Suggestions for good server hosting?

[Cuddles McKitten]

I didn't know where else to post this, so please forgive me if this intrudes on your off-topic tomfoolery.

I'm looking to get into the website game, and the sheer number of server hosting services has me a bit overwhelmed. I'm not looking for a whole lot right now:


Ubuntu Server pre-installed or the ability to load it myself
150+GB of disk space
250+GB of bandwidth/month
Adequate RAM and CPU power to not die if a few dozen people are browsing pages on the server. The server will be running a MySQL database, PHP, Apache, and basic web security services.
No bandwidth overage charges (or at least reasonable rates)
24/7 support with competent people
Potential to upgrade hardware/bandwidth if needed

If you have any suggestions for hosting companies, I'd love to hear them. Even if you don't have any favorites, any first-hand experiences would be appreciated: companies to avoid, what the average monthly cost should be around, how much more I should expect to pay to include a web-caching server running Squid, things I seem to have overlooked, etc.

[juancarlospaco]

127.0.0.1

[cariboo]

Have a look at fivebean.com (http://fivebean.com/), owned and operated by ubuntu-geek

[binbash]

Are you looking for a shared hosting or a server? I am using layered tech for 4-5 years and they are good.

[Cuddles McKitten]

127.0.0.1
This sounds great, hosting it myself would save a lot of trouble. However, if my home DSL had trouble keeping up with the traffic, how would I upgrade?


Are you looking for a shared hosting or a server?

I was thinking of a dedicated server, but I guess probably wouldn't really need that until later -- if ever.

[Johnsie]

I think 127.0.0.1 is a good way to go. Yes you need to sleep, but there are plenty of ways to receive alerts if your server goes down, so you wont have to be constantly watching the thing. I run an Ubuntu server and it very rarely goes down. If it does I receive a message on my phone and can deal with it. That's what most of the big hosting companies to too. My friend works for Fujitsu and when he is on call he recieves alerts if something goes down. I also wrote a php program that allows me to manually check the status of my servers on my mobile phone using the phones browser. Normally a reboot solves most problems and if I'm not around I can get someone else to do it.

Upload speeds can be an issue, but it depends what type of data you are transferring... If you're sending webpages then the speed shouldn't matter too much but if you're hosting alot of binary file downloads then that might be an issue.


Of course getting hosting elsewhere is usually alot more reliable, especially if they do backups. The main problem is that you don't have full control of the machine and it takes longer to upload files, but if you're ok with that then go for it.

[juancarlospaco]

This sounds great, hosting it myself would save a lot of trouble. However, if my home DSL had trouble keeping up with the traffic, how would I upgrade?


Depends on the Service...,
here actually is cheaper to upgrade the bandwith than get an dedicated syncronic DSL,
so if you have 3Mb is cheaper to get +6Mb than 3Mb dedicated.

:)

[Tux.Ice]

http://fivebean.com (Owned and operated by Ubuntu-Geek)

Or, the company I used before them:

http://linode.com

Both are extremly easy to use, and feature Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, and 9.04 (I know Linode does, I'm pretty sure Fivebean does)

[Sporkman]

I currently use ultrahosting.com (http://ultrahosting.com) - good service, no complaints.