Moving your blog to Heroku
I was running my own linux server at EC2. But, I don’t know the right way to maintain a linux server and I had to stop pretending that I did. I just want to blog, own my own code, and use an affordable service. Most virtual shared hosts work great for this. I was on bluehost for a while. They are ok. I guess. Go Daddy is another example that I would never send anyone to use. And I just had a simple shared host that a buddy maintained for years for me. As long as it has cPanel. You are in good shape.
But I wanted more control… I wanted to have a way to host more random apps and projects without all the headaches and hoops that traditional hosting providers incur. So, I tried running my own Linux server so I could mess with things like OpenPhoto and ThinkUp and Node.js and Ruby on Rails. But maintaining a server is a pain. Especially for an individual with custom needs and not much spare time.
But, I found the ultimate alternative. Wordpress on Heroku. Seriously. This is great. Free* hosting. No server maintenance… just run an application. Almost no risk of having your site hacked, because the filesystem is read-only! And, you are forced to keep your entire site in a git repository which is a best practice anyway. Why is this not everywhere? It’s the perfect compromise between running your own server and simple linux virtual shared hosting.
So, I realized Heroku fulfills all my desires in app hosting (except ASP.Net apps, try AppHarbor). I can hack on quick projects. Maintain a safe and secure code base. Run a simple personal blog with full custom capabilities of a self-hosted WordPress install. And, not pay very much money. And, now I don’t have to worry about my Amazon AWS alarms telling me that I’m spiking my CPU twice an hour for no reason!?! Grrr… And I don’t have to configure Apache anymore! Yay!
- Free for small databases. And, you still pay for hosting images at Amazon S3. But, they offer custom domains on their free tier.