Overwhelmed, and looking for a new host.

I have been pretty pleased with Hosting Matters .

They have all that you mentioned and are fairly cheap and the support is good. I have never emailed them and had a response in less than two hours, even late on a Sunday night. They also have a forum that you can ask for help or any other thing.

I would recommend http://www.dids.com

This board is hosted by them. You can be assured of value for money hosting with lots of features.

I've used HostRocket.com since November 2000 and have been more than pleased. Only $9.95 a month for all of the features you mentioned and more, plus extras like free subdomains. Support is also great.

thanks! I'll do some checking out tomorrow.

I don't think Hosting Matters or Hostrocket have mod_perl installed, I'm not sure about dids.com...

Brian

Brian, you're right about hosting matters not supporting mod_perl. We just checked that out with them. (I must say I *like* human click, tho)

Thing is we run a perl based BB, so we *need* the mod_perl. Gah. I'm starting to go nuts with this all. I only understand half of what we need, in all it's technical glory.

The search continues!

I'd also add to be careful of a host that loads up their servers with all sorts of things. While it looks good in advertising the more each server has the more chances for something to go wrong and bring down the server. Even if you're no using the feature someone else on the server might be and that's all it can take. IOW, sometimes less is more.

Honestly, there are a LOT of perl or PHP based BB's out there that don't require mod_perl... A lot of hosts choose not to install it because it can run a security risk. Unless you're tied to this particular BB, you could look for one at cgi-resources.com or hotscripts.com. Personally, I'd recommend the BB that this board runs, vbulletin.com, though the license fee might get you- but they do have a free version. Good luck!

Brian Farkas

Thanks for the advice, Brian. Problem is, there's been about 50+ hours put into modifying and setting up the BB we are using currently. *sighs* I feel as if I'm being impossible here.

mod_perl is a big security risk on any shared server. My host (futurequest.net) won't install it despite frequent begging and claims that they never will. Most other hosts feel the same way about it. Given that so many competant, knowledgeable hosts won't go near mod_perl with a 10 foot pole, I'd be a little worried about any host that did install it. You can keep looking, but you'll be severely limiting your choices on which companies you can use and the ones left on your list might not be very good.

Are you sure you need to use mod_perl to run your current BBS? Most perl scripts these days won't require something like that since so few hosts have it installed. Just my 2 cents on the matter, but given the choice between changing BBS software to migrate to something that didn't require mod_perl or settling for a 2nd rate host just because they had it available, I'd change BBS software in a heartbeat.

Yeah, installing and maitaining a VB is not complicated. You can modify it to your templates and needs in a few hours work.

As for hosts - I use westhost.com and dids.com and am happy with both. Most of my accounts are with Westhost and I'm very happy with them. Dids.com is where I host my Nt based account and I'm very pleased with them too.

The previous posts about mod_perl are correct: in a shared hosting environment, it is simply too large a security risk to allow it. On a dedicated server, certainly. On a shared server, never. Melesse, you're not being impossible, to be sure. The request itself is fairly reasonable - but only in very specific situations, such as a dedicated or semi-dedicated solution (and the costs that come with those types of accounts). Since you are looking for a shared solution, it's rare to find anyone who does have it installed.

I'd also second the recommendation to find forum software that does not require it, for security reasons and because I simply like vBulletin quite a bit.

Thank you all for your feedback. Gives me a lot to think about over the next while.

I'm curious as to why mod_perl is a security hazard any more than PHP or any other cgi-bin would be?

Do you want the hardcore tech stuff or something that isn't a cure for insomnia?

In tech terms, since mod_perl runs within an Apache child process, it uses the user/group defined in httpd.conf as it spawns. This presents problems on many server setups, since the user defined in httpd.conf typically has more rights than you would want to give mod_perl (which ideally would be set with the lowest possible rights). In an ideal world (again), mod_perl would only have access to world readable files. This is also an issue when you don't want to lock down a box so tight that no one can do anything useful on the server. In addition, since different mod_perl scripts will run using the same interpreter instance in Perl, malicious mod_perl scripts can alter the behavior of other mod_perl scripts - but more importantly, that same malicious mod_perl script can redefine any Perl object, a definite no-no. All of the above is why mod_perl is not healthy for shared hosting and why it is generally relegated to dedicated boxes: if it's only you on the system, there's quite a bit less risk that someone will do something nasty that wipes out the site (or the entire box).

In non-tech terms, it's a permissions thing, and winds up being either all of something or all of nothing, with very little room in between.

Try addr.com

so many excellent features at a cheap price of 9.95USD

DONT MISS OUT

That is funny.

Read this story

Quote: Originally posted by ipetspot
Try addr.com

so many excellent features at a cheap price of 9.95USD

DONT MISS OUT

Are you serious? Yeah, that is funny. I definitely wouldn't want to sign up with a host that gives credit card numbers to hackers. HostRocket.com is my recommendation for a terrific host!

Wow. I am shocked to hear of this. I never heard anything of this sort.

I guess I take back what I said

48 hours late for April Fools.

If you want great hosting come and check us out
http://www.doyouneedawebsite.net/host.htm

BEST FEATURES FOR THE PRICE I BET

HTTP://WWW.DOYOUNEEDAWEBSITE.NET/HOST.HTM

How come it looks like you have 0 posts? This vbulletin upgrade is really smart if it can count out advertising (not to say spam...)