergreenhosting.com)

Merged with JustHost, which was later acquired by EIG [6, 24]

TightHost (tighthost.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

TypePad (typepad.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2014 or earlier [3]

Unified Layer (unifiedlayer.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2013 or earlier [24]

UsaNetHosting (usanethosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

VDeck (vdeck.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 [12]

VirtualAve (virtualave.net)

Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier [1, 2, 18, 24]

VPSlink (vpslink.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Web2010 (web2010.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

WebDevHosting (webdevhosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

WebHost4Life.com (webhost4life.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

webhosting.info

Acquired by Directi [6, 22], which was bought by EIG (see above)

WebsiteWelcome (websitewelcome.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 [12]

WebstrikeSolutions (WebstrikeSolutions.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Xeran (xeran.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

YourHostingAccount (yourhostingaccount.com)

Belongs to EIG since 2011 [12]

YourWebHosting (yourwebhosting.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1, 2, 24]

Webzai (webzai.com)

Acquired by EIG in the 3d quarter 2014 [9]

ZipitDesigns (zipitdesigns.com)

Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier [1]

Verio (verio.com)

Belongs to EIG since the 4th of August 2015 [28]

Site5 (site5.com)

Belongs to EIG since the 4th of August 2015 [28]

 

Before anyone calls me out for company bashing, I have personal experience using EIG owned hosting.

Currently I work for a small business using Netfirms hosting, and frequently have our sites go offline or the SQL server become inaccessible.

We open support tickets after checking that indeed, the SQL connection is timing out, or the server IP's are unreachable, and almost everytime the first reply is "try resetting your SQL password" or "it must be your DNS records, reboot your computer."

Prior to EIG acquiring them, their support would actually investigate connection issues, and thank me for narrowing down the problem.

Anyways, I do not recommend them since being acquired by EIG.

 

On the flipside, my personal host (borrowing some space from a friend) is Hostgator and they're still great even though they got acquired by EIG.

Their support will still manually attempt to scan Wordpress installations and let you know the exact file that's infected should someone hack your blog without you knowing.

I'd still avoid them though just because you never know when things will change.

 

 

My personal favorite at this time is CrocWeb.ca for their pricing and support they provide.

Usually the cheaper the hosting, the less support you'll receive. This includes ones offering "unlimited" storage and transfer too.

A friend's company has been running a simple Wordpress install for over a year without any problems so that's something.

Here's a 3 Year review of CrocWeb for your reading.

 

I have yet to switch over myself as I'm not in a position to freelance web hosting or design.

Ideally I'd like to provide hosting to small businesses and clients by word of mouth, and I'd be happy to take @bluecat0531 as my first client should he need the assistance

 

I hope this long winded post is of some help to you in getting your website setup.

[bluecat0531]

-snip-

Thank you very much for all of the information also thanks on the heads up on bluehost and hostgator as those two were on my list of options. I thank you very much for the offer but I think that I will try crocweb. Thx again for the support.