Webhosting – Some truths

Since I run my own server, some of the things that I have always wondered is whether I am wasting my time with all of this stuff, and if purchasing a shared webhosting space with an ISP is the way to go.

A friend recently asked me which webhost I would choose. Through my research I mentioned 3 vendors:

  1. Dreamhost – Imprints Group uses them. They provide a tonne of space and crazy bandwidth (although the reality is that they are overselling and that no one will ever come close to using that amount of bandwidth).
  2. site5 – They have a great reputation and from what I’ve read, a great support program. They also support RubyOnRails; very bleeding edge stuff.
  3. Lunarpages – I’ve heard good things from them.

Now, I am also a big fan of BlackSun, They have been my ISP since 2002. However, their service offering is simply no longer competitive. They offer less space, less bandwidth than any competitor, and they are expensive. However, their service is top notch.

Here’s the catch though:

Today, I found out that all of those gigabytes in space and bandwidth are useless. Being shared hosting, the ISP has the right to terminate your conection based on the amount of resources you take up. By resources, we’re not talking about space or bandwidth, but rather, we are referring to CPU utilization and Memory Load.

For instance, Dreamhost only offers about 60 minutes of combined CPU time per day for a single shared hosting plan. This equates to probably a medium sized, dynamically driven website. If you have a forum (like vbulletin or PHPbb), forget it.

The ironic thing is that with the prevalence of Fantastico script libraries (auto installers that allow you install Content Management Systems, forums, etc.), anyone can put together a dynamic website.

Now to Dreamhost’s credit, they are the only ISP that I know of that publishes CPU minutes. In fact, there is an interesting discussion about whether CPU minutes should be published as part of the hosting plan. Moreover, I am sure if you pay for a higher account, they’ll probably give you some leeway.

I for one, would welcome the change. As more people start creating dynamic websites using out-of-the-box configurations, they will be shocked to see that their $7 USD a month will balloon well passed $50 USD a month when they are asked to fork over the money for a dedicated server or Virtual Private Server.

-Tai