Be your own host!

[Floris]

If you are about to start a website, please go the complex and more expensive route.
Please. In the long run you will thank me. And please, do it for yourself and your "web guy".

The benefits of being your own host. Having your site hosted and managed on your own VPS or dedicated server is just so much easier to actually run and manage. Compared to hosting on a limited shared solution that's cheaper. Or an all in one solution like squarespace.

If you cannot as a super user edit your own files, you're not in control.

It IS a bigger hassle, sure. But only now. Not when your site actually gets traffic and requires your attention. Your downtime sorting out domains, dns, email, design, etc .. is nothing compared to the extra time you put in to guarantee being in control.

It sounds counter intuitive. But being able to get a security expert or web developer to go to the specific situation or files directly, will lead to results. Rather than having to do it later and it being a bigger headache and triple the amount of money.

When you are unhappy with an all in one solution and you say "Ok, I am upset, I want to get my site in a .zip file and move my domain and hosting to someone else please", then suddenly they are like "Sorry, but your domains are locked to our service, or harder to transfer to you at least", and "your design is integrated into our gui system, it's not something we can just export as a .css file or something, the images are hashed on our cdn, we can't give you access to those, you have to use your own originals". etc.

 

[elmo]

I'll revive this old topic.

Maybe it's just the places i seek out online and verifying my own experience and feelings, but I sense that selfhosting might be om the up-swing, atleast for smaller stuff. No need to go all out AWS for a static paged blog or (relativly) low traffic forum when a simple, cheap (in cash atleast) solution can be had. You pay with time instead of money tho

 

[Floris]

You could consider putting some resources on remote sites, so they can take the traffic and bother of search indexes, and then failover to local sources. So when they do go offline, you still have your own stuff fully.

A little small mac mini web server, on it's own router, is a $1000 self hosted solution that can run quietly in a closet without heating issues, and is fast enough these days for quite some traffic and has great performance. You can isolate it from your own network. And have a local wifi connection to it or direct cable. Or a little linux box if you have a left over system. Just have to think about noise/heat/location.

Most websites people have, or services they offer, are not requiring millions of hits per minute. I rather put $1000 in something that I own and have full root access over at any time of the day. Than spend $1000 on remote hosting, every couple years or so.

 

[elmo]

You could consider putting some resources on remote sites, so they can take the traffic and bother of search indexes, and then failover to local sources. So when they do go offline, you still have your own stuff fully.

A little small mac mini web server, on it's own router, is a $1000 self hosted solution that can run quietly in a closet without heating issues, and is fast enough these days for quite some traffic and has great performance. You can isolate it from your own network. And have a local wifi connection to it or direct cable. Or a little linux box if you have a left over system. Just have to think about noise/heat/location.

Most websites people have, or services they offer, are not requiring millions of hits per minute. I rather put $1000 in something that I own and have full root access over at any time of the day. Than spend $1000 on remote hosting, every couple years or so.

Speaking of...I currently have a 2012(?) mac mini set up as a headless server at home with debian on it. Not hosting anything out yet but have some minor plans to do so down the line.

*edit*
I just recently aquired a "new" laptop to install Linux on, to supplement the mini, a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 from god knows when, 2013 i think.
Couldnt find the charger for my old macbook, and installing anything but windows on the normal laptop would be out of the question.

Drawback of the x220 is the old battery, pretty crap life compared to when it was new. Having said that it looks like i still get 4-6 hours of battery, but havent had the chance to test properly yet. Was only about $100, so well worth the cash for my tinkering needs.

I'm really running state of the art hardware at home.

 

[HoraceClarke]

If you are about to start a website, please go the complex and more expensive route.
Please. In the long run you will thank me. And please, do it for yourself and your "web guy".

The benefits of being your own host. Having your site hosted and managed on your own VPS or dedicated server is just so much easier to actually run and manage. Compared to hosting on a limited shared solution that's cheaper. Or an all in one solution like squarespace.

If you cannot as a super user edit your own files, you're not in control.

It IS a bigger hassle, sure. But only now. Not when your site actually gets traffic and requires your attention. Your downtime sorting out domains, dns, email, design, etc .. is nothing compared to the extra time you put in to guarantee being in control.

It sounds counter intuitive. But being able to get a security expert or web developer to go to the specific situation or files directly, will lead to results. Rather than having to do it later and it being a bigger headache and triple the amount of money.

When you are unhappy with an all in one solution and you say "Ok, I am upset, I want to get my site in a .zip file and move my domain and hosting to someone else please", then suddenly they are like "Sorry, but your domains are locked to our service, or harder to transfer to you at least", and "your design is integrated into our gui system, it's not something we can just export as a .css file or something, the images are hashed on our cdn, we can't give you access to those, you have to use your own originals". etc. Business game Car For Sale Simulator Download APK for those who have a passion for cars and business. You can go to the https://getmodnow.com/car-for-sale-simulator-2023.html website to experience it

If you want convenience and ease of use, a shared or comprehensive solution may be suitable. Otherwise, if you need detailed testing and customization, a VPS or private server might be a better choice.

 

[Floris]

If you want convenience and ease of use, a shared or comprehensive solution may be suitable. Otherwise, if you need detailed testing and customization, a VPS or private server might be a better choice.

Sounds logical, yeh.