Comments/Recommend: web host and content management system

[Jake the Dog]

hi all,

please excuse this long post;

I manage a website and forums that is need of a new host.

brief overview the site:
- comprises of 53 html web pages
- runs off a W2K3 server
- has a MSSQL2000 backed phpBB forum with 1100+ members
- forum activity over the last month averaged 150-200 posts and 16-22 topics a day.
- new member registrations has consistently been at 45-55 p/m for over 12 months and there is no evidence that this will slow down in next 12 months.
- total size of the site and forum db is 120MB.
- last month total usage was 12GB
- monthly usage has consistently been growing at 8-10% for over 12 months and there is no evidence that this will slow down in next 12 months.

requirements for new web host:
- max of US$400 p/y plan cost
- reliable service, guaranteed high uptimes, excellent support
- 30GB or more p/m usage
- Linux & Apache web server
- 2+ mySQL databases
- php, mySQL, phpMyAdmin, mail list handling, hotlink management.


having researched what feels like thousands of plans from hundreds of providers, I've narrowed down my personal picks to these:

1. Lunapages.com Voyager plan
   monthly usage: 80GB
   cost: US$22.95 p/m
   pros: extremely configurable, lots of server features, great support forum
   cons: can't really see any
   other: lost of positive independant user comments and reviews on the web for this mob. here's a typical one I found. didn't find many negative comments of twhcih the worst is here. I've also had a good read of the Lunapages support forums and found little user disatisfaction and not many issues relating server reliability, speed, billing and so forth. most issues pretty seem to be much related to software configs and more often than not, due to user erorr/lack of knowledge. Lunarpages has been around for 7 years. my biggest concern is that I can't find anything that's of any concern :roll:
2. LogicalFX.com Platinum +
   monthly usage: 30GB
   cost: US$25.00 p/m (special deal for us)
   pros: supported locally (but onsold from a reputable US provider), server features, trusted web host
   cons: none other than it's not as good value as the Lunarpages plan
   other: their US provider has a good reputation too and think their server reliability, speed, etc will be as good as Lunapages. a big plus for me personally is that some of our monies would go to an Aussie company.

I'm also considering implementing a php content management system. I want to remake the site and add user managed features like a news posting system, event calandar, knowledge base and photo gallery and manage user access from the same user tables in the forum database. of the CMS's that I've been reading up on, I'm keen on MX-System. it's modular and appears to be easy to setup and highly configurable. another good thing is that is doesn't alter any of the forum required tables. here is an implementation of a MX-System that is close to what I'm after.


I would value any comments and/or recommendations any of you might want to communicate on either of these two items.

cheers,

JtD

 

[Handruin]

Judging by the trace route, logicalFX looks like a reseller from http://theplanet.com/. (it was only 9 hops so it seems close to me) Not saying it's good or bad, but something to consider. Httpme.com uses a server on The Planet to host their support site. (voxtreme acquired httpme, so I hear all their news now)

lunarpages.com appears to be out of a data center named mzima.net in California. I don't know anything about them other than what's on their website.

If you were at all interested, I could inquire about some internal voxtreme resellers that might offer a good deal. I can ask for prices based on the criteria you listed. They have an offers and requests section on their forum for clients.

Do you want a hosting provider located in your country so that the server is local to you, or does that not matter?

I've spent a ton of time trying to find a phpbb compatible CMS to use here, but none of them really did anything for me. I tried mx-system on my local machine with an import of SF's forum and it worked OK. I'm working on my own port for the next revision of SF's page, but it won't be meant for distribution.

 

[Jake the Dog]

thanks for the reply

If you were at all interested, I could inquire about some internal voxtreme resellers that might offer a good deal. I can ask for prices based on the criteria you listed. They have an offers and requests section on their forum for clients.

I would appreciate it if you did.

a local provider with a local server would be ideal, but it's not realistic. services such as those that Lunarpages offers would cost several hundreds per month. web services are still obscenely expensive down under

did you find any significant flaws of issues with MX-System? I'm very interested to see what you're cooking up for SF!

 

[Handruin]

I posted a request asking for offers on their site. I'll let you know if/when something comes in. I didn't mention your max price because I'm hoping they give an offer less than your max. If I put the max price you want to spend, why wouldn't they want to get you for it...? I didn't know hosting cost so much down under; several hundred is a lot of money in either currency.

I didn't find any flaws with MX-System, but I didn't spend a lot of time with it. I tried implementing it with SF's current site (on my machine at home) and I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. I gave up after a couple of days. I've tried so many different pieces of software that I eventually gave up in frustration and decided to write my own.

I'm in the process of learning object oriented php. It's slow-going, but I'm learning a lot. I don't have anything to show for the new SF, so don't hold your breath, it might be a little while. I want to make a better system for news posting and article writing. Those two things need improvement here (among other things).

 

[Handruin]

I sent off a couple PM's today. One question I was asked is if you are able to handle the migration from one host to another?

I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from them.

Doug