Smashing Mobile Web Development

Setting Up the Production Environment

Now that you have your development environment set up and have your tools in your back pocket, it’s time to discuss what type of infrastructure you need for the production or public version of your web app. Depending on the activity and involvement of your web app, you need to pick the level of server performance that your application needs to run. In this section, I talk about the hosting, infrastructure, and bandwidth solutions you can use to make sure your web app can scale from one user to one million users.

Hosting

There are few types of hosting for your web app. The following list compares the price, features, and scalability of some popular options.

• Shared hosting: Vendors include GoDaddy, BlueHost, and Media Temple — and the price is low. A shared hosting solution means that you are sharing resources with other members on the same server. If another user on the server has a spike in traffic, your application suffers. This is a low-cost solution for users who have very low traffic or activity on their service.

This hosting is usually offered in service-managed plans, so the user doesn’t need to manage the server or make updates. An end user will see a Control Panel user interface and can make any changes without having to log into the server through SSH.

• Virtual Private Server (VPS): Offered from Media Temple and Rackspace Medium, VPS solutions range from being medium to high in price depending on the size of the server you purchase. ...