I have decided I'm going to start a web business, but I don't know what server I should get. I'd prefer to get a cheaper one and get larger one's going if/when it gets too much traffic to handle... Does anyone have any recommendations as to what servers to get, and how to set them up with my html and css files and all that jazz? I know some of you are really resourceful. keep up the swag
Depends on what you're doing with it and what you want. Main question: Static html and css files you made yourself? Or some standard software thing (wordpress, etc)? There are different offers for all these things.
I didn't even consider the possibility to get your own server hardware. Why would you do that? Unless you plan an operation the size of youtube or something very very specific you won't need any own hardware. Own hardware is a pain in the ***, it is much better to just pay a few $ a month instead and stay flexible.
The question is more: Where do you rent what server. That depends a lot on what you want to do with it.
it's a retail auction website. It could expect a fair amount of traffic, and of course it would have to allow for payment.
ok, I need to take another look at this. I know several programming languages, and I was planning on automating the process as much as possible- I will design a program that handles all auction countdowns, informs winners when they've won, and handles payment, so all I have to worry about is shipment. But how would one run that on a rented website? Would that even be possible?
Uh yeah? You rent space with a hosting company. Depending what you pay, determines your servers capbility. You can have e commerce, databases, and other systems running fine so long as the server is configured to run the code you need. Case in point, my own companies website is hosted by 1 and 1 (great international hosting company, you should check them out). My website is only for information / contact stuff, so it costs me a huge £20 a year to host and about the same for my domain name even what you are taking about, I doubt you'd need to spend a vast amount unless the traffic was huge....
At the most extreme you can rent a (virtual)server with full root access. The virtual ones start at a few dollar per month and you can do whatever you want with it. If you however use a specific software (can be anything from wordpress to node.js) as a basis it may also be an idea to get a managed hosting plan specific for that software.
that's the idea. Haha, but seriously, thanks guys. I'm really new to this and am really thankful for your help.
Yeah but it's likely going to start fairly modest (in web traffic terms). Imo you are best off getting an inexpensive service that has options to expand, then spend a lot up front. The rule with contracts like this is its easier to increase them than reduce
