No! That’s my answer. Now I know I’ve ranted occasionally about the shortcomings of different hosts, but I’ve never had a good experience with a client who wanted to host their own Web site.
Just because your IT person recently convinced you to buy a server that also happens to be able to serve Web pages doesn’t mean you should.
A recent experience reminded me of a situation I had a while back. I was working with a company that decided they wanted to host their own site. The IT person, who was very helpful, very friendly, and very responsive felt comfortable hosting the site internally, despite my concerns.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of programming on the site and we were continually asking him to install something new, taking him away from his other responsibilities. (Things that come standard on any paid hosting environment.)
He had never even heard of pearl [sic] when we asked him where the module could be found. When SQL was finally installed for our programmer, he admitted he wasn’t sure if it was installed correctly and asked if we could finish configuring it.
We said no, that we don’t know how to configure SQL either. Just because we know how to drive a car doesn’t mean we know how to build one…or even repair one. (Or even change the oil, but that’s a different story.)
If you’re not in the business of hosting Web sites, stay out of the water; it’s deep and there are sharks.
Rich Brooks
We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat
