it has been over 10 years since i first registered the ocliw.com domain name. 10 years! in that time, i think the domain has been hosted on about half a dozen servers, the last two have been at a hosting company.

over the years, i’ve had my share of email, web, and other issues. it’s been a long road, but finally, i think that i’ve learned a little something from all of this. the business of web hosting is cutthroat and the margins must be pretty small.

i’m in the process of migrating over all of my web properties back to one machine that is under my full control. here’s what i’ve finally decided on:

DNS registration – godaddy.com
it is really hard to beat godaddy’s prices. they have a cluttered UI, but it works and i haven’t had any issues with them.

DNS management/hosting – everydns.net
they’ve had a few hiccups here and there, but for the most part, this free DNS hosting provider has been great. what i love about them is that their interface is spartan, but gets the job done.

email hosting – google apps
google to the rescue. built on the gmail platform, they can host your domains for free! there are some limits on how many email accounts you can have for free, but it’s well within my uses. POP and IMAP access, too. it’s fantastic.

web hosting – find a friend with a fast connection
if i had fiber at my house, i’d probably host my own server, but since i don’t, i’ve found a friend. it’s fantastic and i don’t seem to really be putting a dent in his pipe.

once all of the DNS has propagated, i’m going to cancel my account with the hosting provider. i’ll write more about why i’m canceling my services with them.