Simple web hosting that is inexpensive yet trustworthy?
I am looking for a company that will give me servers to practice PHP & MySQL training. Something that is inexpensive, or free, and is an honest company. Any suggestions?
There is nothing simple about choosing a hosting company. What versions of PHP and MySQL do you want? Do you need PHP to be configured as an Apache module or will FastCGI be OK? Do you expect to make use of mod_rewrite and .htaccess files? Do you need access to php.ini?
For example, one of the posters above suggested GoDaddy. Their pricing is affordable, they let you choose between PHP 4 and PHP 5 (on per-directory basis, if necessary) and between MySQL 4.1 and MySQL 5.0. You can use .htaccess files and even create your own php.ini. The downside is, their PHP is configured as a FastCGI executable, so you can’t do HTTP authentication with PHP (although you can use .htpasswd files to compensate for that); also, mod_rewrite doesn’t work with their PHP installation the way you would expect it to if it were an Apache module installation (the implication being that some popular applications, such as WordPress, can’t do pretty, or even semi-pretty, URLs).
More importantly, if all you want to do is practice, there is no better place for it than your own computer. You can run PHP and MySQL on either Linux or Windows. You can run PHP with either Apache or IIS. PHP and MySQL can be downloaded free of charge from their respective developers’ Web sites. There are also installation kits that install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL on Windows.
I would recommend GoDaddy.com or Gemstream.com, they are larger companies, so they have good customer support, reliable, and resonable prices.
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