As a programmer with limited experience, and interest, in server management, what are some good options for having space available online that makes getting to the actual development and deployment of Java web applications simple?
Needs: - ability to create, or at least manage a database through non-command line interface, even if it just requires using a remote connection to the database manager - deployments can be done from remote server - hooking up a domain to a Java server context needs to be easily done (I don't want to manage something like mod_jk with Apache manually)
It all depends on how cheap you want to go. Google App Engine is the cheapest (free) for small sites, but if your site gets very little traffic you have to wait for the JVM to start up.
Here are some links to check out:
Inexpensive VPS/Cloud:
http://www.joyent.com/services/cloudhosting/
http://performancehosting.net/hosting.php
http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/virtual-dedicated-servers.aspx
A little less expensive, but very popular:
If you are a Java dev and are interested in a very fun, simple Java-based web framework and hosting package:
More reading: http://mediatemple.net/