In 2019, frustration with web hosting providers introduced me to Low end Web Hosting World. In particular, an Internet search led me to the sites LowEndBox and then LowEndTalk, and finally Low End Spirit.Through this post, I thought of summarizing my first steps in the Low End world. Suffice to say, even today I define myself as a tinkerer who often breaks systems than setting them up correctly. This post was updated in March 2024.
Back in 2014, when I was looking to set up my author website, I followed the path that many first timers take:
-Ask around for recommendations for hosting,site developer, domain registration
-By default, most people create their first website using WordPress, and so did I.
-Next comes the array of questions like optimizing the site, installing plugins, security
-Somewhere in the middle of it all, one also starts publishing content
My journey for the first five years was not significantly different. From hiring the wrong set of developers, to having my site hacked; and from getting locked out of my own site to choosing not so great web hosting… by 2019, I had experienced it all.
The Turning Point : April 2019
It was the first week of April 2019, and I had to leave for Germany for work, which included two weeks of seminars, workshops and such. Ironically on April 1st, my website went down (again). This was before I used tools like website uptime monitors – things that seem so obvious now. I called up the owner of the web hosting service, a small Bengaluru based startup themselves- and asked them what was the recourse. Their reply came a few minutes later:
“I think you should get a VPS.”
Six hours later, the site was migrated to a VPS that was located somewhere in Eastern Europe. In hindsight, I wish I had known tools like MTR and traceroute, could have pinned down the exact location.
Some questions immediately came to mind: Did they force an upsell that I didn’t really need? If my primary audience is in India/ Asia, why did they set me up wit a server in Europe? How will I manage this new setup?
Finding the answers to these questions would require a few weeks, since I had to leave for the business trip.
A Month of Bliss, and an unpleasant surprise
While in Germany, I used to check my website everyday. Back then I had no knowledge of Uptime monitoring tools, and I hope to be forgiven for those times. All went well, until someone wrote to me:
“Your website is not working”
“Can you elaborate?” I asked them
The reply came the following day, as follows:” When I type https://domain.tld, I get some Apache error.”
I asked the webhosting company what was going on. They promptly replied that this was a server configuration issue, something that they did not handle. They did the free migration for me, which was anyways not their typical scope. I was left to fend for myself, so to speak.
The issue was resolved thanks to a knowledgeable person, and the term URL rewriting and something called .htaccess are all I remember from that incident. Or maybe that’s all I want to remember.
Many Web Hosting Forums focus on Low End Web Hosting
Frustrations resulting in an Internet Search
I had tried a couple of web hosting companies from the EIG clan, and also GoDaddy. I had tried expensive hosts from Europe and North America, and a small company that did not even advertise itself. They had all failed. Downtime, poor customer support, or similar. I was equally to blame- not knowing this beast called WordPress contributed to one set of frustrations, wrong choice of hosting led to the other.
Stackexchange came to my rescue for the former, followed by several tutorials on YouTube. For the latter, I began to look up facebook groups for WordPress, and also started a frantic search on Low Cost Web Hosting Providers. The facebook groups were hardly helpful. The former led to recommendations of the like of Cloudways, which was way beyond my price point. The latter led me to LowEndBox. In particular, the famous “Multiple websites on 64 MB of RAM” post.
Nearly four hours of reading post X or tutorial Y, I came across the sister site, LowEndTalk. And by, the offers posted there were quite mouth watering. I was paying nearly 5,000 INR for a VPS annually – 70 US Dollars at then exchange rate, while similar specs were available for far less. I learnt about something called SSD. My VPS had Hard disk.
In the meantime, I had signed up for a shared hosting plan that used cPanel. The shared hosting server was in the US, the plan offered 4 GB of storage (now increased to 12 GB), 4 domains, and 50 GB of Bandwidth every month. I purchased this plan through Stacksocial, for 35 odd US Dollars. Three years later, this hosting plan is idling nicely for the below reason(s).
Note: They say one must be wary of “lifetime” deals in hosting, but I have been fortunate so far. With some major oops’es, which are a topic for a different day.
Deep Dive into Low End Web Hosting: Mid 2019
I think the first hosting plan I subscribed to through LET was a three year Shared Hosting in Singapore, from Hostmantis. Then came the first of their much maligned price increases, followed by cPanel price hikes, and somehow a conversation with Miguel over at Myw.pt resulted in me signing up for a Reseller hosting plan in Germany. This marked the beginning of many ‘firsts’ along my hosting journey, some of which I have posted below.
A month later, I read about this beast called NAT, and a 128 MB NAT from Gullo’s Germany was promptly signed up for. This was followed by a KVM, an OVZ, all in a span of two months. And yes, the 100 GB email plan from MXRoute. I opted for US $ 15 annual plan, because I did not want to commit to a longer term. Three years later, I still have the plan, in fact, I renewed recently for another year. Would I have been happier paying the 30 dollars for 3 years? I don’t think that matters anymore.
During this period, I also experienced the madness that an ‘offer thread’ can cause, when the 4th of July sale was announced. It was exciting stuff! But the best, as they say, was yet to come: The Black Friday/ Cyber Monday (BFCM) sales.
A series of Firsts,courtesy LET
- My First Reseller Hosting Plan
- My First NAT VPS
- My First Storage Server
- My First KVM (As I learnt later, the VPS provided by the web hosting startup I dealt with, was an OVZ)
- Signing up with same provider for multiple hosting plans across various geographies.
- Using web management panels (Virtualizer, SolusVM DirectAdmin).
Benchmarks galore: September-November 2019
The next two and a half months, marked a period of crazy activity, which involved one or more of the following:
- Signing up for a trial plan,or a short term plan ( @ 3 months)
- running the benchmarks- Yet Another Benchmarking Script or YABS,Bench.monster, nench, Speedtest…
- Learning the ropes: ssh, using `ufw` (I have still not graduated to using `iptables`), and
- Installing `nginx` or `Apache`. I also experimented with script based installers such as
WebinolyandWordops.
I have mentioned at the begining of this post that I am a tinkerer more than anything else. This often results in borking or breaking perfectly well running systems. In all of my above experiments, I have experienced errors, omissions, unexpected results, and have been locked out of servers for more number of times than I can recall.
Then of course came the Black Friday / Cyber Monday and Christmas deals, which will take a post or several posts of its own.There are obvious questions that may come to your mind- why did I stick with WordPress in spite of all the troubles? Why spend so much time and effort behind learning things? Why not sign up for Wix or Squarespace, etc? Or opt for a different Content Management System altogether? I believe it has to do with the desire to get to the bottom of the issue. Some may call it the scratching an itch.
Wrapping it all up
My entry to Low End Hosting world was accidental. Three years later, it is more than evident that I unknowingly took a path that many Low End believers take. Many arrive at the watering hole of Low End Hosting forums because of a need that arises from frustration, or a need to find something cheaper that what the market typically offers. For some, it is the desire to do more with less that drives them here.
I thought of sharing my first few months in the LE world – this was, as the Americans call it, my Freshman year. Rather, the first term of the Freshman year. For the rest of us, let us call it the first Semester. The latter I believe will be more familiar to many readers. It has been quite a journey. Insightful conversations, online friendships, banters, experiencing deadpooled host(s), providers who commitment, and so much more. But my journey has seen more positives than downsides.
In the coming weeks, I will aim to write a thing or two from my journey in LET that you may find useful, insightful, or even contribute to an aha moment or two. Bear in mind at all times a big bold caveat that in most cases, I have no idea what I am doing, but that is the fun part of learning something new.
Acknowledgements
I have mentioned a few hosts, while there were many more providers with whom I signed up, they came later. Much later than the period I have chronicled above. There are quite a few users from hosting forums – Low End Talk and Low End Spirit, from the past and present, who played a great role in my learning. You know who you are, and I thank you for your time and patience.
