[wplug] Affordable Lnux based web hosting?

[D. Joe]

On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 02:14:45PM -0400, Mark Dalrymple wrote:
> >> So I was wondering if there are any good low cost Linux centric hosting
> >> providers out there? I would like one that gave me ssh access and let
> >> me use scp, rsync etc.
> 
> tblive.com is run by a wplugger (Ryan Brown) - they offer VPS hosting
> starting at $15 / mo.

I'll take your word for it.  Pity they don't give plan feature, pricing, and
availability details on their site, at least that I found:

 http://tblive.com/services.php#vps

> I'm currently using slicehost, but they're not cheap (not unduly
> expensive, but not a no-brainer cost wise)

Another slicehost user here.  I use an entry level slice for very light web
hosting, email, IRC, and so forth, and it has been very solid now going on 2
years for me.  Linode is another popular and reportedly well-run VPS
provider that seems to be going from strength to strength.  Under the $20
mark, places sort of come and go, and do fill up fast--witness, for
instance, rapidxen having zero availability.

 http://www.slicehost.com
 http://www.linode.com
 http://www.rapidxen.com/getPlansServlet

I had tried to use one sub-$20 provider that is purportedly still in
business, but they just couldn't seem to hold on to me--I did nothing to
leave them, but they alternately would fail to bill my PayPal, had massive
repeated ongoing crashes, went out of business and then were saved at the
last minute, and so on and so forth.  In the end, my VPS instance with them
just . . . stopped working.  I got a one or two survey-type emails from them
about what I might like to have in the future (never mind that I had already
agreed to something that I wanted in the present), which I did my best to
answer.  But I just sort of stopped hearing from them.  According to their
site, they are still in business and offering VPS hosting but it just
doesn't seem at all worth it, even for $5/month.

What it boils down to, I think, is that if someone is going to offer VPS for
even as low as $20/month, they are going to need to spread their costs out
over a high volume by having highly automated ordering, provisioning and
management.  And this seems to be exactly how slicehost and linode operate. 

-- 
D. Joe