Hi,
We have a new web project starting.
The web server we need needs to have very high bandwidth and lots of space.
We are currently unsure what technology we are going to create it in, either JSP and Oracle or ASP.net and SQL - it depends on which of our coders we use.
I must admit I don't know anything about the JSP/Oracle one (would we need a Linux or Windows server?)
From what I understand with Managed hosting you get your own dedicated server, but it is managed for you by the company that supplies it. Is this correct?
Load balancing I have heard is good. We want a server that is up all the time - so pretty low downtime if not zero downtime if it is possible.
Now the company that we are creating a website for has a very large partner company that requires strict security on the server - and will test it. So we need a good company with great security.
The best thing is, we have no maximum budget for this.
Any suggestions on the best server and company for me - and is managed hosting the best thing for the job I require?
Ta,
A.Managed is what you're looking for ... but you must have a limit in terms of price
?
If you're looking for a secure cluster, you're probably talking machines in their own vLan behind a dedicated firewall, just as a pointer.
Also, for JSP/Oracle, you want Linux.
DanTo tell you the truth I'm not sure what I want.
I'm fine with designing websites, but when it comes to what to put them on then I'm stumped.
Really I'd like a system that grows with the site, as obviosly a website has to get it's name out there before it gets really big.
I guess we'd like to start with perhaps 1 or possibly 2 machines, with the ability to add more when and if needed. I don't want to be paying for really more than 1 machine whilst the site is in development as that's just a waste, so starting off as 1 then adding more would probably be the best option.
I really have no price range in mind at the moment as I have no idea how much these things cost, for all I know they could be £50 a month or £2000 a month - I really haven't a clue.
I don't want to waste money, as that's not good business.
What sort of prices are we looking at for what I've said above?
Thanks
AnnaI would suggest starting with two server, and laying your basic infrastructure out, one web server, and one database server should do the job fine - that's actually a pretty simple setup.
When you come to adding your second web server that's where it gets complicated, you have to balance traffic between the two or more, which can be done in a variety of ways such as round robin using DNS, or using a hardware load balancer are just two examples.
I'd budget around £500/mo for a good fully managed solution, I can guarantee someone will come into this thread and tell you that's way too high a price, but if you want quality and uptime, it comes at a price. All you have to do is search this board, and you will find the same people that post messages like that are the ones that complain that their £25/mo dedicated server doesn't work properly, and the support is rubbish...
When you say lots of bandwidth? Just how much bandwidth do you mean?
DanDan your right, fully managed servers start at around the ?00 per month figure,
sure people will sell for less but as with all things in life you get what you pay for.
Take a look around here, I'd personally say go with a relativly small'ish company.
In my experience the large players don't take that good care of customers.
Go with a company that will look after you all the way, ask as many questions as you need.
Go with a host that makes you feel happy and confident.
Also take a look at a hosts independant uptime figures,
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingstuff.com">http://www.webhostingstuff.com</a><!-- m -->
JohnAlso take a look at a hosts independant uptime figures,
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingstuff.com">http://www.webhostingstuff.com</a><!-- m -->
Don't trust those numbers, they change (or readjust) them if you contact them.We provide complete managed web hosting services which includes DBA services, with Oracle and other DBAs on staff 24*7, £500/month I consider a is a good price. I agree that Dell servers may provide better ecnomical solutions.
Q: From what I understand with Managed hosting you get your own dedicated server, but it is managed for you by the company that supplies it. Is this correct?
A: Yes! all hardware and O/S will be managed but application layer is not included in management since hosting company is not knowledgeable about your application.
Q: Load balancing I have heard is good. We want a server that is up all the time - so pretty low downtime if not zero downtime if it is possible.
A: Load balanced is between 2 or more servers which provides a very high uptime as well as response and good end user experience. Oracle DB server is not included in loadbalanced environment rather DB are setup in a clustered environment (Active / Passive, Active / Active and more)
Q: Now the company that we are creating a website for has a very large partner company that requires strict security on the server - and will test it. So we need a good company with great security.
A: Mostly managed hosting companies are very well secured and also well equiped like a coloc facility major difference is between a managed & and coloc, is managd hosting is all servers are managed by hosting company or provides a escorted entrance where coloc clients usually maintain their own equipment so they can walk-in any time.
Q: The best thing is, we have no maximum budget for this.
Any suggestions on the best server and company for me - and is managed hosting the best thing for the job I require?
A: Depends on the job, I will suggest a managed hosting since you don't have to worry about hardware or O/S maintenace and many cases databases either.
I hope I answered all your questions
Good luck!
AtiqHi Guys
Thanks for all your help, all this info has been really useful.
£500 a month seems a good price to me and I talked to my client who is happy with it being around that price too.
First I will have to decide which developer is going to create this site, so I know which technology we are going to use, then I will have a look at the different companies.
I suppose I would really like a server in the UK, as it's nice to have one close to us - also I know that way that when we are awake, so are they
When I have had a talk with my developers and client I may come on here to ask you a few more last minute questions if that is ok?
You guys are really great!
Thanks
AnnaAnna,
Though all managed companies provide 24*7 support, but in your case it make sense to host near-by since its' a new project and developers are also within reach. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have including platforms.
Good luck!
AtiqHi Guys,
Ok Here's exactly what I need:
- Managed hosting with preferably 24*7 - also I really would like one in the uk.
- Some sort of Linux based one that has the latest versions of Oracle, JSP, J2EE
- Good security
- Quick turnaround for the server support, including installing things and fixing problems. We also need to be able to put verisign secure certificates on it etc.
- Really good server uptime and a good spec server
- Reputable company that has a proven track record, with good SLG.
We're looking for 1 server initially, but would like the ability to one day loadbalance/cluster with more servers
I've reccommended a budget of approx £600 a month for this - which my client is happy with.
How can I find a company that ticks all the boxes? Feel free to PM me with any company's you may think suitable or let me know if there is somewhere I can go to find this info.
I've had a look at a few companies - but it's hard to know how good they are and if they fill all my criteria - I'd love to get your opinions.
As mentioned I'm not that great with the server knowledge so if anything I've said sounds stupid then please let me know!
Thanks
Annarackspace.co.uk should be your first option! they are also based in UK with excellent / friendly support guys!Ok I've contacted rackspace but they don't seem to be of any good to me. It seems that although rackspace.co.uk is their uk part of the company, they are still a US company and cannot put our site on their servers due to there being big differences between US and UK law. We need a fully UK company - based in the UK and their company needs to be registered in the UK.
Isn't life just awkward!
Any ideas?
Thanks
Anna
We have a new web project starting.
The web server we need needs to have very high bandwidth and lots of space.
We are currently unsure what technology we are going to create it in, either JSP and Oracle or ASP.net and SQL - it depends on which of our coders we use.
I must admit I don't know anything about the JSP/Oracle one (would we need a Linux or Windows server?)
From what I understand with Managed hosting you get your own dedicated server, but it is managed for you by the company that supplies it. Is this correct?
Load balancing I have heard is good. We want a server that is up all the time - so pretty low downtime if not zero downtime if it is possible.
Now the company that we are creating a website for has a very large partner company that requires strict security on the server - and will test it. So we need a good company with great security.
The best thing is, we have no maximum budget for this.
Any suggestions on the best server and company for me - and is managed hosting the best thing for the job I require?
Ta,
A.Managed is what you're looking for ... but you must have a limit in terms of price
?If you're looking for a secure cluster, you're probably talking machines in their own vLan behind a dedicated firewall, just as a pointer.
Also, for JSP/Oracle, you want Linux.
DanTo tell you the truth I'm not sure what I want.
I'm fine with designing websites, but when it comes to what to put them on then I'm stumped.
Really I'd like a system that grows with the site, as obviosly a website has to get it's name out there before it gets really big.
I guess we'd like to start with perhaps 1 or possibly 2 machines, with the ability to add more when and if needed. I don't want to be paying for really more than 1 machine whilst the site is in development as that's just a waste, so starting off as 1 then adding more would probably be the best option.
I really have no price range in mind at the moment as I have no idea how much these things cost, for all I know they could be £50 a month or £2000 a month - I really haven't a clue.
I don't want to waste money, as that's not good business.
What sort of prices are we looking at for what I've said above?
Thanks
AnnaI would suggest starting with two server, and laying your basic infrastructure out, one web server, and one database server should do the job fine - that's actually a pretty simple setup.
When you come to adding your second web server that's where it gets complicated, you have to balance traffic between the two or more, which can be done in a variety of ways such as round robin using DNS, or using a hardware load balancer are just two examples.
I'd budget around £500/mo for a good fully managed solution, I can guarantee someone will come into this thread and tell you that's way too high a price, but if you want quality and uptime, it comes at a price. All you have to do is search this board, and you will find the same people that post messages like that are the ones that complain that their £25/mo dedicated server doesn't work properly, and the support is rubbish...
When you say lots of bandwidth? Just how much bandwidth do you mean?
DanDan your right, fully managed servers start at around the ?00 per month figure,
sure people will sell for less but as with all things in life you get what you pay for.
Take a look around here, I'd personally say go with a relativly small'ish company.
In my experience the large players don't take that good care of customers.
Go with a company that will look after you all the way, ask as many questions as you need.
Go with a host that makes you feel happy and confident.
Also take a look at a hosts independant uptime figures,
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingstuff.com">http://www.webhostingstuff.com</a><!-- m -->
JohnAlso take a look at a hosts independant uptime figures,
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.webhostingstuff.com">http://www.webhostingstuff.com</a><!-- m -->
Don't trust those numbers, they change (or readjust) them if you contact them.We provide complete managed web hosting services which includes DBA services, with Oracle and other DBAs on staff 24*7, £500/month I consider a is a good price. I agree that Dell servers may provide better ecnomical solutions.
Q: From what I understand with Managed hosting you get your own dedicated server, but it is managed for you by the company that supplies it. Is this correct?
A: Yes! all hardware and O/S will be managed but application layer is not included in management since hosting company is not knowledgeable about your application.
Q: Load balancing I have heard is good. We want a server that is up all the time - so pretty low downtime if not zero downtime if it is possible.
A: Load balanced is between 2 or more servers which provides a very high uptime as well as response and good end user experience. Oracle DB server is not included in loadbalanced environment rather DB are setup in a clustered environment (Active / Passive, Active / Active and more)
Q: Now the company that we are creating a website for has a very large partner company that requires strict security on the server - and will test it. So we need a good company with great security.
A: Mostly managed hosting companies are very well secured and also well equiped like a coloc facility major difference is between a managed & and coloc, is managd hosting is all servers are managed by hosting company or provides a escorted entrance where coloc clients usually maintain their own equipment so they can walk-in any time.
Q: The best thing is, we have no maximum budget for this.
Any suggestions on the best server and company for me - and is managed hosting the best thing for the job I require?
A: Depends on the job, I will suggest a managed hosting since you don't have to worry about hardware or O/S maintenace and many cases databases either.
I hope I answered all your questions
Good luck!
AtiqHi Guys
Thanks for all your help, all this info has been really useful.
£500 a month seems a good price to me and I talked to my client who is happy with it being around that price too.
First I will have to decide which developer is going to create this site, so I know which technology we are going to use, then I will have a look at the different companies.
I suppose I would really like a server in the UK, as it's nice to have one close to us - also I know that way that when we are awake, so are they
When I have had a talk with my developers and client I may come on here to ask you a few more last minute questions if that is ok?
You guys are really great!
Thanks
AnnaAnna,
Though all managed companies provide 24*7 support, but in your case it make sense to host near-by since its' a new project and developers are also within reach. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have including platforms.
Good luck!
AtiqHi Guys,
Ok Here's exactly what I need:
- Managed hosting with preferably 24*7 - also I really would like one in the uk.
- Some sort of Linux based one that has the latest versions of Oracle, JSP, J2EE
- Good security
- Quick turnaround for the server support, including installing things and fixing problems. We also need to be able to put verisign secure certificates on it etc.
- Really good server uptime and a good spec server
- Reputable company that has a proven track record, with good SLG.
We're looking for 1 server initially, but would like the ability to one day loadbalance/cluster with more servers
I've reccommended a budget of approx £600 a month for this - which my client is happy with.
How can I find a company that ticks all the boxes? Feel free to PM me with any company's you may think suitable or let me know if there is somewhere I can go to find this info.
I've had a look at a few companies - but it's hard to know how good they are and if they fill all my criteria - I'd love to get your opinions.
As mentioned I'm not that great with the server knowledge so if anything I've said sounds stupid then please let me know!
Thanks
Annarackspace.co.uk should be your first option! they are also based in UK with excellent / friendly support guys!Ok I've contacted rackspace but they don't seem to be of any good to me. It seems that although rackspace.co.uk is their uk part of the company, they are still a US company and cannot put our site on their servers due to there being big differences between US and UK law. We need a fully UK company - based in the UK and their company needs to be registered in the UK.
Isn't life just awkward!
Any ideas?
Thanks
Anna