I am running a SaaS startup company in Mexico, right now I am using a shared server but now looks like it is time to transfer to something bigger, I would like to hear your recommendations. This is what I need:
Fast service (fast response with requests).<p>Possibility to add sub domain names automatically from shell.<p>Possibility to create databases from shell. (each client uses his own subdomain and his own database)<p>Modern Linux environment. (Preferably Ubuntu 10.04)<p>Not hidden charges<p>I am looking for something around $100 U.S. Dollars/month. I am using Webfaction right now. Their service is very good, but with shared hosting I can't do points 2 and 3 (I have to manually create them each new client is registered). And spending $350/month for a dedicated is just not possible for us
For a VPS/dedicated where you're manually operating the server and database, #3 is generally given.<p>I run a couple of small boxes on Slicehost <a href="http://slicehost.com/" rel="nofollow">http://slicehost.com/</a> and their management interface allows you to bring up new boxes / close down boxes as you need, manage your DNS records, and etc.<p>If you require shell support, they do have an API to their management interface <a href="http://www.slicehost.com/articles/2008/3/26/announcing-the-slicehost-api" rel="nofollow">http://www.slicehost.com/articles/2008/3/26/announcing-the-s...</a> — I've played with it just once, in Python, and found it to be extremely accessible.<p>The couple times I've needed support, I got resolved within less than an hour. Generally, I find that I can resolve minor issues within their management interface (reboot an instance, get shell access via browser if you have broken SSHD, etc.).
the choice of a VPS or dedicated server depends on what you want - guaranteed disk i/o (dedicated server) or protection against hardware failures (VPS).<p>Another thing you want to consider is network latency. If your clients are also from Mexico, a VPS in Texas/California would be better i guess, than say a VPS in New York or Europe. I have seen the latency correlate with light speed + base last mile latency, but ymmv.<p>But since are managing fine in a shared hosting environment so a VPS might be the logical next step.<p>As lzw had already mentioned, <a href="http://www.hetzner.de/de/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-produktmatrix-eq/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hetzner.de/de/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-pr...</a> is by far the cheapest dedicated server I know of, with awesome hardware specs. We own a couple of servers there and are completely satisfied with their offering and support. But they are in Germany and a new server takes about 3-5 days to come up.<p>If you look for dedicated servers in the US, <a href="http://www.serverbeach.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.serverbeach.com/</a> has a ~100$ server. <a href="http://softlayer.com/" rel="nofollow">http://softlayer.com/</a> comes close with a $139 entry-level server.<p>The usual players in the VPS market are <a href="http://www.linode.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.linode.com/</a>, <a href="http://www.slicehost.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.slicehost.com/</a>, www.rackspacecloud.com/ with a HN member (<a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lsc" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lsc</a>) running <a href="http://prgmr.com/xen/" rel="nofollow">http://prgmr.com/xen/</a><p>Creating subdomains and databases - this depends on your linux-fu with djbdns and postgresql/mysql !
Can't say enough good things about <a href="http://linode.com" rel="nofollow">http://linode.com</a>. Already inexpensive, you can pre-pay to make it even cheaper. Super-stable, fast, lots of datacenter options (TX most likely for you). Support is incomparable (#linode on oftc is hot), but I've only had one outage in two years so I don't use it much (it was just a host machine reboot). Tool support and API is the best I've seen at its price point and better than most much higher.
I have a couple boxes with <a href="http://hivelocity.com/" rel="nofollow">http://hivelocity.com/</a> that I throw a lot of traffic at. You can get some pretty sweet bargains on their stuff through this forum:
<a href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36" rel="nofollow">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36</a>
For your budget, you can get a dedicated machine with much better specs than the VPS slices.<p><a href="http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq4/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/eq4/</a><p>8GB RAM, 750GB Hard drive space, 1TB traffic and a truely dedicated machine there, for 49euros a month. Only downside is you have to pay a 149 euro setup fee.<p>I haven't used this service, but I found out about it because someone on this forum recommended it. It is the best deal I've seen for dedicated hosting by a good distance.