Technical advice needed - Webhosting transfer

Sakaki

Ok, so long story short, my current webhosting provider (Zehosting) has gone belly-up and is shutting down its servers in one months time.  I've already downloaded a backup of my files from the server and am in the process of backing up all my mySQL databases, but I need to track down another decent webhosting provider.  Does anyone have any suggestions out there BESIDES GoDaddy (I refuse to work with them)

Ideally I'm looking for a hosting provider that:

Costs under USD$10/mth

Must be able to host AT LEAST 10 domain names - preferably unlimited.  (You'd think that with that many domains hosted I could turn a profit as a reseller, but the lion's share of them are relatives and my girlfriend -_- I really should tell them to pay up or get their own damn hosting - at least they pay for their own domain names)

Must be able to host AT LEAST 25 subdomains - again preferably unlimited

Includes at least 25gb storage - yet again preferably unlimited

Includes at least 25gb bandwidth per month - yet again preferably unlimited.

MUST support PHP and MYSQL, plus needs PHPMyAdmin available (preferably needs to be able to hold at least 30 SQL databases)

Web-based site builder is a bonus but not mandatory

Currently it is most likely I will end up going with whois.com

I've done some digging online but the lions share of hosts have VERY mixed feedback, leaving me rather wary.

Chade

You're going to struggle to find a decent hosting provider which matches those specs at that price. Best you're probably going to manage is a VPS and you'll have to install Nginx or Apache and PHP, MySQL and PHPMyAdmin by yourself.

If you're willing to go down that route then try: https://www.linode.com/pricing or https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/ I personally use Linode and run about 7 development websites from it as well as a website for a Uni research project, a private Dropbox like service called ownCloud, a private email server for my domains and a company website. I've heard good things about DigitalOcean (from another Lusternian who also got me onto Linode ) and the $10 a month plan from DigitalOcean matches all of your requirements and a little more. I run my Linode on a Debian install and it's been rock solid so far, but I do use the $20 a month plan for more RAM/Processors. If the websites you're running get high traffic or are extremely resource intensive you might have problems with a VPS.

DigitalOcean and Linode have great getting started guides and I had almost no Linux/Command Line experience when I started out but I did have a very patient friend to talk me through everything. If you've got a bit of time/willing to learn the command line might be a good option.

Chade

Oh as you're a student you can sign up to the GitHub student pack deal and get $100 worth of free credit on DigitalOcean. Some other nice perks as well. It did take 6 weeks for my pack to get approved so if you're in a rush might not be the best option but I think mine was delayed due to using a UK uni account. I may also have $50 of free credit for Linode from a Treehouse perk I can't use as I'm already a customer. I'll drop you a PM if I find I can give it away to you.

Altrea

While Chade's suggestions here are great, I think you were looking for something a bit more... "I don't want to run a server, just put my site up". In that case, inMotion Hosting and VeeroTech are two I've heard good things about, but shared hosting in general is one of those markets with a lot of choices you'd be better off doing research on.

Generally, the forums at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ will have a lot more suggestions and opinions. Not really familiar with any shared hosts or I'd offer some reviews/personal opinions.

I wish you luck, though!

Chade

Chade's golden piece of advice here: Listen to Altrea

Xarcon

Any suggestions for hosting a simple web page with blog features?

I'm looking to translate some fun stuff from the Japanese culture and have people read up on my adventures in a blog.

Altrea

Xarcon said:

Any suggestions for hosting a simple web page with blog features?

I'm looking to translate some fun stuff from the Japanese culture and have people read up on my adventures in a blog.

Depends on what you're looking for. If you need something like Wordpress, my advice is the same as the above with searching through reviews of various shared hosting services. If you can actually pull a static site off though (and it should be fairly simple with all the generators around these days, id est Jekyll, Middleman, Octopress, etc.), you might actually be able to pull off using Github Pages or something akin to it, which would save you hosting costs and likely just put you down for a domain name. Bit of learning involved with that one (mainly how to use git on your particular OS and how to get a page generator working, maybe a couple hours of learning total), but that's all a time vs. money tradeoff which you'd need to make a decision on.

EDIT: A quick thought led me to come up with a few other platforms that might be useful for your needs. Wordpress.com (as opposed to .org) has the benefit of being free (until you need to apply your own domain to it, at which point it gets more expensive). Some people use Tumblr for their blogs, which is free to my knowledge, but comes with the downside that you'd have to use Tumblr. There's a few free platforms out there, and for the most part, all have some pros and cons (pros usually being free and/or 90% of the work having been done for you, cons usually being having little control over certain things). Again, it's a 'weigh the options and find what's best for your purposes' thing.

Xarcon

Altrea said:

Xarcon said:

Any suggestions for hosting a simple web page with blog features?

I'm looking to translate some fun stuff from the Japanese culture and have people read up on my adventures in a blog.

Depends on what you're looking for. If you need something like Wordpress, my advice is the same as the above with searching through reviews of various shared hosting services. If you can actually pull a static site off though (and it should be fairly simple with all the generators around these days, id est Jekyll, Middleman, Octopress, etc.), you might actually be able to pull off using Github Pages or something akin to it, which would save you hosting costs and likely just put you down for a domain name. Bit of learning involved with that one (mainly how to use git on your particular OS and how to get a page generator working, maybe a couple hours of learning total), but that's all a time vs. money tradeoff which you'd need to make a decision on.

EDIT: A quick thought led me to come up with a few other platforms that might be useful for your needs. Wordpress.com (as opposed to .org) has the benefit of being free (until you need to apply your own domain to it, at which point it gets more expensive). Some people use Tumblr for their blogs, which is free to my knowledge, but comes with the downside that you'd have to use Tumblr. There's a few free platforms out there, and for the most part, all have some pros and cons (pros usually being free and/or 90% of the work having been done for you, cons usually being having little control over certain things). Again, it's a 'weigh the options and find what's best for your purposes' thing.

Thank you very much for your advice! I'll take a look at wordpress and tumblr later this week and probably set something with them. I'll also check on Github (never heard of it). If I decide to commit more time/money on this side project, I can always move in the future. My concern is I don't know if there would be much interest in what I have planned. One of my hobbies is visiting Japanese sweet shops (Wagashi-ya) and learning the history of the different places/sweets. There isn't much out there and with the Olympics coming to Tokyo in 2020 I figure it might be a good opportunity.

In the long run, I'm hoping to see if it can generate some form of income or lead me into a position where someone takes notice...

Much appreciated.

Kaalak

A note about Wordpress. 

Their web security does not have a reliable history. In late 2013 at least one Wordpress website had been hacked and dismantled a total of three times by a hacker(s) claiming to be the Syrian Electronic Army. 

You may want to look for a more reliable service. 

Sakaki

I use Drupal these days for my websites, it is a good all-round service for writing web articles and putting up other stuff, found it very user friendly.

On the topic of hosting, I took a look at inmotion hosting - their unlimited-domain plan is a good $5 a month more, so I'm going to do a little more looking around first, may consider going with them though.

EDIT: Further info I forgot to mention in my earlier post, though not really "important" as such - Zehosting is/was a Canadian provider.

Sakaki

EDIT: Changed my mind. Going with Crocweb.  Decent price reseller package, means I can get people to chip in and maybe even turn a profit.