[TheBlindHatter]

I'm running my site (doesn't actually exist at the moment) along with a few clients on iPage... I find its slow and not very friendly when it comes to advance features such as Cron Jobs.

So the question is to iPage or not to iPage?

iPage is cheap but I already have a dedicated server (several) and it wouldn't cost me anything more except possibly a headache setting it up on the server itself.

[The Real Slim Shady]

So let me get this straight:

A. iPage is slow, lacks advanced features, and costs money (even if its cheap)
B. You have a dedi server with full control that could host the site with no additional cost and presumably fast speeds.

Do we really need to state the obvious for you?

[dropzon3]

At those prices I'm not surprised its slow its probably quite oversold.

If you're competent with securing the server and securely setting up the server then consider running it yourself. Know that you will then be responsible for maintaining an appropriate service level,up-time and regular updates.

There is a sizable benefit to having a managed provider handling some of these services. Granted there are exceptions and failures but they likely have someone whose job is managing the services and keeping them up to date and hopefully securely configured. This is a load off from you as you then only need to worry about client code.

As such I'd recommend looking at where your bottleneck is. If their database servers are still good speed you might want to consider letting them run the database as a DB can be rather resource intensive on your own box. Just run the web-service on your own box. Or perhaps the web-service is good but the DB is slow, then you can run the DB on your own box but let them handle the intensive SSL decryption/encryption and server-side code execution.

As for crons you can always run crons on your own machine and have it communicate with your shared host. Though if you are finding yourself needing these features then perhaps it is time to upgrade. One thing I like about dreamhost is you do get shell access so crons and other non-root tasks are pretty easy. Perhaps you can just find a host that meets your needs. Imo unless you're competent running the servers(I have no idea where your skill level is so don't think I'm talking down to you; I'm not.) you should opt for a managed service and take over services one by one as you learn to manage each especially since you have clients. If it was just your own stuff I'd say run it all yourself its good to learn.

[TheBlindHatter]

So let me get this straight:

A. iPage is slow, lacks advanced features, and costs money (even if its cheap)
B. You have a dedi server with full control that could host the site with no additional cost and presumably fast speeds.

Do we really need to state the obvious for you?

Obviously yes my dedi gets 1Gbps upload but the problem I'm having is would it be more secure to host in with a third party seeing as how the site will have billing and payment information on it and I'm worried there may be a security risk. I guess what I'm asking is that would it be better to use iPage where everything is setup and its their problem not mine or use my own dedicated boxes and have to learn/setup all of the stuff associated. My box is already running apache with phpmyadmin perl, pear, and other associated tools you would need to host a website/webserver with but I do not actually know how to set it up properly.

So which is best for me? If hosting it with a 3rd party is better can you recommend any good alternatives (I was looking at GoDaddy but it can get pricey)

@dropzon3

Thanks didn't see your reply till after I posted this ^ but yea I think I may just make a test site and host it on the server play around with it for a bit than point the domain to it when I'm comfortable its ready. I was just worried about security issues (eg: someone hacks into the site through an overlooked vuln and than they get access to my other stuff on the box).