Hello fellow Djangonauts --
I've been thinking about launching a managed Django hosting service;
is anyone interested?
The big benefit Django hackers would get from such a service would be
that the LAPD (Linux/Apache/Postgres/Django) stack would be fully set
up when you signed up, so there'd be no mucking about with getting
Django working on some specific crazy set up. I've been the sysadmin
here in Lawrence for over a year so I'm pretty good and managing
Django by now, and this service would use the same tried-and-true
setup we've been using in Lawrence for over two years.
Each user would get a single Django installation with one admin site,
one Postgres database, and unlimited public sites, all of which would
be set up for you and ready to go when you first log in.
I'm thinking of charging around $20-30/mo for this (and probably a
few bucks extra per month for each additional Django database); I'm
thinking of a setup like the following:
- Debian stable
- Apache2
- lighttpd for serving media
- Python2.4
- Django (multiple SVN versions based on PYTHONPATH depending on
weather you'd like stability or to track SVN HEAD)
- Postgres 8 w/ PostGIS and other goodies
- 5-10G disk space (on RAID 1)
- 30-50G monthly transfer
I'll install any software anyone needs -- within reason -- and since
I'm going to keep this deliberately small (no more than 10 or 20
people, I think) I'll be able to provide that fuzzy personal support
thing.
Also, I wouldn't do this to make a profit; I'll try to price the
hosting to as close to breaking even as I can, and I'll funnel any
profits back into Django in some form (probably as development
bounties).
So if you're interested in a hosting environment specifically
designed for Django email me -- off list, please! If there's enough
interest, I'll go forward with this. Oh, and if you're a sysadmin
experienced with Linux and/or Debian, I'd love to exchange free
hosting for your help.
Jacob
