

Ask YC: Which web host do you use? - bcater

I currently use 1&#38;1, but they have given me tremendous headaches over the last few days, including currently being unavailable.
======
cperciva
Based on the list of YC-funded startups at
<http://www.ycombinator.com/faq.html>, the hosts used by YC-funded startups
are:

    
    
       6     SoftLayer Technologies Inc.
       4     Amazon.com, Inc.
       3     ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc.
       2     NoZone, Inc.
       2     ServePath, LLC
       1     BitPusher, LLC
       1     Columbus Network Access Point, Inc.
       1     Global Netoptex, Inc
       1     Layered Technologies, Inc.
       1     RackForce Hosting Inc.
       1     Time Warner Telecom, Inc.

~~~
jbyers
We have more than a dozen boxes at SoftLayer, having started there in August
2006. They're smart, nice folks and they deeply understand what their
customers are looking for in dedicated hosting. I've traded emails in the
middle of the night with their CEO, called support and gotten resolution to
nightmare issues in a matter of a few minutes, sent them sharp criticisms on
their forums to find the issues fixed weeks later. They're not perfect -- I
think you'd be better off elsewhere if you really need to lean on them for
system administration tasks -- but if you want boxes, power, and network,
they're great.

~~~
cperciva
_We have more than a dozen boxes at SoftLayer_

Do you get any sort of volume discount? I can't see anything of the sort
mentioned on the SoftLayer website, but would seem rather odd if someone who
rented a dozen boxes from SoftLayer and resold them to someone else would get
an 8% discount but someone who rented the same number of boxes but didn't
resell them wouldn't get any discount.

~~~
jbyers
SoftLayer always has specials running, and their salespeople are happy to work
out competitive pricing on multiple servers. We don't get the reseller
discount per se, but I don't think any of our boxes are at list price.

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gibsonf1
We're using Amazaon AWS with EC2 and S3 for streamfocus.com, and we are amazed
at how well (and fast) it is running. Our Ubuntu server instance is running
SBCL Lisp with Portable aserve with Apache providing ssl. So far, it is truly
impressive (We launched on Ec2/S3 a week ago - it takes us 3 minutes to fire
up another instance if we need to).

We're able to update at anytime with a simple ssh link, a GIT push, and then
emacs/slime directly in to the SBCL thread running (after testing on local
machines first, of course). We can do complete updates with no interruption in
service - a very nice feature)

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ivankirigin
I just switched to SliceHost. It is very affordable and has excellent service.
If you want a step-by-step guide to running Django + lighttpd + flup for fcgi
+ mysql, I just posted instructions on the wiki
<http://wiki.slicehost.com/doku.php?id=install_django>

Use my email in my profile as a referral :D

~~~
ardit33
Thanks for the tutorial

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carpal
I'm using Slicehost, and it's been a really great experience. I've been with
them for about a year, and haven't had any downtime that I've noticed. Current
uptime is 82 days, and that was when I changed over from Ubuntu to Debian.

I've also tried a Joyent accelerator, and wasn't very happy with it.

~~~
tmm1
Slicehost.com is great, but its hard to get an account.

Linode.com is another great VPS with a better admin interface.

~~~
slicematt
We haven't had a waitlist since early December.

~~~
tmm1
Oh, awesome. I never noticed it anyway since I have an account already.

I use both slicehost and linode, and definitely recommend both!

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scw
It would be helpful to know something about your requirements: as you move
away from commodity hosting, the hosting world becomes more complex in what it
provides.

I've been very satisfied with my Slicehost (<http://www.slicehost.com/>)
account, for excellent virtualized hardware, but depending on your scale, need
for growth, geographic location, need for dedicated boxes, et cetera, someone
else is likely appropriate.

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midnightmonster
I have a dedicated server at iweb8.com (canadian company, extremely reliable
so far, very transparent about any issues on the company blog--which is hosted
elsewhere just in case). I like my dedicated server, but I recently bought a
512MB slice at slicehost so I could experiment with CouchDB (which is alpha
software, so I wasn't comfortable running it on my live production server),
and it makes me wonder if I'm not wasting my money on the bigger dedicated
server.

I have my dedicated server running every service I need (Apache with PHP,
PostgreSQL, Postfix, Dovecot, ASSP, Helma), like many people do. But I'm
beginning to think it would be better to have the simplicity and peace of mind
of separate virtual servers for a few of these functions. E.g., Mail on its
own box, Apache-with-PHP on a box, lighter-weight Apache with Helma on
another.

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mrevelle
If you want a VPS for Lisp (SBCL), I recommend Slicehost.

I tried Linode out for a week, but had trouble getting SBCL (w/threads)
running on their new Xen nodes - but their support was spectacular.

I've also been a long time customer of OCS Solutions. Not the best pricing but
they're just too friendly and responsive for me to move.

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SwellJoe
We (Virtualmin) have two boxes at The Planet, who we've always been happy
with, a couple of Amazon EC2 instances, and we're about to try a box at
LiquidWeb (maybe...I'm still shopping around). We also have an account at
SourceForge.net for our Open Source stuff. Given that we're pushing out over
two terabytes a month in downloads, not paying for it is good.

ServerBeach has always provided good service to me in the past.

Joyent are really smart guys, and their Accelerators are a good deal. (And I'm
not just saying that because they are the biggest host offering Virtualmin.)

~~~
sgoraya
I'll second The Planet

We have two boxes and have had no major issues - Tech support is quick and
helpful - Most of our trouble tickets get handled very quickly;

------
kogir
Call me paranoid, but I don't trust hosting where I don't own the equipment.
Uptime aside, I don't like the idea that data and machines can be accessed (or
subpoena'd) without my knowledge.

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1gor
There is little known provider of virtual linux servers
<http://www.openhosting.com> (CentOS instance with root access for as little
as $20 a month ).

I have been using them since early 2004. Nice experience.

Author of <http://modpython.org> is their founder, so presumably they know a
thing or two about web applications.

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iamyoohoo
Go to webhostingtalk.com and look at their dedicated hosts section.

Also look at the hosting offers section, a lot of good hosts have great offers
there from time to time.

We use liquidweb, they own their datacenters and are not as big as the planet
(which means better service for smaller i.e. less than 15 server clients).
They have great server management.

------
nreece
We recently moved our startup Feedity (<http://www.feedity.com>) to
ReliableSite.Net (<http://www.reliablesite.net>) - a load balanced multi-
server clustered hosting platform. The customer service is good, and uptime is
well maintained. So far so good!

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nfriedly
Myself and my company have used dreamhost for the past few years. Decent
service, although my site has gone off line at least once. Email has broken
more than once.

They almost always respond to customers within 24 hours, but it often takes at
least 1-2 hours.

Even if you don't sign up, their blog is worth reading.

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tva
Definitely recommend Linode virtual servers: <http://www.linode.com/>

Check out their Linode Manager: <http://www.linode.com/features.cfm>

------
nextmoveone
We use MediaTemple and DreamHost.

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gscott
I have just signed up for a half-rack for $399 a month at calpop.com it
includes 4 mbps bandwidth. I signed up today so it is not ready yet but I am
excited to finally get the hosting configuration I have wanted for a long time
now.

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Zak
I've used 1&1 before too, and remember having problems.

I've been using a VPS from tektonic.net for over a year, and I'm very happy.
They don't overload them, downtime is very rare and the price is good.

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ivank
I use SoftLayer. Their control panel and functioning KVM over IP (IPMI) amazed
me to no end, and they resolved two non-critical network issues fairly
quickly.

------
wastedbrains
We are currently on serverbeach with a debian system. I have been using
serverbeach for years and been quite happy with the support.

------
mkull
revzilla.com is a rails-based application on several dedicated servers hosted
by Rackspace

Pricey, but they are good.

~~~
cstejerean
why the downmod? I understand some folks dislike Rackspace (a company I worked
for used Rackspace for a while and we've had a fair share of issue), but why
downmod the poster?

------
jamesbritt
Are there good hosting services that will let me upload and manage my own Xen
image(s)?

(edit: aside from EC2)

------
bkbleikamp
Joyent Accelerators - 3 Facebook Accelerators + 1 M accelerator (bought during
the lifetime offers)

------
davidw
This comes up every few months. Use google to search for 'hosting' and the
like.

~~~
cperciva
The list changes every few months, too. In the past few months, it seems that
SoftLayer and Amazon (EC2) have gained popularity at the expense of smaller
hosts.

------
buckpost
A Small Orange - great customer service, reasonably-priced packages.

~~~
larrykubin
I heard good things about this company too, so I signed up for an account. The
customer service and prices were fine, but my site was down a lot, so I
cancelled.

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mattmaroon
We are the Rackforce one, and like them a lot.

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kajecounterhack
dreamhost! and mediatemple of course

Its hard to find hosting with 24/7 phone service though...

------
pius
Slicehost. They are just awesome.

~~~
pius
Oh and I've got some basic stuff up at Bluehost. They seem like a really solid
shared host.

------
omarish
zone.net

------
bigtoga
Many people will not answer because, if you get a great deal, its a
competitive advantage...

~~~
SwellJoe
If saving $100 (or even $200, or $300) on hosting is your competitive
advantage, you're in serious trouble. Don't get me wrong, I believe startups
should be frugal to the point of comedy, but being secretive about who you
host with is just silly (if someone wants to know, they can find out,
anyway...IP addresses contain a lot of information).

