.ie domain and hosting cheap... anywhere?

Bard

Ok- need to set up and host a .ie domain somewhere.

No scripting (PHP/ASP/etc.) necessary on the host, but being able to use SSI's would be handy.

The cheaper the better, as the client is not exactly flushed with moolah.

Any suggestions?

Shiminay

www.hosting365.ie looks good.

Bard

Thanks Kharn- they do indeed look good, - I'll give 'em a buzz.

[edit]: Gave them a buzz... nice friendly sales staff.

This package looks pretty good (€12.95 setup and 12.95 a month OR €129.95 annually with no setup fee - not bad).

On top of that, it's €64.95 to register a .ie domain with them or €19.95 for .com/.net/.org - why .ie is still so expensive mystifies me, but €64.95 doesn't seem too bad...

unless someone can beat those prices, of course

rasher

Hi email me for information on really cheap web hosting. simon@the-earth.com

shamrock

Very nice. Looks like the cheapest around .I might give them a try in future

Bard

Originally posted by rasher
Hi email me for information on really cheap web hosting. simon@the-earth.com

That's no way to make a sale... why don't you just post this information here?

I'll go with hosting365, ... unless I find better - of course.

Baz_

Originally posted by Bard


That's no way to make a sale... why don't you just post this information here?

ROFL, way to put him in his place bard, i hate posts like his.

PiE

Yea it looks good, but this isn't very nice:

"Conversions: €12.95 = IR£10..."

I know it's good value and it's only 16c or something, but still...

b20uvkft6m5xwg

It does look alright Niall.

I like the POP3 & web interface option for e-mail, which is of great benefit to clients if travelling etc. I presume they will allow virtual hosting as well- ie- multiple domain names?

BTW, Have you tried DSVR.co.uk . I dont know whether they will support ".ie"'s but I've found them quite good and the support is very good as well.

And yes, Why are .ie domain names so ridiculously priced in comparison to all other TLD's??

MarcusGarvey

Stephen that runs hosting365.ie used to be a partner in host.ie, I dunno or don't care what happened but he left and formed hosting365 and took the client details with him.

I was then spammed and others I know on a weekly basis about hosting365s bargain hosting as well as the recent history of his problems with his business partner. I asked to be removed and was told I'd have to unsubscribe from his mailing list myself as he wouldn't do it.

This is utter bull****. The ****ing cheek of this spammer to tell me I had to opt out from his spam list. I did not opt in, he took my details from another company and used them.

I will go out of my way now to discourage people from using his services. I will also be looking into my rights under the Data Protection act for having my details disclosed to another company. I'll happily waste money on going down the legal route to get retribution.

There was also a childish catfight between him and his former business partner on the Open Mailing List ( http://www.webnet.ie/open ) last week which reflected poorly on both companies, so much so that I will tell the 6-10 people I got to use the service to move to some other hosting service that has nothing to do with either.

MarcusGarvey

If you get a .ie domain name direct from domainregistry.ie they'll charge you around £120

After you buy your 10th domain from them they will sell them for £40 each.

They're so expensive because they're a monopoly. Many people have had loads of problems with them and I don't like the way they operate. They pissed off a load of people with the whole no generic names allowed rule yet others got generic names.

Theres no automatic way to change your nameserver details either which just plain sucks. You're best off to specify zoneedit nameservers if you are thinking of switching hosts.

dahamsta

Hi Marcus,

I won't get into the actual hosting365.ie thing, because they would be a competitor of sorts and I don't want to be seen as biased. It's my personal view that the people behind most Irish hosting companies are largely conmen, liars or incompetents, which is why I decided to go dedicated and host my clients myself, in the UK and the US. I'd love to set up a hosting company oriented around the customer, but the costs in doing that are prohibitive. It may happen at some time in the future. I wouldn't suit Niall though, I'd be a wee bit too expensive. I certainly won't sell .ie domain names for less than €200 now. It's too much trouble. But I'm rambling...

I will also be looking into my rights under the Data Protection act for having my details disclosed to another company. I'll happily waste money on going down the legal route to get retribution.

DISCLAIMER: I Am Not A Lawyer

Your rights regarding the transfer of data are rather murky, especially if you're suggesting that this person took them without permission. I don't know if you /are/ in fact saying that, but if so, you would need to talk to whoever held the data originally. If you have questions, you should get onto the Data Protection Commissioner's office, I've found them rather helpful in the past, even by email. You'll find contact details on their site at www.dataprivacy.ie, and it's worth browsing the site while you're there, it's quite well put together.

Your rights regarding stored data are pretty much written in stone though, and you're in a very good position here. European Data Protection law is among the strongest in the world, and of course that transfers over to Ireland. Your rights are very simple - you have a right to know what data a company has stored about you, and you have a right to request that the data be removed from their systems. When you request the removal, the organisation concerned has to remove your data within 40 days, and they have to confirm the removal to you. If they do not remove the data, you have the right to complain to the Data Protection Commissioner about it.

In essence, this person has already ostensibly broken the law, by refusing to delete your data from their systems, however at this juncture the legality is arguable, because it's quite likely you didn't phrase your request correctly (through no fault of your own), and your records may be questioned in court. I would suggest that you to submit a written reqest to the organisation in question, asking them to remove any and all data about you from their system*, and to confirm that they have done so within forty days, as provided for in the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Considering your enthusiasm to get retribution, I would also suggest that you query your rights with regard to the transfer of data. I would be interested in the results of this query, and what action you take subsequent to that -- it would be nice if you posted a follow-up message here, or, if you're disinclined to post publicly on the matter, PM or email me. There's no particular reason for this, I'm just generally interested in privacy issues.

adam

* If you want to be a bitch, you could request that they provide you with all records about you first, but I think it highly unlikely they would provide you with the stuff calling you nasty names for being awkward. It's not like FOIA unfortunately.

dahamsta

JMCC, I think it's your turn to slag off the IEDR. I'm getting bored of it anyway...

adam

MarcusGarvey

Dahamsta: IrelandOffline are lucky to have you on the committee. Thanks.

rasher

The reason I said email me is I dont have any prices to post, I offer FREE Hosting!!!

Bard

Originally posted by rasher
The reason I said email me is I dont have any prices to post, I offer FREE Hosting!!!

really?

...and how much do you charge for a .ie domain?

...and how many domains can I point at the one (FREE!!!) site?

...and what server uptime guarantees do you give?

...and where is this server physically located?

...and what platform does your server run?

...and what extensions and scripting languages are available?

...and what kind of backup & support system have you in place should things go wrong?

...and what is the name of your company?

...and what speed is your servers connection to the Internet?

--

sorry, but getting something for nothing raises a lot of questions - and a few suspicions.

The Corinthian

Your host need not be in Ireland if you're looking to host a .ie, a US or UK hosting company will do fine and they'll often be far more compitant and almost always cheaper that the Irish equivalent, who feed off the luser misconception that only Irish Hosts can host .ie sites.

Try Host Search to find one.

Bard

Originally posted by The Corinthian
Your host need not be in Ireland

Having worked with the Internet for over 6 years, I'm fully aware of it's global nature and that there's no actual "need" for my web host to be in Ireland to have a ".ie".

However, I WANT to go with an Irish company this time - for my own personal reasons.

dahamsta

I know you already know this Niall, but I think it's worth pointing out for the audiences benefit: Irish companies may not necessarily run servers in Ireland. I don't, because running servers in Ireland is prohibitively expensive. I have servers in the UK and the US though, and they perform as well, and often better than they would do if they were located in this country. This is mostly down to Ireland's poor connectivity -- you will often get a better response from a server located in a datacenter peered with the LINX than you will from one peered with the INEX. As a point of fact, at certain times - most notably when the networks in the UK or Ireland are suffering from problems - my server in the US performs better than both of the above, because it is sitting on multiple OC48 pipes directly connected to the backbone.

There is a stark difference between the way some companies run their hosting businesses though, and this is why I made my previous comments about the people behind Irish hosting companies -- there are only a few "genuine" hosting companies in Ireland, that is companies based in Ireland with servers in Irish datacenters. Even some of the bigger companies are simply resellers for UK and US hosting companies. What irks me is that these companies do not make this clear to their customers, even when asked directly. I personally find that unethical. But then I'm a right bitch.

adam

The Corinthian

Originally posted by Bard
Having worked with the Internet for over 6 years, I'm fully aware of it's global nature and that there's no actual "need" for my web host to be in Ireland to have a ".ie".

Working with the Internet for over 6 years is no guarantee of competence with the Internet.

However, I WANT to go with an Irish company this time - for my own personal reasons.

You didn't say that in your original post, so my answer vas a valid one given an incomplete question.

Beyond that, I'd echo dahamsta's views on Irish hosts.

amp

Wow a semi-heated debate in Webmaster. Undercurrents of mild nastiness. Will I have to lock a thread in webmaster? Probably not.

Bard

Originally posted by The Corinthian

Working with the Internet for over 6 years is no guarantee of competence with the Internet.

Never said it did. I just said that HAVING worked with the net for that long, I was already aware that ".ie" doesnt mean "hosted in Ireland."

For your information (not that it matters or anything), I DO consider myself quite competent in Internet technology and particularly in web design/development... but that's irrelevant.

You didn't say that in your original post, so my answer vas a valid one given an incomplete question.

I know... but I'm saying it now.

I was looking for a recommendation of a good IRISH company and I do realise that this doesn't necessarily mean that the server will be IN Ireland.

Beyond that, I'd echo dahamsta's views on Irish hosts.

And fair play to ya. I'd agree with you on that.

DEmeant0r

I offer webhosting, My servers are not in Ireland they're in America, And I offer just plain hosting to reseller accounts, pm or e-mail for quotes since my site ain't up yet.

PiE

^Heh.

dahamsta

Wow a semi-heated debate in Webmaster. Undercurrents of mild nastiness.

That MySQL v PostgreSQL thread didn't pan out like you were hoping, eh amp?

adam

mysql is better (try and get it going again)

The Corinthian

Originally posted by Bard
Never said it did. I just said that HAVING worked with the net for that long, I was already aware that ".ie" doesnt mean "hosted in Ireland."

No, but the implication is there - and let me stress that I've no idea of your competency, only that warning bells start ringing when I hear that used as an argument [1].

To be honest by the time I answered the post I'd forgotten who'd asked it - I just remembered the question. I would have guessed you would know, so I meant no offence. But as for the Guaranteed Irish thing, you didn't specify that.

Originally posted by dahamsta
That MySQL v PostgreSQL thread didn't pan out like you were hoping, eh amp?

Whichever... PostgreSQL... poor man's Oracle...

OK, sorry... that was a troll

[1] I know of one firm (I'm shure dahamsta could guess who) that boasts of it's long standing experience in the Internet (as a way of winning arguments), that will also admit that it hasn't a clue about PHP4 - sticks to PHP3 - am I the only one here who thinks that keeping up with new technologies is a good idea :mad:

dahamsta

I know of one firm (I'm shure dahamsta could guess who) that boasts of it's long standing experience in the Internet (as a way of winning arguments), that will also admit that it hasn't a clue about PHP4 - sticks to PHP3 - am I the only one here who thinks that keeping up with new technologies is a good idea :mad:

Actually, I don't, and now you've piqued my curiousity. How could you have a clue about PHP 3 and not have a clue about PHP 4? The mind boggles.

adam

jmcc

Originally posted by The Corinthian


Whichever... PostgreSQL... poor man's Oracle...

OK, sorry... that was a troll

[1] I know of one firm (I'm shure dahamsta could guess who) that boasts of it's long standing experience in the Internet (as a way of winning arguments), that will also admit that it hasn't a clue about PHP4 - sticks to PHP3 - am I the only one here who thinks that keeping up with new technologies is a good idea :mad:

Keeping up with new technologies or languages etc is a good thing but most sysadmins will be conservative by nature when deploying that new technology or scripting languages, especially when a number of clients are depending on the particular server. PHP4 is largely a progression of PHP3 so the argument does sound a bit strange though there were a few initial problems with PHP4. When you think about it, there are some very strange people using the d'Internet.

How many dot.bombs used Oracle and how many used Postgres or MySQL.

Just watching a download happening at 2106 Kb/s here. Makes the last twelve hours of data recovery on a Windows box seem like a bad memory. not sure which is worse - the characters in Eircom who deny us broadband or the characters in M$ who write really naff software. Your serve.

Actually the good thing about PHP4 is that the Wrox book has a very interesting case study on a Yahoo like URL directory. The files I am downloading at the moment are the DMOZ files so I was messing about with various architectures. Ripping the Irish stuff (RDF->SQL) results in about a 4 MB database with an eventual html footprint of about 14 MB. (This is a very heavily trimmed architecture but it should be doable in most dbs.)

Just meandering vaguely back on topic, what is Doras running on? It looks like Lotus or something similar. Also I think that the IEDR is heading for a very big crash in the next year or so. This is based on the .ie websites and the last modified data returned - a lot of them just seem to be expensive brochureware sites that will probably be eliminated as their owners flip to .com or .net. Indeed a lot of .ie domains seem to be unused, especially the generic ones. It may be unlikely that the holders of these domains will renew them. Also a lot of what seemed to be good .ie domains seem to be vastly under exploited since the skills of their owners did not match their political skills in acquiring them. Most of the *directory.ie type domains seem to fall into this category.

The cost of .ie domains has gone beyond a joke and it is really irritating to see IEDR as both a registry and a registrar. In effect we are competing with these subsidised characters for .ie registrations. Traditionally the bulk of the .ie registrations is shared amongst the ISPs. The situation with the CNOs is that the ISPs are rapidly losing grounds in a free market and people are far more inclined to purchase a .com or (Com/Net/Org) domain. Most of what the IEDR does is concentrated on maintaining jobs for themselves.

Regards...jmcc

rasher

Originally posted by Bard


Never said it did. I just said that HAVING worked with the net for that long, I was already aware that ".ie" doesnt mean "hosted in Ireland."

For your information (not that it matters or anything), I DO consider myself quite competent in Internet technology and particularly in web design/development... but that's irrelevant.

I would not call anyone Competent in Internet technology if they would prefer to use a Windows/iis/asp server over a Solaris/Apache/php server.

Bard

Originally posted by rasher


I would not call anyone Competent in Internet technology if they would prefer to use a Windows/iis/asp server over a Solaris/Apache/php server.

Oh right... so it would be more "competent" of me to work in a scripting language I don't know, on a platform I'm not as used-to as I'd like, than to work with a scripting language I've been trained in and am comfortable in on a platform I am VERY used to and very capable in?

So it would be more "competent" of me to waste time re-training myself in a new system and ignore years of experience in the system which I'm used to? Don't be ridiculous.

It's not what choice of platform or languages I make that makes me competent or incompetent - it's how well I use it. You are implying that I am NOT competent in Internet technology simply because I use Windows ;- and that, at best, is a silly and ignorant thing to say.

misterq

Originally posted by jmcc


The cost of .ie domains has gone beyond a joke and it is really irritating to see IEDR as both a registry and a registrar. In effect we are competing with these subsidised characters for .ie registrations. Traditionally the bulk of the .ie registrations is shared amongst the ISPs. The situation with the CNOs is that the ISPs are rapidly losing grounds in a free market and people are far more inclined to purchase a .com or (Com/Net/Org) domain. Most of what the IEDR does is concentrated on maintaining jobs for themselves.

Regards...jmcc

Hi

I do agree that there's a lot wrong with the IEDR, but I have come accross several customers in my line of work that have previously registered .com/.net but have decided to change to a .IE as they consider it a more "quality" domain (ie: you have to jump through hoops to get it!).

On the cost side, .IE's will never get as cheap as .com's, but you have to recognise there are certain economies of scale at work with .com's the 25,000 odd .IE domains just can't acheive.

My own company offers .IE's for €49 per year when purchased with hosting, so I think both the ISP's and the IEDR could both do more to shave a few Euro off the prices.
Maybe the goverment should subsidise the IEDR to encourage more businesses to register .IE's?


Ronan

The Corinthian

Originally posted by rasher
I would not call anyone Competent in Internet technology if they would prefer to use a Windows/iis/asp server over a Solaris/Apache/php server.

OK, that has to be a troll... No one could be so dumb as to say that.

There are various reasons that one may use Windows/IIS/ASP over Solaris/Apache/PHP, depends on time, budget and requirements. Integration into an existing system that’s Windows based, or your available resources are only skilled up in ASP or it’s a requirement of the client’s to encapsulate business logic in COM (and I know that PHP has COM support).

The most recent site I finished was running on Linux/Apache/PHP, because it best suited the project requirements, but the same can be said for other past projects that were done on Windows/IIS/ASP or Solaris/iPlanet/Java. One size does not fit all.

Originally posted by dahamsta
Actually, I don't, and now you've piqued my curiousity. How could you have a clue about PHP 3 and not have a clue about PHP 4? The mind boggles.

I was having a pint with the Technical Director of a firm a good while ago and asked him a question (AFAIR) about cURL in PHP. His response was that he didn’t know the answer because he was a ”Guru in PHP3 but not in PHP4” and hence didn’t use it. We’re talking about someone infamous for using the argument that he’s been developing for n years and thus knows more than everyone else... Hence why warning bells go off when I ever hear a similar utterance.

Originally posted by Bard
So it would be more "competent" of me to waste time re-training myself in a new system and ignore years of experience in the system which I'm used to? Don't be ridiculous.

Training never ends. Every new language, every new technology opens up new options when designing and developing a system.

Is re-training yourself to develop XML, DTD or XSLT a waste of time? I’ll admit, when I first saw XML I thought ”wouldn’t it be easier to use CSV” (and in many cases it would), but I certainly don’t regret my having taught myself to develop for XML/DTD/XSL/Schemas, in the end.

Even keeping up to date with versions is important: dahamsta got one over on me in a thread on MySQL a while back, in part because I’d not kept up to date with the most recent releases. My information became dated and hence inaccurate.

The same goes for PHP – two years ago I would have coded a site in either ASP or Java. Having heard and read a lot of good things about PHP, I finally threw myself into learning it and now do a very substantial amount of my work in this language. Not a waste of time at all.

In short: Evolve or die.

dahamsta

I do agree that there's a lot wrong with the IEDR

Understatement Of The Month.

but I have come accross several customers in my line of work that have previously registered .com/.net but have decided to change to a .IE as they consider it a more "quality" domain (ie: you have to jump through hoops to get it!).

There is only one genuine reason, IMHO, to advise a client to register an IE domain name, and that is to give users the impression of "irishness". The IEDR has stated that the price of IE domain names is in part driven by the "hoops" - they would indeed refer to it as "quality" - but anyone with a basic knowledge of the system knows how to step around them. Therefore quality doesn't come into it.

On the cost side, .IE's will never get as cheap as .com's, but you have to recognise there are certain economies of scale at work with .com's the 25,000 odd .IE domains just can't acheive.

There are indeed, but even the wholesale price is scandalously overpriced. It should be at least half the current price, if not even less. The retail price should be controlled by registrars.

Maybe the goverment should subsidise the IEDR to encourage more businesses to register .IE's?

Absolutely not. There's a lot of actions the government should take - and can take, since it is provided for in the Ecommerce Act - but subsidising IE is certainly not one of them. Perhaps they should investigate the costs involved in IE, since I very much doubt the current prices are cost-oriented. But the best solution would be to mandate separation of the registry and the registrar. And I'm not talking about an Eircom Plc/Eircom Net split either, I'm talking about the dissolution of one or the other.

adam

jmcc

Originally posted by misterq

I do agree that there's a lot wrong with the IEDR, but I have come accross several customers in my line of work that have previously registered .com/.net but have decided to change to a .IE as they consider it a more "quality" domain (ie: you have to jump through hoops to get it!).

The real reason was probably that they missed the whole .com boom and they found that the obvious variation of their company or business name was gone. Therefore they went for a .ie domain. The 'quality' aspect of the .ie was a marketing myth pushed by IEDR. However when these characters allocated 70 generics to one customer when the Generic rule was still in effect, the whole IEDR was discredited. It later allocated over 300 generic medical terms as domains while the Generic rule was still in effect. Now if you think that these characters have the best interest of the .ie tld in mind, you are dealing with a different IEDR.

On the cost side, .IE's will never get as cheap as .com's, but you have to recognise there are certain economies of scale at work with .com's the 25,000 odd .IE domains just can't acheive.

The real reason that the .ie domains are not as cheap as the CNO domains is because IEDR is a waste of money. They seem to be intent on creating jobs for themselves. Stripping IEDR of registrar status is required. Shifting of the onus of entitlement to the registrar and reducing IEDR to running the root server only is perhaps the only way that the .ie will regain any credibility.

Maybe the goverment should subsidise the IEDR to encourage more businesses to register .IE's?

No fscking way. These guys are a waste of name space and their past record of 'affiliate marketing' and listening to the internet business does shows that it is just a toy registry that just doesn't get the net.

Regards...jmcc

tHE vAGGABOND

I slagged off the IEDR once

The big bad people there dont take conversation with them as the subject too well

Be careful what you say or they will issue an empty, groundless threat

buddy

As far as I know the Irish Registrations were originally done in Trinity, to start with, now they are done by a private company, so you'd hope they could offer something better now - but you have to either show documentation of a registered company or no go.

Unless it's your own name!! I doubt this will ever change!!

b20uvkft6m5xwg

As far as I know the Irish Registrations were originally done in Trinity

UCD actually-
It was run by UCD Computer Services up until about 1998 I think, then it became the IEDR

BYW, Its not that difficult to get a ".ie" anymore- They do now openly accept criteria outisde being a "natural" person or "incorporated company" / partnership / sole trader .
Its actually the absurd prices they charge that ppl are complaining about:)

buddy

Thx 4 that info - did not know this!!!

mike65

Interesting thread, when I got my domiane name I looked at the vaious prices and saw instantly was would be a fool to fork out
for a geographicaly specific name that cost so much hence the .net in my name, which costs me about €15 pa.

Mike.

peterd

Originally posted by Bard

...and how much do you charge for a .ie domain?
...and how many domains can I point at the one (FREE!!!) site?
...and what server uptime guarantees do you give?
...and where is this server physically located?
...and what platform does your server run?
...and what extensions and scripting languages are available?
...and what kind of backup & support system have you in place should things go wrong?
...and what is the name of your company?
...and what speed is your servers connection to the Internet?

Bard: "and how much is this free weekend ?" *


*joke I couldn't resist

steve-hosting36

Hi all,

Just in response to the thread, and the post of MarcusGarvey in particular, 365 Hosting Ltd. is a new company, set up by myself at Christmas after I was locked out of Novara - the business I formed three years ago (initially as IWDhosting.com).

The full details are irrelevant, however, mailshots were sent out informing Novara customers of the changes by Eoin Costello before Christmas, to which I simply replied.

All emails I sent had full un-subscribe details at the bottom of the email, and the mailing list system in use requires confirmation of un-subscription from the members address. Apologies if this caused any inconvenience.

Hosting365.ie is an Irish Hosting Comapny, we have invested heavily in the ladt two months on top quality hardware and infrastructure to provide a quality service to Irish Customers.

We provide Linux and Windows 2000 Hosting at among the lowest rates in Ireland, we run all our servers from Dublin, Ireland and own all our own equipment, we are the lowest cost domain reg. provider in Ireland (at register365.ie) and we provide full, FreePhone Technical support and friendly service.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience, upset, or hassle caused by the events of the last few months, over most of which I had no control, and my assurances that hosting365.ie takes pride in the service we provide and are a 'real' hosting company, offering a real alternative to US and UK hosting.

Best regards,
Stephen Mc Carron
www.hosting365.ie

ps: We also provide cost-price hosting for schools/students (and have done for almost three years) at www.scoileanna.com

dahamsta

Great to see a response from the top on this Stephen, well done.

adam

DeVore

I've opened up a new thread for hosting comparison at:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=359576#post359576

DeV.

MarcusGarvey

Originally posted by steve-hosting36

The full details are irrelevant, however, mailshots were sent out informing Novara customers of the changes by Eoin Costello before Christmas, to which I simply replied.

Thats untrue. I got a few mailshots that had nothing to do with your Novara situation. It was simply a spam with your prices.

IRL

I think you'll find everything you need here:

http://www.EasyDomainNames.com

Bye for now.

amp

Originally posted by DeVore
I've opened up a new thread for hosting comparison at:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=359576#post359576

DeV.

UNNFF! This is the bit were i make wit da sticky!

dahamsta

UNNFF! This is the bit were i make wit da sticky!

That's disgusting! Just make sure you clean up after you.

amp test?

adam