I'm using www.triple8.net. I have 1GB ram on my server which seems fine. My server is $59/month and 888 has been a very good provider. The only other configuration items might be the setting of certain ports that you can usually set yourself, but sometimes your host may have to set them.
Whether or not you need SSL is up to you and the nature of your system. I have a cert from Entrust but GoDaddy can also provide a cert. Be aware that there are differences in the level of certificates. Do your research on that.
Installing a cert on the Tomcat server is nowhere near as easy as on IIS. There are a few good postings on this forum describing the steps.
