A2hosting support and installation notes
A2Hosting has generously offered one free hosting account for our group and a 25% discount (coupon = a2drupal) for group members on all services.
The free account is a Small Biz shared host account. It seemed logical to me to load Drupal and tell the group about my experience.
Small Biz account
$7.95/month ($5.96 after coupon)
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
10GB Space
100GB Transfer
10 MySQL and/or 10 PostgreSQL databases
PHP 5
MySQL 4 or 5
Setting up the account
They requested I fill out a form like any other customer. They offered MySQL 4 and 5. The default is 4 and they suggest that installers like Fantastico will not work with 5. Although Fantastico has done a lot for introducing people to Drupal, I don't recommend using it to install Drupal for production sites. Fantastico only installs, it has no method for upgrading. Learning how to install Drupal yourself will help you understand Drupal and give you a jump start on performing upgrades. If you just want to do a quick install of Drupal so you can get a feel for what it is, go to Open Source CMS where Drupal and many other products are already installed.
I went with 5 to give me the greatest flexibility but 4 would have been a perfectly fine route.
Account access
After submitting the account registration form I got an email within 30 minutes that contained username/password. The domain name was responding within 24 hours. You can connect using cpanel or ssh (non-standard port).
Installing Drupal
- CVS
I have installed Drupal many times and assume you have too. I have not installed it using CVS and decided to take the opportunity to teach myself. I followed the directiona on Drupal.org about maintaining a site with CVS. I was very happy with the process. It ran very fast and affords me a clear path for maintaining my installation into the future.
The down side of maintaining a site using CVS is that the Update_Status module does not recognize CVS installations.
The Release Monitor module can help track CVS installed modules. I am still working out issues related to monitoring version releases related to core and contributed modules. I will continue to maintain A2Drupal.org using CVS but am undecided if I will adopt this as standard practice.
-Database creation
Database configuration was simple with CPanel and PHPMyAdmin. No suprises. I am used to having root access on my servers and found the database creation and editing clumbsy. Databases must be created through Cpanel and any editing of the database must be done through PHPMyAdmin. Even though I found this confusing this is standard practice and represents a security solution in shared environments.
- Configuration
I am in the habit of configuring my Drupal site in accordance with multisites. This keeps my site specific files contained. I experienced no problems setting up more than one site from a single code base
- Support experience
The most important thing in choosing a hosting service is the quality of support you can expect. While trying to setup Drupal on A2hosting I ran into some minor issues. I took the oppurtunity to submit a few support tickets.
I submitted 3 tickets (setting up Cron, use of phpMyAdmin and CVS commands). All ticket submissions received direct and accurate responses in less than 4 hours in every case. Coupled with the generous donation of free account and discount for members, I was very pleased with the support I received. I have not hesitation in recommending A2Hosting.
- Drupal Installation considerations
The only real issue I had with installing Drupal was setting up Cron jobs. A2Hosting does not offer WGET by default. They offer kicking of php scripts via cron in a different method. As Drupal cron.php script requires a URL variable they method they offer is not sufficient to run Drupal especially in a Multisite configuration. I requested that WGET be provided via a support ticket and it was provided.
You will need to request wget.
I have been using Dreamweaver to develope my websites. I successfully configured Dreamweaver 8 to connect via ftps to manage my A2hosting account.
Ical feed
Concerns about remote backup
Having worked with organizations in NYC and Louisiana, I may be a little more sensitive to this issue, but when I asked their sales staff about remote back up, they told me that they don't have any. So if a flood hits their server farm or some even worse disaster, you lose. Is anyone else concerned about this?
This is a valid concern. A
This is a valid concern. A true backup plan is not complete without remote storage.
I should have asked this.
Where the hosts, that provided remote storage for you in the past, in this price range?
I don't expect inexpensive
I don't expect inexpensive hosting companies to host off-site backups. I make regular backups and keep them with me. Should something happen it's not difficult to redeploy to another host and point the DNS at the new host.
If a flood does happen, it doesn't matter if your host has an offsite backup in terms of getting your site back up and running again unless they also offer live backup with multiple data centers, and that gets very expensive.
If they suffer a flood, etc, even with offsite backup, you aren't going to get your backup for some time in order to redeploy elsewhere - you should already have one for that purpose. They aren't going to be able to set up a new data center and redeploy all the backups for several days.
Lastly, it's probably cheaper to purchase hosting from two separate inexpensive hosting companies, deploy the same site to both (keeping the DBs sync'ed will be fun) and have automatic failover than it would be to buy hosting from a high availability distributed backup service.
-Adam
Levels of service
I'll answer both posts at the same time, but to answer Michael's question first, I curently use Godaddy's virtual dedicated. They say that they have different farms and that the backups are held at different facilities. If the primary server were to go down, the second kicks in with the data at least up to the previous back-up (which occurs nightly). So they have reducancy and remote back-up with prices that are comparable to A2. I have used them for 4 years now through my company, and I've used other services through other companies that I've worked with and I can say without a doubt that Godaddy has been fantastic. All of the other hosting companies make wisecracks about Godaddy and then they turn around and provide poor service and don't tell you when they make a change to the server that affects your sites (I had one group that turned all of the cron functionality off without telling us). I did have a very recent mishap where something Godaddy did (although they won't admit it) turned off all of the email functionality on all of my websites. This is obviously a big problem when you use drupal almost exclusively, but it is also the only problem I've had with them. I am also ready to upgrade to a server with much faster loading speeds, as the level I am hosted at now is painfully slow. So this has prompted me to at least check out other services. I was looking at A2's top-level dedicated hosting @ $340/mo (w/ cpanel) vs Godaddy's assisted service @$297/mo:
A2 specs @ $290 + $50/mo for cpanel:
Dual Intel Xeon 1.86Ghz Quad-Core Processor
2048 MB DDR RAM
2 x 250 GB Hard Drives (RAID 1)
400 GB Monthly Transfer
5 hours support / month
CentOS Linux Installed
There are also various set up fees with this that amount to over $300 compared to no setup fees with godaddy
Godaddy specs @ $297:
• Pentium® 4, 3.0GHz Processor
• 2x120 GB disk drive
• 500 GB bandwidth
• 2 GB RAM
• Linux: CentOS or Red Hat F7
• Plesk 30-domain control panel - I know cpanel is better, but I don't mind plesk.
• Assisted Service Plan - this seems pretty comparably to A2s managed solution, but if I need additional support, it is $50/half hr. I am strongly considering paying to have them do the migration, which was quoted at around $200 (20 sites on the server), A2 said they won't do the migration and the cpanel plesk migration tool isn't very effective, so I would have to move each site. They have the remote backup and your site will be back up shortly after the first server is down.
There is also this godaddy plan at $450 with the duo core that I am debating whether I need it or not:
• Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz Processor
• 2x300 GB disk drive
• 2000 GB bandwidth**
• 4 GB RAM
• Linux: CentOS or Red Hat F7
• Plesk unlimited control panel
• Assisted Service Plan**
I appreciate what stienman is saying and that is what I've done, doing my own backups, but I've gotten pretty busy these days and am looking for a solution that does most of this for me. I always do my own back ups when I add code, which is pretty regularly, so I will continue to do that myself. But I would have to disagree with your last comment, because I don't think you are accounting for the cost of the time you spend overseeing and maintaining that process, as well as the increased risk that it could fail itself. To be honest, I am not as concerned about the site being up immediately, but if they keep their backups on the same premise, that just seems irresponsible to me when it is so easy (and cheap) with the technology we have these days to back it up elsewhere. I am always looking for ways I can support local companies, but I just can't get past this issue. I hate to be a commercial for Godaddy, but if you can find any hole in my reasoning, I would appreciate it before I invest substantial time and money into this new solution.
Hardware/network/price are not everything.
So many of the host specs are similar enough that they don't really matter to me.
In the past my decision has been made primarily based on Service. How fast and accurately a host company reacts to my trouble tickets is the most important thing. A2Hosting's service has been top-notch. Knowledgeable, accurate, polite and fast. I can't personally say the same about Godaddy. There are other great hosts that provide great service. Service is something I'm willing to pay for. Cheap usually means, "no service".
Recently, buying local has become more important. I don't think A2Hosting is the best company for Drupal hosting but they are local. Not only has this become a personal mission (buying local) but many of my Michigan clients are requesting Michigan Hosts. There are other local Michigan hosts. Godaddy is not local.
I do agree with Adam that the only real usable remote storage is the one you do yourself.
Hardware/network/price are not everything. Service is everything! And if I can get that local, I'm sold. There are other local Hosting companies.
Anyone want to throw another local Michigan host in the hat?
Anyone want to speak about there experience with A2hosting or Godaddy?
Anyone want to speak about some other host you recommend or don't recommend?
Other Local Companies
My clients are spread out nationally, with just one in Michigan (I serve education non-profit and govt exclusively), so that isn't a real issue to them, but I personally would like to keep it local, so bring on the other Michigan firms that you recommend. I will definitely check them out. The remote back up is a deal breaker for me though and I want that service provided because I'd like to spend my time on more productive activities. If it weren't for that, I would definitely sign up with A2. As much as I am against big enterprise, I have to say that Godaddy has always provided top knotch service though. Several times they have bent the rules of what sort of support they are supposed to provide (since I am not signed up for any of their assisted plans) and have gone above and beyond with the help they provide. I have been pleasantly surprised by that.
i have my own servers at The Planet
i've a few servers at The Planet... while not a local michigan company i think their pricing makes them very attractive for startups.
i've had my machines over there for years now and started off at EV1Servers.net (who were bought by The Planet). way back when i started they were really the only place i could afford as everyone else wanted at least twice what they were charging. overall, i've been pleased with their service, and their datacenter.
also, ditto what kbourne said about godaddy. i've used many many registrars and ended up moving all of my domains (hundreds) over to godaddy. no looking back for me either. they are the cheapest overall, on any given day. and, their operation is just so large, even if one of their (or several i'd imagine) machines goes out, the customer won't feel a thing. personally i'm delighted that they brought companies like network solutions to their knees because NS was notorious for holding your domains hostage (happened to me).
as for DNS, i do my own there -- i only use godaddy for the actual registration and just point to my servers for DNS.
backups... i actually do several different types both on the server and off. for the most part, clients are responsible for their own, unless we make other arrangements. it used to be that server space was premium, however more and more pricing breaks are happening for servers with huge drives (yay!), so it's becoming less of a problem to do offsite backups.
while my machines are not local resources, my company is a michigan based one LOL. i'm all for supporting local businesses, however, i'm also for spending my money as wisely as i can.
http://www.liquidweb.com/ is
http://www.liquidweb.com/ is great, located right here in Lansing, extremely professional. I worked with many of these people at the now defunct ISP voyager.net, so I know them personally.
http://www.liquidweb.com/facilities/
They just built a third datacenter in the area. They do rendundant backups among their locations (all michigan-based), and are very flexible if you have special needs, but still reasonable in price
Sam Rose
Social Synergy
Open Source Ecology
P2P Foundation
Firewall and Drupal CVS
I have almost given up on hosting Drupal sites at A2. I just a CVS checkout of Drupal for the sites I host there, and every time there is a security update, I find they have blocked connections again to the Drupal CVS server, and I have to open a ticket to get it fixed. For someone that claims to be developer-friendly, I should not have to do that every time.