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Re: Hosting advice

On 11/1/2013 8:49 AM, Craig L. wrote:

On Thursday, October 31, 2013 21:09, "Jerry Stuckle" <jstuckle@attglobal.net> said:




May I trouble you good people for suggestions that meet these needs? We would
like to have at least one working email address by close of business tomorrow
(Friday, 1 November), or Monday at the latest.

Thanks,
Craig


Sent - Gtek Web Mail





First of all, most hosting is done on shared servers.  With shared
servers, you will have only user privileges, and not much of that.
Email will be set up via a control panel; webserver, database and
languages will already be set up.  The system itself will be maintained
and updated.  You will share the server resources with up to 150 or so
other web sites (depending on the hosting company .  All you need to do
is upload the website pages.

You will have very limited access outside of your home directory; some
hosting companies don't even provide SSH access because for the vast
majority of web sites, it's not needed.

So from the operator POV (you will not be a "sysop" - you'll be a
"webmaster"), there's not really much difference between Linux hosting
and other types.  I do, however, prefer Linux hosting, but for other
reasons.


Good points. The reason for going for hosting at the moment is it will
give us a quick and easy solution. The reason for the Linux requirement
is that we will be looking into a dedicated or virtual solution in the
future. If I am going to manage it, it will be Linux.
Most web sites are generated with HTML markup (text files), one (or more) scripting languages (which are OS-independent) and databases (which are cross-platform). IOW, properly coded, a web site does not depend on the underlying OS. I often develop web sites on Windows (I need it for other things, unfortunately), and upload them to my Debian VPS. They work fine on both systems with no changes (except maybe for database userids/passwords).
And what reason do you want to go to a VPS or even a dedicated server? Unless your buddy's website is getting dozens of hits a second, it is way overkill. And it comes at a price (both $$$ and time) to match.
It's obvious this is a new area for you. My recommendation would be to find a good shared host and let the experts manage the system. It's a lot different than managing a home system, especially security. As an example, my servers get attacks from a dozen or so different ip addresses each day, coming in through smtp, pop3, imap and/or ssh ports. You can't just shut those off - you need them open. So you have to take additional steps to stop the attacks while letting valid traffic through. You have to ensure your email server doesn't become a SPAM relay. And this is just the start. It's a constant battle that a good hosting company knows how to fight successfully. 

Jerry
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