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By socceronly on
How can a major host provider like 1&1 and a major open source CMS like drupal not get along?
The 'install Drupal' feature on their own system doesn't even work.
5 re-images later, followed every conceivable direction I can find online for problems associated... 3 days I still can't install Drupal 6 or 7.
Using XXL VPS.
Comments
Auto-installers for Drupal
Auto-installers for Drupal are not that great anyways - it means you always have to wait for them to update their code before you can do core upgrades, which can potentially leave you with security holes for a period of time.
I don't know how their VPS are, but I had to move a client off of their shared hosting recently, as they only offered a php memory limit of 90M, which in Drupal terms is pretty much nothing.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
***
The current server I have with them D6 and D7 install fine. Had to re-image and jump through some hoops a few years ago to get it to work.... don't even remember what.
I just couldn't imagine that needed to be done again.
The VPS runs PHP 5.1 Is that normal for host providers to run stuff that is that old?
VPS
All the VPS I current deal with are on PHP 5.3. I've seen 5.2 as well, but I haven't seen 5.1 for a long, long time. So I'd say no. Though it's possible they have kept you on 5.1 out of fear of breaking your scripts in an upgrade.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
Oh no. I just ordered it! My
Oh no. I just ordered it!
My current server crashes when ever I turn Drupal on. No one knows why. At least not anyone I can afford.
So I ordered a new server, which it turns out is backordered for 3-4 weeks.
So I ordered a VPS XXL for the mean time and its stuck between PHP that is too old, or PHP that is incomplete no hash() function.
Now I have three servers I can't use.
LOL!
This is the problem with
This is the problem with cheap hosting companies sometimes. They are competing on price, not knowledge. You may want to go with a different company altogether - this isn't exactly a good way to start off your experience with them!
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
To be fair, their service on
To be fair, their service on the phone has been great.
Fixed the PHP 5.3 problem immediately.
Now I can install D6, D7 with no problem, just can't install OpenPublish.
HiNot sure what package you
Hi
Not sure what package you have, but many on shared hosting if I'm not mistaken cannot accommodate an openpublish site.
The resources it requires, even to just set it up can only be provided by something much better than shared hosting can offer. If you have tried, you've probably got errors like a blank page and more ...
Regarding that host mentioned above, at least with their Germany branch, I'd never advise anyone to go there. Not sure why they keep getting good reports in some reviews.
Regards
Very few hosting reviews are
Very few hosting reviews are unbiased - most of them get paid by hosting companies to give good reviews.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
Leave away from 1&1 shared
Leave away from 1&1 shared hosting and vps hosting. My experience with those 2 products are pretty bad. Even you go enough memory or CPU calculating capability, it's slow.
If you want, you could go with their dedicated server.
Just ask for your money back and move on...
There are a couple of web hosting companies out there, including us, that offer really good products that are tailored at Drupal. For example we offer high performance shared hosting, and each account comes with plenty of allocated resources so that our customers never have to suffer. As far as VPS servers are concerned, our VPS servers run on the Xen virtualization platform. I don't know exactly what kind of "racket" 1and1 is running with their VPS servers, but as far as I can tell they are basically running on the OpenVZ virtualization platform. OpenVZ is fast because there is less overhead than with other virtualizations methods, but the benefits end there, as OpenVZ can be easily oversubscribed and resource isolation along with security isn't very good. They are running Virtuozzo, which would be the commercial version of OpenVZ. As far as I am concerned a VPS server should be just like a real server, meaning that you get a minimum setup of your favorite Linux distribution preinstalled and you go from there.
Of course, if you want a company that has been around for longer than use (meaning for a couple of years), I can warmly recommend Holistic Solution's HotDrupal. They are an amazing company, and just like with us, they have amazing customer service and Mr. Steve Brown over there (the owner) is just an awesome guy who will bend over backwards to make customers happy. They also offer high performance shared hosting and very fast VPS servers.
Or if you just want a Xen VPS server from a big company that has been around for a very long time, there is alwats linode.com. They offer pretty good management tools as well for your VPS server.
With any of the solutions above you can deploy Drupal. None of the solutions above (except for the shared hosting packages from us and HotDrupal) will "automagically" install Drupal for you, but they are all a heck of allot better than what you're currently getting from 1and1.
If they refuse to give you a refund, don't bother with the Better Business Bureau, as it's more trouble than it's worth. Just go to the Web Hosting Talk forum and share your experience with 1and1 with the folks over there by writing a review. That will get 1and1's attention for sure.
As far as your question to how a big company like 1and1 can be so bad, the answer is simple: like every other business, web hosting companies have a choice of what to do with their money - meaning that they can either spend it on advertising or on improving their services. They choose to spend a fortune on advertising, meaning that their services will have to suffer. Advertising is extremely expensive, and I have seen 1and1 ads even on TV. When you spend tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising $4.99 shared hosting you can bet that you will get what you paid for - meaning not much. It's like when a well know fast food chain is advertising 99 cents burritos on TV - I don't even want to know what's in them. The moral of the story is: think before you buy and vote with your wallet.
I started reading that post
I started reading that post thinking it was spam, but actually there was some good specific information in there, particularly about where hosting companies put their money. Hosting is one area where you most definitely get what you pay for. If you are paying $3/month for hosting, you can't really expect much more than $3 of value from that month of hosting. If on the other hand you are spending $500/month, you should expect lightning fast servers, and very personal support. Anything in the middle will vary depending on where in the middle it is.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
I could name only one shared
I could name only one shared hosting company in UK where I would put a Drupal site with a couple of large contrib modules and expect it to work well. I am not sure how they do it, but suspect that they depend on the fact that most customers underuse resources. I could name one cheap VPS provider in US who as far as I can tell do not over-sell their OpenVZ.
Headline claims about unlimited bandwidth and huge hard disk space are worth little.
However, at the end of the day I agree that you rarely get more than you pay for. I do not even use these 'hidden gems' myself, though I would recommend them to friends who struggle to accept the idea of spending more than price of one coffee per month on hosting. I have tried various ways of keeping down costs. Now I just pay the proper price for a decent product, and keep costs down by using an unamanaged VPS (Linode). Unmanaged does involve costs in time and problem-solving rather than money. There is no free ride.
I often wish that the drupal.org front page had a big warning sign that Drupal is unlikely to work well on any but the best shared hosting, especially once large contrib modules are added.
Digit Professionals specialising in Drupal, WordPress & CiviCRM support for publishers in non-profit and related sectors
I would say
> Headline claims about unlimited bandwidth and huge hard disk space are worth little.
I would say even less than "little." :(
> However, at the end of the day I agree that you rarely get more than you pay for.
Agreed. Often you get a lot less in fact.
> I often wish that the drupal.org front page had a big warning sign that Drupal is unlikely to work well on any but the best shared hosting, especially once large contrib modules are added.
Interesting idea. CiviCRM's About CiviCRM page has a message to that effect actually, regarding CiviCRM, in the "Technical Requirements" section.
They offer un-managed VPS
They offer un-managed VPS hosting service, their VPS comes with very basic server configuration, and a lot of works have to be done by your own.
The only product I would recommend for 1&1 is their dedicated server, it's un-managed as well :), but overall it performs well if you know how to config it.
Leave 1&1 and go for some other web hosts.