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Marc Clifton wrote: Seriously, they don't need to know anything about hosting, sounds like all you need to do is set up a box for them that runs a web server, configure the router to for port 443, set up an SSL certificate and auto-renewal, register a domain, point it to their static IP, ...
Yup!
This could run on a PI3, probably a Pi Zero. For this client I don't think that's the best choice, but I'm keeping that in mind. I've got one of each (PI3, zero W) and need to play more with them.
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My AWS administration experience is limited, but I would second something like Azure or AWS... mainly because of the level of control you get with it is very much akin to a VPS. Or you could just get a VPS, but typically with those you don't get the fancy web interfaces to control it as much as you do with cloud-based environments.
Jeremy Falcon
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Tell them to use Linux... n00bs. 
Jeremy Falcon
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I just watched this Build apps faster with Azure Serverless - YouTube from the MSDN news letter, seems it may meet your requirements. I know a demo like that glosses over all the difficult bits but it may be worth investigating.
I do note there is no discussion of cost 
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Thanks! I was thinking of Azure ... but cost is an issue, so I need to check that.
This is for one client, but I'm also thinking longer range for other small clients.
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Assessing the cost of that service seems to be a major challenge.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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I use SmarterASP.net - Unlimited ASP.NET Web Hosting[^]
1. Decent control panel to host .NET based applications
2. Not sure about support as I never needed it. I mostly use them for my side project
Zen and the art of software maintenance : rm -rf *
Maths is like love : a simple idea but it can get complicated.
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What about an Azure app service, for that much expected traffic they could be on one of the lower pricing tiers.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
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I have a couple of .net applications hosted on http://appharbor.com and I can't recommend it highly enough. If your requirements are simple you may even get away with using their free options, but if not it remains cheap, versatile and scalable
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How about a Azure Web App (there's a free tier for up to 60 compute mins a day) associated with a Azure storage account for the files.
Azure Calculator
Paulo Gomes
Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.
—Bill Gates
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
—Albert Einstein
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I have used GoDaddy for clients that need a lot of hand holding. Their customer support is geared towards clients that need a lot of assistance. Takes the load off me. Not the cheapest option for them, but definitely for you.
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I agree about GoDaddy. Fairly easy to manage and it does just work. If the application is fairly small should be fine
Azure is nice but almost requires that a person know how to manage servers kind of. So Not sure that would be best for you after hearing aobut the client.
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
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I know is a long shot. But .netcore runs in Linux. You might want to look into Digital Ocean. I did some early development with aspnet core 1.0 and it was fast and responsive with a Debian droplet. All experimental. It was interesting.
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Thanks for the suggestion, but I need stable, not experimental. A Raspberry PI was suggested up stream, and THAT is an entertaining thought ... and dirt cheap for the client. But they need something reliable so some type of service is better for everyone.
However, some time down the road when I've had a chance to experiment with my PI's ... I may choose otherwise.
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Arvixe I use a good bit. Very reasonable and while it requires that you have some reasonable level of knowledge. They have been the most cost effective .NET host provider I've run into. When there has been a real problem they were capable and resolved issues in a reasonable length of time.
www.arvixe.com
They have both shared and dedicated hosting at various levels based on your need and very quickly get to unlimited storage and SQL backends. MySQL is provided by default with all of their packages.
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WinHost.com is a very good and affordable option with good support as well. It has all of the tools and more for .NET developers who want or need to support hosted .NET web applications...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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Smarterasp.net. Been using it for several clients for years now. Very affordable, easy to use and decent support.
The perfect woman: cooks good food and never says no in the middle of the night.
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I also use SmarterAsp.net. I use webhostforasp.net as a secondary provider. I received free package deals for both and have kept them around because why get rid of free, but that was back when they were just starting out. I have had good luck with both of them. Easy control panels, easy to load sites and fairly easy to manage.
I would recommend you look at Azure as well. I wouldn't look in any other direction if you are using a .net application as you will probably have too many problems maintaining everything. That is my practical experience, anyway.
The problem I have with all of the Cloud solutions is the true hidden cost. If you purchase a hosting account through one of the providers above, you get x space, with y sites, with z databases and everything is spelled out. The last time I looked at Cloud solutions you get some of the same but some of the billing is based on usage volume, number of Mbytes written to the disk or along the lan etc. Before recommending either or choosing a direction, I would see if you could get a true hard fixed, per month cost. That may help. Your client isn't going to care about "if I use this much volume in March, it costs $100, if I use this much volume in April it will cost $200", they are just going to be pissed when their bill doubles. Plus, I have a golden rule that I always use for applications, and that is they will always grow. If you are only using a little bit now, give it a couple years and that will be significantly larger.
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nightsoul94 wrote: The problem I have with all of the Cloud solutions is the true hidden cost.
YUP!
Costs are a driver, but hidden costs are a more dangerous point in general. I'm thinking of not only hosting costs, but my time to manage anything they can't (which appears likely). I expect the client will be willing to pay a bit more for stable service that doesn't cost them for my time -- which will be cheaper for them. [Plus I long ago lost interest in waking up at 2 AM to handle a production problem.  ]
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I have some "business card" sites that are hosted on SmarterAsp / MyWindowsHosting as the price is right. They do have a IIS Application Sleep that is a little slow to respond which I took care of by setting up a Pingdom account to hit the site every 5 minutes.
I use to use CrystalTech without issue, actually preferred them but they started bumping up their prices and getting out of shared hosting.
Director of Transmogrification Services
Shinobi of Query Language
Master of Yoda Conditional
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Thanks for all the suggestions! I have some research to do ....
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Try Linode.com - you can get a small VPS for $5 /month and can also create high-available and load balancing if you have 2 or more.
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The universe is too great a mystery for there to be only one single approach to it. - Symmachus
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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