server side questions

[Shawn Modersohn]

This is my first web page and I am learning quite well I think. What I
haven't yet learned is server side technology. Soon we will be taking the
site from my isp's personal web space and putting it on a webhost.

I am thinking that if I am going to have e-commerce, it is best to have the
server in house. So in the meantime, should I go for the cheapest host
possible with no bells and whistles, or, is my distrust of webhosting with
enhanced capabilities unfounded? Can you pretty much do everything with a
webhost that you could otherwise do with an in-house server? Or is it like
you are locked in to certain things such as type of database, scripting
choices, etc.

I guess I feel that if your going to have anything as important as
e-commerce, you should probably do the job yourself. I am leaning towards
linux, mysql, apache, and paying for the direct line. I have time to learn
so immediacy is not a concern.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Mitja]

This is my first web page and I am learning quite well I think. What
I haven't yet learned is server side technology. Soon we will be
taking the site from my isp's personal web space and putting it on a
webhost.

I am thinking that if I am going to have e-commerce, it is best to
have the server in house. So in the meantime, should I go for the
cheapest host possible with no bells and whistles, or, is my distrust
of webhosting with enhanced capabilities unfounded? Can you pretty

You'll need SOME of the bells and maybe a whistle or two, depending on how
complex a page you want to build.
With a decent host you know you can trust, things are in fact easier. They
do the upkeeping of the server for you, and, what's more important
(especially if you're a beginner on that field) they'll take neccessary
security measures.

much do everything with a webhost that you could otherwise do with an
in-house server? Or is it like you are locked in to certain things
such as type of database, scripting choices, etc.

Yep, could very well be the whistles are not the type you want.
I think most often you'll get MySQL and PHP.

I guess I feel that if your going to have anything as important as
e-commerce, you should probably do the job yourself. I am leaning
towards linux, mysql, apache, and paying for the direct line. I have
time to learn so immediacy is not a concern.

As said, if you don't know much about the stuff, it can be much less secure
to everything yourself. This is true for hosting as well as writing scripts.
It is very probable that, given the first e-commerce script you will write,
I could for example delete all your data from the databases just because you
don't handle user input with enough filters and such, and my
hacking/cracking knowledge is not very extensive.

 

[Long - CM web hosting]

: This is my first web page and I am learning quite well I think. What I
: haven't yet learned is server side technology. Soon we will be taking the
: site from my isp's personal web space and putting it on a webhost.
:
: I am thinking that if I am going to have e-commerce, it is best to have the
: server in house. So in the meantime, should I go for the cheapest host
: possible with no bells and whistles, or, is my distrust of webhosting with
: enhanced capabilities unfounded? Can you pretty much do everything with a
: webhost that you could otherwise do with an in-house server? Or is it like
: you are locked in to certain things such as type of database, scripting
: choices, etc.
:
By "bells and whistles", if you mean every available techology-enabled thing
then you should be concerned. You will never use them all. If you want
to make life easier for yourself, you should look at what the web host has
to offer in terms of productivity features. In your case a ready to use
e-commerce solution.

: I guess I feel that if your going to have anything as important as
: e-commerce, you should probably do the job yourself. I am leaning towards
: linux, mysql, apache, and paying for the direct line. I have time to learn
: so immediacy is not a concern.
:
There are lots of good solutions out there. Why bother re-inventing the wheel?

Long
www.webcharm.ca - Integrated content management web hosting

 

[Jeff Thies]

This is my first web page and I am learning quite well I think. What I

haven't yet learned is server side technology. Soon we will be taking the
site from my isp's personal web space and putting it on a webhost.

I am thinking that if I am going to have e-commerce, it is best to have the
server in house. So in the meantime, should I go for the cheapest host
possible with no bells and whistles, or, is my distrust of webhosting with
enhanced capabilities unfounded? Can you pretty much do everything with a
webhost that you could otherwise do with an in-house server? Or is it like
you are locked in to certain things such as type of database, scripting
choices, etc.

Don't host this yourself. The typical webhost know more about security than
you do, and about many other hosting issues.

I guess I feel that if your going to have anything as important as
e-commerce, you should probably do the job yourself.

No. Just do it securely or use a third party payment solution. Typically you
dump your cart totals and a tracking ID off to a third party and they take
care of the security and collect the customer's financial information.

I am leaning towards
linux, mysql, apache, and paying for the direct line.

Dump the direct line. There's almost nothing that you can't do with with
linux, mysql and apache on shared hosting.

MySQL is a very good databse for most needs. Very fast and stable and does
not choke on data typing like some other databases do.

If you were going the ASP route, I would tell you that is very difficult to
get webhosts to install components on their servers. Big advantage here in
controlling your own server.

Jeff

I have time to learn

 

[Toby A Inkster]

I guess I feel that if your going to have anything as important as
e-commerce, you should probably do the job yourself.

You seem an intelligent sort of chap, so given a couple of months playing
around with PHP and MySQL, I'm pretty confident that you could knock
together a shopping cart app and take credit card numbers.

But when you're handling credit card numbers you have to be more careful
than that, so for now young grasshopper, go with a prepackaged solution.

I've been programming for years and have a degree in Comp Sci, but I'd
still be cautious writing something that dealt with credit card numbers --
it's not about technical wizardry (the ideas involved are pretty easy),
but about thoroughness.

 

[Shawn Modersohn]

This is my first web page and I am learning quite well I think. What I
haven't yet learned is server side technology. Soon we will be taking the
site from my isp's personal web space and putting it on a webhost.

I am thinking that if I am going to have e-commerce, it is best to have the
server in house. So in the meantime, should I go for the cheapest host
possible with no bells and whistles, or, is my distrust of webhosting with
enhanced capabilities unfounded? Can you pretty much do everything with a
webhost that you could otherwise do with an in-house server? Or is it like
you are locked in to certain things such as type of database, scripting
choices, etc.

I guess I feel that if your going to have anything as important as
e-commerce, you should probably do the job yourself. I am leaning towards
linux, mysql, apache, and paying for the direct line. I have time to learn
so immediacy is not a concern.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks again for all the help.