[Phpwm] Recommendations for Hosting

[Ian Munday]

On 26 Feb 2008, at 07:36, Lester Caine wrote:

> Tony Lovering wrote:
>> Can anyone recommend a good hosting company?
>> I need a company that can offer both shared and dedicated hosts  
>> with tightly administered servers and a professional administration  
>> to ensure that all known vulnerabilities and holes are patched and  
>> closed and regularly checking of intrusion detection and other  
>> system logs for operational irregularities and oddities.
>> Oh, and they mustn't cost the earth!
>
> I've just got to the same point :)
>
> The ADSL line here is becoming overloaded so I need a bit more  
> bandwidth. SDSL is not available, but at £200 per month a machine  
> somewhere else is looking attractive. ( The other quote for a line  
> was £36k per year ... )
>
> Personally I need something that will support a current Apache/PHP  
> set-up along with Firebird. I'd prefer an AMD64 based Linux machine,  
> but that seems as elusive as shared hosting of a REAL database like  
> Firebird ;)
>
> Current short list is Fasthosts down at Gloucester. I know WHERE it  
> is does not matter, but I've 30Gb of data to push in initially, so  
> dropping DVD's down seems a good idea.
>
> Any body got a better option?
>
> -- 
> Lester Caine - G8HFL

We've used Rackspace (www.rackspace.co.uk) for the last 3 years and  
they've been nothing short of excellent.  Their support is superb and  
they're truly a 24x7x365 operation.  Our whole LAMP configuration is  
totally supported by them - hardware and software.  Of course we can  
also do exactly as we please to configuration, but prefer to stay  
within a fairly standard setup for ease.  It frees up a lot of time we  
previously spent managing our own server to concentrate on the things  
we do best (I'm no Linux guru).  As an existing customer I should be  
able to get you a discount (and I benefit also) through their partner  
programme.  You're probably looking nearer £300 than £200 per month  
though.

I've not had personal experience of Fasthosts, but a colleague has and  
from what I've heard I'd stay well clear.  He's had outages lasting  
days and rubbish support where he's been unable to get hold of a  
single human being during that time.  They also badly managed a  
security issue and implemented a massive password change without  
proper consultation.  His shared solution is also woefully slow and  
unresponsive at times (though it has got better of late).  A couple of  
months hosting costs at Rackspace should get you a full year at  
Fasthosts though.

Regards,

Ian