Retrospective 4: Dedicated Hosting

In April, our host began complaining about the load of the burgeoning site, so we started shopping around for dedicated servers. Ketchup ended up finding a server for €60/month ($80 US at the time) with EasySpeedy, a Danish web host. I asked them in advance how they felt about running a BitTorrent tracker, and they responded with the attitude I mentioned in Tuesday's post: "if we don't hear about it, it's fine". And it was. We were hosted there for over a year before we outgrew that server and had to look elsewhere, and no copyright holder contacted them in that time.

There are a couple of notable things about this move. First, it was the first time I'd used Linux to any great extent, and certainly my first experience with server administration. I had enough experience with UNIX on Mac OS X to know how to navigate directory structures and edit files, but that's about it. I selected Ubuntu to install on the server because I'd heard it was the friendliest, and that certainly did help me a lot. I'm still amazed that I was able to keep the site running with such limited experience, basically working off what tutorials I could find with Google. In fact, I'm still learning, so later posts (particularly once OnionRings comes onto the scene) ought to have some useful info on that front.

Naturally, the second point is the financial. Sorry for the short posts lately, but I had to break what was originally a ridiculously long post down a bit. So, on Monday, we'll talk money.