(March 13, 2013 at 6:19 pm)apophenia Wrote:(March 13, 2013 at 5:56 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Apo - for your particular use case (persistent links) you really do need to control both your local and global namespace. That is to say, you need your own domain, and you need to be able to control in it's entirety, how the local path is presented. In other words, something that approximates a traditional web server.
While you can certainly self-host, it's not the best solution to the problem - though, it may serve your needs with no incremental cost.
I'm not sure what virtues to not self-hosting you see that are important. (Availability would be largely under my control, and likely not significantly worse in practice than a cohost or hosting service. [There's conflicting info on exactly how complete the linux implementations which run on these devices is, but surely more than adequate for the role I'm imagining; that leaves the reliability of myself, my internet connection, and my name servers (I have a friend who has offered free use of high quality name servers, but that's just details).]
I guess I'm wondering if I'm missing some of the specifics of what you are saying by assuming that I know what I'm talking about. What are you referring to, specifically?
(I've been having issues with my internet connection, but I'd have to investigate the source of those.)
The bolded above is a big one. Having sufficient upload bandwidth is another. Some ISPs block inbound ports, or will, if they catch you running a server. Hosting services will usually keep you patched up-to-date, so security may be better. There may be other considerations, depending on what a particular provider offers.
Personally, I used to self-host email, web, and several other services. It became too much of a pain in the ass to continue to do, so I don't do that anymore. Self-hosting isn't necessarily a BAD option, it's just frequently not the best option.
P.S. If you do go this route, and continuity is important to you if your hosting provider goes bye-bye, keeping domain registration and name service separate from hosting is a good idea.
P.P.S. It's always possible to sublet space from someone who has hosting and doesn't mind sharing it.
