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osCommerce

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Choosing HOSTING


Voland

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Hello,

 

I am in the process of choosing a new shared hosting for my osC site.

 

Can someone advise what quetions to ask when talking to the Hosting providers. I mean Im guessing the most important ones should be technical about MySql and overall uptime/downtime. But it seems that nowadays it doesn't matter if you ask them "what is your uptime?", since all will tell you that it is 99.9%. And a month later you get, constant SQL timeouts and errors, and 24+ hour downtime; which in term means that I shoud be downtime-free for at least a year(99.9% yeah right!), but obviosly that doesnt happen. And if you ask them if they "oversell" they will ofcourse tell you that no way.

 

So Id like to ask them questions to make them somehow prove that they do not oversell? Something like - how many accounts per machine do they host. And what is the acceptable number I should look for, as an answer? In other words, can someone coach me how to interview the hosting provider and confront them properly? And what to look for, to be problem free as much as it is possible.

 

Best regards,

 

Arkady :)

People dont change, people realize.

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If you are looking to host an osCom shoop ask your hosting provider if they host any osCom shops and if yes, if they can provide a few URLs. Then check their load speed and performance. That should tell you if their servers are osCom compatible. Accounts don't tell you much as it's the overall server load which counts (so one account could be tiny, one could be huge). But asking for actual shops hosted by the provider will give you a more realistic picture. Also the servers should ideally be in the country you are in or close by for best speed.

 

If possible, when using a new host, maybe just start with a small test shop before transferring your business site. In the end, only a few months of testing will tell you how good they actually are. If they aren't, ask for a refund and walk away.

 

And don't forget that you do get what you pay for - there's no magic solution, if something is very cheap, then servers are likely to be full and support slow.

 

Some pitfalls to look out for:

PHP / MySQL versions?

Linux server?

Register Globals ON?

Shared / Full SSL available and on same server?

osCommerce experience?

can they help with basic install questions or offer free installs?

 

I can't name any specific hosting providers in this forum (against rules) but if you'd like more info, please just PM me.

 

all the best, Terra

My code for combining PayPal IPN with ** QTPro 4.25 ** osC Affiliate ** CCGV(trad)

and how to solve the invoice already paid error

General info: Allow customer to delete order comment ** FTP Programs & Text Editors ** Amending order email **

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If you are looking to host an osCom shoop ask your hosting provider if they host any osCom shops and if yes, if they can provide a few URLs. Then check their load speed and performance. That should tell you if their servers are osCom compatible. Accounts don't tell you much as it's the overall server load which counts (so one account could be tiny, one could be huge). But asking for actual shops hosted by the provider will give you a more realistic picture. Also the servers should ideally be in the country you are in or close by for best speed.

 

If possible, when using a new host, maybe just start with a small test shop before transferring your business site. In the end, only a few months of testing will tell you how good they actually are. If they aren't, ask for a refund and walk away.

 

And don't forget that you do get what you pay for - there's no magic solution, if something is very cheap, then servers are likely to be full and support slow.

 

Some pitfalls to look out for:

PHP / MySQL versions?

Linux server?

Register Globals ON?

Shared / Full SSL available and on same server?

osCommerce experience?

can they help with basic install questions or offer free installs?

 

I can't name any specific hosting providers in this forum (against rules) but if you'd like more info, please just PM me.

 

all the best, Terra

Fair enough. Thank you. Can you elaborate a little more on the SSL. I did purchase a dedicated SSL (is that what you mean by Full), through godaddy. I am also aware that i will need my Hosting to give me a dedicated IP in order to install the dedicated SSL. However what do you mean about it being on the same server?

 

Thank you

People dont change, people realize.

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Fair enough. Thank you. Can you elaborate a little more on the SSL. I did purchase a dedicated SSL (is that what you mean by Full), through godaddy. I am also aware that i will need my Hosting to give me a dedicated IP in order to install the dedicated SSL. However what do you mean about it being on the same server?

 

Thank you

 

Some hosting providers have all SSLs on one server and the unsecure pages on another. It's not a huge problem, but if they have the SSL and non-SSL on the same server, then things are easier as your data is kept on one server. This is usually a problem for shared ssls though, if I'm correct.

 

As you already have an SSL, you will also need to make sure that your hosting provider does provide Dedicated IPs and allows you to install your own SSL Certificate - not all hosting companies provide this facility.

 

all the best, Terra

My code for combining PayPal IPN with ** QTPro 4.25 ** osC Affiliate ** CCGV(trad)

and how to solve the invoice already paid error

General info: Allow customer to delete order comment ** FTP Programs & Text Editors ** Amending order email **

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In one of the threads that I participated in a while ago. One of the gurus here sugested that some timeouts that I ve been having migt be due the fact that my current hosting has a low limit on teh concurrent SQL calls. I asked them and they said that it is 30. And the guy said that it is indeed seems rather low. However I have been talking to some new Hosting providers that I am considering and most of them say their limit is 20, lol.

 

Comments please :)

 

Arkady

People dont change, people realize.

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