I currently use asmallorange but now they say none of their shared or dedicated hosting plans are big enough for me. Basically a few days ago I started getting 10-15 requests/second for favicon.ico on my Movable Type blog thanks to Yahoo. Asmallorange shut me down. I enabled hotlink protection and got the sites back up. They still couldn't handle all the requests. The host says: "While the hotlink protection does stop some of the bandwidth usage, there is still some used when a request is made to the server for the various response headers sent back to the requesting client. Because of the sheer number of requests coming in, it builds up rather quick." So who can handle a site that gets lots of requests? I have no idea how to run a server, so ideally I need a company that does most of the work for me.
You could get a managed VPS.... however, I dont like much VPS myself.... what price range are you looking for?
I think from what you have described that you will need to go for a dedicated server. I'm not sure VPS would be enough.
For $300 you can easily get a GOOD managed dedicated box. But I am not sure if you really need a dedicated box for <20 hits/second or so.... a VPS will suit your needs OK (take a box with 512Mb ram) and you will pay ~50USD per month.
I use dreamhost. I got a lot of traffic (not sure about the requests/sec, but I get quite a few): http://dreamhost.com EV1servers if you're looking to get your own box... http://ev1servers.net
If you go to the Dedicated server route (recomended) I have been runing on ServerBeach.com for 3 years, great prices, great service.
Thanks for all the replies. Right now it is mostly between a2b2 and serverbeach. a2b2 has been the best in terms of cummunicating with me and figuring out what I need. My tech guy already manages one box on serverbeach so he could take care of another one on the host he knows. I'll be deciding soon.
I've had good service with 800hosting.com for 2 years. I have their dual xeon and went unmanaged to save money. (Just opt for Plesk and you can do most management yourself in there pretty easily) If you end up needing support, just pay for it or hire someone else. I'm sure it will end up cheaper than the extra $160 a month for management.
Jim, we specialize in high speed, high bandwidth hosting. We have several options to choose from at hostdrive.com. Our dedicated servers start at $89/mo. What type of bandwidth needs do you have? I am sure we can find a plan well under $300/mo. that you would be more than happy with. Feel free to PM me, or email me. Thanx!
That's intresting . Can you be more specific about server configuration . What we can get in $89 / mo ?
This is where our dedicated server pricing starts. We have three base plans, starting at $89/mo. The $89/mo. plan is as follows: 2800+ Sempron64 Processor 256MB DDR Memory 80GB Ultra ATA drive Linux or BSD 1 IP Address 1000GB/mo. Transfer FREE DNS FREE MX Full pricing and details are listed at http://hostdrive.com/dedicated We do of course offer customer plans, which is what the current thread likely needs. We are extremely flexible, and build our servers to order. We do however have a couple overstock/bargain basement units available at: http://hostdrive.com/bargain/ These are new servers that can be ready to go, same day in most cases. All our build to order units are 2-5 day lead time. If you have any other questions or comments, please let me know. Thank you!
I had similar problem with a site that blew up with traffic. I had problems with every host until I moved to Rackforce.com. I have several plans there (the cheapest $49), but they allow for unmetered bandwidth which solved my problems. Hope that helps
Use http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/dedicatedservers/linux-servers/ which is really fast, built-in control panel and server management. You will be able to format your server, install either windows or linux and create domain and database.