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  • From: "Jim Ray" <jim AT neuse.net>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] web hosting
  • Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:27:52 -0500

I am well pleased with Dreamhost and use them exclusively for my company and
the half a dozen other web sites I handle.

Regards,

Jim Ray, MCSE, NCSU EE '85
President
Neuse River Networks
919-838-1672
http://www.neuserivernetworks.com

Founded in 1997, Neuse River Networks is a Raleigh, NC based IT Outsourcing
Partner that is committed to specialized customer solutions to reduce costs
and increase productivity with The ONE Plan.  By taking a proactive approach
The ONE Plan is designed to manage your computer network so you don't have
to.  Since its inception Neuse River Networks has built its foundation on
earning the trust of its customers and will continue to strive toward this
standard of excellence.

Contact Information:

Customer Referrals:
sales AT neuserivernetworks.com

Customer Service/Support:
support AT neuserivernetworks.com



-----Original Message-----
From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Matusiak
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 12:23 PM
To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
Cc: Sarah Kahn
Subject: Re: [internetworkers] web hosting

Sarah,

I have been with DreamHost since January 2005 and despite what you
might read online, they have been excellent. In fact, their customer
service lately has been *outstanding*. They offer a helluva lot for
the price and their administrator panel is the best I've seen in this
industry (that doesn't mean it is perfect). If you go with DreamHost,
do me a favor and use my referral link:

http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?76712

[You can also sign up and give them my registered email, which is
myLastName AT ibiblio.org
] <-- Don't miss that substitution/obfuscation! LOL

Now, while I stand by DreamHost, some folks have had major problems.
I often find these problems stem from two sources:

1. They don't have a clue what they are doing (or even asking for) and
continue to make configuration changes that would negatively affect
services. This is not DreamHost's fault.

2. They want everything completely customized for their needs and
really should have purchased a Virtual Private Server (VPS) instead of
shared hosting. Again, I see this as a caveat emptor and not as the
fault of DreamHost.

I find the easy domain hosting, email account set ups, and the
fabulous One-Click Installs to be well worth the ~$10/month. If we're
talking storage/bandwidth/subdomains/accounts/etc then I have been
granted unlimited resources in that department. When I need things
fixed or I need help, I ask nicely and they have solved every problem
promptly. I've got nothing but praise for the DreamHost support staff
and tell them all this regularly.

Have there been outages? Have there been issues? Has anything ever
gone wrong ever? Of course, but find me a host that cannot claim
similar. Nothing is perfect and those people asking for that are
insane (and have probably never worked in a data center).

Stan mentioned Google Hosted Solutions and I think that is a great
idea. In fact, I set up a new domain at DreamHost this week and they
now offer a feature (directly in their control panel) which allows you
to set up Google Hosted Solutions easily and brainlessly via them.
Basically, DreamHost will point your domain and host DNS, but you can
have a mix of services live on Google. You can have it all on Google
(email, calendar, docs, etc) or just host your email with Google. I
think this integration is fantastic and it made me love DreamHost even
more. Sure, I could have gone and done all this via Google Apps, but
I'm sure I would have had to read half the internet before getting it
to work. In this case, it took less than an hour. I was amazed.

My new fascination in the web hosting world is Squarespace.com. This
is basically the dummy tool I've been waiting for my entire life. I'm
never going to learn CSS and all that web design BS, so I want an
online WYSIWYG editor that can read my frickin' mind. Squarespace is
probably a year away from achieving this goal (the reading my mind
part), but for what tools they've employed currently, it is one
incredible package. Lots of good templates -- all customizable.
Lovely photo galleries with LightBox built in. More features than I
can list/describe. In short, I'm madly in love with Squarespace and
plan on having it's baby.

http://www.squarespace.com/

What is the downside to Squarespace? They don't host email. You'll
have to do that somewheres else (DreamHost? Google? Many
possibilities). They will give you a nice contact form, and have
those responses sent to an email address. This is the path I chose as
I figured it was simpler and quicker than customizing DNS/MX records.
I don't want to give the impression that I can't figure this stuff
out. Instead, I'd rather spend my eyesight/creative juices/time on
producing work and valuable content instead of configuring software.

Squarespace. Take the tour. Drink the Kool-Aid. LOOK INTO THE FUTURE!

I hope this information helps. Please feel free to ask me other
questions as this is a topic of great interest to me and I am
constantly speaking to folks about their hosting solutions and level
of satisfaction with them. These are the best I have found and I'm
always willing to explore another option. If you can find a better,
more extensible solution at a cheaper cost, then my name ain't Nathan
Arizona!

Best,
David Matusiak

. . . . . . . . .
http://matusiak.org
. . . . . . . . .


On Feb 20, 2009, at 10:55 AM, Sarah Kahn wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Can anyone recommend a good web hosting service for a small
> business? I've been mooching off of ibiblio forever (love you guys!)
> so I don't have a relationship with any particular host at the moment.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sarah
---
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