What features should one look for in a webhost?

For one doing affiliate or small e-commerce sites?

[stlouislouis]

What features should one look for in a webhost if one wants
to deploy affiliate or small e-commerce sites? Especially
for one wanting their sites to rank high in Google?

Maybe this thread can serve as a shopping list of features
for those looking for a new web host.

I'm thinking about stuff like access to raw log files, etc.

Thanks!

[Ankheg]

Well....

My incomplete and inconclusive list of features, in no particular order:

a static IP address available
ability to use my own nameservers (discussed in a different thread)

does NOT offer "unlimited" disk space or bandwith
has SSH or telnet access
FTP access
access to raw logs
scalable resources (i.e. can add more disk space or bandwith)

POP3 *and* SMTP access (for email)
ability to upload and install my own apps and scripts
has non-safe-mode PHP
is *NIX-based (avoids most of the worms, virii, and exploits right there)

has fast/redundant connectivity (hosts with good connectivity will brag about it, hosts with a single T-1 will never tell you what they're using)

Is not listed in SPEWS or another DNSBL
Good and meaningful uptime
has some sort of control panel software (don't like Plesk, but that's a personal thing)

allows subdomains (like webmail.widgets.com, etc)

that seems to be it right now... I'm sure others will add theirs.

[dingman]

For my purposes, give me root (administrative) access and get out of my way, or forget about my business. Extra points for pre-installing my favorite distribution (Debian), and good connectivity. So far, that means I run my own little data center which has everything but the connectivity. When my buget allows I'll either multi-home my own data center or buy colocation at a well-connected data center.

[thaedge]

I think i understand your point about unlimited space/bandwith but at the same time I kind of need it in my case. I wont say that my company is the best but with 500 meg of space (more then I need) and the unlimited bandwidth (which I do need with over 2 gigs a day). As my site slowly is going up as far as revenue, at a different host all that $ would be going back into the bandwith that I eat up.

If I wasnt so in need of the bandwith, I would too stay away from hosting companies like that. At last count 410 domains were on my server. :(

- Dave

[jimbeetle]

There ain't no such thing as unlimited bandwidth. Most mid-sized hosting plans come with somewhere between 6 - 20 gigs per month. If all 410 sites on that server were using 2+ gigs per day...

And while bandwidth might be cheap but it isn't free -- somebody's paying for it somewhere along the line. It's a good thing that the other 410 sites are probably using well under their quotas cause guess who's paying for yours?

And what happens if all 410 sites and others on the same pipe try to use 2+ gigs per day? The pipe is only sooo big.

If you need it and its critical to your business you're much better off paying for it up front.

Jim