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Apologies if this post feels like its been covered elsewhere, but I don't think it has.

I've been down a winding web hosting road. To date, I've tried: Joyent, Media Temple, Bluehost, Hostgator, and finally Linode. The reason for switching are likely obvious to everyone: speed. With the exception of the lightening fast Linode, all of the shared hosts are absolutely sloooow.

What do do when you're not really a "developer"

While I'v grown addicted to the speed of Linode, I really don't feel like its where I should be. I have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that one of these days (likely soon), I'm going to run into something that i won't be able to figure out and i'll have days worth of downtime. Just the other day, for example, I realized that one of my domains wasn't sending emails. After 4(!) hours looking into the problem, I still can't get sendmail or postfix to work. Four hours!!

I want to be a Drupal expert, not a Ubuntu expert

That's really the heart of my problem: I spend way too much time learning Ubuntu's ins-and-outs, and not nearly enough time working on Drupal.

So here goes: Is there a web host out there anywhere that offers the speed of Linode, but will let me focus on Drupal instead of sys-admin-ing?

Thanks!

[ I know, I know. There are going to be lots of people who read this saying - "just learn Ubuntu like a real developer". And I get that. I do. But when I work full-time and try and develop some of these sites in my evenings and weekends, I'm really feeling like the sys-admin stuff gets in the way.

saltcod
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  • Right. I guess the obvious PS at the end here is: If there isn't a company offering good speeds without the VPS overhead for semi-developers like me....then I think there's a good business opportunity there. – saltcod Jun 03 '10 at 18:28
  • I'm confused... do you not want to be a developer, or you don't want to be a SysAdmin? Or both? I take it you just want to be a content editor? – kmarsh Jun 25 '10 at 17:21

2 Answers2

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You want a managed server, not a VPS or dedicated server. They're more expensive because someone administrates them for you. But, they're out there. A quick google for "managed server" will find some.

A lot of the same companies that provide shared or dedicated hosting will also do managed systems, just ask!

Bill Weiss
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    Rackspace is a well known example of this space, though they're way more expensive than you want for a development box. – Bill Weiss Jun 03 '10 at 18:36
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It sounds like BlackMesh would be a great fit for your needs. We've been around for seven years now, and we've been a big supporter (and user) of Drupal since v4. Give me a ring at 888-473-0854 (press 1 for sales, or dial my direct extension, 713). There are few things worse for productivity than spending your precious development time trying to get sysadmin-y things like mail working properly.

BMDan
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