Webhost Shopping

[Kenn]

Hi...

 

I'm webhost shopping and TCH has made it to my very short list of "finalists." Got some questions for you and I apologize in advance for their length...

 

1. This point absolutely does not matter at all but I am curious...I have noticed on reading through your site that you have multiple data center locations. Can customers request a particular location on setup of an account? My preference would be East Coast since that is where I am located and I wouldn't have to make adjustments for server time.

 

2. I take it from the fact that you guys yourselves use IPB for your forum, that customers can use IPB, too. Do you have any problem with customers installing their own copy of IPB rather than using the CPanel one? I also use Menalto Gallery (4 installations of it across 3 domains) and Movable Type (2 installations on 2 domains). On originally signing up with my current host, I asked these same questions and was given hearty approval and blessings to use these programs. About half a year after my accounts were created, my current webhost "changed their mind" and have since banned Movable Type installs and have actually shut down numerous customer sites for using it. They've also started to "frown upon" installs of IPB. Of course, they have never officially announced their policy changes and do not have a list of approved versus not approved scripts/programs posted anywhere so it makes it hard for customers to know what is what, especially when they keep changing policy midstream. While I don't begrudge a webhost the right to set rules and policy, I don't like unannounced policy changes and without warning site shutdowns for use of formerly-approved scripts. This is one of the main reasons I'm now shopping for a webhost again. What is TCH's stance on all this?

 

3. I will be bringing 3 domains with me and I'd like to set each of them up as completely separate, independent accounts, each with the Deluxe Plan. Since I'm a single customer, do I need to do anything special for this or just simply run through the order process 3 times? The reason I ask about this is that I've had a problem in the past with a different webhost in setting up multiple accounts. I would place the order for one domain/account, and then the next time through would get "That customer account already exists..." etc. etc.

 

4. The webhost-to-webhost transfer of sites sounds very interesting! My current webhost does use CPanel. Can I hear more details about this? I'm assuming a transfer procedure like this gets your CPanel settings and all your actual site files and folders but what about MySQL databases? Just from a technical perspective, I'd be interested to hear details about how this type of transfer works. One thing I read somewhere else in this forum is that there is the possibility of a CPanel timeout if the site being transferred is too large. My largest site is around 250 MB, mostly Gallery images. And, again, I will be creating 3 accounts and therefore would like to transfer 3 domains worth of "stuff."

 

5. My current webhost recently implemented a change to PHP on their servers, converting PHP to run as CGI with suPHP. This brought down all 4 of my Gallery installs across all 3 of my domains (it also crippled many other PHP-based programs/scripts for other customers). Customers were given 1-2 day's notice of this change and zero technical details in order to prepare for it. Needless to say there are a lot of P.O.'d customers there now, myself included. This is the other main reason I am now shopping for a new webhost. Does TCH have any plans to "secure" PHP using suPHP?

 

Thanks in advance for the info and sorry if I sound a little sour but I'm on the "rebound" from my current webhost.

[TCH-Bruce]

1. As I am a customer and not an employee I don't know the answer to this question but I'm sure someone will let you know for sure.

 

2. You can install your own IPB and MT. The gallery program should not be a problem either.

 

3. I have multiple single plans so no problem there.

 

4. You can contact the Help Desk (link at top of page) for more information on this process but yes, it is possible to do site to site transfer if your currently use cPanel.

 

5. Sorry again, don't know the answer to this one. One of the other guys should be along to answer.

 

No need to feel sorry, we've all been there.

[TCH-Dick]

ok, here goes

 

1. Its not possible to choose which DC your site is located in, the set up is automated to ensure that sites are distributed evenly across servers.

 

2. Bruce nailed it.

 

3. Bruce again

 

4. In most cases we can do a cpanel to cpanel transfer. Some hosts dont allow it though. so if your current host has it blocked it wont work. Also its a good idea to make a backup of your site in case of problems with the transfer. Mailing lists and stuff like address books, guestbooks etc tend to not transfer well on occasion.

 

5. There are no plans that I'm aware of to switch to suPHP.

[Kenn]

Thanks for the info!

 

I have another question, please.

 

I have a 12 MB MySQL database that I will have to export from my old server and import into a fresh database on the new server. I've never actually had to move any of my databases before but I've done a good bit of reading up on the subject and think it should be okay.

 

The one thing I'm uncertain about is phpMyAdmin timeouts on large databases. I've heard that large database export files need to be split up into 2 MB files in order to avoid this problem, depending on how the host has their PHP timeouts and max upload sizes set.

 

I did come across a PHP script called bigdump that is supposed to allow you to upload your single, large database sql file and then it reads the file "feeds" the database in staggered increments for you, saving the splitting up business.

 

Could you tell me if I'd have any problems importing a 12 MB database? What are the PHP limits (timeout, max upload size) on TCH? And, if it is necessary, would there be any problem with my running bigdump? Or could I have upload the full file and TCH import it for me?

 

Thanks!

[LisaJill]

If you do have a problem you can just ftp up the database file and then submit a ticket and let them know the filename/location and they'll run it locally so no timeouts. =)