In reply to Jacob Romeyn
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Runy Calmera -
Jacob,
That's cool man, automatic installation of Moodle. So Martin, "our Moodle" is becoming the standard online course application as now even ISP provide it. I guess even Bill gates would be jealous. 
For newcommers, like me in this php, mysql world, it is very important to being able get started quickly with Moodle. Many people look around here and think, shall I begin or not. It should be easy to start. It is sad if people just give up because they simply couldn't configure the config.php in Moodle, don't you all agree?
Anyone else have any ISP with good services?
My requirements are:
- ability to get started quickly
- ability to make multiple sql databases (not just one)
- below $10 dollar a month fee
- 120 MB + space
- reasonable data traffic policies (I don't want to pay and be punished when my site is succesful)
Í'll keep an eye on this ISP..
In reply to Runy Calmera
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Martin Dougiamas -
You'll find in fact that many ISPs will be offering this in future.
Many providers (including me at moodle.com) use CPanel for the control panel interface, and there is a popular extension for it called "Fantastico" (which I don't use for moodle.com).
http://www.cpanelthemes.com/fantastico.php
It is Fantastico that provides the easy installation of Moodle. It does not help with customisation or keeping up with the latest features, and of course the provider will generally not offer any support for it. But it's still a good, easy option for many people who would otherwise might not even know about Moodle - I'm very pleased to see it out there and welcome anyone here who might be using Moodle that way!
Many providers (including me at moodle.com) use CPanel for the control panel interface, and there is a popular extension for it called "Fantastico" (which I don't use for moodle.com).
http://www.cpanelthemes.com/fantastico.php
It is Fantastico that provides the easy installation of Moodle. It does not help with customisation or keeping up with the latest features, and of course the provider will generally not offer any support for it. But it's still a good, easy option for many people who would otherwise might not even know about Moodle - I'm very pleased to see it out there and welcome anyone here who might be using Moodle that way!
In reply to Runy Calmera
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Ray Le Couteur -
I am currently using totalchoicehosting.com and very impressed. But don't just go by what is offered - many providers offer everything and provide poor service ........
500Mb
Unlimited databases
Cpanel control panel
Safe mode off
Excellent support forums
Lots of bandwidth (can't remember exactly)
Cron
Lots of other features.
$5 a month
Originally I signed up for rcthost.com - later I found out that this is basically a one man show, and as the number of servers increased (3 to 4 to 5), the service and uptime declined. Beware new start ups!
Totalchoicehosting.com has 27 servers and has been around a while!
Ray Le Couteur
In reply to Ray Le Couteur
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by alberto virgili -
I'm trying to install and use moodle for some distance e-learning courses but I've found problems because my actual hosting provider uses Safe Mode ON.
I asked them to switch safe mode off but up to now (after 1 week) I've not received any answer 
.
For this reason I'm looking for another hosting and I 've found attractive what you wrote about TCH but I'ld like to know :
- how long is your experience with them?
- are you using moodle with TCH in all its functions?
Ciao
Alberto
In reply to alberto virgili
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by John Gone -
I'm seeing a great opportunity here for someone to set up as a hosting re-seller. If you only do this for Moodle users you should still be able to build a decent business in 6 months or so. Anybody?
Our ISP is a great at setting up and allowing Moodle sites to run, we currently run moodle for our school and have a sight with over 1.5mb of storage space used. The ISP has Moodle knowledgable techs who are willing to help you with setup and update problems, will set up crons and remove safe mode, as well as installing and configuring the upload directory for you.
Contact is: Chuck
email: chuck@cdk.net
Any questions email me, Chris cgi@nacgroundschool.com
There is one very good hosting reseller with optimized servers to run Moodle: www.moodle.com
It is Martin, the creator of Moodle, who assures the best possible installation, mantainance and support.
The only problem is that it would be more expensive than other hostings. But it is very nice knowing that all that server is optimized to run Moodle and is continuosly being mantanined by Martin (patching bugs, etc.). I think it is worth 50$/month. For me, the best option.
Tech specs are enough (10GB transfer, 200MB space, CPanel 7, 99,9% uptime) Take a look at http://moodle.com/hosting/ and http://moodle.com/hosting/servers/
In brief:
Best option:
- www.moodle.com/hosting
50$/month with Moodle installation, customization, manteniance and support
A whole server optimized to run Moodle sites.
Latest Moodle installed, patched and mantained
99,9 uptime, 10GB transfer, 200MB space
Another interesting cheap options are:
a) ** Fantastico based (Moodle autoinstall) **
- www.surpasshosting.com
6,00$/month
Moodle 1.0.8.1, 99% uptime, 20GB tranfer, 750MB space
- www.l40.net (Ads in www.google.com)
7,95$/moth
Moodle 1.0.9, 99,7% uptime, 10GB tranfer, 500MB space
By the way, has anyone tested Moodle instalation with Fanstastico? I am very interested in the experiences
b) ** Good experience with Moodle **
- www.totalchoicehosting.com
5$/month
PHP safe mode = OFF, 99,9% uptime, 10GB tranfer, 500MB space
c) ** Really cheap **
www.datacities.com/hosting.php
6,95$/month
99,99% uptime, 30GB tranfer, 1GB space
It is Martin, the creator of Moodle, who assures the best possible installation, mantainance and support.
The only problem is that it would be more expensive than other hostings. But it is very nice knowing that all that server is optimized to run Moodle and is continuosly being mantanined by Martin (patching bugs, etc.). I think it is worth 50$/month. For me, the best option.
Tech specs are enough (10GB transfer, 200MB space, CPanel 7, 99,9% uptime) Take a look at http://moodle.com/hosting/ and http://moodle.com/hosting/servers/
In brief:
Best option:
- www.moodle.com/hosting
50$/month with Moodle installation, customization, manteniance and support
A whole server optimized to run Moodle sites.
Latest Moodle installed, patched and mantained
99,9 uptime, 10GB transfer, 200MB space
Another interesting cheap options are:
a) ** Fantastico based (Moodle autoinstall) **
- www.surpasshosting.com
6,00$/month
Moodle 1.0.8.1, 99% uptime, 20GB tranfer, 750MB space
- www.l40.net (Ads in www.google.com)
7,95$/moth
Moodle 1.0.9, 99,7% uptime, 10GB tranfer, 500MB space
By the way, has anyone tested Moodle instalation with Fanstastico? I am very interested in the experiences
b) ** Good experience with Moodle **
- www.totalchoicehosting.com
5$/month
PHP safe mode = OFF, 99,9% uptime, 10GB tranfer, 500MB space
c) ** Really cheap **
www.datacities.com/hosting.php
6,95$/month
99,99% uptime, 30GB tranfer, 1GB space
Excellent post David,
very nice of you to consolidate all that information in one place
Granted all you say is correct re: http://www.moodle.com/hosting
however many here are simply looking for affordable hosting with some level of support. Martin will certainly do very well offering dedicated support/hosting to those institutions requiring that additional security and support. I think someone would be providing a much needed and much appreciated service if they were to offer a Moodle-friendly hosting package to those needing something between http://www.moodle.com/hosting and your-on-your-own shared hosting. This would certainly be welcome if the pricing fell somewhere on the affordable side of the line.
I think the vast majority, ultimately, of Moodle sites will likely be not-for-profits and will appreciate having a place to go that will provide them with:
some knowledge and support when necessary (in addition to the most excellent support provided in the Using Moodle support forums)
affordability
accessibility
Just my 2C worth...
very nice of you to consolidate all that information in one place
Granted all you say is correct re: http://www.moodle.com/hosting
however many here are simply looking for affordable hosting with some level of support. Martin will certainly do very well offering dedicated support/hosting to those institutions requiring that additional security and support. I think someone would be providing a much needed and much appreciated service if they were to offer a Moodle-friendly hosting package to those needing something between http://www.moodle.com/hosting and your-on-your-own shared hosting. This would certainly be welcome if the pricing fell somewhere on the affordable side of the line.
I think the vast majority, ultimately, of Moodle sites will likely be not-for-profits and will appreciate having a place to go that will provide them with:
some knowledge and support when necessary (in addition to the most excellent support provided in the Using Moodle support forums)
affordability
accessibility
Just my 2C worth...
In reply to David Delgado
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Martin Dougiamas -
Note that Moodle hosting is a different product from cheap generic hosting.
Cheap hosting companies have generic accounts, and are looking to cram as many people as they can onto their servers. They generally are not concerned with small faults and don't have time to keep up with all the issues in every application people may choose to run on their servers.
That said, I'm very pleased these options exist because it does allow keen individuals and smaller institutions to create Internet-based learning sites, and this is what the heart of Moodle is all about.
Look at moodle.com this way: people who use it for hosting are paying an extra $40/month so that they don't need to worry about installation or upgrades, don't need to use these forums to solve problems, don't need to patch anything, and don't need to worry about backups, security, bad advice or poor performance.
The number of sites per server on moodle.com will be kept quite low, and the number of servers will be limited to what I can easily handle - this is not a get-rich-quick scheme, it's just a way to keep me developing Moodle full-time.
Cheap hosting companies have generic accounts, and are looking to cram as many people as they can onto their servers. They generally are not concerned with small faults and don't have time to keep up with all the issues in every application people may choose to run on their servers.
That said, I'm very pleased these options exist because it does allow keen individuals and smaller institutions to create Internet-based learning sites, and this is what the heart of Moodle is all about.
Look at moodle.com this way: people who use it for hosting are paying an extra $40/month so that they don't need to worry about installation or upgrades, don't need to use these forums to solve problems, don't need to patch anything, and don't need to worry about backups, security, bad advice or poor performance.
The number of sites per server on moodle.com will be kept quite low, and the number of servers will be limited to what I can easily handle - this is not a get-rich-quick scheme, it's just a way to keep me developing Moodle full-time.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Runy Calmera -
Hi,
Martin. I'm glad with your reply. You remember that initially, when you started with moodle.com you wanted to keep things separately of moodle.org. I think you succeeded in that. Now we see that, quality services are appreciated. So there is a place in the market for moodle.com targeted to institutions etc. who want that extra qualitiy service. Good luck with your product and services.
I haven't visited Moodle.com yet, so I don't know exactly how your approach to the customer is. Except from what you said above. But, I think those small institutions want a stable service, high uptime and don't want the hassle of setting up and maintaining databases. So your site moodle.com should provide this customized, quality services.
good luck and thanks for your reply.
Runy
In reply to David Delgado
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Timothy Takemoto -
This host also offers one click moodle installation
http://www.crediblehost.com/hosting.htm
And crediblehosting.com is recommended as a reliable host on the hosting forums. Eg.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=1609402&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
Of course this is no competition with http://www.moodle.com which offers updating to the latest version of Moodle, debugging etc.
But, as a measure of Moodle's popularity is very remarkable that Moodle is up there with postnuke, PHPauction, Phplinks, WebCalendar, and a select few others scripts that can be installed using one click, and this in spite of the fact that Moodle must have a much smaller target market (educators, as opposed to anyone with a website). This one-click availability is truly amazing and should be great ammunition for persuading system administrators that Moodle is a world market standard.
(My university people want to use an in house php script. Ach!)
BTW My post dissappeared again due to the persistent richtext area scripting problem. (I clicked on a mail to get here, and then clicked in a link in another mail, which started to refresh this page, which meant that the richtext area crashed again on upload and the things I had written disappeared).
BBTW I regurlarly make 5-10MB power point presentations for my lectures. One 28 part (year) lecture series would soon use the 200MB limit available at moodle.com, and I am thinking of several courses. So I am going to have to go dedicated or set up my own server eventually. There are some pretty cheap dedicated servers around that accept reselling.
http://w3.webhostingtalk.com/dedicated/dedicated.asp
But fingers crossed with the Redhat linux installation.
Hi, All,
Regarding hosting: I just have to join in here... Our experience at Moodle.com has been terrific. The level of support we have received has been remarkable - bordering on the fanatical, I'd say.
Unless something changes drastically, Aiken HS will be hosted at Moodle.com until the sun burns out or I am fired. Whichever comes first.
I am sure that there are other good hosts out there and I know that the price at Moodle.com is a little high for some folks who are just getting started. But you know what they say: "Once you go Moodle.com, you never go back." (If they don't say that, they should.)
Best regards,
Art Lader
Aiken High School
http://ahshornets.moodle.com/
Regarding hosting: I just have to join in here... Our experience at Moodle.com has been terrific. The level of support we have received has been remarkable - bordering on the fanatical, I'd say.
Unless something changes drastically, Aiken HS will be hosted at Moodle.com until the sun burns out or I am fired. Whichever comes first.
I am sure that there are other good hosts out there and I know that the price at Moodle.com is a little high for some folks who are just getting started. But you know what they say: "Once you go Moodle.com, you never go back." (If they don't say that, they should.)
Best regards,
Art Lader
Aiken High School
http://ahshornets.moodle.com/
In reply to alberto virgili
Re: Hosting Great anyone know more good ISP's for Moodle?
by Ray Le Couteur -
Hello Alberto
I agree with all the other comments. If you want full support in setting up and maintaining your site then you should consider signing up with Martin at Moodle.com
As to TCH (totalchoicehosting), I've only been with them for 2 months so far, but I am very impressed but there are independent reviews going back about a year at:
http://www.findmyhosting.com/showrating.asp?id=5330
As far as I am aware everything on Moodle works fine, I certainly use cron and gd is installed.
There is a 30 day money back offer ...........
Ray
I'm currently having no problems with my host. It' s in the asia pacific area and gives 200MB, but only 2 databases. They charge 25$ a year and 15$ for domain registration.
dale
Based on my exerience, I will not believe that 3-5-7 dollars per month hosting is safe choice. My current cheap hosting proves that any hosting with no phone numbers in their site (hiding behind online 7/24 supper via e-mail or chat) is not worth considering for professional users.I guess is Ok if your site is your hobby but not your real job. One that I am using for testing and hobbies (w/Fantastico) so faris Ok, they didn't crash but I am not checking them on regukar basis. (No need for names since I am not advertising any specific hosting co)
Having several hunderd students moodling on some cheap hosting is not smart idea.
I am right now in Martin's hosting hands and I hope he will prove that 50 dollars hosting with moodle.com plus oversight is safe and fee is justifed. I hope that Martin will prove that 50 bucks is not just payback to developer for past effort, but incentive for present and future business. I hope he will start offer to his customers every month new reason to stay by adding specific moodle.com features (like exclusive skins, site admin options etc)
Please make sure you are not jumping into bad hosting/hostage situation, check some sites before like http://www.yourhostsucks.com