Posted by liquidcms on March 10, 2010 at 4:03pm
I changed the title to open up this discussion a bit from "anyone using Primus" to more generic request for recommendations on Canadian based host companies.
Anyone (stuck) using Primus to host their Drupal sites?
Primus uses Zeus as a web server platform and it does not support mod_rewrite required for clean urls.
Comments
It can work! (well kinda)
Hey Peter,
We were so frustrated with Primus (Magma) I wrote this blog post ages ago - http://openconcept.ca/making_zeus_work_with_drupal
Despite this last year we did launch a Drupal site on it. In the end they couldn't get clean urls working. The client could live with this limitation, but ultimately it was Primus' page load times that got them moved off to our servers.
It's very strange the illogical & often very expensive decisions that people when they have had a good experience with a web hosting company in the past. We pleaded with our client not to use Primus, explained in detail that in our experience was that it wasn't going to work. However, they didn't want to move their hosting.
I guess there are enough snake oil salesmen in the hosting game that folks don't want to leave someone that they have been happy with. Or perhaps there's just enough black magic involved in the web still that nobody wants to disturb any components of their system that have been working.
Mike
--
OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
very helpful
Thanks Mike, very good to know.
Funny you mention page loads as the final killer... since don't have site up yet can't say quite how bad they are; but.. i have raised a separate ticket with them suggesting something seriously wrong with the network setup of their VPS.. when i do an svn up of 2 tiny files it took over 2 minutes.. compared to any of my other servers that took 3 sec.
Peter Lindstrom
LiquidCMS - Content Solution Experts
I understand those that are
I understand those that are stuck with Primus fully. As a former magma customer I've been looking for a coloc provider in the GOA for the last year with no results, but should one appear, I'd so jump (and recommend all my clients and colleagues to do the same.)
There's Always Storm
We've got most of our servers running from iWeb's infrastructure in Montreal. However we've got a colo with them -> http://storm.ca
Their infrastructure isn't as robust as Primus is (no retina scanners for instance), but they've been quite reliable.
--
OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
There is one....
There is one co-location provider downtown Ottawa: http://www.agnitionetworks.com
I'm not sure how they are to deal with but it's at least an alternative for co-location. What about Primus do you dislike for colo?
I have a rack there, and although I'm admittedly not overly impressed with their ability to follow up, follow instructions or sales inability to return calls etc. I find the uptime and data speeds acceptable.
Are your issues similar?
VPS not Colo
I don't have a colo there; my client has a VPS. Primus VPS runs Zeus rather than Apache and as a result doesn't seem to be able to support Drupal (which is all i do!!).
I suppose if you have a colo then you set up what ever you want for a web server; and therefore like have Apache..
also, not sure if different for colo vs vps.. but their network latency is ridiculously slow
if anyone can suggest a decent, Canadian based VPS or colo where i don't require being a linux guru to set everything up and that is fast.. would certainly love to hear about it.
Peter Lindstrom
LiquidCMS - Content Solution Experts
oops
Sorry about that, I was more aiming my response that at creed's comment as I'm curious to know what others think of primus for colo. I don't know of any good VPS providers since I'm managing my own boxes.
Not much help, sorry about that.
You can try
Sunny Oasis Internet. They're in Kanata and resell cloud based VPS and they say they use Apache. http://sunnyoasis.com
host doesn't need to be local
Geography is less important than any other factor when selecting a host. I've clients hosted on servers in Kingston, Louisiana and California. The determining factor has never been location.
Find someone with an up-to-date LAMP stack, a decent control panel and priced inside your budget. Unless Slashdot is beating a path to your door every day you'll be okay.
...but probably not in the U.S. of A.
If you'll be maintaining any Canadian client/customer data, you'll have to abide by PIPEDA (http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/guide_e.cfm). This is not possible if your box / virtual machine (VM) is physically located in the States: The federal government over there can view any data flowing through as per the Patriot Act.
I'm personally a fan of iWeb (in Montréal) and RimuHosting (with data centres in various countries). If you're not Linux geeky, there's always something like Drupal Gardens.
yes, CDN only
yes, it is requirement by my client that servers are CDN based.
Peter Lindstrom
LiquidCMS - Content Solution Experts
update
turns out we were able to get Primus to sort out a Zeus version of .htaccess/mod_rewrite that would let us use clean urls.
but, as Mike alluded to, Primus has some pretty serious network issues (i suspect their DNS is incorrectly configured) and were unwilling to even consider the idea. As a result.. 30sec page loads and doing an svn up for a 2k file took 5 minutes. Basically unusable.
Have convinced client that Primus is not usable as a Drupal host and we are in process of moving to Blacksun. Will update with how that goes.
Peter Lindstrom
LiquidCMS - Content Solution Experts
Blacksun update #1
my client (against my recommendation) went with a shared BS account. They refused to install an SVN client so this was a no starter (do people really do Drupal or any other serious CMS work without using SVN? BS suggested no one has ever even requested it; which, in my mind doesn't bode well for them as a host of professional websites). Come on kids.
We are in process of switching account to VPS - will see how that goes. My first concern is that they say their VPS runs on a 500MHz processor.. what the hell is that.. Pentium III's (and old one's at that)? Not too optimistic; but will know by weeks end.
Peter Lindstrom
LiquidCMS - Content Solution Experts
Primus hosting
I'm stuck with Primus as my client is not willing to move! Peter, you mentioned in your earlier post that you're able to get clean url work with Primus Zeus server - do you mind explaining how? Do you have the mod_rewrite script for zeus?
any more update primus-iweb
Hi,
I have a site with primus, which is currently asp and will be moving part of the site to Drupal and perhaps eventually the whole site to Drupal. It was attempted to set up the Drupal on Primus but they installed a script to fix clean urls in perhaps the wrong location or perhaps they did not have a choice. The drupal was installed in a sub folder and worked but there was the issue with clean URLs and the script which when they installed it mess up many things in the rest of the site,so it had to be removed. I would like to move the whole site to iweb but the client would like to get more feedback on iWeb. Can anyone provide some feedback. thanks
iweb is great
iweb is Canadian, servers in Montreal, and known for their quality equipment. I currently run several Drupal sites with them and they have been great, and I don't recall my sites ever being down. Customer service gets back to you right away so you're never waiting on anything, and if any php settings, etc. are not what you need, they have been very quick to fix.
re: primus-iweb
I have no comment on Iweb - but Primus was great when it was Magma.....moved everything off them when primus took over.
My input here is that I run a hosting company with a great deal of flexibility - right here in Ottawa - servers in Canada.
drop me a line if you wish.
Marc Behiels
marc@elemental.ca
Hello folks
Hello guys
I think this thread is about where to find a good server.
So I'll tell you guys about the one I use at smart-serv.net
Their shared sever uses fast-cgi and not mod_php (problem for upload progress bar)
it also uses php 5.3 and drupal likes 5.2
But you can also get a vps.
So for $22 I get unlimit web hosting and shell plus ircd shell and a vps with freebsd, centos, dabian, and ubuntu
The server is in Edmonton and accepts paypay without the need for auto checking my account.