I am looking for powerful shared hosting package.

[blackhorse]

Hi, for one of my clients, I am looking for powerful shared hosting package on LAMP.

The site would be huge with dozens of hundreds or even more folders (dynamically created by php). each item or user account may have some folders assigned to them to host the images, videos etc. - meaning the shared hosting should have an easy to use file manage system.

The bandwidth would be big too, some images and even videos upload and download. - meaning bandwidth should be cheap, this part most big hosting companies already offer that.

number of Users of the site would be expecetd big. But user may not use the site very frequiently. Plus the php pages would run heavy php codes. - meaning for a short time period, the instant CPU usage could be high.

I have been asking for advices for dedicated server hosting solution for myself before and at the same time, checked these ISP's shared hosting solutions too.

1) 1 & 1 shared hosting

It is cheap and it seems when it is running fine, people are OK with its service.

But its file mangement system with the shared hosting is not designed for a big site. They put all the folders and their subfolders in one drop down menu. Meaning if you have dozens of hundreds folders, you would have one drop down menu with dozens of hundreds options.

And if the shared site overuse the resource such as CPU, then it may get shut down.

2) hostgator shared hosting

Some friends from this forum said their shared hosting was not good before but now they improved a lot.

Their file management systems to manage big site seems OK.

But if the shared site overuse the resource such as CPU, then it may get shut down too. (I talked with their saleperson a few month ago, they told me it is hard to over their limit, but if it is over, it may get shut down).

3) mediatemple grid hosting

I have worked with mediatemple shared hosting a long time ago. It seems OK. Now I think they would offer grid hosting instead shared hosting.

I would assume the control panel and file management system are still easy to use.

Plus, they claim if the site over use its CPU, it would not get shut down, they will just charge the overused resource. (Anyone has experience with that? Would the CPU over use charge be the hidden cost?)

So I am debating between hostgator shared hosting and mediatemple grid hosting. Prefer mediatemple grid hosting.

What is your advice and experience?

Basically, I am looking for a good ISP offering powerful shared hosting package for one site. Meaning, the cost of every month could be 100 dollars (most of the shared hosting are less than 100 dollars now) with the large resource assigned to my site so i would not over use my shared resource, but it would not shut my site down if in a short time period, my site overuses the shared limit of the resource, such as CPU or bandwidth. (charge the over use resource is OK if it is an honest charge not hidden cost.)

Thanks!

[laserlight]

I would rather use a VPS or dedicated server if you need that kind of hosting. However, the VPS provider that I would recommend (Slicehost) just gives shell access for file management, and that is probably not what you had in mind with "an easy to use file manage system" (even though I find it easy to use :p). On the other hand, their CPU scheduling policy is that although each VPS (a "Slice") is assigned "a fixed weight based on the memory size", "if there are free cycles on a machine, all Slices can consume CPU time". For 70 USD a month you can get a Slice with 1 GB of memory, 40 GB of storage and 400 GB of bandwidth.

[bpat1434]

I'd look into The Grid Layer by LayeredTech. Seems pretty good, although I'd much rather have a dedicated server. For around $100 a month you can get a good dedicated server with no control panel. To which you can use any FTP client you want which is the best file-manager you can ask for.

If you want a control panel, you can use ISPCP, DirectAdmin, Webmin, or cPanel or Plesk if you want to fork over some dough.

[blackhorse]

It is not for me. It is for one of the clients. He has no Unix management skill at all. So totally hands off shared hosting is his choice at this moment.

And the php site we develop is big and some pages with heavy codes, but nothing fancy. So regular LAMP can run it stable and smooth. A powerful shared hosting seems the best choice.

He would not need the extra power of a dedicated server but he would rather to have a full support powerful shared hosting package, so he can let the hosting company taken care of all the hosting issues, even it means that price may be close to a dedicated server which he would need more or less unix skill to run.

Most hosting companies' managed server don't have 100% tech support as their shared hosting plans.

medialtemple grid hosting, slicehosting (heard good words about them), hostgator shared hosting are top 3 in my list. I will check other serivce you guys suggest.

Thanks!

[laserlight]

This may be an opportunity for you to offer to manage his servers (for a periodic price, of course), or subcontract it out to some sysadmin looking for a side job.

Slicehost does not offer managed VPS, so you can rule it out unless you are willing to take on the management for your client yourself.