Topic: Web Site Hosting
Started by: Clay
Started on: 7/1/2002
Board: Connections
On 7/1/2002 at 6:47pm, Clay wrote:
Web Site Hosting
This may not be relevant to everyone, but it's something that's come up for me and could hit other people down the road.
The hosting company that is hosting a web site I built for someone has recently had a serious degredation in service. Because this company is on the other side of the country from where I am, I am limited to e-mail and telephone communication. Of the two, only e-mail appears to be available as a support medium; the phone is always busy.
So my dilema is that I must find somebody local. Somebody who, if things blow up, won't be able to resort to hiding behind a phone and e-mail because they'll still run into me at church, the hardware, the grocery store. I even have two companies that meet this criteria (plus some technical criteria of my own).
I'm wondering what things I need to be looking for. I have a list of my own, but I'm sure there's things that I'm missing:
* Data backup & restore procedures
* How are server upgrades and changes handled
* Does the company own its own equipment
* How is technical support handled
* How easy is it to speak to company principles
* How easy is it to speak to someone who can get something done
* What sort of network redundancy is there
* When a security problem is detected, what action is taken?
* How about when that correction means that certain features will no longer be available to customers?
On 7/1/2002 at 6:55pm, Victor Gijsbers wrote:
RE: Web Site Hosting
What do you want on your server? Just a webpage, or something traffic-intensive?
I mean, if you just need a few MBs of webspace, you could get it anywhere, for free.
On 7/1/2002 at 7:36pm, Clay wrote:
RE: Web Site Hosting
Victor Gijsbers wrote: I mean, if you just need a few MBs of webspace, you could get it anywhere, for free.
If all I needed was a couple of MB for a few static pages, I wouldn't be in this situation at all. I'd probably just host it off my own server, where I'm already hosting plenty of web pages.
I need a database and PHP. Most importantly, I need reliable server management. I can support the bandwidth and the technical aspects on my own system, and that's what I'll be doing until I find the company that can fit my needs. Its the issues of regular management and upgrades that are killing me. I know from experience that it requires staff to manage something like that properly. It takes a big operation and customer base to do it profitably, or I would be offering such services myself. I want to focus my efforts on designing and building the software for the sites instead.
Clay
On 7/2/2002 at 6:14pm, Victor Gijsbers wrote:
RE: Web Site Hosting
Ok, it wasn't clear from your first post what you needed. I'm afraid I can't help you at all, sorry.