Hosting the site on Digital Ocean

I decided to host this site in the cloud. I looked at various options such as AWS, Google Compute Cloud, Google App Engine and a few virtual host providers. I write in AsciiDoc and generate the site using JBake. The entire site is statically generated so my compute needs are not great. Yes, I could host it on github, but I really do need something to keep my web skills sharpened, so I decided to go with a virtual host.

After looking at several providers I settled on Digital Ocean. Their $5 a month plan is more than enough for a website or two. I even have enough capacity to run some small services as well. The sign up process was easy and they had plenty of getting started material. There is even a tutorial on adding Let’s Encrypt support. I had this site up in an evening.

Yes there are other virtual host and cloud providers with great documentation and communities, everyone should look at their own requirements and decide which provider works best for their needs. If you decide Digital Ocean is the way to go use Digital Ocean Sign Up to save $10. That gets you two months free if you are just creating a static site.