Reseller Needs New Home

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Posted by parawing742, 01-20-2002, 01:51 PM
We are currently a reseller with CommuniTech and are looking for a new home. We work directly with our clients offering additional services additional to hosting and the hosting itself does need not be totally anomonus. I've listed some very important issues that we must have below. VPS: From what I have researched, an VPS (virtual private server) would be most ideal. I'm heard good things about the Ensim software solutions. Mulitiple levels of control panels are a must for the customers that need them. System: We need to start with around 2GB of storage space and 8GB of bandwidth with the option to expand in the future. We are currently on DS-3 lines and I would rather not downgrade. One of our clients sites is running PHP-Nuke and has about 5,000 visitors a week. I don't want to be shut down for "excessive CPU use" either. Software: Access to crontab is a must. We must have an up-to-date version of PHP and MySQL (4.1.1/3.23.47 would be ideal). Some of our scripts need to be able to write to the filesystem and from what I understand, this cannot be done with the apache module installation of PHP so in that case we would need BOTH mod and cgi versions of PHP installed. Does it make any sense to do that? E-mail: http://www.aota.net/Email/iremail.php3 describes a interesting way of handling e-mail with multiple domains. If possible, I would like to have something similer on our site. Support: Need good technical support to help with issues when needed. Daily backups, OS patches and 99% uptime garentee. Price: Around $100-150/month is our budget. I am currently considering OLM.net, superb.net and RemarkableHosting. I would love to hear reports from folks using these hosts. My concern with Remarkable is that they do not appear to have been in business very long and may not be well established. I am open to ANY suggestions! // Phillip
Posted by cdudeuk18, 01-20-2002, 02:15 PM
i would love to be able to help you ... but what your looking for is not what i provide ... however try mchost.com , they are highly rated. do u really only need 8gb per month data-transfer .. and you budget is $100 - $150 per month ...
Posted by wmac, 01-20-2002, 02:45 PM
Hello As I know mchost.com does not offer ensim though their services are very good. And they offer 12GB/month with 1G space for only $35/month. Ensim hosts are a little more expensive but as they isolate processes of each host to their own share of CPU process time it will be very suitable for those who worry of being abused by other websites which share the same server. But I personally think working with Cpanel/WHM is very easier than exim specially for newbie users. You can also find several good hosts who offer Cpanel/WHM. By the way I suggest you have a look at Plesk too (I have even installed a Plesk on my development PC in my home ) Mac
Posted by mdrussell, 01-20-2002, 02:55 PM
Matthew @ RemarkableHosting frequents these boards; he seems a knowledgeable and friendly guy, and by all accords, RemarkableHosting seems a good host - I wouldn't be too concerned with the fact that they are newer... they get my recommendation.
Posted by 311, 01-20-2002, 03:09 PM
Well, If you're still looking for an ensim vps, then tera-byte.com has what you need... And I'm pretty sure you can re-sell accounts within them. (and NO i do not work for tera-byte.com, I'm just recomending them!)
Posted by parawing742, 01-20-2002, 03:36 PM
Most of our resold sites are very low traffic (50-100 visitors per week). Two sites are higher; 900 and 5000 visitors per week. We use about 5GB transfer a month right now. So I want to start with at least 8GB and have the option of expanding as we grow. I would like to see a demo of MCHost's control panel. Is there one available for viewing anywhere? Hosting companys are welcome to contact me at the e-mail provided in my profile. // Phillip
Posted by cdudeuk18, 01-20-2002, 03:38 PM
sorry forgot they used cpanel and whm Ok http://www.liquidweb.com > they're accredited seller for cpanel and whm .. demos on site .. ( static ) or just use the link below Last edited by cdudeuk18; 01-20-2002 at 03:45 PM.
Posted by 311, 01-20-2002, 03:39 PM
here is a demo of CPanel: (The control panel that mchost uses.) http://demo.vosn.net:2082/frontend/iconic/index.html
Posted by WebSnail.net, 01-20-2002, 05:03 PM
At the moment, the MCHost crew are actually in the process of writing their own Control Panel but it's still a couple of months off (approx). Not sure about most others but there's quite a few of us who are heartily sick of the WHM and CPanels regular introduction of untested and buggy code and doing little to fix it. Unfortunately we're stuck with it so we live with the workarounds until the replacement is finished and we can kiss CPanel good riddance. Basically I know I can't wait! Anyway, from your specification though, MCHost would be right up your street and you could always upgrade your account to a higher bandwidth, diskspace as needs change. As for uptime... let's be 100% honest... lately because of a few problems at Burstnet and NAC the uptime has been down to around 96% and 97.5% in the past 2 months so there's no guarantees but the issues have been learned from and upstream providers were the ones at fault in about 75% of cases, so it affected other hosts as well. The communication has improved recently as well, with notices now being posted re: reboots, any maintenance required, downtime explanations, etc... And THAT makes a major difference. They're not perfect (who is) but they do try very hard to get it right. Hope that helps.
Posted by Magic, 01-20-2002, 05:14 PM
I was with communitech (and still am) for about 3 years... until i saw WHT and now host with 3 other hosts also. Im using a few hosts and to be honest no one compares to the uptime and reliability that Communitech provides. Sure they're a little expensive... but if maximum uptime and real support is important to you... i would highly recommend you stay with CT. They use Sun servers that are really rock solid. Now i know why branded hardware is so expensive! BTW, cpanel is great... except for the fact that it has 1001 bugs in it! Just a note about MChost... since they upgraded to 1GIG ram recently... thier servers are very good too - They come highly recommended if your determined to leave CT.
Posted by parawing742, 01-20-2002, 05:28 PM
My only problem with CommuniTech is that most of my clients use very little of what CT offers (like only 20MB and 5POP), but need MySQL db. That means I have to sell them at least a Standard plan @ 27.95/month. Also, I have clients wanting to use PHP/MySQL intensive applications such as PHP-Nuke. I currently have them on other servers because CT told me to run PHP-Nuke I should get their Enterprise plan @ 178.95/month OR get a dedicated unit. What I need is more control over the offerings. I'm certainly open to suggestions because this is a major decision. More on the e-mail issue... Some of my clients have more than one domain. Currently they are "pointed" to their main domain. However, e-mail does not work with other domains. They have requested that e-mail sent to someone@domain2.com is forwarded to someone@domain1.com. I currently have no method of setting this up but would very much like to have it that way if possible. I would also like comments on my PHP issue. Is it nessary to have PHP installed as a CGI to be able to write to the filesystem? // Phillip P.S. Although I am impressed with VPS offerings, they are not a requirment.
Posted by MCHost-Marc, 01-20-2002, 08:15 PM
We are using a custom designed CPanel, not the standard template. All resellers can also customize it and use it for their clients, branded with their logo or completely modifying it, etc. CPanel (demo): http://demo:account@www.mchost.com/cpanel/ Last edited by MCHost-Marc; 01-20-2002 at 08:25 PM.
Posted by Magic, 01-20-2002, 09:20 PM
resource intensive scripts are disliked by all hosts... regardless of company name. I run PHP nuke on CT with even small accounts... and i still havnt been told to remove it. That said, i dont get much traffic to that site. About the domain pointing and email issue... i would highly recommend using mydomain.com Their service is free and VERY good. I have many domains pointing to sites on CT servers... and their $25 domain pointing fee is rediculus ... so i just use www.mydomain.com. It does subdomains, emails and many other DNS controls all for free. If your site is going to be resource intensive, i wouldnt recommend MChost, they are quite strict on scripts ... but like i said in the first statement... all hosts are like that. If you know how to handle a dedicated server... get one! i would recommend www.LightOne.net ... they provide super fast servers at very nice costs.... Lightone WHT Special Last edited by Magic; 01-20-2002 at 09:37 PM.
Posted by parawing742, 01-20-2002, 10:14 PM
I was told by CT that I should not install PHP-Nuke for my client because of the 5000 visitors per week traffic. A dedicated server is not really an option because we have neither the time or resources to properly manage it. And most units are over $150/month. Could someone that uses MCHost comment on running PHP-Nuke? Are they quite strict with PHP scripts? // Phillip
Posted by MCHost-Marc, 01-20-2002, 10:31 PM
On some servers, we have a few clients running PHP-Nuke and there is no problem at all, the load is always below 0.40 . I think it depends what is compiled into PHP and how the machine is configured. It definately shouldnt be a problem on a semi-dedicated machine.
Posted by Magic, 01-20-2002, 11:09 PM
lightone has thier dedicated server for $125/month. If you have the know-how... thats definately the way to go. If not, go with MChost. As Marc said, the most you will have to do is go semi-dedicated... which is around $150/month. The advantage of this is a good control panel and peace of mind that you have real pros handling your server.

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