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Looking for a reseller host plan in all the wrong places

A few months ago I mentioned that I was hosting my site using a "budget shared hosting plan through my reseller site which is comparable to the hosting plans offered by GoDaddy".  In that same article, I also mentioned that although I prefer to run my sites on a Virtual Private/Dedicated Server (VPS/VDS), I wanted to try experimenting with the cheap shared hosting plans despite the plans not offering full MySQL functions such as CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE.  For the most part, my sites have been running fine on the shared hosting plans but I wanted better control (oh how I miss Linux command line via secure shell).  So, I began searching for a better reseller hosting plan.  Unfortunately, my search for the perfect reseller host plan still continues.

I thought my hosting requirements were pretty simple.  I wanted a reseller hosting plan that provided CPanel, PHP5, MySQL5, secure shell, and a license to a client billing system such as ClientExec.  Oh and I wanted to be sure the hosting plans provided were Drupal friendly.  While I host more than just Drupal sites I've found that if the server is configured properly to run Drupal then it can run almost any other PHP-based CMS out there.  All in all I wanted a shared hosting plan where I spent less time managing the server, yet had the controls I needed via a Linux shell.  Simple enough right?  In fact I thought I found a great reseller plan through ResellerZoom (RZ).  However, after spending most of my weekend hours trying to work it all out, I've come to the conclusion I'm still looking for something that works better.

My first difficulty with RZ was that documentation was difficult to find documentation on the site for how to edit the PHP.ini file (used to change the default PHP configuration to suit the needs of your PHP applications) when running PHP 5.  Usually this is an easy thing to do, but I couldn't figure out how to do it on RZ's server.  Fair enough, I contacted customer support and they were very helpful.  Within an hour the customer support representative was able to figure it out and give me the necessary instructions.  However, when it came time to running Drupal I received way too may internal server errors which presented "Page not found" and "Error 500" pages causing me to be very unhappy with little rest.  I suspect they're capping the amount of memory I can use for PHP at 16 Meg along with being very conservative on the CPU usage allowed for sites hosted on their server.  Either way, looking at the forums it appears that many people have had trouble running Drupal on their server and this particular plan just isn't for me.

So until I find a reseller plan that I'm happy with I've started returning my sites back to the cheap shared hosting plan I have been using the past few months.  Here is the real kicker.  Upon returning my sites to the shared hosting plan that I've complained for so long not providing CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE, I found that the budget hosting plan now works.  As far as I can tell, the Drupal 5.2 Search module that works just fine.  I'm not sure why temporary tables are now configured with the shared hosting plan but for the most part I'll keep quiet about it just in case it was a mistake.  The ability to have temporary tables on the plan may just keep me on the current reseller plan a little longer then I had expected.

Either way though, I'm more than willing to hear from others on a reseller plan they would recommend.  Again, I'm looking for CPanel, PHP5, secure shell, MySQL 5, PHP 5, ClientExec, and Drupal friendliness. Is that too much to ask?

Comments

#1 *wince*

Anonymous's picture
Maybe there is a perfect shared host, but I haven't found it, and I'm not spending a minute more looking... They all seem to have business models which assume users will not use their advertised resources. If a user does happen to test those resources (ie for hungry Drupal), either the server becomes unstable (because it's oversold) or the host notices and suspends the account (pointing you to that nasty user agreement you punched through 'Submit'). It's so not fun. I'm enjoying my VPS at Slicehost a lot. I'm happily surprised at the ease of which Ubuntu allows one to configure a web server which performs quicker than a specialised (shared) web host. Anyways, that's just my experience, and I'm sure there's a good shared host out there. I'm just not spending any more of my own time looking for them.

#2 VPS

Bryan's picture
I used a VPS four a year or to and overall it was a happy period for me.  One thing I didn't like about the VPS though was being fully responsible for the uptime.  While I rarely had problems, I always worried something was going to happen while I was on vacation.  I'm sort of old fashion, when I'm on vacation I prefer not to worry about work, computers, e-mail, or the Internet.

Eventually though, I think I'll likely end up back on a VPS and will take a look at Slice when I do.  In the past I've always used Red Hat (or centOS) and Fedora Core for web services.  I've never tried Ubuntu for Web hosting but now I'm curious...

#3 Dedicated plus Drupal?

Benjamin Melançon's picture
Agaric Design Collective looked around, and got our own dedicated server. No CPanel, but that's not a problem for us. We are very interested in handling all of our ticket tracking, billing, customer management in Drupal (probably with CiviCRM) rather than using a closed-source product such as ClientExec. That said, checking out the ClientExec site (we can so do that feature set, who else is interested in doing or has already done this? Drop us a line. Umm, note that our own site is still running on the worst shared host on the planet.) -- I was reminded that I've heard good things about Aussie Host: http://www.AussieHost.com/ Have you checked them out?

#4 Dreamhost's work-around

mike3k's picture
Dreamhost has an ugly work-around to override php.ini: copy php.cgi to your own cgi-bin directory (and use a cron job to re-copy it periodically so you'll get any updated versions) with a local php.ini. I did that on one of my sites to allow larger uploads and it worked.

#5 Dreamhost / Reseller Zoom PHP.ini

Bryan's picture
Mike, while I was trouble shooting the PHP.ini problem and before I reached customer service at RZ is googled on the problem.  From what I can tell, RZ is using a very similar workaround to Dreamhost for PHP5 and the PHP.ini file.  If so, you're right...it's ugly.  RZ is still on Apache 1.x which is why I think they have it configured the way they do. 

#6 With midphase.com you can

sime's picture
With midphase.com you can buy shell access for a little extra. But I still wouldn't recommend low budget hosting for anything but an experiment. At one stage, all of my customers of shared hosting started copping mountains of spam at the same time, which suggested that someone else on the server had accessed the domains or emails for a spamming list. Also, if you run high on CPU resources, they can't give you any information to help you troubleshoot. You get banned.

#7 AN hosting / Midphase

Chad's picture
I've had good experiences with AN Hosting (midphase) so far. I did purchase the ssh access for an extra 20 bucks a year. I've nto had the normal lock tables issues and you can mod php.ini to your heart's desire. One nice thing they have which I have not tried but will soon is multiple domains in one account.

#8 Probably most people are

Gumugum's picture
Probably most people are already aware of the site, but I like to visit WebHostingTalk.com when it comes to hosting questions. One of my favorite host is Steadfast Networks, though I'm not sure if they have everything you're looking for in a reseller plan.

#9 How much are you looking to spend?

Moazam Raja's picture
When looking for a VPS with root access and full shell access, how much are you actually looking to pay? I wonder if the reason many of the Drupal hosting solutions are so crumby is because the cost is so low. Hardware, electricity, network bandwidth and IPs all cost money. Bryan, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you are only looking at low-end/low-cost providers, I'm just trying to get a feel for what price range most Drupal folks are working within and basing their performance expectations on. -Moazam www.unixville.com the house of unix

#10 Are you calling me cheap?

Bryan's picture
Are you calling me cheap?  :-)  That actually is a good question.  Perhaps, I didn't make myself too clear but I was on a VPS for a couple years and very happy with running my Drupal sites and other CMS.  However, I tend to dabble way too much on the server for my own good as well as for the good of the sites I'm hosting.  Since hosting sites really isn't  my main work...perhaps I'm just willing to gamble way too much.  So I have started looking for shared hosting plans with a reseller option that would meet my needs but not require me to worry about the OS.

The problem of course is when you let someone else configure the OS, they'll configure it for their advantage and not necessarily the way you want it.  In the end, I don't have much faith that a shared hosting plan with reselling options is going to meet my needs.  More than likely I'll go back to a VPS and offer host plans from there.  However, I can always hope and ask for recommendations...

As for what I would be willing to pay for a VPS, since most of the sites are low traffic probably no more than $50/month.  I realize for some that is too cheap but I really don't have that many sites I would initially move over to the VPS a few sites.

#11 What works for me

Adrian B's picture
I'm using the shared hosting of JaguarPC and I didn't have any problems setting up Drupal there. They have a reseller plan, but I haven't used it.

#12 Share a dedicated server?

Mukunda Modell's picture
Maybe the answer is to get a dedicated server and share it between a few trusted friends/associates. This way the responsibility for maintenance and uptime doesn't fall on one person and the cost can also be shared. I have dedicated servers at Layered Technologies and I have had good luck with them. They have wonderful uptime and performance, however, they don't really offer any support beyond rebooting your server if it crashes. You definitely need to know how to manage a server in order to use their service.

#13 resellers plans

Amandeep singh's picture
sir/madam, i am running web hosting company in india known as pressoservers and i am looking for cheap & best web space providing company in india or near syracuse newyork U.S.A company should be reputed and customer friendly. thanks Regards Amandeep singh

#14 Site5

Tim LaPlant's picture
Hey if you are still looking check out Site5. It looks like they have the criteria you state.... Tim

#15 Site5 offers MySQL 5?

Bryan's picture
AT the time I looked at Site5, it only offered MySQL 4 on it's hosting plans and not MySQL 5.  Has that changed?

#16 A2hosting.com

Anonymous's picture

I've been using them for almost three years. I had a couple of hours of down time in my first year, but service has improved since then. I have command line access PHP4 and 5 and all the MySQL access I need. Oh, and they're cheap cheap cheap all year long. I don't work for them, just pay for their services.

#17 This guide was really useful,

revolution9's picture

This guide was really useful, I was recently looking for more effective blog hosting and ran into similar problems during my search. I might try out some of your budget hosting ideas in the near future.

Bryan's picture

About this CMS Enthusiast

Bryan Ruby is the owner and editor for CMS Report. He founded CMSReport.com in 2006 on the belief that information technologists, website owners, and web developers desired visiting sites where they could learn about content management systems without the sales pitch.

Outside of his late night blogging hours, he is the Information Technology Officer for a field office in the federal government. Away from the computer he enjoys his family, bicycling, camping, and the outdoors.