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WPMU-friendly hosting companies (32 posts)

  1. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Yes, I know this topic has been beaten to death, but most of the threads I've found are either very old or have devolved into shared vs. VPS flamewars, so bear with me.

    I've got a project coming up where I'll be setting up small WPMU-based sites for a couple handfuls of niche communities. Ideally I could persuade everyone to get a cheap VPS for this purpose, and I will definitely be recommending this strongly, but in the real world we all know that some people just won't do it. So what I want to do is compile a small list of shared hosting services that are known to work well. Traffic and resources really aren't my concern -- I'll let them worry about whether their service can handle it or not -- my concern is whether I'll be able to get it up and running with a minimum of headaches.

    My requirements, outside of the standard WPMU requirements (Apache, mod_rewrite, wildcard DNS, etc) are SSH access and Subversion. Based on what I've learned so far, my current list of known-good hosting companies is:

    * Textdrive
    * A Small Orange
    * Media Temple

    I have a Textdrive account and will verify it works there myself, and will attempt to do it on Dreamhost. I don't have access to any other services and so am relying on the community for input here.

    If we can get an up-to-date list going I'll add it to the Codex, which will make life easier for a lot of people in the future. Thanks.

  2. suleiman
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Hostgator. Can't recommend these guys anymore.

  3. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Depending on the size of the actual MU installation, Media Temple's Grid Server is a safe bet for about 100/150 blogs.

    To be honest, if you're setting up several installations of MU, and they won't be high traffic/high blog count, you'll be better served with a single dedicated server (with at least 2G RAM, 4G preferably) and then having all installs live there.

  4. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 16 years ago #

    "I'll be setting up small WPMU-based sites for a couple handfuls of niche communities. Ideally I could persuade everyone to get a cheap VPS for this purpose, and I will definitely be recommending this strongly, but in the real world we all know that some people just won't do it."

    So.. why don't you get a dedicated account and sell them the space?

  5. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Lunabyte, andrea_r: If I were going to be running these all myself, I would definitely consider reselling space on a big VPS, but these are for independent people/groups and I'm not particularly interested in getting into the shared hosting business. I'm keeping my options open for the future, but for now the idea is to deploy each on a dedicated VPS that they'll buy themselves. I'll be offering contract sysadmin work to keep the VPSs running, but this way they can handle their own resource upgrades as needed and I don't have to worry about balancing the needs of multiple clients/groups on a single machine.

    suleiman: That can be read two ways. Is this a recommendation or are you saying that you no longer recommend them? :) Does WPMU generally work ok with Cpanel-based hosting? I thought I had read elsewhere that this wasn't a good combination.

    Thanks for the info, keep it coming.

  6. sheatsb
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    I didn't see myself recommending them, but to be honest, Dreamhost has gone a long way in terms of uptime, and has become very WPMU friendly. They just changed their pricing structure: one plan at $11 a month gets you 500GB and 5TB of bandwidth (more than most people will use) and unlimited MySQL.

    I use them now and have no problem. The only catch is that if you want to have a subdomain-based install, you have to ask support for wildcard DNS. Their panel makes subversion simple, and SSH is available as well. As shared hosting goes, it's an okay choice. Each client can be given access to their panel and look over their account, you can create quotas and FTP access, etc.

  7. ekusteve
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    From my experience running WHM/Cpanel on my own dedicated server, it is no problem. Mu runs fine on a subdirectory install. I have no experience with subdomain installs though.

    Steve

  8. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    "500GB and 5TB"...

    It might be offered, but try to actually use that, and I'd bet you get shut down.

    5TB? C'mon. No way. They'll kick ya for "resource abuse" long before you even come close.

    Let's be honest here... look at what you get with a dedicated server (from a reputable host). 1TB - 2TB is the industry average, and that's for an entire dedicated server.

    They're trying to dupe customers, knowing full well that they won't ever come close to using 1/50th (or less) of that, and if they do, they can shut them down.

    That alone, should tell you to run away from Dreamhost, or any other host making ridiculous claims like that. *cough* site5 *cough*.

    Also, with ANY shared or VPS host, you'd better read their TOS about resource usage and "giving" or "reselling" accounts. Something will be in there about it, and if there isn't, just wait until your MU site gets a few blogs on it. They'll change their TOS overnight and kick you the next morning. In fact, it happened to someone here earlier this past summer.

  9. sheatsb
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    I agree, somewhat. Just throwing another option out there. I stick with Dreamhost for flexibility, not space. Any host looks at resource usage, so that really doesn't matter. I may be confused by the last bit, lunabyte, but Dreamhost allows for delegation of space and panel access, and I've used it with ten different users accessing the panel, no shutdowns yet. For what it's worth, if one had to do shared hosting, I'd stick with Dreamhost, I've been able to do a lot of things that would have violated other host's TOS, and they've been cool with it.

  10. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    sheatsb: Thanks. I actually have an old Dreamhost account that I haven't paid for in a couple years thanks to referral credit (and I've still got about a year to go). I've since moved almost everything away but will try a WPMU test install there for research purposes.

    My Subversion requirement is for the client, not repositories. I just need to be able to check stuff out of my own repositories I keep on my own VPS. I know DH is ok there.

    lunabyte: That's another reason I'm having people run these on their own VPSs or shared accounts: I don't want to have to deal with them running into resource limits, AUP violations, and the like.

  11. sheatsb
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    kcrist: just don't try to install trac. it's pain. But subversion is installable from the panel. Also, the Dreamhost wiki (wiki.dreamhost.com) entry is okay, but still needs a bit of revision.

  12. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    "That's another reason I'm having people run these on their own VPSs or shared accounts: I don't want to have to deal with them running into resource limits, AUP violations, and the like."

    Sorry there, KC, but it sounds like you're going to let them walk into a potential hosting nightmare unaware, so that you don't have to deal with it?

    That isn't very nice, to put it politely.

  13. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    I think you've got the wrong idea here, lunabyte. I'm not getting anyone into anything unawares. The potential client base I'm looking at are people who, sure, generally aren't capable of running WPMU and their own VPSs (although in some cases they can but would just rather spend their time doing something else), but they're all experienced at running their own web sites and forums and the like. This is the reason for my comment above about people not wanting to buy VPSs: I suspect they'll often want to stick with the hosting they have and are familiar with. These are mostly internet-savvy people, but they're not professionals. This is where I come in.

    Remember, I want to get them onto VPSs because it's the best thing for their needs. I'll help them get up and running on shared hosting only if I have to.

    I think being concerned about AUP violations is a valid concern for those considering hosting web sites for third parties. I can't predict who will start uploading MP3s or whatever and really don't want to deal with the DMCA complaints and whatnot. But again, these are people who are perfectly capable of signing up their own accounts (or using their existing service) and taking responsibility for themselves. Likewise with the resource requirements of WPMU: I will explain it very carefully when I make my VPS recommendations and will make sure they understand that if they want to buy something I think is insufficient, they're doing it against my judgment.

    Whew, that was a bit more long-winded than I intended. I just wanted to set the record straight. Believe me, I'm probably the most ethical consultant you've ever met. To a fault, at times, according to my wife.

  14. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Sigh, thread derailment again. What is it about this topic that a thread can't stay on it for more than a handful of posts?

    So, back to the matter at hand, I'll report my experiences with the aforementioned shared services and am keeping an ear open for other suggestions. Thanks to those who have helped.

  15. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 16 years ago #

    futurehosting.biz. I use 'em, Andrew has used 'em. They have a pretty wide-open TOS and they will tolerate stupid n00b questions in support tickets. :) They also do managed. And they are cheap.

  16. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    That's cool, it just sounded that way. Glad you cleared it up.

  17. Bike
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    slhost (have a vps). Can't believe how quickly they answer their tickets. And more importantly, the tickets are all fixed when they answer them :)

  18. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Apology accepted.

  19. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Thanks andrea_r, Bike, I'm looking specifically for peoples' experiences running WPMU on shared hosting. I probably should have make that a bit more clear. But thanks anyway, I'm familiar with a fair number of VPS hosts but it's always good to get more recommendations.

  20. miteshashar
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    i am running my 2 wpmu setups on one dreamhost account...
    till what scalability can they exist??

  21. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 16 years ago #

    "I'm looking specifically for peoples' experiences running WPMU on shared hosting. "

    Don't go to Site5. Sure, I did suggest them when I was on them, and sure, there's people around here on their servers. Their TOS is tricky - they say you can install MU, you just can't give away free space. Even on a reseller account.

    But - I will tell you, once you get big enough they *will* shut you down. No warning, no nothing. You can be well under bandwidth and space usage too.

  22. The_ROb
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    I run my install on a fairly new company. A Greener Media

    I just set mine up on their server, ask to add the httpd config (told they why), and within a couple hours it was working.

  23. kchrist
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    For the record, I just did a test WPMU install on a Dreamhost account and it went perfectly smoothly. I requested wildcard DNS for the domain I used a few days ago and just completed the installation with no problems whatsoever.

    I also just discovered that TextDrive/Joyent has a WPMU one-click installer on their shared accounts. They enable wildcard DNS by default on all domains.

  24. chowanec
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    I second this: "futurehosting.biz. I use 'em, Andrew has used 'em. They have a pretty wide-open TOS and they will tolerate stupid n00b questions in support tickets. :) They also do managed. And they are cheap."

    I'm the stupid n00b with the support tickets and they've been AWESOME to me.

    -Chow

  25. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Hey, I was poking fun at myself. :D

  26. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    You should pick a more challenging topic, Andrea. :D

  27. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 16 years ago #

    :P

  28. slor
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    Although initially impressed, I have seen Site5's performance drop sharply in the past two months. My down times have ranged from 20 minutes to 7 hours. Sometimes a support ticket gets things fixed, but more often it clears up by itself and they never identify the problem. I can't recommend them.

    I've been checking out Media Temple's packages and was wondering about one specific thing. Their packages differ not only in disk space, but in memory. The entry level package offers 256mb of dedicated memory. Is that enough? I definitely understand my desktops need for a specific amount of memory, but I don't know what numbers are appropriate for dedicated servers running Mu.

  29. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 16 years ago #

    All I know is if you've got around 400 blogs with a good number of actualy users (I run about a third of those updating in a week) then you're starting to push it at 512 MB of memory.

  30. ssbansal
    Member
    Posted 16 years ago #

    I can provide you with a custom plan.
    simply e-mail me and we'll see what i can do.

    sandeep.singh.bansal@gmail.com

About this Topic

  • Started 16 years ago by kchrist
  • Latest reply from ssbansal