2009/4/16 Chris G cl@isbd.net
I'm wondering if a virtual server might make sense, they're available for a tenner a month (or less?) now. Does anyone here have experience of virtual servers?
I've had good experience at http://1and1.co.uk/
Their cheapest vserver is a tad more than you suggest at £15pcm - but their support has been excellent when I've had to use it, and would recommend them. They offer a number of Linux based OS, though I have to admit that the current packages I use with them is (ahem) Windows Server - but as they don't offer OS support I don't see that makes much difference to the recommendation. Their control panel offers a reboot facility if the server locks up - or a complete re-image if you cock things up completely - which I've had to use once. Tip: When setting up a software firewall, remember to allow through the port you use to logon to the system.
We did have issues with their Web hosting service - but that was because we were overloading it. We've since upgraded to a 4 CPU/8GB physical server!
I did look at Amazon EC2 instances. I like the principle of them, but they are just so expensive compared to dedicated servers if your running 24x7.
Greg