Mechanics

So, you've got a great idea for your startup, but aren't sure the best route to getting online. Here are some pointers to get you started.

1. Make sure that your clever name is not already spoken for via Real-time Domain Lookup.

   • Or you can search for alternatives at Nameboy.

2. Register your domain name.

   • Any suggestions on the best (cheapest) place to do this? Try GoDaddy
   • 1and1.com is pretty cheap; Gandi.net has probably the best interface for the bucks.
   • Yahoo still has a $3 domain special.

3. Find a company that can provide you with an inexpensive dedicated server, with lots of bandwidth and choice of OS (Linux, FreeBSD, etc.).

   • Again, suggestions welcome. Who are you using? Are you happy with the service?
   • I have been using Dreamhost for over a year now. I run a wiki farm called EditThis.info on it with over 1,000 wikis on it and no slowdown.
     • They support PHP, Ruby, and pretty much everything else and give you unlimited mysql databases and subdomains.
     • They give you large storage space that grows continuously.
     • They give your free domain registrations.
     • Oh, and one last thing, the have the best customer support I have ever experienced... ever!
   • For dedicated, I've been extremely pleased with The Planet. The same level of service as RackSpace, but better prices.
   • For hosting (non-dedicated server) checkout: Textdrive They offer a good amount of freedom for a hosted account (ssh access and many other things) and are run by developers not by marketing types. They are Ruby on Rails and Lighttpd friendly. I've had them for a couple of months and am very happy. They're able to handle smallish development sites before you make the jump to dedicated hosting.
   • For cheap & reliable shared & dedicated hosting, try pair networks. I've tried a number of other hosting providers (Dreamhost, Textdrive), but none have been as reliable for me as pair.
   • LiveRack - $3/month basic cPanel hosting
   • RimuHosting - root access on virtual or real machines
   • UnixShell - Excellent value virtual Xen Linux machines from $7.99
   • NearlyFreeSpeech - I haven't actually used them, but they charge $1 per gig and only charge you for the bandwidth you use. Seems like a great option for development and pre-slashdot hosting. Haven't uactually used them myself, but I know bugmenot.com uses them. Worth a good look.

4. Get a good company to manage your servers. Securing your server and updating your servers regularly is very important. Hire a cheap server management company to do this. Geeks4Help and Rack911 are two well known and reputed companies. There are other companies too who can do this job.

5. Get busy!