who is a good uk host?

[Shirley]

I've just shelled out over £100 for hosting Neeps - and that's a small website in comparison to this one... I didn't shop around though, I just needed to get the forum onto the proper neeps.co.uk address - next year I'll maybe shop around. That's with UK2 and doesn't include the stuff required to host a forum as neeps is hosted on a free one for the moment.

[adekun]

I wouldn't discount the US hosts, especially given the exchange rate. I'm in Japan and have no troubles administering and accessing my site based over there.

[Martin]

Xilo, as mentioned earlier in the thread, about 35 quid a year! Used them for years - brilliant in all respects, and includes database facilities!

[bwaymark]

Bytemark.co.uk is great if you are feeling very adventerous.... look up the VM (virtual machines)....

[The Chili Monster]

Bwaymark wrote:

Bytemark.co.uk is great if you are feeling very adventerous.... look up the VM (virtual machines)....

Right, I've just visited this site. I'm confused. I think that a Virtual Machine must be a bit like running a PC on your PC but I'm not sure as the FAQ is in ubergeek. Can anyone explain it to me?
Could I treat a Virtual Machine as a server (or, more correctly, in place of one since this involves software)? Plus, if it's Linux based, how can I run Windows apps from it? (Don't mention Crossover or WINE because they don't support the major accounting software).

[bwaymark]

Hiya Chilli Monster,

You got it right its like running a PC from within in a PC, except that its running a server from within a server. The plus side is that you get root (administrative) access and can configure it however you want. Normally, to get this level of access you have pay at least £500 for a machine then a couple of quid a month to keep it in a data center somewhere, where this allows you to do the same for a couple of hundred quid a year.

I don't believe they offer windows hosting, so you couldn't run windows apps with it, although I don't see why you'd want to run Windows apps on any server, even a windows one... normally on windows you'd run IIS, which is a web server (that also acts as a FTP server to copy files over with), and Exhange or some other email server and maybe a database server. On linux you'd run Apache web server, one of many FTP servers, and one of many possible mail servers.

Having said that, if you aren't much of an ubber geek, or at least wanting to try, they wouldn't be a great place to host with because if you screw it up, you have to fix it.... and getting everything configured right is a bit tricky sometimes, plus you have to keep on top of security holes etc and update the system reguarily.... but if you like doing all that, its great!

-Ben.

[The Chili Monster]

Thanks for your advice, Ben.
Think Virtual Machines and me won't be getting together in the near future.

[Andy Hamilton]

Ok, will be moving server very soon anyone have anything else to add about a good one to move to?

[Martin]

XILO - used them for years - good, cheap, reliable, run by enthusiasts!
And they are proper *nix servers that have proved bombproof, even under concerted hacker attacks, whilst more expensive server companies were brought to their knees!

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi,

I use Atomic Host.com.

Its in Silicone valley for what thats worth.

Because of teh dollar being low its currently costing me c£5 a month.

I only get 500mb of space (more if i want it but i don't)
But it is unlimited bandwidth.

Worth a look. The customer service is a bit slow for my liking but its
still better than most.

Mark.

[revdode]

I use fuzioned, shared hosting is all I need. The support is the best I've ever dealt with, better than some higher end hosts I used for work. So far I've had no problems and there seems to be an enthusiastic group of users many running quite busy sites.

http://www.fuzioned.com