Due to a number of factors it's not quite possible for me to host a server at home reliably. I'm looking for some sort of solution that gives me a decent amount of privacy and security on a small server that I'm not sharing with others for hosting stuff like email and a small web site. Is this possible? How would I go about getting this?
Just get a cheap VPS (Virtual Private Server) and install your choice of linux on it. A good VPS host is <a href="http://www.linode.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.linode.com/</a>.<p>I'm a college student, so I move every six months, so I'm in a similar position as you. A VPS allows me to have my own server without having to maintain the physical box.
Get a VPS.<p>Depending on your bandwidth vs. cpu requirements, the following should all be interesting to you: linode.com ; vpslink.com ; rackspace cloud .<p>prgmr.com has good reputation and is run by an HN regular. However, every time I wanted to get a VPS there, they had no room left at the time ..