23rd World

[Do you] have recommendations for a good economical place which offers hosting for apache? I need to be able to have support for url rewriting using .htaccess file

For Linux / Apache web hosting I always recommend Dreamhost, and they always provide whatever specific thing people seem to be requesting…in this case .htaccess url rewriting.

Here’s my review of Dreamhost:
http://www.mahalie.com/notebook/2005/06/10/my-web-host-reccommendation/

Here’s the answer to the inevitable “what about xyz webhost for only $3/month!”:
http://23rdworld.com/2006/03/06/what-web-host-should-i-use/

Here’s their support wiki page for Mod Rewrite:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Mod_rewrite

If you go with them I’d appreciate a referral (mahalie), but you
should go with them regardless, they’re great!

In my case, it’s not a box, it’s a laptop. After downloading and installing I was a little befuddled by the lack of classic exe interface. It’s got a web admin panel. The problem for me was it was opening, and then requesting authentication to view it. My admin credentials didn’t work. Then I noticed something funny (aside from the fact that Firefox is my default browser) - the url said http://computername/VirtualServer/VSWebApp.exe?view=1 but I’ve never set up a domain controller or IPs or anything. I’m learning from the ground up and my default IIS site is http://localhost. Changing the Virtual Server Website Administration url to http://localhost/VirtualServer/VSWebApp.exe?view=1 fixed the problem. (You can fix the link in the program group by right-clicking the ‘Virtual Server Administration Website and selecting properties.)

Now, anyone who knows me may be wondering what the hey? Now, I’m as a web designer, I have to say, nothing is yummier than Apache and PHP. But, I’m learning development for my job, they’re a great firm that does amazing design work (architecture), so I’ve come to accept that for all their charms they are an MS shop.

My plan with Virtual Server? Well, I have to admit I’m kind of excited about SharePoint’s next iteration. I’m almost through with a course at Netdesk, which has been engrossing and enlightening and I’m trying to set up a good test environment for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). MOSS is soo cool, the knowledge harvesting, management and communication possibilities are huge. I will keep you informed of my painful process.

New to MS > I’m not a Sysadmin > I’m barely a web developer > FEEL MY PAIN!

p.s. That screenshot is using IE7 beta. It’s much, much better than IE 6, more like Firefox, almost as clean and snappy.