Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#1

Post by volandovengo » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 2:56 PM UTC

I have a relatively simple PHP (Codeigniter) website that I am currently running on a shared host while it has been in development. Needless to say, I haven't been impressed with the performance of the site and would like to move it to a speedy host before we launch.

Right now we don't have much traffic but I'm hoping to get around 1000 visitors/day come launch time (hey a boy can dream right?). Could I kindly ask on your suggestions on start-up friendly hosting options?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#2

Post by abyssknight » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

I'd check out the searchyc.com engine for answers, but off the top of my head:

  * SliceHost/Rackspace Cloud
  * Linode
  * EC2 (carefully)
  * Web Faction

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#3

Post by gm » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 3:02 PM UTC

If your performance is bad on shared hosting while in development, your problem is probably not your host. Look at your code a second time.

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#4

Post by volandovengo » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 3:10 PM UTC

gm wrote: post #3

If your performance is bad on shared hosting while in development, your problem is probably not your host. Look at your code a second time.

Really? Interesting. I've found that perf gets worse with more traffic so, that's why I first suspected the host.

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#5

Post by volandovengo » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 3:11 PM UTC

abyssknight wrote: post #2

I'd check out the searchyc.com engine for answers, but off the top of my head: * SliceHost/Rackspace Cloud * Linode * EC2 (carefully) * Web Faction

Thanks! I wasn't aware that somebody had created a search utility for hackernews. :)

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#6

Post by dutchrapley » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 3:15 PM UTC

abyssknight wrote: post #2

I'd check out the searchyc.com engine for answers, but off the top of my head: * SliceHost/Rackspace Cloud * Linode * EC2 (carefully) * Web Faction

+1 Web Faction - starts you off with shared hosting with some dedicated memory for your application. You can add more as needed, for a small fee.

+1 Linode - Best bang for your buck for a VPS loaded with features and reliability.

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#7

Post by taylorbuley » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 3:33 PM UTC

dutchrapley wrote: post #6

abyssknight wrote: post #2

I'd check out the searchyc.com engine for answers, but off the top of my head: * SliceHost/Rackspace Cloud * Linode * EC2 (carefully) * Web Faction

+1 Web Faction - starts you off with shared hosting with some dedicated memory for your application. You can add more as needed, for a small fee. +1 Linode - Best bang for your buck for a VPS loaded with features and reliability.

Agreed on Linode. Good people, good technology.

One might also consider PHPFog or Orchestra.io, which are "Herokus for PHP"

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#8

Post by volandovengo » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 4:02 PM UTC

taylorbuley wrote: post #7

dutchrapley wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 Web Faction - starts you off with shared hosting with some dedicated memory for your application. You can add more as needed, for a small fee. +1 Linode - Best bang for your buck for a VPS loaded with features and reliability.

Agreed on Linode. Good people, good technology. One might also consider PHPFog or Orchestra.io, which are "Herokus for PHP"

Thanks - I will check them out. :)

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#9

Post by volandovengo » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 4:47 PM UTC

Took a look at Linode since it seems to be so highly recommended.

Looks like it will be a significant learning curve since I will need to install everything myself (LAMP stack, svn, etc). Is there any way to do a 1 click installation?

Thanks again for the help.

Re: Ask HN: Which host should I use for a PHP site?

#10

Post by abyssknight » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 8:25 PM UTC

volandovengo wrote: post #9

Took a look at Linode since it seems to be so highly recommended. Looks like it will be a significant learning curve since I will need to install everything myself (LAMP stack, svn, etc). Is there any way to do a 1 click installation? Thanks again for the help.

Capistrano and Deprec can help with this stuff. Should come up in a quick Google search. It does use Ruby, but you can use it with PHP and anything else you want to. Deprec has recipes for setting up the entire LAMP stack.