Hi all,

I know this is probably a topic that has been discussed in detail before but I would like some advice on my particular situation. I develop about websites for different clients and 9/10 I need to provide hosting for them. So I decided on getting a reseller account because I feel it makes much more sense.

I develop in ASP.NET 2.0 and backend is SQL Server. This is where the trouble begins! For each of my clients I require a SQL Server database but most reseller accounts come with very few such databases.

I have a preference to host in Ireland as I feel its more secure and like to support local industry. However, I find the different in prices between Irish resellers and resellers across the water and in the states extreme and wondering if I would be better off taking the foreign option? it is hard to justify the different in costs. Usually get larger databases, larger disk space and bandwidth.

Blacknight were my preference but the problem I have is that the deals that they provide don't include a sufficient number SQL Server databases with their reseller accounts.

The only other Irish option I found is Hosting365 where I can get 20 control panels and 500MB SQL Server for €40pm + VAT. The problem with this is the bandwidth is only 10GB a month which is not much if you do have 20 different sites on the one plan. Even having 10 sites on it, it would amount to much more than 10GB a month. Hosting365 - Resellers Plans

So know I have different options and need advice on which to go with:

• Go with Hosting365 reluctantly
• Choose a host in the US (eg ASP.NET Hosting, Windows Hosting, Reseller Hosting by JodoHost.com)
• Set up normal hosting accounts for my clients with Irish hosts
• Any others?

Or, my preference, based on speaking to people and their known quality of service, could blacknight put together a special deal for me, for whcih I would be very appreciative.

Rant over!

I'm sure alot of the hosters in Ireland have great service but unfortunately I too have found that the specs are alot lower compared to US/UK hosts.
I'd like to see Michele's view really.

__________________
My New Site/Blog | Check your page for broken links/images/scripts

Yeah - like with everything in Ireland, you pay more for less.

The thing that's keeping me from Irish hosts is the lack of the "small" features that really should be unlimited - like subdomains, ftp accounts, etc.

One thing that VERY few hosts have is a price policy set in stone where everything is precalculated and has it's own "cost" - everything from Disk space & bandwidth to MySQL DBs, Fantastico & cPanel.

I have yet to see a hosting company let costumers make their own hosting packages, adding whatever features they want and charging them accordingly. *Cough*Hint*cough*

Ameuter, are all your clients targetting the Irish market? I would plant the irish based sites on a hosting reseller account provided by an Irish Host and all the rest on a cheaper foreign account (UK,US,Germany)

I'm not sure if that is financially viable for you to have two seperate reselling accounts, that's something you would have to look into yourself...

A friend has used hostdime for their normal hosting service and he found them very good. This is their reselling package - http://www.hostdime.com/services/reseller/ - Lets say 3 of your clients are irish market based, then you could drop down to a more affordable Irish reselling package....

Rollo, cheers for your help. 90% are Ireland based, focuses on the Irish markets and target audience are irish people. Hence my preference for a Irish host.

Your suggestion is a good idea and may be something I will have to explore further. Though I would prefer to have just the one reseller account. What you say does make sense though.

Thanks for the link, looking for a windows hosting company though.

Also, thanks to everyone else for there advice, taking it all on board.

I agree with what you are saying. I develop in ASP and have MSSQL databases in the background on all sites/applications. What I found I needed to do to "fit in" with the reseller limits was to reduce the database space for each of the sites. The databases are limited to a certain size... giving room to grow and I get notification if they need more. This way I grow the space needed by the size of the website and its database(s).

Now, coming on from that... I've decided to get more control over my hosting environment as I was sick of H365 crap about installing com objects and stuff so I've a provisional order in with Blacknight for a nice dedicated server for me to use. Ok, the price steps up a bit but the clients going onto it will be covering the costs so I don't mind too much.

But if you can control the space you give to each client then, that's the way to go for the moment maybe. If a website only needs 5-10mb of space... don't give it 50mb when it will probably never need it. I was able to half my usage by removing unused database space.

And to continue your rant... on both the developer reseller and the gold reseller from H365... the MSSQL space is the same (500mb). This is the main reason for needing to upgrade the account. What's the point of that!!!!

__________________
David Behan
Web Design | Mortgages | Memorial Websites | Digital Printing | Golf Holidays Portugal | Conservatories

We're currently reviewing our reseller hosting offerings, so if you contact me directly with your wishlist I may be able to sort something out for you

(use my michele@blacknight.ie email)

As for custom plans .... That's something we've looked at more than once in the past and we keep revisiting it...

Sorry if I'm being vague, but I just got off a transatlantic flight, so my brain's a bit fried

Michele

__________________
Quality Hosting & Domains|Geek / Cool Stuff|Films.ie|Cool Sites|Discounted Domains|Movie News and Reviews|Home Cinema Chat

Cheers Michele, dropped you an email earlier.

Looking for a good hosting reseller package and what's available at Reseller Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Web Hosting by HostDime is far and away better than what Web hosting Ireland, hosting ireland / irish web site hosting Ireland / domain registration, dedicated servers, colocation - Blacknight Solutions: Blacknight Solutions or Welcome to Ireland's largest Hosting Company - Hosting 365 are offering. If most of my clients will be from the Irish market, what difference does it make where I host? I assume there's some technical reason it may hurt me but I just don't know it. Anyone care to explain?
Thanks,
Bearaman

The response from the server will more than likely be slower if it's located in the states and you won't appear in google.ie's search results for Ireland unless you use a .ie domain name.