Web Hosting Costs?

[ian-and-penny]

What sort/amount of web hosted space can I expect to purchase for around $100/year?

[caughtatwork]

Example only.
http://www.flexihostings.net.au/web/com ... _plan.html

Space will not necessarily be the issue, performance on a shared machine in terms of RAM and CPU will be the issue.
If you only want space though, you can expect quite a bit.

[Kellyansapansa]

My husband and I run a couple of websites and we're in the process of moving over to these guys: http://www.planethosting.com.au/

Our previous hosting company was absolutely dreadful, with regular downtime and a complete lack of support.

We transitioned one site to Planet Hosting about three months ago and so far their service and support has been fabulous. We're planning to migrate the second site very soon.

Their website provides all of their hosting plans - for $88 a year you'll get 1gb on their most basic plan.

[ian-and-penny]

Sounds like a much better deal than the shared hosted hobby site I'm paying for at the moment.
(I only get 50MB storage, 1Gb monthly bandwidth, 2 email addresses, etc.)

Would you recommend them? (C@W example)

How do I go about seamlessly transferring domain, emails, website/blog, etc over to a new host?

Is there an advantage/disadvantage to being hosted overseas?

[caughtatwork]

I have been with flexihostings for years. I run a VPS (Virtual Private Server) with them which allocates me guaranteed bandwidth and CPU / RAM. i.e. I don't have a shared server.

My last contacts were:
Dec-2010 - Server not responding, system needed reboot
Aug-2009 - New DNS entry request
Jun-2008 - DDOS attack, request to action

So in 3 years, 1 issue and 2 requests for their service. I like them

Everyone will have a different story, but the essence is you get what you pay for.

Australia vs. Overseas?
There is no 'real' difference.
Latency is one. Traffic that comes from OS is usually a little slower than traffic from Oz. For a high volume site, that's not good (part of the reason GCA is hosted in Australia), but for a hobby site (you mention), it's not really going to be a problem.
Support times in Oz generally follow AEST so most of the time support is available during our day. OS you may need to wait until support comes online, generally overnight Oz time.
Hostings costs in Oz generally are a little higher than OS due the way that providers are charged for usage from the major Telcos. Australians get gouged. However OS, they tend to pile hundreds if not thousands of sites onto the same machines to make bigger bucks, so again, you get what you pay for.

Moving stuff from one host to another can be done in many ways and it depends a lot on whether it's "read only" data or "read / write". The hassle is the DNS propagation where some users see the old site (and update it) and some see the new site (and update it).

What's the purpose of the site? Mainly read or interactive (like a GCA?)

[ian-and-penny]

What's the purpose of the site? Mainly read or interactive (like a GCA?)

It's a blog i'm creating to keep family and friends up to date when we become grey nomads (hopefully in the not too distant future). - So I guess it's mainly read.

[Big Matt and Shell]

We have used Crazy Domains for our hosting for the last year or so. We have had no issues at all.

http://www.crazydomains.com.au/web_hosting/index.html

[caughtatwork]

Ahh, yes, mainly read, that makes things simpler.
I don't know how you go about installing word press and moving your database over. Wordpress is not something I'm familiar with.
This has some instructions on how to move a wordpress blog.
http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/move2/

Google for something like move wordpress to new host and see what comes up.

Apart from the "how to", once that's done you contact your registrar (the place that you registered you domain name through) and get them to point your site to the the new DNS servers at your new host. Your new host will let you know what they are.

Then until the DNS is propagated (up to 48 hours), some will see your old site, some will see your new site (progressively). You may also see your old site for a little while. Comments made to your old site in the transition will be lost, so you might need to turn comments off until the DNS is fully propagated.

After the 48 hours (or you can confirm that you're on the new host), start updating your blog, open comments and you're done. It's not really painful.

[setsujoku]

I've got my web hosting with a dirt cheap provider (godaddy), and for just a simple blog, and a few photos (you get a heap of storage, so no issues really), it is cheap. I think it worked out to be about $5 a month. Never had a problem with the reliability, or speed, as the blog doesn't get much traffic, and the photo gallery is usually just for sharing with family, etc. I use word press for the blog, and when I have time I'll be shifting the photo gallery over to running on gallery3, but at the moment it's running on Zenphoto, which is a pretty good product as well.

I didn't like their e-mail component, so I shifted my MX records over to google apps, which is free for up to 50 users, and each user gets 25 gig mail storage, as well as all the other google components. So much easier and much more flexible. Only wish I'd done it earlier. If they start doing web hosting as well, i'll be shifting everything there.

[CraigRat]

All of my side projects such as androidcaching.com etc are hosted overseas with a company called hostgator, costs me about $10pm for unlimited everything (domains, subdomains, disk space and databases). I see no advantages in hosting within Australia, local mobs want too much for way too limited services IMO.

[hgl]

All of my side projects such as androidcaching.com etc are hosted overseas with a company called hostgator, costs me about $10pm for unlimited everything (domains, subdomains, disk space and databases). I see no advantages in hosting within Australia, local mobs want too much for way too limited services IMO.

Agreed .. for blogs and other "hobby" sites, you really can't go past the services (e.g. pre-installed applications) and the lack of limits provided by some of the OS providers. I also use godaddy and have not had an issue with them, considering my sites have small usage. The advantage it that I can have a new domain and site setup in a matter of minutes, and I don't have to pay for any extra hosting.

There has been the odd occasion when I have wanted to test a new application, setup a new site to play, add a blog etc. and I have done all that with my existing account. They also provide better tools for setting things up and management, compared to some of the more general "CPanel" type options that may be a bit of a challenge to use if you are not a geek

Also agree about the e-mail features, I also use Google for that!

[bmak]

I use a few different hosts for a my sites but i find the most value for money is the one i have with Dreamhost. $119 per year unlimited.

Any current Dreamhost member can also give new members huge discounts for the 1st year. Ive given some people a discount that takes the 1st years costs down to as little as $1 and no requirements to host with them any longer than that.

[GammaPiSigma]

+1 Dreamhost.

[ian-and-penny]

Thanks everyone.

Let's see how well I can migrate my site over to the new server.

[PirateRock]

If you're computer savvy and have a spare PC and a stable net connection, you could always host it yourself....

Just depends on the amount of traffic you expect - if it's low because it's just relatives and friends, Windows plus WAMP or a flavour of Linux and LAMP is your friend. Throw in DynDNS for a dynamic IP fix and your up and running.

I would only recommend this if you want the whole 'I did it myself' thing.