Posted by wernerglinka on June 11, 2011 at 7:28pm
I have used GoDaddy for client site staging and they just made changes that make it much more cumbersome to upload a mysql file. I have been considering moving to another hosting company for a while but inertia kept me there. Now enough is enough and I am looking for a host that provides faster page load times and cpanel on a shared hosting account. I'll have several sites in folders but not more that 10 at a time. Since these sites will be changing often until they are transferred to a client, my first priority is fast ftp and phpMyAdmin access. Live site performance is not that important. I am looking at GreenGeeks and AN Hosting and would like to hear if someone has experience with those. Thanks in advance for any input...
Comments
Hosting Company
We use Bluehost. They are cheap and have great services.
I've had a good experience
I've had a good experience with Dreamhost. I've got my testing sites up there as well as a few production sites.
(They also give out promo codes occasionally, which I'm happy to share.)
-- Julia v.
http://www.pfvdw.com
Check out pantheon
Check out pantheon (www.getpantheon.com). They are still in beta but provide free hosting for dev and test sites for developers. It is drupal specific hosting and have an easy automated process for importing and exporting sites as well as backups. Hosting for live sites is $100 per month I believe. It is a great service and their support is the best I have ever come across.
-Eric
Would love to use them but...
Would love to use them but for what I need this service for this is too expensive and I really don't need the performance optimized environment.
Nephoscale - if you don't mind administering your cloud server
I am using a cloud server from http://nephoscale.com. It doesn't have c-panel, and you'd have to administer your server yourself (like running updates, installing software, etc.). They give a choice of CentOS, Debian, or Ubuntu. I am using CentOS, because I am familiar with it.
It's nice and fast, reliable, you have all the control, and it's free for the starter unit for the first year. The starter machine is sufficient for a few drupal sites.
You'd have to take care of your own backups (but they also have some free or inexpensive cloud storage options for that, haven't tried it, however).
NephoScale
I was the Webmaster at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In January, we conducted a search for a new host for our Drupal site, http://eff.org. We went with a cloud server from NephoScale. The price was unbeatable and the service is good. Not a lot of reviews for them since they are so new, but so far it's been a positive experience.
We went down there and met the owner and toured the facility. From all appearances, everything is a lot more professional with top-notch gear than you would expect from a smaller company.
HTH.
Tim Wayne
http://blog.hisnameistimmy.com/
Would love to use them but...
Would love to use them but for what I need this service for this is too expensive and I really don't need the performance optimized environment.
Site5 or Hostmonster
I can suggest Site5 and Hostmonster. Hostmonster has cpanel, while Site5 has its own similar panel. Both provide good FTP and phpMyAdmin. I am moving sites away from DreamHost as I have found as sites get larger and more complex, DreamHost starts terminating scripts, leading to page not found errors.
1and1
I switched to 1and1 after godaddy shared servers response time become very slow. So far no issues with 1and1 and server response time very good and I am running more then 5 websites on same shared hosting.
Thank you everybody for taking the time to respond
Thanks everybody for your feedback. I signed up with GreenGeeks. We'll see how they are. Doing research on hosting companies turned out to be like walking through mud... It seems like there are hundreds of "review" sites many of them operated by the same guy... Same broken English... these sites seem to have but one reason to exist, to make affiliate money. I wouldn't trust any of them.
I was swayed by GreenGeeks' green commitment and their involvement with Drupal. Also, they support Joomla and Wordpress and I build these sites as well if a client really insists.
Greengeeks
I have been hosting my smaller clients that only need a VPS with GreenGeeks for a few years and they have been awesome. The response time is great and the live chat option is excellent - it seems they have a steady crew, so I usually get someone who at least knows me and has some idea of what I need right away. If the live chat can't help, they bump it to level 2 support via email and they are always quick to respond. The only issue I had is another customer had issues that affected the whole server, but the GreenGeeks were quick to respond to that also and they gave me the lowdown on exactly what happened.
Handbook on Platform Cooperativism, a movement building platforms and tools owned by the people. http://bit.ly/hackitownit
What is the advantage?
Why pay somebody to host a dev site? Why not set up your own machine? An inexpensive computer will give fantastic results.
I am not using this for
I am not using this for development, I do dev on a localhost MAMP stack. I use this for acceptance testing by my clients and as a reference if the client has integration issues later on. Clients can look, login and test the site before they sign off on the final deliverable.
Also, I don't want to run my own server, I am busy enough as it is building sites
Re: I am not using this for
Fair enough.
Actually running my own servers doesn't cost me much time. They never break! Well, almost never. My last downtime was four or five years ago. What does happen is a more full understanding of how things work and the complete ability to adjust things to your own requirements.
Servers are not mysterious. Computers are cheap. Find one and load it with CentOS. It will automagically load up Apache, MySQL, PHP, and PHPMyAdmin. The biggest challenge is bandwidth. It is the upload speed that will be your concern. But things have been getting cheaper and cheaper. I was using an SDSL ISP that was giving me 1.5M up and down, which is T1 speed - but recently switched to Comcast Business - 5M up, 20M down. I also increased my static IP addresses from 5 to 13, and lowered my costs by 50%. This beats a T1 - it does the job! Just a web server alone will save you money, after the initial setup costs, and gain much. If you really want to get down, do your own mail server and dns servers. These things are all free! What is gained is power and ability, which benefits the client, really, and this adds value, in my opinion.
Anyway, just a thought.
The home-server works fine in
The home-server works fine in a stable environment. I get a lot of power outages (blame PG&E), so having my own server is not an option. That's why I chose nephoscale.com.
I also don't want to deal with client's mail (too many potential issues), I am still looking into a solution for that (probably some gmail thingy). Things do break from time to time, especially with mail, and I like to sleep.
It's not as easy as "just install CentOS, it comes with everything". With the current CentOS (5.6) and Drupal 7, you have to pull a newer php installation from the testing server. If you actually want to use mysql 5.6, you need to install that yourself, and tweek the dependencies, no CentOS rpm available (but drupal works with the default version, had to use 5.6 for something else).
Hopefully things will change next week, when CentOS 6 comes out.
You should also install and configure iptables, and possibly selinux. All not a biggy if you are doing it all the time, but a bigger deal, if you are not a sysadmin.
Ursula
I live on Kings Mountain so
I live on Kings Mountain so power outages are normal during the winter. I have a generator so I can work anytime.... take that PG&E.
I have thought about my own server especially now that I have Comcast with 24MB+down/8MB+up speed but I am not a sysadmin so it will be a little more difficult for me to go the route. But I would run a Mac server. I am a Mac only guy. I need some time to digest all of that first. Anyway, thank you for your suggestions.
Re: I live on Kings Mountain so
Become a Linux guy! Since MACs are now basically using Linux, some things won't be unfamiliar. Find a computer, load it up with CentOS, play with it - and discover the power. It's a server only. You will still use your Mac for your ordinary living.
The cool thing is - you won't need a monitor, nor a mouse, not even a keyboard. Set it up - let it run - control it from your Mac! The same as you do now with shared hosting.
(You will need those things to set it up. But nevermore after.)
Re: I live on Kings Mountain so
Did you know that nearly half the men who fought at the Battle of King's Mountain were Tennessee “Overmountain Men?” That the Battle of King's Mountain is credited with having turned the tide of the Revolution? That without King's Mountain, America might have had only ten colonies? That the battle was not Americans against the British, but Americans against Americans? That the American Whigs bested the American Tories in only one hour, took over 800 prisoners and then proceded to “lose” them? Or that hundreds of Whigs “deserted” right along with the hundreds of Tories they “lost?”
I'm in Tennessee. We have been there whenever needed.
Kings Mounatin Rocks
Cool, however, I live on the other Kings Mountain, south of San Francisco. We are at about 2,500 feet about 7 miles from the coast. 45 minutes to Sf downtown, 30 minutes to the beach... Can't beat that.
Re: Kings Mounatin Rocks
Oh. They have two of 'em huh?
Home of the King's Mountain Art Fair? Near Woodside?
yup, that is where is is
yup, that is where is is :-)
Mac Mini Server
Despite your frivolous comment about my affiliate link I would suggest a Mac Mini Server as it provides the solid OSx platform using Apple hardware. Tale a trip the the apple store and see just how easy it is to manage.
Joshua Needham
WebMob Development, LLC(formerly App Ventures, LLC)
http://WebMobDev.com
Let's agree to disagree
Hi Joshua, I thought my initial comments about review sites and affiliate indicated my sensitivity towards that matter. My comment was not frivolous but an expression of dismay. Anyway, I do appreciate your suggestion of going with a Mac Mini Server. I think that is the route I will eventually go. For now GreenGeeks it is.
Re: The home-server works fine in
Thanks ursula, you are not wrong on many things. I have a robust UPC that can keep me up for 25 minutes in the case of a power outage. Which most of the time does the trick. If not - then I am just simply down. But this is a rare thing. Usually electricity will be back up within 25 minutes.
I do run my own email setup using the free and awesome qmail. I have no problems. Qmail is also awesome because of its subscription and bulk mail capabilities. I have it set up as an IMAP server, again this is awesome.
I rather don't specifically remember, but I think you might be right - I might have manually upgraded PHP. I am currently using 5.2.8 I think I did it from yum. Whatever - I can't remember because it was not a big deal I suppose.
I'm running MySQL 5.1.52. I have found no reason to upgrade. I do not upgrade without purpose, generally.
Iptables should be installed by default on all CentOS installations. I'm using iptables-1.3.5-1.2.1
SELinux was first introduced in CentOS 4 and significantly enhanced in CentOS 5.
I am not a sysadmin, other than on my own system. I have not found things all that difficult to set up. In fact, it was EZ. I run triple backups automatically with rsync.
I never think about it. I sleep every night. But when I wake up - I find I have more power. Which I attempt to translate into more value. I believe if one is serious - this is a necessary step to the next level. The fabulous thing is - anybody can do this, and do it in increments. It does not have to be all or nothing. But the rewards are immense. The costs are not.
Mal was ganz anderes...
Ursula, check out www.germanamericanartists.com. You might find that interesting... gruss, Werner
Drupal-specific hosting
Do sites built with Drupal benefit from anything specific in terms of hosting? I have other sites with Dreamhost but they don't seem to like hosting Drupal sites as they've tried to steer me away from it saying it is too resource intensive and therefore run slow on their servers. I am looking to switch to a hosting company that supports Drupal specifically as I don't want problems in the future. I like GreenGeeks's green commitment but I like getpantheon's free dev space. I could really use the dev space right now as developing on localhost is very slow. Are there any others that offer dev space?
Left previous host
I spent about 5 years with Hostgator and it was fine for basic stuff but lately(last 1.5 yrs) sites have required a lot more power to run but we are talking Over 100 modules including Panels and heavy views usage. I found the issue was the memory size allowed for scripts which I've currently set to 128mb in the php.ini and don't ever run into problems. It suggests on d.o that 64 is sufficient but for graphics handling it suggest 96mb which is way beyond most non-VPS(minimum) setups mainly because of the shared hosting setup.
Joshua Needham
WebMob Development, LLC(formerly App Ventures, LLC)
http://WebMobDev.com
Yes and no
An unoptimized Drupal site is resource intensive and will run slower on any server.
Drupal sites tend to access the database a lot, and, as JoshuaBud mentioned, require a lot of memory as you pile on the modules.
You can up your memory on Dreamhost, (though it's not trivial to do) and use judicious caching to reduce resource use. A good caching strategy and other optimizations are important on most servers, though (even "Drupal hosting" services).
Dreamhost used to offer Drupal in their easy-install applications. Do they not still?
Check out WebEnabled for site development
You might check out webenabled.com. They make it easy to install Drupal 6.x or 7.x, and they have 30-day free trial site dev accounts. Finding the free trial is a little tricky, but if you click the red Signup button and then scroll down to the "Trial Plan" link below the four Developer plan boxes, it's there.
Gotekky All The Way!
Excellent customer service and inexpensive entry for solid VPS hosting! I've been hosting for over a year now with them and couldn't be happier. Drupal runs stellar, and JP has taken a lot o time to really hit a home run with Drupal hosting.
https://support.gotekky.com/aff.php?aff=001
Obvious affiliate link BTW
Joshua Needham
WebMob Development, LLC(formerly App Ventures, LLC)
http://WebMobDev.com
An affiliate link...?
Joshua,
Your comment is duly ignored. Affiliate links do cut into your credibility.
Werner
That's fine
I just suggest what works and what I've had success with. I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever you choose. And thanks NoWarningLabel for sticking up for me.
Joshua Needham
WebMob Development, LLC(formerly App Ventures, LLC)
http://WebMobDev.com
omega8.cc
Has anyone tried http://omega8.cc?
Is there a way to mark gmaky
Is there a way to mark gmaky and JoshuaBud as spammers??
You're insolence is
You're insolence is outrageous. These people are contributing members to Drupal. Just because someone posts an affiliate link in their suggestion does not make them a spammer.
You can file an issue in the Webmaster's queue if you desire, but I assure you it will be quickly closed.
Drupal evangelist.
www.CoderintheRye.com
@nowarninglabel, being a
@nowarninglabel, being a contributor doesn't mean that one should polute the group space with advertising. It is at the very least insensitive to the person that is asking the community for input. And while I appreciate your contributions I find your comment out of place.
If you want to discuss out of
If you want to discuss out of place posts, yours should be over here: http://drupal.org/hosting-support along with the thousands of over posts that have come before you asking the same question. The forums would also satisfy you much more, because they are a no-affiliate link zone, as opposed to this group on g.d.o. which does not have such restrictions.
Drupal evangelist.
www.CoderintheRye.com
Thanks for the pointer, I was
Thanks for the pointer, I was not aware of that forum. I'll use that next time
Hey wernerglinka, which world
Hey wernerglinka, which world are you living in? drupal.org is not some despotic republic! I asked about omega8.cc simply because I am looking to use them. I am not an affiliate nor do i have anything to do with them. Their page load speed is among the best I have seen. I am currently using siteground which is Ok for shared hosting...You get what you pay for I and I run several test sites with one account.
Suggest to use Amazon EC2. I
Suggest to use Amazon EC2. I think it is the best ever seen.
Drupal Developer in Beijing
AN Hosting Works for Me
I didn't see anyone respond regarding AN Hosting.
I've been using them for over half a year with decent results. The performance has been good and their support was helpful when I had trouble. Uptime is currently at 99.6% for my site. For a log of the issues I've experienced and a real-time performance chart, check out Drupal on AN Hosting.
next cpanel host
www.nextcpanelhost.com - offers unlimited hosting package with affordable price. control panel use cPanel very easy and no worries. guarantees 99.999% uptime.
Don't trust greengeeks all they want is your green
They come across so nice at the beginning. Truth is they are a bunch of liars. To add injury to insult they serious limit your your server resources so if you want to host a site with as little as 200 visitors per day be prepared to get an upsell on resources or live with server errors due to the limitations you have. I've built dozens of Drupal sites, hosted with many different providers, and let me tell you that these guys are, BY FAR, the worst. As far as support, if you like canned responses and a footer with an ad for an upsell then you'll love these guys. And finally, if you want to back up and move from these goofballs, be prepared... they have disabled backups in cpanel. What a colossal joke!!!