Facebook® Application Development For Dummies®

Setting Up Your Hosting Environment

Selecting the right hosting environment can be confusing and beyond the skill set of many reading this book. Not all of you are programmers, and even if you are, you may not have the server setup experience to do so. If you do have some experience, nothing is limiting you from selecting your own hosting provider. Here are some providers I really like that can help you get started:

• Bluehost (http://bluehost.com): This is the simplest of the bunch. With Bluehost, for as little as $6.95 a month, you get your own basic Web site and the capability to edit your own HTML files. don't expect to get very advanced though. You have no root access, and dynamic options are limited in what you can do. Rumor has it that Bluehost also has issues if your application ever gets too much traffic, so be prepared to scale if this happens.

  Bluehost is a nice, simple option for getting a Web site up and running quickly, and for cheap. For something very simple, these guys are the ones to go with.

• Fibernet (http://fiber.net): This is the service I use. I am using a beta right now of a cloud-based service that allows you to scale very easily. Hopefully by the time you read this book, this service will be available to the general public. I chose Fibernet because of its great pricing and great service. Fibernet is a bit more for the advanced user, but it gives you the full flexibility you need.
• MediaTemple (http://mediatemple.com): MediaTemple can give you a few more options, ...