Ste Packaging

My hosting provider, DreamHost, has just officially informed me that my repository is preventing other customers, on the shared server I am on, from using their sites. This because my site is using every available connection to the server, leaving nothing for visitors to the sites of their other customers.

They have told me that I must reduce the number of connections to my site or move to their Private Server plan.

I can’t reduce the number of connections. The only facility I have to do this, is by blocking entire IP address ranges of countries in a .htaccess file. However, by the time the .htaccess file is invoked, the connection to my server has already been made and all I would do is prevent the connecting IP address from downloading anything - this does not reduce the connections though, which is the problem.

I cannot afford to move to their Private Server plan. I am unemployed and have been since April 12, 2007. I received my last unemployment check just over two weeks ago and in about two months I will be in grave danger of defaulting on my mortgages, credit cards and all my other bills, which will lead to my credit being ruined and I (and my beloved 3 cats) without a home. I absolutely cannot spend any more money on the repository at this time (I’ve already spent just shy of $600, getting it set up with DreamHost).

The repository is, essentially, falling victim to its own success.
So, either I can shut down the repository, or DreamHost will. The only other option is that someone steps up to pay for the  Private Server option, or that someone provides me with free adequate hosting elsewhere. I’m not even certain that the Private Server option is a viable one, even if a way to pay for it was found. The number of connections to my site would either overwhelm the host server that my virtual server ran on, or DreamHost would limit the number of connections allowed to my virtual server, which would be detrimental to the repository. A dedicated server or two may be the only option. It may also be necessary to have a provider place a firewall in front of the server, to reject connections from much of the world - and let them find their own “Ste”. I just don’t see how one server can be expected to handle the entire world downloading from it at virtually the same time.

I am open to ideas - let’s brainstorm - as to how I can keep this going. But if something doesn’t happen very quickly, DreamHost will simply turn my site off.

-ste