Hosting services & Mapserver/PHP Mapscript?

[Dave Nuttall]

After following Mapserver development/evolution for a couple years, I've
reached a point where a very small entity has requested my help to build a
web-based dynamic map application.  From my vantage point, it seems to be a
great fit for a LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL(or Postgres)/PHP-or-PERL) environment.

Once in a while there are posts/blogs that point to Dreamhost and a couple
others but so far each has been less than I'd hope for.

Dreamhost does allow compiling your Mapserver.cgi with Apache2.x but asserts
they will NOT support Apache DSO modules.  Also, they do not allow
Postgres..which would be OK if they just allowed DSO modules like
mod_auth_mysql and php_mapscript!!!

Other hosts that seem to cater to Mapserver folk appear to be still using
Mapserver 4.x instead of the current, apparently stable 5.x version.  I've
queried one or two by e-mail and get absolutely no response, so that tells
me a lot about how they take care of their customers!

Short of contracting for a virtual host with root access at 6-10 times the
typical cost of a main stream hosting service like Dreamhost, MidPhase, et
al, I'm stumped with regard to WHERE to look!

And this while I live within a 10-minute drive of AT&T headquarters and the
new Rackspace mega-data-center!!!

TIA for any advice/hints from mapserver production practitioners!

Dave Nuttall
San Antonio, Texas