Every DevOps engineer, every web developer, every project manager, anyone in the software industry really, works with web hosting on a daily basis. Naturally, web hosting plays a huge role in the software development workflow. We’ll go into details below.
Full root access to the server
If you’re a developer you’re most likely using a dedicated or VPS/cloud server. Most, if not all, software developers will need full root access to the server they’re working with. All unmanaged hosting providers will give you full root access to your server. However, most managed server providers won’t. So be careful if you’re going with managed hosting and make sure you have full root access to the server if you want to have the freedom to properly configure and install any software you need on your server.
Speed
Nobody wants to deal with a slow server or a slow application. Not the users, nor the developers. Your web hosting greatly affects the server’s speed. No matter how much you try to optimize your apps and your server, if your hosting provider doesn’t properly configure, secure and run their servers, your apps will take the beating. When choosing a hosting provider, make sure they have all the right caching mechanisms implemented, make sure you’re isolated from other users on the server and make sure their data center has access to fast, redundant connections.
Your server’s resources for testing
Every decent development workflow will have testing in it. If you’re testing a web application or any other app for that matter, you’ll likely need to test it on a server. Sure, you can do a simple test on any kind of hardware. But if you want to properly test your apps you’ll need to have a complex testing setup, and your server may not be able to handle it. The next time you buy a server for development, make sure you have enough resources so it can handle your testing process.
Ease of use
Web hosting providers that cater to developers usually offer extra features like:
- A staging system
- Automatic backups
- API access
- Accessing the server via an online console
- Sharing control
- And more
Even though any DevOps engineer and most developers can do this setup themselves, it’s still nice to have, and it saves A LOT of time. Every feature will make the whole development process easier and it will save all of you some valuable time.
Hosting plan options
Everyone has different requirements. There are all kinds of hosting providers offering various kinds of hosting plans. Some web hosting providers offer every kind of hosting plan there is. Some focus their work on a single application. We’ll go through all the different hosting plans (in short) and who they are for when it comes to software development:
- Shared and Reseller web hosting – developers don’t usually get this kind of hosting since it’s very limited and slow, but if you’re developing a CMS or any kind of a self-hosted app, you may need it for testing purposes.
- VPS/Cloud hosting – this is what most developers use. You get better control over your server and a much better performance. There are 2 kinds of VPS hosting – managed and unmanaged. DevOps engineers usually go with unmanaged servers as they can handle the management themselves. Examples of good unmanaged server providers include DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, RamNode, and more.
- Specialized managed hosting – it’s a hosting plan that focuses on a single app, like WordPress. On a managed WordPress hosting plan you can only install and use WordPress. So obviously, only WordPress developers can use this kind of hosting plan. For plugin/theme developers they’re great. They can focus on developing their plugins or themes, and not worry about managing the server or anything else since it’s being handled by the hosting provider. This comparison of WordPress hosting providers will give you great examples of web hosting providers that specialize in WordPress
- Dedicated server hosting – you basically get a whole server to yourself only. With VPS hosting, you’re isolated from others but still share the same server resources. However, with a dedicated server, you have full control over the server and you’re using it by yourself. Much like VPS hosting, there are 2 kinds of dedicated server hosting plans – managed or unmanaged.
- Other – you’ll find all kinds of hosting plans out there. AWS, for example, offers various hosting plans, including hosting plans dedicated to databases only.
Other than the actual category of a hosting plan, you’ll also need to make sure your hosting provider offers different server location options. You’ll want to use a server that’s located near to you or your users.
Another option that’s great to have, especially when it comes to server hosting is operating system options. Are you going to run Linux on your server? If so, which distro? Make sure they support it. Windows servers are less common, so finding a good Windows hosting provider can sometimes be difficult.
As you can clearly see, choosing the right hosting plan does have an impact on your development workflow. Make sure you choose the right hosting plan for you or get several if you need different setups.
Pricing
It’s debatable whether or not pricing directly affects a software development workflow, but it still does play a huge part in the whole software development process. How much of your budget are you willing to invest in web hosting? After all, you get what you pay for. If you want a better server that will help your development rather than break it, you’ll need to pay more. Don’t go for the cheapest hosting provider you can find, but also don’t go for more expensive providers and expect them to be better than the cheaper ones. Do your research and make sure you’re choosing the right hosting provider for your development.
About the author
Nick Reiner is an everyday normal guy working with Linux and web hosting on a daily basis. Loves writing content for the things he loves and knows.