Staging options for a website

[Gumbo Robot]

I'm about to build a website for somebody.

Throughout the development process I want to be able to upload my work so that the client can access the site.

I'm also going to be responsible for hosting the site. At the moment Im not sure what technologies I'll be using - certainly the Microsoft stack , some kind of CMS and a database backend so I dont want one of those shared webspace type of hosts where I may find I cant use such and such open source software somewhere down the line after I've signed up.

Just wondering if I should be looking at cloud server options. Client aint going to pay a whole lot for hosting so I'd end up making up the shortfall myself. People like Fasthosts seem to be charging around £500pa for what I want.

Dont want to rush anything though. The most important thing is to be able to publish the work as I go along so that the client can see it. They are completely non technical and have no server space of their own where I can upload. Any recommendations would be most welcome.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I'm about to build a website for somebody.

Throughout the development process I want to be able to upload my work so that the client can access the site.

I'm also going to be responsible for hosting the site. At the moment Im not sure what technologies I'll be using - certainly the Microsoft stack , some kind of CMS and a database backend so I dont want one of those shared webspace type of hosts where I may find I cant use such and such open source software somewhere down the line after I've signed up.

Just wondering if I should be looking at cloud server options. Client aint going to pay a whole lot for hosting so I'd end up making up the shortfall myself. People like Fasthosts seem to be charging around £500pa for what I want.

Dont want to rush anything though. The most important thing is to be able to publish the work as I go along so that the client can see it. They are completely non technical and have no server space of their own where I can upload. Any recommendations would be most welcome.

How hefty is the website? Perhaps if it's just for the customer to play with you could stick it on AWS and only have it running during working hours?

[Gumbo Robot]

How hefty is the website? Perhaps if it's just for the customer to play with you could stick it on AWS and only have it running during working hours?

Not hefty at all initially. Just a bog standard .net MVC app initially but will have Umbraco or similar plugged in not far down the line.

Off to google AWS

[garethevans1986]

PM Sent.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Not hefty at all initially. Just a bog standard .net MVC app initially but will have Umbraco or similar plugged in not far down the line.

Off to google AWS

Sounds like perhaps you could spin up some an EC2 instance or 2 for a few hours a day which will only cost you something like 10p an hour. No commitments at all, and while it's all turned off the only thing that will cost you is a couple of dollars a month for an elastic IP address.

[woohoo]

I'm using Azure for a couple of sites, have a dedicated VM/DB - cost me less that £100 a month. Cheaper options for VM or use an Azure website.

How Azure Pricing Works | Microsoft Azure

[eek]

I'm using Azure for a couple of sites, have a dedicated VM/DB - cost me less that £100 a month. Cheaper options for VM or use an Azure website.

How Azure Pricing Works | Microsoft Azure

Compared to the cost of a dedicated server (my dual xeon, 32gb server is $60 a month) you are paying well over the odds. However Azure is free if you have a suitable MSDN or Bizspark licence....

[woohoo]

Compared to the cost of a dedicated server (my dual xeon, 32gb server is $60 a month) you are paying well over the odds. However Azure is free if you have a suitable MSDN or Bizspark licence....

Does seem a big difference, I have a dual core with much less memory than your dedicated server. Who hosts your server, just so i can see what infrastructure they have? Do you have your database(s) on the same server?