Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Webhosting vs Server@Home

Lately, I've been thinking about where I'm going to host this site. My choices are, host it from home, or host it on a webhost. Here are the pros and cons as far as I can tell.

Webhosting:
Pros -
Cheap
24 x 7 uptime
Someone to bitch at if things go wrong

Cons -
Tech support may be less competent than me
Storage and bandwidth caps
Hassle to move large amounts of data around

Server@Home:
Pros -
I own the server, thus I am root and can do whatever I want
Easy to plug and play new server components, or extend drive space, etc.
Monthly costs are actually comparable to paying for a Virtual Private Server at a hosting company. Electricity and hardware costs factored in, it will cost me roughly $35 a month.
Cons -
I am responsible for my own tech support
More costly upfront, though most cheap-low power servers can be built for $200-$250
If I cap out my home bandwidth, that would suck.

Right now, I'm leaning towards a home server. It would be more fun anyway, and depending on how long the hardware lasts, it might be cheaper. In any case, I have some things to take care of, so this site probably won't be hosted anywhere in the near future.

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