I am new to the hosting arena. I am a graphic designer who usually codes in PHP and uses MySQL. I used to just use a hosting service that I have built a relationship up with over the years and they have served me well.

They recently had no choice but to sell their business based on economic reasons, since then, my hosting experiences with the new local company have not been great and they do not provide the support I was once used to.

I am not completely familiar with using dedicated servers as the host before the sale used to allow me practically any usage I needed as long as what I was putting up was being used and not just wasting space. I am only familiar with Apache in the sense that I have it installed on both my PCs to use for development purposes. Other than that, I have no commercial experience messing with servers.

Part of the reason I am not looking for a dedicated server is that I am now unable to just request modules I need and have them installed, they don't do that anymore, so what they have as a base setup is what I get.

My Main questions I can think of now are (and feel free to add anything else that might be helpfull)

1.) Can I host multiple sites on a dedicated server and how many are typically allowed, and how many ip addresses allowed (I know it varies, but do most of them have a limit in your experiences)?

2.) Can I configure the server the way I need the server configured...adding PHP modules, etc?

3.) What company has given you the best: Deal, Support, Overall Server Service (uptime, hassle, etc)?

4.) What hardware is usually the best. I am not completely familiar with the best setups on these things. (things like FSB etc, I only truly know about what processors fair well and that is on consumer pcs not servers).

Those are the few things I can think of right off the top of my head. I am not looking for people to break the no advertisements rule, just regular people who don't own a host telling me what their experiences with some companies have been. I was thinking of Sagonet but the horror story on another thread may keep me away from them, although I will not count them out. Also, Layered Tech is another one I have seen.

I am trying to stay away from companies that have deals that seem too good to be true only because they wind up being too good to be true. I am not looking for anything huge at this point as I want a server that can keep small to medium company websites running well with an option to later expand to a bigger server if needed. (which brings me to a new question, do they have upgrade packages where you can move to a bigger server down the line and how does the transfer usually fare on something like that?).

I think that is about it right now, all suggestions and thoughts will be looked at as I am learning a lot here. This is proving to be a great resource and I learn more and more everytime I look at a new post and I have only been here for a few hours.

Thanks guys.

1. You can indeed host several websites on a dedicated server. This in fact, is the meat of the hosting industry. Generally a host will provide a limited amount of IPs initially, with a server, but more can be purchased as needed.

2. As long as you're aware of how to compile PHP, there is no reason you cannot recompile it to fit your needs. Generally a host will install/compile PHP on a dedicated server, with it's default modules, and configuration.

3. We deal directly with datacenters, so it may not be the perfect or most affordable example for you to go by.

4. This really depends on your needs. Many consumers find that they prefer dual processors right away, while others see the need for only a single processor server. The size of the hard drive, and the amount of bandwidth you require is solely based on what you use, or expect to use.

Finally lol a consumer that gets it.... Thank you.

What is there not to get lol. I have never fallen into the trap because I try to research my decisions first. I have had clients who wound up getting a deal that no other companies came close to and wound up with either a very slow loading site or a site that was down more often than up.

Thanks for the insight ANMMark.

If anyone has recommendations (again, customers of people who they have used only) I would like to hear your thoughts on who you've used and why. Why customers of hosting sites only... customers speak their mind, hosting companies are trying to sell me on their hosting company. If you are a host, please feel free to PM me with what you have to offer and I will gladly take a look at the info.

A friend of mine has used three different places and has never had an issue, I have seen a few of them on here regularly and would also like to know about them. The Planet, Sagonet, and Layered Tech. I saw a complaint on Sagonet within the first five minutes of looking here on the forums, what do others have to say about them and others?

Brad

Brad,

If you have any further questions, please let me know. Have you find your home for web hosting yet?

Actually he did let everyone know.

He's looking for suggestions from people who are customers of a hosting company. He wants reviews or testimonies so to speak, of those companies.

Brad you may start a thread requesting hosting: http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22

avohnd, if you don't stop posting these advertising or bordeline advertising posts all over the forum, I'm afraid we won't have any choice but to disable your account. Please keep all advertising in the marketplace section of the forum. Thank you.

As a host also "getting started" I began with a dedicated machine through http://www.serverbeach.com. They provide excellent value and I would highly recommend them if you're up for going it alone. While they have an excellent community, getting support is kinda tough.

I'm currently with http://www.serverblocks.com and I've been extremely happy with them thus far. They provide full management with all server purchases which is a HUGE deal when you're just getting started as a host. They've answered tons and tons of questions for me and are just all around very helpful .

-Jonathan

Bradley,

You might want to look into hiring a Systems Admin. for the short term, until you feel comfortable adminning the server yourself. That way, you can rest assured that your sites are being taken care of by a competent person.

Another suggestion might be to look into managed VPS (Virtual Private Server). I would describe them as somewhere in between a full dedicated server and a reseller account, but with all of the control of a dedicated server with at least half the price.

-- Jonathan

You might want to get a managed dedicated server.

You can try the following:
Servint - http://www.servint.com
ThePlanet - http://www.theplanet.com