Develoment server share

[Paul | WebEquity]

I'm discussing the possibility of getting a sponsored dedicated
development server with some hosting companies. Does anyone have any
experience of working in this environment. It will naturally be
volatile because of its nature, but is it a worthwhile pursuit?
Would you be willing to pay towards the cost?
--
Paul
www.webequity.com.au

[AB]

I have my own dedicated server for my premium clients, as well as a
shared server environment for clients with non-mission-critical
requirements.

The dedicated server is hosted in Australia, and is a very affordable
and reliable service. In needed it to be in Australia both for
support personnel being in the same timezone, and also for latency
(lag) - US servers are fine for using from the front end, but from the
back end, making many hundreds of code commits per day with an extra
half a second of lag added on per commit sure does add up.

My server box has a Plesk control system built on top of it, so it
lets me maintain it without running to Terminal every day, and it also
lets me allocate space for client and subcontractors to add and manage
their own domains. The first limit to Plesk is a 100-domain license,
but for a dedicated box, that's also about the limit before you turn
it into something more akin to the 'shared server' setups, all with
many hundreds of domains per box.

I host through http://ozservers.com.au up in Brisbane: triple
redundant data lines, and superb online and phone support from Unix
gurus. The total cost of me is less than $200 a month.

The biggest problem/feature of a dedicated server is keeping 'script
kiddies' out - that is - treating it cautiously, and not hitting it
hard with overzealous scripts or demands - that way, the clients on
that dedicated box will never notice the other domains. There are some
open-source applications that I'd like to run on it, but I refrain
from - typically image library apps that do the uploading/image
resizing on the server - that can often tie up a processor for minutes
on end.

If this is the sort of experience you're after, ask away, and I'll
assist where possible. I'm therefore not in need of such a shared
environment myself, and uh, nor can I open up my own dedicated box for
anyone to try it out - that would defeat the purpose of it! But I
applaud the effort to find a halfway house - and I'll help where I
can.

AB

[Paul | WebEquity]

Hi AB,

I have to commission a new server because my current one is split
between my company and personal projects, and it's starting to feel
the strain. Once I have this in place, I'd be happy to offer some
space for finalised projects. It's not going to be a test-bed server
because of the potential impact on live, commercial projects. But, if
there's a need, I will try and secure a test server for people, too.
--
Paul
www.webequity.com.au