I've been all over the map with hosting services. Each has it's own cool features and things that are annoying.
I've finally found one that (almost) has it all: DreamHost.
For $10 a month (paid yearly):
- 5120 GB per month bandwidth. No, that is not a miss-type. Put another way: 5.120 TB a month. (Now, being realistic, the box it's hosted on would probably melt before you hit that mark. It's almost like offering 50,000 minutes on a cell phone plan when there's only 44,640 minutes in a month. But at least you won't get charged for a Digg hit or something.)
- 500 GB of storage. Again, not a typo. 0.5 TB.
- As many domains as you want. You have to buy the domain names, but you can host 'em all on one account.
- As many MySQL databases as you want. Size comes out of your 500 GB of storage so make 'em as big as you want.
- Shell access. We're talkin' SSH. (Well, if I could figure out the damn certificate thingy.) I'm using 'ln -s' to create symbolic links for the first time in 6 years. Reminds me of college...
- The deal-maker: SVN. For those that don't mind (or prefer) OSS source control, this is it. I use it for all of my code and personal writing--all things I want to backup, sync reliably across machines, and keep version history on. I'll post later on my love of Tortoise.
- Oh, and they're carbon neutral. It's almost silly.
I said almost above. What's the catch?
Well, there's not a huge number of easy-to-install software packages. They don't use cPanel/Fantastico like a lot of Linux hosting shops. The interface they do provide is very clean and one can manually install most things, but it's kinda nice to do a click-and-install for Drupal.
That's my only nit, actually. Everything is super fast. I'm super happy.
But Kevin, this is a Linux hosting package. Where's the Windows Server 2008 package?
Sigh. The world is so much larger than the Microsoft stack of technologies. I love VS as much as anyone, but getting a broad skill set is important, right? Plus the OSS web community is insanely strong. The content, energy and enthusiasm are amazing.
Full disclosure: Yes, the links provided are for a referral program. Yes, I get a kick-back if you sign-up. No, I would never pitch anything just for the kick-back.
I've had plenty of services offer kick-backs that I blinked at--that I never felt strongly about. This is proof I have no subtext. These guys are that good.
4 comments:
That's sounds pretty great. The Subversion bit is free? Do you know if they can do Trac? I'm just hosting my SVN/Trac out of an Ubuntu server at home right now.
I followed your referral link and noticed they have Ruby/Rails hosting, which, last time I checked, was unique and usually not cheap.
I've used UltimaHosts for my ASP.NET hosting and been pretty happy with them. They're great for application stuff - unlimited DBs, sites, both SQL 2005 and MySQL, ASP.NET and PHP. But they're weak on the storage/bandwidth I want for family and personal sites.
It's really nice to see an ex-MS guy affirm other technology and sigh as he anticipates the response of throngs of single-minded MS developers, but it makes me suspect they had quite a gag on you before, or perhaps just a very subjective incentive plan.
Winston: you know, MS is pretty cool about people playing with other stuff. We're just not encouraged to do so. Now that I'm "on the outside" I've had a chance to play with PHP and MySQL and Ruby (all outside my 9-5). It's really cool.
Thanks kevin. I'm going to give them a go based on your recommendations. using the link in your post.
Use OFF55 to get $55 off any Dreamhost Plan.
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