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Okay, without all the gruelling history about why I want to move to a VPS provider I'm putting this out here. Affordability, stablity and speed are the key factors. So far it's down to slicehost.com and linode.com with hotdrupal.com still in consideration. I don't want to go to an oversubscribed VPS and wind up paying more than I do or my current shared hosting plan and get the same response time from an oversubscribed virtual. Since I'm a sysadmin I'm not worried about having to install and set up my own server, but I really want to see how the various providers perform with real working drupal installations.
So, will some of you be kind enough to share some of your sites and hosts here? I know that's getting somewhat personal but I'd like to take some of them for a test drive just to see how the different hosts perform.
I know, it's a bit of an odd request, but thanks for those of you that will share and if you don't I'll understand.
- NP -
pwcdems.com
My webhosting is at modwest.com. I'm very satisfied with their hosting plan and technical support.
Steve Halleman
Just a warning. VPS does not
Just a warning. VPS does not always solve the issues. Have you asked your shared hosting provider to tell you what the cause was? A very good shared hosting plan, that isn't over subscribed will do the trick. Your next best option is a dedicated server.
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Find the best Drupal Hosting providers.
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http://HotDrupal.com
I have 2 sites at http://HotDrupal.com on the same account. They both perform very well. http://buckeyelake.org has over 140 modules, and a test site http://davebeall.com has at least a hundred modules. I am not running boost or cache router, just the core performance settings. I have been very happy with the price, the servers and the support is awesome!! It is a great shared and manged vps. Steve Brown is the guy that runs the show, builds the servers and is always involved with day to day operations. One other site that I know of hosted there is http://couleeregiononline.com/ by Michelle
HotDrupal seems to be good
HotDrupal seems to be good but few things I was little bit uncomfortable was that
- they do not have forum. Though forum by itself does nothing about performance, keeping an user-to-ser forum gives a sens that the host is tranparent. It was something they probably told they will have but never had.
- absence of live chat support ( may be they have added now? )
- is it a one man show (Steve Brown) or at least a few men/women ? What if Steve is not there or sells off etc? No webhosting gives guarantee but solely one man shows sometimes leave you in the middle.
Otherwise they seem to be good !
.
not one man show,, i have had contact with at least 3 different support people over the last year.
Forum? what for.. You have drupal.org for that.
Live chat? don't need it... support requests answered me within an hour everytime. heck, I am willing to help out if needed and i don't work there, just willing to help.
HotDrupal servers run in a non-profit server room at a university.. North Carolina
I suppose there is always some risk, no mater where you go.
Steve has been in the server game for over 20 years.. http://www.teamholistic.com
Ah yes!
Hi Dbeall
I meant one MAIN person not support staffs. If there are multiple active head persons (like Acquia) or several persons to whom problems can be escalated it seems to be sound.
Drupal.org does not discuss hotdrupal hosting issues or hosting problems in general. All most all standard webhosts have user-to-user forum to share specific hosting issues or just have an open "community"
It is also one of the points that all web hosting guides ask to check out before purchasing any account.
I am not sure if internet's www servers or linux for that matter is 20 years old.
lol
well, do what you like. My shared host that I resell on has no forum. I think you been reading wrong advice. The users are HERE at Drupal.org.. welcome to the forum!
Ask Steve how long he has been doing server work, I know it was before apache was born.
...lol..
http://www.howoldistheinternet.com/
Thanks Dbeall. I have no
Thanks Dbeall. I have no intention to fight :)
What I said is too obvious - I asked about internet's www, and not just internet, and linux servers as we know today. There are people with CMS experiences much older than Drupal, that does not make them experienced per se in Drupal. Likewise, you know, what I mean. Linux shared webhosting is not something 20 years old or as old as internet.
I have nothing against Steve or hotdrupal. I just said what I am uncomfortable about. There must be many satisfied users. Addressing my concern will increase one more :) Whether that happens or not, a good host will be good host irrespective of what I feel. So cheers!
.
actually i offer hosting myself.. but it's not the best for Drupal.. lol I am a reseller for a shared host but still host 4 drupal sites there on my platform. But for mission critical such as Buckeyelake.org, I like HotDrupal and the hybrid built custom configured servers. I may be a reseller, but I am not a server admin.
.
no fighting please, just discussion.. all in good faith. Just reassuring you that your move will work out good for you. I almost went with slice, until i ran into HotDrupal. I will say that no mater what host you use, this is the best place to find out about issues you may run into, just because the folks here are running Drupal and most probably have had a similar issue. The trick is posting a descriptive title so people can see what's up. I'm off to work,, have a good one!
I guess the decision is made
Thanks for those of you that shared your sites for me check out. I've been checking them out periodically over time. As soon as I get my SMF forum converted over to Drupal I will be making the move to hotdrupal. Why? Because I have to maintain a LOT of RHEL boxes and I don't want to have to be a sysadmin at home either. The observred response times from the hotdrupal sites has been as good as any VPS hosted sites I've seen for a fraction fo the cost. Steve did return my phone call and I spoke with him at length which I thought was great albeit non-provider like with no sales push at all.
Unfortunately that will be a little while longer as I'm in the midst of a long arduous upgrade project that is eating me alive right now and I've had very little personal time.
Again, thanks to the responders. I'll update this once I get migrated.
- NP -
server speeds...
I should add here that my test site(davebeall.com) has had a cache system added Oct 5th, so it might not be a good speed test at this point..
I am helping with testing and documentation for project boost.
I have been using the site to help with testing since it is on a different server set up that the other sites I host on my shared server at (www.onelakesideweb.com).
Please post back
I would be curious to hear about your experience with HotDrupal.com. I just signed up for an account yesterday. Installation went well and includes free Cpanel access. (Another provider charges me for Cpanel).
cpanel
I don't think Cpanel is worth charging for, it's ok, but not that great. It has some features that are nice but at the same time, I have done without those features for many years with no trouble.
My reseller provider uses a homemade control panel that is better, or at least I like it better.
BTW, if need to look at your error_ log on HotDrupal, don't use Cpanel, because it will be in the public_html directory.. or in the root directory of your other sites you may have on your account. If there haven't been any errors, the file will not be there until an error happens. If you need to clean out the error_log, just delete the file and it will be regenerated when an error occurs.