Due to a number of factors it's not quite possible for me to host a server at home reliably. I'm looking for some sort of solution that gives me a decent amount of privacy and security on a small server that I'm not sharing with others for hosting stuff like email and a small web site. Is this possible? How would I go about getting this?
Just get a cheap VPS (Virtual Private Server) and install your choice of linux on it. A good VPS host is http://www.linode.com/.
I'm a college student, so I move every six months, so I'm in a similar position as you. A VPS allows me to have my own server without having to maintain the physical box.
Having root allows you to install and run anything you'd like on the box. Hosted solutions will almost assuredly constrain you to PHP plus one or two other languages of the hosting company's choosing.
I'm a college student, so I move every six months, so I'm in a similar position as you. A VPS allows me to have my own server without having to maintain the physical box.