Hi;

About a year back I moved my most important client's website from core.com which seemed to be falling apart, to [I'll keep the name to myself for now], which seemed to have a very good reputation. But I have not been impressed. There have been fairly regular outages, one of my mysql tables was hacked into and filled with hundreds of porno urls and misc other problems.

How does one find a good, solid web host? It does not have to be the cheapest thing around, I just want it to be sturdy and reliable, reliable, reliable.

This might be an irrational belief given that the internet is world-wide, but I have this primitive gut-level feeling that since my site's market is in the midwest, the hosting server should be there too. Any specific suggestions?

Any links to a really good independent review of hosting providers?

Thanks.

    I'm currently using GoDaddy.com, which is amazingly priced @ less than $5 per month for hosting & registration for the 10/300GB plan, or $15/month for the unlimited plan. I haven't had any problems or outages for several years.

    On the other hand, I have not used the database feature yet. I have started building the database and it isn't difficult from that standpoint. The coolest thing is that they offer an ASP/MSSQL option and a PHP/MySQL option. They also have a database migration service for an extra fee, I think.

    The one minor irritation with GoDaddy is how "busy" their own website layout is. It takes some time to get used to navigating around to the management functions you need because there is so much extraneous stuff. But the tradeoff is worth it when you consider the price.

    I've also used Yahoo Business Hosting, but they are strictly PHP/MySQL. The price isn't bad at around $13 a month for hosting/registration @ 100/1,000 GB (if I recall correctly). The one advantage there is that Yahoo has an uptime guarantee. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the speed of my site on Yahoo.

      I use 1 and 1

      while my sites are generally small time, I have no outages and the service team responds quickly to any questions

      Most of my clients are there as well

        I use bluehost, they are a bit more pricey then 1 and 1 or godaddy but I've had problem with 1and1 and godaddy before so it makes bluehost worth the extra cost. Real pro service

          I've used servage for a few years. I even run a dedicated server on my own at my house. If you want 100% reliable and "hack-proof" I'd suggest you pick up the extra dough and pay for a dedicated server. Layered Tech has some good deals (usually) and then there's Manage My Box which has some nice servers. Downside is that you don't get redundancy or firewalls (well you can, but you pay out the whazoo for them).

          I'm not a guy who likes to pay for hardware monthly (I can purchase a 1 TB drive for like $200 - $400... why do I have to pay $25 monthly for 10 gigs of space... on MY dedicated server?). So I usually see what the hardware deals are (i.e. installation fees only, no monthly fees) or see who's got the best deal(s). I also had some requirements of IPs (3 IPs at least). Some dedicated servers (and most VPSes) won't allow you any more than 1 or 2. Can be a problem if you're running your own DNS.

          If you want top-notch security and stuff, I'd look at the enterprise world of Rackspace or Logicworks; however, they can be thousands per month. And their support (at times) can be less than optimal. But it's enterprise and almost everything is covered (so long as you follow their agreement to the letter). But if you want to play around, and you have about $100 a month to toss at it, I'd go dedicated and find a reliable host. I used ManageMyBox for a couple years. The only down-time I had was their scheduled maintenance and that was for like 20 minutes. Hardly any downtime. They were upgrading their network grid, so it took some time. But I didn't notice it.

          Location doesn't matter much with hosts. Most of the shared hosts will be located in one country/state/city and the actual server farm will be in another city/state/country. I know of a few shared hosts that have multiple server farms for you to choose from, and a few dedicated hosts that will allow you to choose from their list of NOCs. Depends on what you want. The server doesn't matter about its placement; unless you want to physically go down and tinker with it. Then you're talking a whole new ball-game which I can't even begin to cover.

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