So, long story short... we're probably looking for another ISP to host our site.
We're not _huge_ by a lot of your standards, but then again, we're not exactly a group of 27 either. (18k members with 479,486 posts since 2002 and we're currently on a dedicated 1.5Mbps line.) Usual number of users (including spiders) online in a 30 min period is 150-200, but we've gone as high as 700ish.
I guess I'm just looking for the pros/cons of running a site from a co-lo as opposed to a dedicated ISP (say, godaddy for example). I mean, the lure of the $15/mo unlimited account from godaddy seems to really fill all of our needs on paper. However, call me a control freak, but I'd really like control of the OS and MySQL. Am I stupid for wanting that? I like the ease of just dumping the db to my home server to test upgrades prior to putting them into production (and admittedly, I'm guessing I COULD do that with godaddy.) I guess I just have a bad taste in my mouth after dealing with other ISP's where they force you to use their tools to make things "easier" when in reality they just get in the way.
Admittedly, the $100ish/month we'd be paying a colo (1GB RAM, 1/4 core guaranteed, burstable to 8 cores, 15GB storage, 10TB/mo transfer) is a LOT less than what we're paying now, but if it's stupid to pay even that much... well, I'm all for saving money.
Side note: I'm a Systems Engineer for my day job, so administering one more system isn't a big deal. I can get it to the point where it "just runs" rather easily.
