http://Check-these.info/hosting/index.html

Hosting & Web related comments, tips

Before to start ...

It seems that many people are dreaming of The Perfect Host.
And start the migration journey, in serch of Miracle.

But the truth is, there is no such thing as The Perfect Host.
There is no Miracle host that satifies everything you dream of.

If someone tells you that such and such host is a perfect one,
that person is still dreaming, and maybe missing some negative factors.

As far as I know, all hosts have some problems and go into
"silent mode" or "denial mode" in some cases.
There are strong area and weaker area in any host.

You just have to find a reasonable host offering a plan that fits well with your needs.
Isn't it simple?

So, list up the frustration you have with the current host,
write all you expect from a hosting company, and compare.

Also, some desires may be contradicting each other, and it might be
nearly immpossible to get them all in a single host.

For example, if you want to have very quick support response,
it's virtually impossible to get it from a low budget hostinmg companies.
As the support is very labor intensive work, companies can't afford to offer
quick response unless they use cheap offshore labor
or invent innovative approach to reduce the ticket volume.

Take any suggestions/recommendation for a host with the grain of salt,
including mine.
Honest person WILL tell you both good and bad side of experiences.

Usually, there are a few important factors you cannot ingore,
such as a support for certain languages, and it may dictate the choice.

However, in many cases, there are ways to achieve what you want
even it's not advertised in given plan.

To make the situation worse, the support person may not be aware of
the many possibilities that would make his/her host more attractive.

If a host has a user Forum, ask questions in it.
And you can get the level of information you can obtain,
as well as feel the atomsphere of the community.

My attitude in making this page is to inform people like me,
who is looking for cheap host/services with good value
and not for people who must have perfect host.

By understanding the strength and weakness of each hosts,
you can construct vey low cost multi server solution for your site.

Also, you should always have a backup host.
It will let you move out from the primary host without delay
if something very bad happens,
and give you more time to look for another home.

If you use Dynamic DNS, you can even switch the host instantly when one host has serious problem.
Having another host will give you more perspective and possibly appreciation, too.

In my opinion, PowWeb is one of the best low budget host, even though it may have some issues here and there.

For the price, they offer a lot ! They have sitebuilder, webftp, sitemanager, and many other features including lots of documentation, FAQ, and tutorials.

If it's not enough, there are my tools and information provided by other menbers. (example (fluke's site))

Also, they are quite open and honest for hosting services. But don't expect total and unlimited openness. Also, they should keep some secrets about the setting to fight against DDOS attack and other problems.
They may go into 'denial mode' or 'silent mode' occasionally. Still PowWeb is much much better than many hosts out there.

They have very active Forum where we can get info and help, as well as animated discussions and chit-chat for fun.

I can recommend PowWeb for most people (for personal sites, small non-critical business sites), but you won't be satisfied if you need 100% correct raw logs, ultra rapid customer services, true "mission critical" strict attitude of operation, or absolute pampering customer services.
You have to pay more for that type of host.

As PowWeb offers so much for the money we pay, some users may start having illusion that they are on high end hosting and make unbelievable claims, and get frustrated.

Usually, it's not the fault of PowWeb, even though PowWeb does make mistakes time to time and the e-mail support is rather slow.
But again, I think slow ticket response is due to many users asking support desk for things they should be asking in the user forum. It's well known that too many newbies try to get as much freebie help as possible from support desk, which cloggs the ticket queue.

If you love to have quick support that answer any question of yours, you shouldn't use PowWeb because you will be unhappy.
And I don't want you to come, either.
Also, if you think "client is always right", you should look at other place.
They do what they can do and what they want to do, but they will not produce a miracle for $7.70 (or less).

And people who use PHP/MySQL may suffer more compared to the users of Perl/Shellscript/Python with flatfile or SQLite.
It's because PHP/MySQL is less robust to begin with, and the hypes about PHP/MySQL is generating people who tend to use them for everything, including even static pages (I'm not joking).
Evidently, this increases the load on Webserver and especially on MySQL servers, victim of stupid hype .... and I don't think this tendency is limited to PowWeb.

If you can live with slower e-mail support response and love great community Forum,
PowWeb can be a good place.
As far as cummunity Forum is concerned, PowWeb is currently No.1 in the industry without any doubt, and it's attracting more and more users.
Some other hosts are trying very hard to catch up with PowWeb forum.

PowWeb is a friendly and relaxed host. You can be happy if you have friendly and relaxed personality.

Recently, PowWeb increased some limits, and also added up to 3 Free pointed domain, and another 3 pointed domain with email services (one time fee of $20).

2005-08-18 PowWeb is improving the OPS (control panel)
Although, some people (usually those who doesn't understand things) prefer heavy cPanel, I can say that OPS is getting better and better, day by day.
Probably, it's one of the best in the industry in terms of security related features and information available to users.

It's really amazing when we think about the price we pay.

I'm not sure if any other host can beat PowWeb in overall cost/features.

Servage.net beats PowWeb in the price, bandwidth, storage, and number of pointed domains.
But it's far behind in terms of security, log/stats, control panel, affiliate program, and support resources and channels.

Site5 beats PowWeb in the area of quick support response, but it's a lot more expensive for similar storage/bandwidth, and less free in several areas.

Additional note: PowWeb does NOT support Python/Ruby. And they have disabled gcc. If you want Python/Ruby/gcc, you may need to go other place (You can install Python very easily with the package I made, though).
Anything other than 'officially supported' items might be disabled one day for security/performance reason.

Wish List for PowWeb . Security . Tools

Advantage of Servage.net over Powweb.com:

Disadvantage of Servage.net

Common features and similarities

Notes:

Security concern is so great (for my personal taste) that I would only host static contents and CGI that doesn't need a directory with 777 permission on Servage.net.

For example, if I want to take a log by myself, I have to write data. And the directory for the log data must have 777 or something that is writable by anyone on the same server.

It means other users or someone who cracked the account of valid user can possibly read and write any data in it, and also make that accessible through http server ...

Well, I used to run a cgi script on the host with similar setting when I knew much less, but not any more ... unless there is a way to make it more secure.

I contacted Servage.net to clarify the security issue.

Unfortunately, they did not provide any convincing technical detail enough to change my opinion, within the three responses I obtained so far.

They would not allow me to do any security test, either.
They stated that "Each customer has his own "sandbox" to play around".
As I do not take any word granted without reasonable technical explanation or hard evidence,
I remain highly skeptical about the security situation of Servage,net.

And the very fact that they refused any testing and failed to provide convincing technical explanation made me more suspicious, to be honest.

I hope they can correct me with really convincing explanation or let me test to prove that they have truely secure setup.
But according to their last response, they don't want to talk about security, any further.
And it's not really good sign .......

Servage.net can be very good backup site, mirror site, to place mainly static data, and associated site with PowWeb hosted sites because they compliment weakness and strength of each other (such as utilizing FREE pointed domains on Servage.net, while enjoying relatively secure CGI/PHP on PowWeb).

Having one site other than PowWeb solves some of load-balancing related problem of PowWeb.
People who loves mod_php, mod_perl, or .asp may get attracted to Servage.net... despite obvious security concerns.

Recently, Servage.net is adding more and more bandwidth allowance.
It's now more than PowWeb, and without hourly hit limit !
If you host lots of static things without any security requirement
(like pics, movies, pdfs, including adult rated materials), Servage.net is the way to go !

I only hope they can fix that annoyingly slow FTP authentication.
They need to add auth server or optimize DB or do something, please.
And more security (if possible) would be great.

Binary CGI can be suid-cgi, and it allow us to operate like SuExec?.
However, as other users can possibly run it with your euid from their script, it must have check the parent process or something to avoid it.

Although Registerfly does offer hosting, I'm talking about domain registration.

Become a member (It's free) and enjoy these great PROMOs !

Don't purchase anything before checking these PROMOS. (support may apply them retroactively if you send tickets.)
Transfer your domains as soon as you can (60 days after registering.) to registerfly !
Don't stay with free domain offer of hosting companies unless they are truely better.
Because of its DNS placement, there is no DELAY (or much less) when you update records.
It's so easy and so rich in features that you shouldn't think about it.
Just do it, and appreciate it later.

Note: Support quality of registerfly may not satisfy some people.

Althouth I had no bad experiences with them, you shouldn't expect miracle when you buy a domain at $2.99 (In case of .info domain.)

Please read this post for how to transfer and use the name server of registerfly instead of PowWeb's.
In case of the transfer from Servage.net, it's even easier beacuse there are less DNS records.

Other hosts ?

I've used a few other hosts in the past.

I was using LunarPages before PowWeb, and it wasn't bad, in general.
But their bandwith allowance was getting too small for my traffic.
Also, the server was crashing nearly every hour at one time that I decided to move away.

When I was looking for a backup host, I looked into Hostgator, site5, and some other hosts.
I chose Servage.net because it was offering lots of bandwidth and I wanted to try European host.

Next year, I'll probably change the backup host.
I may go to VPS hosting, or another shared hosting.

Although a few people invited me to use site5.com, and they have nice switch-over offer, I'm not yet convinced because the direction site5 is going isn't something I would love.
They are trying to offer Ruby on Rails, and promoting Javascript/xml based Ajax.
I tend to think RonR as a hype, just like PHP, and I don't like Javascript based technology nor XML, to be honest.
(I'm a minority when it comes to these taste.)

While I'd welcome anything that is better than PHP/MySQL and many resource hog application based on them, replacing a bad hype with another premature hype doesn't seem to be a really good idea.

Average users don't care at all about the framework/language as long as it's easy to setup and maintain.
So, I think hosting companies offering CMS/Wiki/Blog/Forum softwares, which consume less resource than PHP/MySQL with similar level of usability, will have the edge.
But we don't have that light weight applications, partly because industries and most users are riding on the stupid PHP hype and busy choking themselves rather than developping better technologies.

PS.

Site5.com offers very rapid support ticket response.
They promiss to respond within 15 minutes and generally they seem to be able to keep it with the responses of appreciable quality.
That's impressive, and it may attract more and more clients.

But it's a little risky because they are attracting people who love to bother support.
Some of them will abuse quick support as a handy man for any stupid question they may have.
When support person get tired of them, and they start to get overwhelming amount of tickets, the service level may go down ... or it may cost a lot to keep it up ....
  • Note: site5 now says "average 25 minutes response".
Also, site5 has tendency to announce/advertise features not yet available.

If you are looking for quick support response and you are willing to pay 2 or 3 times more than you would pay for PowWeb or Servage.net, you should take a look at site5.com.

I'm still looking for the replacement candidate for my backup host.

A host with the bandwith and storge space of Sergvage.net,
user Forum of PowWeb or site5, and the TOS of Hostgator would be ideal.

Also, I want Linux host for the backup host although I like FreeBSD a little better.

As it going to be a backup host, I don't care so much about the details as far as it's affordable (I mean dirt cheap) like Servage.net.
But it CGI must be SuExeced?.

Factors to consider

Bandwidth limits may come in many flavors.

PowWeb has daily limit of 10 GB, which translate into roughly 300GB/mo.
But in the reality, you will not use up to 300GB and PowWeb doesn't welcome users who intend to use up.
Rather, the figure should be taken as the maximum spike allowed.
In other words, your site should never go over the 10 GB/day.

For Servage.net, it's a different story.
Correction: Servage.net has the DAILY LIMIT of 11 GB
They declare to offer 330 GB/month to be used up.
So, their bandwidth allowance a little greater than that of PowWeb.

As far as simple bandwidth is concerned, Servage.net is No.1.
PowWeb's 10 GB/day is similar to 100 - 200 GB/month in reality,
which is big enough for me.

PowWeb has other limits like max hit limit/hour, max SQL limit, and so on.
So, if you have hit/QUERY intensive site, PowWeb may not satisfy you.
They had to introduce them to prevent abusers.
If everyone were reasonable, we would have far fewer limits and laws in the world ...

Generally, this is not the problem, as the hard disk is getting cheaper.
Rather, You should think about the quality of storage.

Is it RAID? Hot swappable? Backuped? Backup can be easily restored?

PowWeb uses huge disk storage system, and users can restore from the snap shot, very easily, without asking support intervention.

On some hosts running all services on the individual server, you may notice the slower response when the server does daily backup.

Site5 doesn't have RAID, and we see downtime caused by the disk crash.
Servage.net seems to use RAID disk array like PowWeb?, but I'm not sure.

You should always read and try to understand TOS/AUP.
Many american hosts reflect the sexually perverted culture and prohibit any nudity and sexual materials.
PowWeb prohibits nudity and adult oriented material as they tend to attract lots of traffic and consume too much bandwidth.
European hosts tend to be more relaxed about nudity and sex.

Hostgator allows nudity and sexual.adult materials (if it's legal).

Some hosts has a clause that allaows the host to use your site for their advertisement without consent or notice.

There might be a clause insisting that any contents of site belongs to the hosts (like Geocity).
I mean, copyright and other important rights ...

Some hosts do not allow shell interfacing script.
Avoid these hosts because we can't manage our site without decent shell interface, and these hosts doesn't allow ssh, in general.
(I understand that they don't want to have any problem with abusers, though.)

Most hosts prohibit persistant process ... any daemons, game server, etc.
Most hosts prohibit IRC related programs.

Site5 for example has a few rather strict clauses you should be aware in their TOS.

Links for TOS/AUP of some hosts

TOS of PowWeb

TOS of Servage.net AUP of Servage.net

TOS of Site5

TOS of Hostgator

Usually, Perl is supported on almost all hosts.
So, if you are planning to use only Perl, you won't have any problem finding a host.

For Python, it's a little harder than Perl.
Fortunately, Python is a very docile language, and we can use our own copy of Python binary very easily.

Ruby is yet more harder than Python.

Unfortunately, PHP is usually supported in many hosts, but it's harder to build if you have to.

Some hosts don't have gcc and its family tools.
You may have to install them or Tcc/Lcc in your own directory.

Some hosts don't allow you to use binary CGI.
Probably, they are not aware that Perl script can do almost everything binary CGI can do.

And if you want total freedom, you should consider VPS/dedicate solution, and be ready to pay a lot more than low budget shared hosting.

PowWeb and Servage.net uses clustered, load-balanced, multiserver setup.
Site5 uses traditional single server setup.
I don't know about Hostgator.

Single-server setup is very simple. All services (Web, FTP, Mail, MySQL, Control panel, and so on) are running on a single server.
So, there is no overhead of socket connection to other servers like multi-server setup.
But when a physical server goes down (for hardware or software reason), all services will be out... ouch! 

Single server setup
 Physical server A: (HTTP, FTP, MAIL, MySQL, Control panel ...)
 Physical server B: (HTTP, FTP, MAIL, MySQL, Control panel ...)
 Physical server C: (HTTP, FTP, MAIL, MySQL, Control panel ...)
 Physical server D: (HTTP, FTP, MAIL, MySQL, Control panel ...)
 Physical server E: (HTTP, FTP, MAIL, MySQL, Control panel ...)
 .....
 Physical server X: (DNS)
 Physical server Y: (DNS)

Multi-server setup usually uses specialized servers for each (or some) service.
It means there is slight overhead, while offering greater stability as problem of one server affect only the services running on it.

Also, this setup reduces the maintenance workload because only servers running particular service have to be updated, while every server requires update in single-server setup. 

Multi server setup
 Physical server A: (HTTP)
 Physical server B: (FTP)
 Physical server C: (MAIL)
 Physical server D: (MySQL)
 Physical server E: (Control panel)
 ......
 Physical server X: (DNS)
 Physical server Y: (DNS)

In load-balanced setup, Incoming traffic is routed to a pool of servers.
If one server goes down, only the maximum performance suffers.
Load-balanced setup is usually combined with muli-server setup. 
Load-balanced setup

        | Physical server A: (HTTP)
        | Physical server B: (HTTP)
  --->  | Physical server C: (HTTP)
        | Physical server D: (HTTP)
        | Physical server E: (HTTP)


        | Physical server F: (FTP)
  --->  | Physical server G: (FTP)
        | Physical server H: (FTP)

        | Physical server I: (Mail)
  --->  | Physical server J: (Mail)
        | Physical server K: (Mail)

  ......
 Physical server X: (DNS)
 Physical server Y: (DNS)

PowWeb and Servage uses custom home made control Panel.
Site5 uses common cPanel + home made system on top of it.
I don't know about Hostgator.

Unless cPanel has been updated, PowWeb's control panel offer more security features than other syytem.
It shows last login for control panel itself, FTP, and Mail servers.
In case of FTP and Mail servers, it shows the history of activity for each users.

cPanel shows last login for itself, but the data is stored in the user's directory, and can be visible and editable by intruder.

Control panel of Servage.net has no security feature, at all.

By far, the control panel of Servage.net is the most simple one.
But it is very usable and easy.
As it's so simple that you don't get lost in the maze of tabs.

I don't like cPanel. It's slow.

PowWeb's control panel isn't the most popular one, but it's a good compromiss.
If they added more security features and simplified some interfaces, it would be better.

They are currently working on the new control panel.
It's supposedly based on XML, and I'm afraid they are going to make it heavier.

It's well known that clueless newbies love fancy looking image oriented heavy/slow interface.
But text based simple interface can be very pleasing to the eyes as well as very light/quick.

I hope all hosts offer the history of login for services, especially failed logins.
I asked this for PowWeb, but I don't think they have intention of implementing it.

If all other things are equal, you should choose a host with user forum,
especially if it's an active user forum.

As each host may have specific setup and particular problems, other users can quickly point to the solution otherwise hard to find.
Of course, support desk can do the same. But the opinion of support can be somewhat tainted by the company policy.

mod_php, mod_perl means not much security.
Without Suexec, things can be pretty wild and I don't recommend using something that require permission of 777 or 666 on shared hosting.
There is a good reason why fanatics and lunatics fear these numbers.

Questionable color of this page is dictated by blueberry cream cake, my favorite dessert.

This page is http://Check-these.info/hosting/index.html

My main site is hosted by PowWeb, one of the best low budget host !

12,000 MB + 10 Gigs/Day Transfer - $7.77/mo Web Hosting!
Last modified: 2006-01-05_16:22:10   Powered by Wikiciter CMS