Looking for a good webhost that will let me run Unix processes

December 12, 2013 2:43 PM

I'm in need of a new webhost, and I need the following: SSH/SFTP, PHP support, ability to run background processes (namely the Unix version of Dropbox), webmail forwarding, and monthly payments. I don't need much space (1 GB would likely be plenty) or bandwidth (1 GB/mo? maybe?), and the Dropbox process is literally the only thing I would have running. What's my best, cheapest option? Thanks!
posted by reductiondesign to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

Best answer: With something like AWS or Digital Ocean you get almost complete freedom. It's not as cheap as a rock bottom shared web hosting account, but it's not bad, and much more flexible. I personally use AWS and I think it works very well for my needs.
posted by primethyme at 2:49 PM on December 12, 2013

I've been really happy with Nearly Free Speech. No bandwidth limit, no storage limit, no clunky push-button interface, just web space.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:56 PM on December 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Digital Ocean is a nice flat $5 a month. Great performance so far.
posted by ignignokt at 2:57 PM on December 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Agreed about Digital Ocean. I've been using it the last few months, never a hiccup, 15 sec reboots.
posted by meta87 at 3:06 PM on December 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Inception Hosting.

24 Euro/year for:

2 CPU Cores (Equal Share)

128 MB RAM

128 MB SWAP

7 GB HDD (Raid 10)

300 GB Bandwidth

Gbit Port (Burst)

I have had a server with these folks for about a year, and it works like it's supposed to. Support has been exemplary.
posted by chazlarson at 3:34 PM on December 12, 2013

pair networks? Not sure about the background processes (sorry, I don't know what those are) but I run an owncloud thing and that works fine. ? Great support there. I've never felt stupid when I've asked a question - they always treat me with respect. I've been using them for about 14-15 years, I think. I just looked at their site and it says "setup waived" right now and their plans start at $6 a month.

http://www.pair.com/services/web_hosting/

This is what it says about hosting:
Full Development Environment

Sign up and start coding. With access via SSH & SFTP, 10 Additional FTP Logins, use of PHP, Ruby (with 1000's of gems), Python, Perl (with 1000's of modules), C, C++, and more installed, you are ready to go. Plus git, svn, and cvs revision controls are pre-installed. And, all shared Web hosting packages include an SSL enabled hosting environment.
posted by AllieTessKipp at 3:40 PM on December 12, 2013

Gosh, I get mailing lists at pair. I had no idea. I will have to go make one.
posted by AllieTessKipp at 3:42 PM on December 12, 2013

Response by poster: Digital Ocean seems to be exactly what I was looking for!
posted by reductiondesign at 3:57 PM on December 12, 2013

I'd note that there is a command line version of dropbox called for linux. https://www.dropbox.com/install?os=lnx
posted by gryftir at 4:39 PM on December 12, 2013

I recently learned about Cloud at cost which is dirt cheap. You get nothing but a virtual server and shell from them, and install stuff on top of it. A little too close to bare iron for me, but might work for you.
posted by adamrice at 5:20 PM on December 12, 2013

Most shared hosting providers don't allow persistent background processes, like a dropbox client.

Digital ocean looks like a virtual private server provider, which should definitely be able to do what you want, and the price is good for that sort of thing, but might also require more sysadmin responsibility on your part.

Another options, is Webfaction, which offers much of the flexibility of a VPS, but with less management required on your part.
posted by Good Brain at 6:12 PM on December 12, 2013

Our shared-hosting does not have SSH access yet, but the VPS service Conoha does, but alas, no English until January :) But you probably want to stay local for better ping though, even though we have no bandwidth limits.
posted by lundman at 7:38 PM on December 12, 2013

Normally I like Nearlyfreespeech, but they don't allow for persistent processes, so Dropbox won't work, and it won't be able to receive email, either. I'd suggest a VPS like DigitalOcean, which is only $5/month.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:56 PM on December 12, 2013

http://lowendbox.com/ is both a forum and classified ads of VPS that usually range from 256-512mb RAM / 10-30gb storage / 1/2 cores.

I don't do a whole lot and my SLA isn't 99.99%, so I got a yearly special for $25 from INIZ with the server hosted on Los Angeles.
posted by wcfields at 12:53 PM on December 13, 2013

Careful with Cloud at Cost, they are brand new and appear to be figuring it out as they go along. I've noticed pretty severe stability and connectivity issues, affecting many customers and caused by really dumb mistakes. Also there are a couple of extremely severe security problems that I've noticed that would be show stoppers anywhere else, which instead they have happily put into production. And the account management portal is ridiculous and looks like it's from 2004. Also I found out after buying that it's VMware. Gross.

These guys are rookies, I basically threw my money in a fire. They'll probably get smarter over time, but right now it's a better call to stick with Digital Ocean or Linode for this kind of cheap VPS.
posted by tracert at 3:28 PM on December 18, 2013

Linode serves my needs greatly, but not sure that they have any options for $5 as Dream Ocean. With Linode you can choose your own Linux distribution, and build a "box", but cloud nodes start from $20 without backup (if I'm not mistaken).
posted by element930 at 8:46 AM on December 28, 2013