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Any suggestions for a host?

manosaurus

manosaurus

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
285
0
I want to create my own .com like everyone else in the world. I know nothing at all about web design but I don't need anything fancy so I am sure I could learn how to create something simple relatively soon. I don't need much storage at all and I would not expect much traffic on the site - it's not for business.

I have looked at a few options and one that a friend suggested godaddy seemed reasonable. But I am wanting to know is there any specific host(s) that might be more ideal for an Apple user?

P.S. Not interested in a .mac account.


Thanks.
 
manosaurus said:
I want to create my own .com like everyone else in the world. I know nothing at all about web design but I don't need anything fancy so I am sure I could learn how to create something simple relatively soon. I don't need much storage at all and I would not expect much traffic on the site - it's not for business.

I have looked at a few options and one that a friend suggested godaddy seemed reasonable. But I am wanting to know is there any specific host(s) that might be more ideal for an Apple user?

P.S. Not interested in a .mac account.


Thanks.
Click to expand...

MacDock are (apparantly) pretty good, although they are overpriced. there is also 1&1 if you live in the states of canada (they are REALLY cheap). I went with eBoundHost though, as they are quite cheap, and i could use them in Oz
 
By far - by far - A Small Orange is the best-reviewed host on this site. If you want people to reliably view your site, they're highly recommended.

I use DreamHost because I want lots of storage and bandwidth and am not particularly concerned about downtimes. I'm not comfortable recommending them as a commercial site host, though.
 
manosaurus said:
I don't need much storage at all and I would not expect much traffic on the site - it's not for business..
Click to expand...

Many ISPs give their users some free web space. Verison, earthlink, ISP West, most of them give you about some space. So check it out, you may already have free access to a server.

Got a DSL line or a Cable or any other kind of 24x7 Internet connection? Then why not host the site on your on Mac? It will work fine for low volume use and Mac OS X ships with all the software you need.

OK if you don't want to use your desktop mac. Spend $50 and buy a G4 tower (blue and white) any G4 with 512MB RAM will have enough "power" for a low volume site. G4 minis work well too but cost a lot more than older towers. Any machine that you can leave on and connected 24x7 will work.

If you want to use a non-Mac then get any old Pentium II or beter PC and run Linux. Old PCs are nearly free. Want to stay with Apple? Then run "Darwin" on the old PC.

The advantage of doing this yourself is that you have complete control over the server nd you save some $$ too.
 
I also use A Small Orange, and I have had nothing but great experiences with them. Do a search, there is plenty of threads about hosts. Make sure you look for a host that uses cPanel. Cpanel makes it a lot easier in setting up your site.
 
My assessment

I'm in the hosting business but primarily just to be a one-stop shop for my development clients. Here's my opinion if you're interested: If they meet your needs, it's tough to beat A Small Orange's "Tiny" or "Small" plans. Even if you plan to start small though, it wouldn't take long to hit their paltry storage limits. By the time you get to their "Medium" plan or above, I can beat their offering (completely, but significantly in the disk space department), at a better price and I'm no bargain basement host.

If I understood Ripple's plans correctly, I'm guessing the most commonly served page there is "Bandwidth Exceeded." Those plans are just plum silly; more like the Household Web than the World Wide Web. Or web hosting for publishers who aspire to obscurity. On closer examination, their bandwidth limits are apparently monthly, though it appears annually on their chart. If they are monthly, that's not a bad deal for 10 bucks a year.

I just moved my domain registrations to GoDaddy but I'm a little leery of their hosting offerings. I don't have any first hand experience, but I just took a hosting client from them after he says they just completely lost his whole site and replaced it with a "Domain Parked" page with no explanation, no apology and no resolution. I don't know how accurate that story is, but he's hosting with me now at a higher price than he was paying them.

Hosting is definitely the sort of thing where the old cliche is true: You get what you pay for. Except that in the hosting business, you're often lucky if you even get that much. If you're just toying around with some things for a hobby, roll the dice and go cheap. If the site is anything that matters, do NOT go with the cheapest host. You most likely WILL be sorry and you'll save, what? - $30-$40 a YEAR?

The advice about hosting it yourself on your own Mac isn't bad, but based on what you said ("I know nothing at all about web design but.."), you would probably be in over your head setting that up to host a domain. It's a good option, though if you want to learn and you're not expecting enough traffic to raise the ire of your broadband provider. On the other hand, the advice to host it yourself on Linux or Darwin is goofy unless you're willing to face a very steep learning curve. You seem to be realistic about your skill level and that advice is not.
 
godaddy

sushi said:
How is GoDaddy?
Click to expand...

I have been using godaddy for a year now. To tell you the truth I will be upgrading my account and renewing for another year. I've had problems with domain forwarding but I just called them and helped me within 5 minutes. I haven't really tried other hosting providers but I am happy with godaddy.

I have seen many sites get diggeffected under hostgator, just a thought. {not the actual site, but the database server}:D
 
I couldn't be less happy with hostgator.

They used to be pretty good, but lately, their monitoring has gone down the toilet. As a result, /var and /home are running at >97% filled constantly. Currently, they're at 100% and 99% respectively. My site sits with 916 others, and despite other sites bringing the server down, they refuse to move them or us to a new server. We get database errors up the wazoo. They have a kill timer on scripts, so you can't back up a database over a certain size, and have max_connections set to 1 so you can't back up and access the DB at the same time. We're looking for a new host, but it can be hard to find one with our requirements. If you know of one, let me know.

6+ GB storage
50+ GB bandwidth/month
cPanel
ssh access
A free-speech AUP/TOS (most of the board is PG-13, parts R, and one (hidden) part NC-17. see the second link in my sig. "no illegal content" clause is OK).
MySQL 4.1.x with no size limit. 5-unlimited databases
10+ FTP accounts
20+ email accounts
runs *nix, Apache
Perl, PHP4 (other PHP are OK, 4 required)
No shell script timeout.
$15-20/month, will go as high as $25/month if it's <$60 quarterly.
 
I recently got A Small Orange, cheap and very reliable. Their customer service is top notch, I get responses in less than half an hour :)

As with doing it yourself, I fail to see the cost benefit when you add up the electricity bill for the year. Then factor in your ISP speed.
 
DeSnousa said:
I recently got A Small Orange, cheap and very reliable. Their customer service is top notch, I get responses in less than half an hour :)
Click to expand...

I use ASO too, the bandwidth is great 3GB/month on tiny, so for $25/year that works out nicely, unless for backup 75MB for my site seems OK.
 
using a Mac to create a website really has nothing to do with server space and hosting... it's the programs or languages you use that make a difference being viewed from a Windows computer or a Mac... it has nothing to do with hosting though
 
manosaurus said:
I want to create my own .com like everyone else in the world. I know nothing at all about web design but I don't need anything fancy so I am sure I could learn how to create something simple relatively soon. I don't need much storage at all and I would not expect much traffic on the site - it's not for business.

I have looked at a few options and one that a friend suggested godaddy seemed reasonable. But I am wanting to know is there any specific host(s) that might be more ideal for an Apple user?

P.S. Not interested in a .mac account.


Thanks.
Click to expand...


Hi i have used a company called byethost in the past and they are very good, pretty cheap and great support

http://www.byethost.com/
 
Just to throw my .02 in, I use Blue Host. $6.95 per month, domain name included free, 200GB storage, 2,000GB transfer. I use them for two sites, and like them a lot. Great customer service, very quick to respond to questions or problems.

http://www.bluehost.com/
 
I'm using a free AwardSpace.com account (200mb disk space, 5GB monthly traffic, no ads or banners) with RapidWeaver, so far so good.

Of course I get very little traffic and it's mostly just for my own amusement, but the price is right.
 
I use superb hosting. www.superb.net i think.

about $9/m i get 50gig storage and 750G/m traffic :) seems to work fairly well.

a mate of mine has two dedicated servers with them and they work well, and the speed is fast.
 
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