tatey.com

For the previous two years, tatey.com and its various hosted websites have resided on Zingers, a web server in my bedroom. In that period, there has been four or five substantial changes to the server. Whether it be a physical hardware transition or switching to an alternate linux distribution, tatey.com has survived in one way or another. Primarily, this website was simply a place where I could easily communicate and share files on the internet. At the same time, it has also been a learning experience administrating my own server. The amount of information and experience that I have gained from maintaining a linux server has been greatly rewarding. Unfortunately, my house is hardly a commercial entity and therefore I cannot ensure that my internet connection will always function, or that I will have enough time to check through logs and upgrade packages. I always seem to set a goal, but never actually reach it. For example, how long have I been raving on about installing and configuring a mail server?

This brings me to my point. I recently discovered a US based hosting company called “Dreamhost” thanks to Shaun. My jaw dropped when I viewed how reasonably priced their hosting packages were. The “Level 1″ package offers 200GB of storage, 2TB of data transfer, unlimited MySQL databases, unlimited Domain Names and a very generous amount of users and mailboxes. The mailboxes come in a variety of flavours: IMAP, POP and Webmail - all of which can be authenticated over SSL. This package is valued at $9.95US/Month ($15AU) over 12 months. I estimate that Zingers costs $5/m in electricity, eats my upstream bandwidth and consumes time to maintain. For an extra $10, I can have professional hosting and offload all my troubles to someone else. UPS, Power generators, Internet connections are not my problem any more (Provided they work). In addition, I have three computers in my bedroom, two of which operate 24/7. This generates a significant amount of heat which I feel will become unbearable in the coming summer. With the server off-shore, I now only have a single computer operating 24/7.

Currently, tatey.com, Flora’s website and Boycott Sony are on the new Dreamhost server while Adrian and the Eagle Heights Centre remain on Zingers. I intend to migrate the latter two websites over early next week. Consequently, I have a new E-Mail address - tate@tatey.com. I’ll tell you what, IMAP is fantastic! I can finally use my E-Mail on my laptop, and check it from the web.

If you’re looking for cheap, reliable hosting, head over to Dreamhost and sign up. If you enter the promotional code “9999″ you’ll receive $99US off the total price.