[triangle-zpug] python hosting plan from $8.25/mo...

[Chris Calloway]

Dave Powell wrote:
> hey guys...
> 
> ...just had a friend pass along this info about Python hosting...
> 
> http://www.fatcow.com
> 
> ...thought i'd share...anybody know of any PZP hosting at this price 
> point?...i need a host for some personal stuff...and the price is 
> right...(i'd prefer plone/zope, but, beggars can't be choosers ;o) ....

That's python as in straight up mod_python or python CGI on virtual 
hosting. Very 1997. It won't run zope or plone very easily if at all. 
Pretty much any reseller can give you the same deal. There are literally 
thousands of $8/month "deals." mod_python and python CGI have been 
pretty standard offerings on any host for a decade. And pretty much 
everybody who gives you that deal is a reseller. Your site will run on 
the same server as 100 others and your site will be periodically 
unavailable several times a day as one of those sites sucks down all the 
resources, even when "jailed" or "quota'd" or "quarantined."

Repeat after me: "You get what you pay for. Seven times more so when 
hosting."

OK, now repeat that at least fifty more times to yourself. I know it 
won't do any good. But you can go out and prove it to yourself over a 
number of years otherwise. The good thing about plone is, it helps you 
find this out sooner rather than later, in case you can't remember:

You get what you pay for.

The more you ignore this, the more pain you will suffer. That said, even 
though this has been answered in our archives more than once, it may 
bear repeating:

Free Plone sites: http://www.objectis.org/ http://myplone.objectis.org/

Has been there since Plone 1. Run by Pilot Systems and Blue Dynamics 
(who hosted two Plon Conferences). Can't use your own domain name yet 
because they don't want to support it. Can only use the products they 
have installed. So your site customizations will be TTW, not a site 
product. But they have a great number of installed products. In fact, if 
they don't have a product installed, you might question if you'd want to 
use it. If there is a product you want they don't have installed, they 
will install it if they can determine if it will be trouble-free.

You have to justify why you need a free Plone host to Objectis. "I want 
to learn Plone" is not a justification. You can do that on your laptop. 
They want reasons like "I'd like to host a Plone site I have already 
developed which will help coordinate volunteers for my bike marathon for 
charity." They filter out bozo's and wannabe's so their resources can go 
to people who deserve it.

Abbreviated list of plone hosting: http://plone.net/hosting-providers

Some obvious omissions from that list (as plone.net is apparently a bad 
joke):

http://sixfeetup.com (my personal favorite and Camp5 attendee)

http://www.jazkarta.com/services/hosting (Camp5 attendee; reseller)

http://zettai.net/ (PloneCon and ZPUGDC sponsor; hosts OxFam America)

http://www.ingenihosting.com/ (freakishly hardened; good plone community 
citizen)

http://www.siteground.com/plone-hosting.htm

http://www.highspeedrails.com/

http://www.webfaction.com/ (zope, plone, trac, subversion, django, 
turbogears - pick and choose; some people love it, some people hate it, 
webfaction is the new pink)

http://www.amaze-solutions.com/hosting-new (hosts plone.org)

http://reflab.it/services/hosting (Amaze reseller; co-host of PloneCon 
2007 in Napoli)

http://interlix.com/services/zope-plone-hosting

Don't shun hosts outside the U.S.. There are good reasons to host your 
site outside of the U.S. these days.

This may help:

http://plone.org/documentation/faq/where-can-i-host-my-plone-site

http://plone.org/documentation/how-to/plone-system-resources-for-a-small-site

In looking at those, I would say, you will find serious limitations and 
pain whenever hosting an application server (whether zope or a java 
server or whatever) on virtual hosting. It is almost always worth it to 
get your own dedicated server. Ask Mark and Rob how they are liking 1&1.

Also:

http://wiki.zope.org/zope2/HostingProviders

-- 
Sincerely,

Chris Calloway
http://www.seacoos.org
office: 332 Chapman Hall   phone: (919) 962-4323
mail: Campus Box #3300, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599