Webservers/Webhosting Options?

[Neftren]

So I started putting together a small site for personal reasons, and to get some experience with HTML5. In my infinite (read: stupid idea) wisdom, I registered a domain through Google, for $10/Year, which is a good deal, and then went "oh @#*%!", I don't have webspace! So of course, I spend half an hour running around the place looking at options, and decided to stay as much as possible on Google's platform, so I registered a site on Google's App Engine, and got all the DNS redirects working. It's really a nice platform in terms of network scaling, and it's built work with Java and Python. It's built to work with Java and Python.

So, I got to the point where I went, "Crap, Google App Engine has none of the LAMP infrastructure?!" I arrived at this conclusion after trying to install PHPBB3 and realized that their (Google's) server didn't have FTP Access (well, it's indirect FTP access in that I can only upload new files), does not support PHP, and does not support MySQL. I managed to solve the PHP problem with Quercus, but I'm still stumped on the PHP part.

I've gotten to the point where I think I'll need to look outside of Google's realm of expertise. I'm mostly looking to setup PHPBB3 with some form of CMS attached to it (or preferably, vBulletin if I can find a free host), with a decent level of manual site design. So I'm currently either looking for a webhost that supports LAMP, or I register a free PHPBB3 forum from a host and then use DNS redirects (at the cost of less control). Thoughts?

[OracleofWuffing]

Ages ago, I was kinda with someone who used a Dreamhost (http://dreamhost.com/web-hosting/) shared plan, which is going to have your LAMP support as well as Python, but I'm not certain on the Java end. Back when, they also had an easy one-click installer to get PHPBB up and running on your account. The other guys I know of are GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?ci=9009), but have no experience with them. No matter where you go, please be sure to carefully read over how their billing works. I remember- and again, this is from years back- that a number of plans required you to pay X months in advance for the first year. Both of those should have Drupal or Joomla support, which is a free CMS that you might want to look at for samples in action.

I don't know much about running on Google's App Engine, but being designed with Python in mind, it kind of surprises me that there isn't a python-based alternative forum software that'd work for you as you already are.

Edit: Would Python-GG (http://python-gg.appspot.com/) work for this sort of thing?

[Tyndmyr]

I have godaddy...it's aright, and it's dead simple for basic stuff like setting up a forum and what not, but I can't speak to all the details of installed stuff. I find such things approximately akin to having teeth pulled.

I suspect if I ever need a hardcore server, Ill just host it myself and use dyndns to address it.

[Neftren]

Ages ago, I was kinda with someone who used a Dreamhost (http://dreamhost.com/web-hosting/) shared plan, which is going to have your LAMP support as well as Python, but I'm not certain on the Java end. Back when, they also had an easy one-click installer to get PHPBB up and running on your account. The other guys I know of are GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?ci=9009), but have no experience with them. No matter where you go, please be sure to carefully read over how their billing works. I remember- and again, this is from years back- that a number of plans required you to pay X months in advance for the first year. Both of those should have Drupal or Joomla support, which is a free CMS that you might want to look at for samples in action.

I don't know much about running on Google's App Engine, but being designed with Python in mind, it kind of surprises me that there isn't a python-based alternative forum software that'd work for you as you already are.

Edit: Would Python-GG (http://python-gg.appspot.com/) work for this sort of thing?

I have my domain through eNom, which from what I've read is vastly superior. What I'm trying to avoid is paying monthly for web space. Ideally free or pay as you go are preferred, but free has the sketchy sketchy reputation sometimes, and pay as you go doesn't support the LAMP stack.

In terms of forums, it'd be preferable to have something that most people are familiar with. PHPBB3 is free and easy to work with, and vBulletin is what basically every major site uses.