paid hosting vs my own hosting?

[twoodcc]

okay, so i am working on a web project, and i need to decide on which way to go about web hosting - pay for it or host it myself. which would you recommend?

i have already bought the domain names. now i just need to decide on which is best

 

[SelfMadeCelo]

Depends. If you're going to be getting lots of traffic you might want to check and see if your ISP has any bandwidth limits (IE Comcast). Also you'll have to deal with the OS updates, security, and if something goes wrong you have to fix it. Hosting is pretty cheap now. I pay ten bucks a month for HostGator with unlimited HDD space, bandwidth, emails, databases, ssh access and other features. Weigh the pros and cons of each.

But to make this long answer short...I'd go with hosting.

Let us know what you go with...

 

[twoodcc]

Depends. If you're going to be getting lots of traffic you might want to check and see if your ISP has any bandwidth limits (IE Comcast). Also you'll have to deal with the OS updates, security, and if something goes wrong you have to fix it. Hosting is pretty cheap now. I pay ten bucks a month for HostGator with unlimited HDD space, bandwidth, emails, databases, ssh access and other features. Weigh the pros and cons of each.

But to make this long answer short...I'd go with hosting.

Let us know what you go with...

thanks for the reply. yeah, i think paying for hosting would be easier. still not sure what is best though.

also, how hard is it to match the domain name that i bought with my computer?

 

[SelfMadeCelo]

thanks for the reply. yeah, i think paying for hosting would be easier. still not sure what is best though.

also, how hard is it to match the domain name that i bought with my computer?

Well, you would need to make sure you have a static IP or atleast an IP that doesn't change often. You could also use a DNS service like DynDNS.com which runs a program on your computer and automatically updates your IP for the domain. Set up the IP's as the DNS on the domain then make sure port forwarding is set up correctly on your router to take any traffic from the outside on port 80 and route it to your computer/server (if theres more than one on the network).

The computer needs to be running a web server like Apache or IIS (bleh). That's a whole nother post. lol

 

[theappleguy]

I would recommend purchasing web hosting rather than hosting your website yourself. Your home internet connection isn't designed for website hosting - upstream speeds are likely to be too slow and there is a higher risk of downtime. Additionally, you would have to maintain the server yourself.

You're only going to be looking at around $5 per month for hosting.

 

[twoodcc]

Well, you would need to make sure you have a static IP or atleast an IP that doesn't change often. You could also use a DNS service like DynDNS.com which runs a program on your computer and automatically updates your IP for the domain. Set up the IP's as the DNS on the domain then make sure port forwarding is set up correctly on your router to take any traffic from the outside on port 80 and route it to your computer/server (if theres more than one on the network).

The computer needs to be running a web server like Apache or IIS (bleh). That's a whole nother post. lol

thanks. i know how to get apache working and port forwarding working and all, but i've never actually setup a real domain name and got it working before, so that's why i asked

I would recommend purchasing web hosting rather than hosting your website yourself. Your home internet connection isn't designed for website hosting - upstream speeds are likely to be too slow and there is a higher risk of downtime. Additionally, you would have to maintain the server yourself.

You're only going to be looking at around $5 per month for hosting.

well, this would be at an office, but still a slow connection. but if the demand of the site is big, we could always get a faster connection.

but yes, it would be easier just to pay for hosting, but surely there are some benefits for hosting myself?

 

[SelfMadeCelo]

but yes, it would be easier just to pay for hosting, but surely there are some benefits for hosting myself?

No..not really lol I hate running my own web servers. The setting up, the maintaining and the problems that come up that you have to figure out how to fix yourself.

I guess the good reason to host yourself would be...whatever you want to do you can do it (sort of). You want some programs installed, then install them. You want some risque content, then put it up (if your ISP doesn't have any problems with it).

 

[theappleguy]

Unless you have unique requirements that generally aren't catered for by web hosts, then there is really no benefit to be gained by hosting your site yourself.

 

[Slovak]

Considering the VERY low cost at which web hosting can be had these days, I don't see why you'd put yourself in the position of maintaining a server yourself.

Myself and clients are with A Small Orange - great price, great service. If you choose their annual plan on the Tiny package, you will be paying $20. That's not per month, that's per year. Use coupon SaveMe5 to save another $5 or Save15off to save 15% in case you decide to go for the bigger package.

Give them a look at http://refer.asmallorange.com/3410 (Affiliate link)

 

[theappleguy]

There is a list of recommended hosts in this sticky. If you avoid heavy oversellers (those offering a server worth of resources for $7 per month) and those that claim to offer unlimited disk space or transfer you shouldn't run into many issues.

 

[angelwatt]

There use to be more benefits to hosting yourself, like when it was hard to find a host that offered PHP at a reasonable price, but competition has really brought prices down. Also, a good number of host offer a good deal of options, like multiple server side languages (PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, etc.) as well as SSH access and cron jobs (very nice for setting up backups), and one-click installs of common web apps like WordPress, Drupal, and the like.

I started out by hosting myself, but I did get tired of keeping my computer on 24/7, and then when a storm took out my power supply that really sucked and my site was down for a day or two while I switched files over to a different machine, then had to order a new power supply. Also, I didn't always keep up with updates from Apache and such so I was never convinced I was as secure as I wanted to be. You really need to know your stuff when hosting yourself because there's a lot of little things you have to watch out for.

 

[ChicoWeb]

Not to many benefits no... Its so cheap, it's just silly not too. Like others have mentioned, security, UPS, generators, bandwidth are all things that a datacenter is going to have that you aren't.

 

[Melrose]

I'd rather pay $6 a month and not have to worry about anything.

I considered hosting myself (albeit I didn't consider it for very long) but I was going through so much trouble trying to find out how to do it, I just decided to shell out the money and save myself the headache(s)..

 

[notjustjay]

After bouncing around a lot over the past 10 years (wow, has it been that long already?) I am currently happy with DreamHost. They provide a good service, one pricing tier, and I like the company culture -- irreverent but helpful geeks. In the rare circumstance when problems occur, they are extremely forthcoming on their status blog, which I find refreshing.

If you use a promo code I made, CHERITH, you will receive a $50 discount, and our children's camp (a charity) will receive a $47 credit toward our own fees.

 

[twoodcc]

thanks for the replies. looks like i'll most likely just pay for hosting. though i do know a little at maintaining my own server. though, as i've said before, i haven't done it for a real domain name before

 

[brisbaneguy29]

I can recommend ME!

If your looking around, why not take a look at my hosting.