Web Hosting

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Over the last few years the cost’s for the website I maintain for my club have shot up to the point I thinking of finding another hosting company anyone have any suggestions ?

H

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Our club (not ME related) use SimpleWebHosting, I think it’s around £100 a year for hosting and about £15 a year for the domain name. It has gone up a lot since we started 15 years ago.

Rob

[vic neweyParticipant @vicnewey60017]

Depends on how complicated a website you require! I ditched paid for hosting after Tshost was taken over by 123 host and the price quadrupled. I have now made a completely free one on Google and my domain points to it. Easy to make and edit and you can have dropdown menus etc,

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Check that they have not pushed you onto a premium package with features you don’t want. A few years ago we got caught by a ‘free’ unrequested upgrade. Then they billed six monthly at approximately the previous yearly rate so it wasn’t noticed.

[James AlfordParticipant @jamesalford67616]

I have been using Wycoria https://www.wycoria.co.uk/ for some years for a small business site (was originally called Wonder Net). Reasonably priced, reliable and extremely helpful if you need help or have questions. I cannot fault them.

James.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Thanks guys for your replies

H

[Charles LamontParticipant @charleslamont71117]

I was also with Tsohost but have stayed with 123Reg for now. I have two websites and it is about £12/month.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

You could have a look at http://www.freeola.com and see if they have anything suitable.

 

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Again thanks

H

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Google do a free website hosting service, BUT they push adverts onto your site.  A better free service is infinityfree, no ads and up to 5Gb of free storage.

Some years ago I set up a web server on a Rasberry Pi running Apache, an external hard drive for storage, and using a free DDNS service to get a fixed IP address.  It took some effort but it was an interesting project.

Russell

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Well, what do you get for the money?  And is it needed?

A basic low volume information only website that only services a few concurrent users can be hosted very simply on a tiny server, dirt cheap.  The webmaster, system admin, developer and content provider are all the same person.   Pretty much all that’s needed is ordinary domestic network speeds, a static network address, a domain name, a server, and some software.  Could be hosted at home.  (See end of post.)

Game changes when the website supports:

• Over a 100-ish concurrent users
• High volume low latency downloads, especially images, video, audio etc
• High availability (duplicated hardware & network, hot swapping etc)
• Email, Online Shopping, Advertising, AI, sophisticated search
• Web publishing, Content Management, plug-ins, Background Services, Development Tools including languages and databases that support a developer team and management roles.
• Security: Backup, Access Control, anti-malware, SSL,

The advantage of all but the simplest web-hosting services is that they more-or-less cover some or all of the tricky website requirements, reliably able to support many busy concurrent users, a mix complex applications, and without the owner needing to be an admin or security expert.   Worth paying for if the website has any of the ‘game changing’ features listed above, or is otherwise complicated.

A small simple low-risk website that will never grow can be hosted on the cheapest most basic hosting service available, or at home on a raspberryPi or an old laptop or PC.

For security reasons it is best not to use a home machine for anything other than the website.  It’s file system should be empty and it should not have permission to attach to anything else on the home network.   The advantage of a pi is they take up very little space, don’t consume much power, and can run headless. (ie no screen/keyboard/mouse needed.)    And linux is harder to hack.   Windows works too though!

An ADSL network connection is a limitation because the upload speed is low.  But 10Mbs will support a few hundred lightweight users reading text pages.

Most ISPs don’t provide static IP addresses, instead domestic users are issued a dynamic address from a pool and they periodically change.   Not a problem: a service called DDNS exists to relink changing Dynamic Addresses to domain names.   So, obtain a domain name, and use DDNS to link the name to your home IP address.  Both can be free.

Second problem, perhaps the most serious, is that your home network is open to the big bad internet, and you, not the ISP or web provider are responsible for security.  Make sure the router is locked down and incomers are only allowed access to the web-server.   Not difficult, but don’t be slapdash, and watch the logs for intruders.

Third problem is choosing which tool, database, and web-server application to use and then learning them.  There are so many…

Dave

 

[Charles Lamont]

On Charles Lamont Said:

I was also with Tsohost but have stayed with 123Reg for now. I have two websites and it is about £12/month.

I was only paying £14.99 for a whole year with Tshost for years, 123 wanted £85 and no longer offered free domain fowarding with included email so l moved and just pay £6.99 for domain with free email

[Author]

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