Web Hosting suggestions for Power Users (including JSP, Servlet Hosting)

I had tried several web hosting providers before settling down. Recently I was checking to see if something better have come up. This post is a summarization of my quest to find the best value for features in web hosting providers.

The focus of the review is to identify the key features to look for in a provider and to list the better choices I have personally tried and tested.

What do you look for in a web hosting provider?

I look for ssh access. This is a must to enable me to install applications on the server. Not everything can be managed/debugged from their control panels irrespective of its sophistication. At times you have to get down and dirty.
Some provide telnet access which functions the same way, except it is not secure.

I also look for VPS. VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a technology which provides you with a virtual host at your disposal. That means you will have root like access in the system and can do several things like setup your sendmail as you wish like installing RBL and stuff, setup procmail, setup applications in any location and not just limited to your web directory. You can also run your own mail server, dns server and even web server. It gives you almost full control at rock bottom prices. Interestingly most VPS provider charge much more than shared hosting provider. I have found one exception which I will list below. Sphera is one of the leading VPS solution provider. Web Hosting companies by and large use their services.

Do not normally go for someone who promises infinite or unlimited bandwidth. They just mean that they have purchased some badnwidth from an upstream provider and then they distribute it among its clients. As the clients increase in number so will be the reduction in your effective bandwidth. So testing the server within the one month period may not give you indicative results.
It is safer to try someone who promise X GB of bandwidth.

Disk Space. Again don’t go for unlimited.

Ensure that you get a static IP.

Check how many domains or sub-domains you can create. However realize that in this you have free options which are equally good.