Recommend A Dedicated Hosting Provider

I am about to revamp my Community Site with D7.1 - Am looking for a good Dedicated Hosting. I had a very sad experience with my former host.

Here are my criteria:
- Very Affordable price for a good server resources.
- Offer good backup service (even if my site is completely destroyed, I want to have a backup that can restore every component of my site - Files and Databases - not more that a week old version)
- Good Support. I want my host to be able to fix issues on my site. Not to ask me to go hire myself a programmer for every little issue.
- Good uptime.

I have used shared hosting extensively, is there any difference in outlook and the difficulties in using a Dedicated Hosting Account? Or do they look and feel the same?

I have heard many good things about http://www.zarconia.net/

They are good with dolphin, you can go with them.

 Thanks for the reference Prashank25.

I would like to point of that in regards to 'fixing issues on my site', We do not offer 'managed' packages at this time however we do not have any problems assisting clients with questions/issues they have regarding their Dolphin site.

Edit: I should clarify that last statement. Depending on the request from the client will depend on whether a small service fee is required. Example: Installing 3rd party modules.

Hostgator is by far the most talented set of professionals I have EVER dealt with period end of story the best decision I have ever made dealing with Dolphin the second tier professionals are nothing short of brilliant and explain what sometimes goes wrong and track it down to the code or attack.  In an attack they stopped it in minutes and the site was running perfectly in minutes.  I HAVE NEVER been more impressed with customer service in my life.  The second anytime my site goes down they track it down and give a full report and make suggestions on how to stop it from happening again.  

IF you want someone who knows DOLPHIN Zarkon is very knowledgeable and that brings a great many things to the table...

Keep in mind that managed servers, such as Hostgator, are going to cost more.  It depends on your skill level in managing a server.  If you don't have the skills, then it will probably be best to go with a managed server.  With a managed server, you don't have to go hunting for someone to help you with server issues.

 That is true. 

And since he specifically said 'I want my host to be able to fix issues on my site. Not to ask me to go hire myself a programmer for every little issue.' this would not be included with any 'managed server' package anyway. 'Managed' will help with server related issues, but not normally include free website support.

Maybe managed wasn't the best term for me to use earlier :)

 I didn't even last a month with Hostgator. Kinda funny though since I use Voipo and love it....

Oh ya, almost forgot

ZARCONIA.NET

Thanks SkyForum! :-)

I have a dedicated server with hostv.com and support is excellent.
Reply is within 5 minutes and they fix any issues directly.

You can ask anything that is server related and they will do it for you. No extra cost.

Thanks guys. I really had a sad experience with my community project the last time. How I want to put some money into it - I really want to get it right.

Base on the suggestions, I have a shortlist - zarconia.net and Hostgator

@Zarcon:
On you site when you offer Z700, Z800 and Z900 - Apart from price difference, what is the practical difference when running D7 (e.g. When you have have certain members, you need a Z800, etc)?

Those two server are lot different.

Z700 has 4 GB ram and dual core processor

Z800 has 8 GB ram with quad core processor

Honestly, with a price difference like that Z800 is of course a better choice if you are not a start up.

 Then Z800 it is. But am always worried they say that I will be manning the server myself. I will be needing support - else that will be one crazy drive, lol.

We are not going to leave you in the dark :)

Actually, we setup the server with the specs you choose during the ordering. After that, If you need assistance or have questions, just submit a support ticket.

Fare enough. Setting up the server, does that also carter for RMS? (Since we are primarily Dolphins).

Yes, RMS is included with the setup.

I'm looking at your Z800 package... appears to have what I need.  I assume a Z800 server would be fully setup for a Dolphin site so all I basically need to do is upload the db and site files to the server (and tweak the connection strings).  In other words, will you have pre-installed (for a D7.0.9 site) the optimal versions of CentOS, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, Apache, etc?

TIA :-)

 Yes, the server will be installed with the options you choose during ordering. It will be fully functional and ready for Dolphin.

Host For Web has always been the best to me, and I can state many reasons as to why.

Like most people to start fresh on Dolphin I started on a shared server,  I went with HFW from day one. After my install and got things sorted with thegettogether.net the layout how I wanted it and stuff I started hitting the shared server hard with hits and eating resources like crazy within a month our so, I was worried I couldn't afford a ded and I called them and they explained I could grow with a VPS and they saved me crazy money. In all those times I never paid for "managed" anything, but whenever there was a problem I would just make a call or turn in a ticket and they would get right on it and always fix it even when it was things I done to mess up my Dolphin install, they have techs there that know Dolphin and and never once told me no to help or tried to charge me extra, granted there are people here who know loads more but they are just a hosting company so I was impressed with an onsite Dolphin tech there.

  They are affordable if not the best for the money, they give a 20 percent Boonex discount right off the bat.. then you add in the free Unlimited RMS service and the support and I think it's the best deal going. And as far as reliability and worry about data loss my rangerschat.com site is on a cloud of theirs and there was a failure last week and within 1 hour everything was back up and fully restored with no loss!..  I was impressed, they even sent curtsy emails during that hour to update me! To me that is the extras that make a good host better!.. and i wont even get into having a real 24/7 phone number to reach them when ever there is trouble, and it being based in Chicago is always a plus!..

To show what kind of character the managers there have a few months ago when Dosdawg and them shafted all the clients of terabyte and some people were left helpless and hopeless, I contacted them and explained the situation and they didnt hesitate and offered anyone effected free cloud hosting for a month no questions asked..  didn't see any other hosting companies stepping up like that to help out like that... just goes to show why I like and vouch for these people like I do, they offer a great affordable product and go beyond and above when it comes to helping a site owner or making a customer happy!... hell tell them I sent you and you might even get some sort of bonus discount who knows.

[Nathan: Removed affiliate links - not allowed]

If you want the best price and are comfortable with server administration skip the middle man and go directly to the datacenter. You will save 20-50%. If you are not familiar with all the up keep and administration then you will need to pay more.

Your own maintained server depending on control panel might cost you $50-$100. For managed $150+.

It just depends. I know of setups with 16 cpu's over 20 gb's of ram, and 2 dual 2 tb drives with 1 gb connection for around $100 ish a month. You take care of it and mange on your own though. For someone to manage that toss in at least $100+ per month.

It just depends on you experience level. How much you are willing to spend and what kind of ultimate power you really want or need.