The Technical Aspect

Although this site is oriented photography, and before writing the first article on photography, I think you’ll be interested in the technical aspect.

Technology used

This site is written in Java. The photos are stored into a MySQL database for the property protection and the watermark is added on the fly.

Hosting

The DSL in France has not sufficient bandwidth to host a photo web site and I decide to rent a dedicated server. You will find, below, my opinion.

My website is hosted by OVH and I chose the Kimsufi 16G option (Intel Core i5 quadcore / 16 GB / 2 TB of storage) for € 47.83 including VAT per month. I have excluded the virtual machine solution available on the market for a performance raison.

In comparison, the Dedibox QC option (HP ProLiant DL120 Intel DualCore Core i3 / 4GB Memory / Storage 2TB) from Online.net are equivalent for the same price.

Pros / Cons

• OVH
  • +  You can pay 1 month, 3 or 12 months.
  • +  Powerful configuration but It seems to be an industrial hardware (no-name brand).
  • +  no payment obligation. pay only the duration you need.
  • –  No direct access to the server console and a recovery option is available thru the network (PXE boot).

• Online.net
  • + direct access to the server console thru the iLO Remote Management
  • + Known Branded hardware (HP)
  • – 40 days notice of resiliation.

I have not yet tested the support service.

The next article will be on the photography.

Don’t hesitate to ask me details and give me a message thru Facebook.

Nicolas Portais

Comment on June 2012:

• I have terminated the Hosting at OVH because the cost was too expensive for my small traffic. My website is now hosted at home using the my internet connection.
• I have adopted WordPress for my blog and the administration of this part of my website is now simplified. The portfolio of my website root is still in Java and developed myself.