Hosting: Where and Why?

[eluser]chandlerou[/eluser]
I've been with GoDaddy for years before they hit it big. With their Linux deluxe package I can host infinite domains on my webspace which is really nice.

I just want to know who you host with, why, and what kinds of lessons, horror stories, or "need to knows" you have come across...

I'm looking to switch!


The following are suggestions from other users in this thread; this is simply a compilation of those suggestions.

Hosting Company - URL
Slicehost - http://www.slicehost.com
GoDaddy - http://www.godaddy.com
United Hosting - http://www.unitedhosting.co.uk/
Steadfast - http://www.steadfast.net
Engine Hosting - http://www.enginehosting.com/
Eleven2 - http://www.eleven2.com/
Host Europe - http://www.hosteurope.de
A Small Orange - http://www.asmallorange.com
ServInt - http://www.servint.net/
Wacky Webs - http://www.wackywebs.net/
DoubleDollarHosting - http://www.doubledollarhosting.com/
Wired Tree - http://wiredtree.com/
Rackspace - http://www.rackspace.com/
DreamHost - http://www.dreamhost.com/
Medialayer - http://www.medialayer.com/
UK2 - http://www.uk2.net
HyTekHosting - http://www.hytekhosting.com/
Host Nine - http://www.hostnine.com/
Resellers Panel - http://www.resellerspanel.com/
Derive Host - http://www.derivehost.com/

Web Hosting References - URL
Web Hosting Talk - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/


Last Update: Sunday June 15th 10:08AM EST 2008

[eluser]Developer13[/eluser]
Slicehost (http://www.slicehost.com)

Pure VPS awesomeness.

Never had to contact their tech support.

Great documentation for getting your stuff set up.

[eluser]chandlerou[/eluser]
See, which is why I asked, I never would have even noticed a place like that, now what about price (Is mentioning that allowed here?) I am a total cheapo, and don't do enough development to make it worth while to put a lot of money into something like this. Consider my Web Authoring a side job for fun, that pays for itself.

Sidenote: What is VPS, I know I can google it, but I'm sure with your experience with it you can cram it into super lamenz terms...

[eluser]Developer13[/eluser]
Instead of mentioning the price here I'll suggest that you go to their site to check it out.

VPS = Virtual Private Server... Instead of your site(s) being crammed onto the same server / disk as everybody else's, you have your own virtual server that contains all of your stuff... which in turn gives you complete and full access over the entire operating system without affecting anybody else. You are guaranteed certain hardware resources on the server that contains your virtual server and they claim to keep the number of virtual servers per actual server below the max capability so performance is / should always be awesome.

I've not had any problems with them, but I also didn't really have any problems with Godaddy although many other people have, so take it for what it's worth

[eluser]Alex.[/eluser]
I use United Hosting - they're expensive, but are very very reliable and have great support (They also do backups 4x a day!)
If I've opened up a support ticket, it's always been replied to / solved within 1 to 2 hours at any time of day.

[eluser]Popcorn[/eluser]
Developer13 : Thanks for the link. I'm planning to move host to have more control on the server and those SliceHost packages look really promising.

Many thanks.

[eluser]chandlerou[/eluser]
Nice, keep 'em rolling in guys.

What about 1&1;hosting? They seem to be fairly inexpensive; has anyone use their services before?


[EDIT]
I'll also edit my OP with hosts mentioned in this thread for quick reference.

[eluser]Sarfaraz Momin[/eluser]
My best experience is with steadfast (www.steadfast.net) who has awesome hosting service bundled with class support.

[eluser]CI Lee[/eluser]
Well I used to be a huge fan of SliceHost.... Now we are Engine Hosting fans.

You see, with slicehost we had huge amounts of freedom, however we had HUGE amounts of responsibilities. We run a web development firm, not a IT department and I often found myself spending an hour here and 15mins there to keep things up to date and secure. That all ads up, plus that is not billable time I am spending.

With Engine Hosting I blast off an email with what I want done and they send me a confirmation when it is done.
No server configs.
No apache issues.
No time spent setting up mail accounts.... nothing but a quick email.

So though we are spending 4 times as much per month as we were before, we are engaging with professionals in their field for pennies on the dollar.

It made business sense to keep doing what we do best and allow others to do the same.

-Lee

[eluser]TheLoops[/eluser]
mediatemple.com is eye-catchingly often used by Mac or Web Service developers.
Anybody have a clue why (mt) is so especially attractive to all those creative (mostly Mac) guys??

I for one am using 1&1;.
I have neither had any seriously bad, nor especially good experiences with them.