Hi all, I wish to set up moodle for a small college. I was told by an IT person who has worked with moodle that it needs to be hosted by a dedicated moodle host, probably $2-300 per month
Yet I tend to think Bluehost would be a safe and efficient environment to host Moodle 2.x but I would like to know for sure. Certainly the costs would be way less. My website has been hosted by Bluehost for some years without drama so I know the service is good.
BH says their uploader will install moodle in 5 minutes and that they have moodle installations running fine for other similar size institutions already..
I would like to know:
1 does BH work well for this?
2 is it secure, (not easily hacked for course content or exam answers etc)?
3 does it pass muster spec wise (PHP is up to date but the aforementioned IT guy said that mysql 5.5 + is needed, while BH has 5.1.6 - BH says moodle 2.x installations install and run fine).
What are peoples’ experiences with running moodle on BH? Anything else I should know? Even running the BH pro plan would be very economical compared to those hosting fees.
BH pro plan claims: “More CPU, memory and resources SiteBackup Pro Free Dedicated IP address Free SSL Certificate Free domain name Free domain privacy Free Postini Anti-Spam Accounts (10)
BH told me "There are 80% less users on the Pro Plan servers and thus allow for more resource allocation which will effect processing power. We are offering 20% off of the base rate of $24.95. 1 year at $19.95 a month (all hosting is prepaid and due upon signup) would be $239.40.” Your advice is much appreciated : o )
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/search.php?id=5&forumid=94&subject=bluehost (The link was in the introduction)
About software requirements:
- http://docs.moodle.org/20/en/Installing_Moodle#Software
- http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/Installing_Moodle#Software
- http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Installing_Moodle#Software
(Note: The broken link correted 4. March 2012 10:03 UTC)
Hi Visvanath,
i appreciate you posting the url of a moodle forum search result by looking up "bluehost" on the forum search. There is some interesting info there
but
a lot of the posts are many years old and I am hoping for people who are on bluehost now with up to date experiences and to get the answers to my specific questions.
Thanks to you and to anyone who can contribute. : O )
1) I have used Bluehost for around 6 years. Although there are many things I like about Bluehost (the price, generally good tech support, etc.) I am planning on moving to a different host if they don't upgrade to PHP 5.3+ soon. Their current environment will only support through Moodle 2.0.X which, based on using it for around a year is the worst of all Moodle worlds (in my opinion). I foolishly upgraded from Moodle 1.9 to 2.0 and now I can't upgrade to 2.1 or 2.2 because my hosting environment won't support them due to their version of PHP. Moodle 1.9 was fast and stable (although becoming a bit dated). Moodle 2.0 was the first version of a whole new architecture. Moodle 2.1 and 2.2 appear to be significant improvments on Moodle 2.0.
2) I think that the security primarily has to do with the Moodle code and the way you administer your version of Moodle. I am under the impression that Moodle is a rather secure program so it really comes down to how you setup your site.
3) No, it does not pass muster if you want to use the most current versions of Moodle. Worse, Moodle 2.0 and older, is no longer fully supported because of its age. At this time I would not go with Bluehost, or any similar host that cannot support the newest versions of Moodle.
Pro Plan: I was having significant lag issues once I moved to Moodle 2.0 and so I switched to the Pro plan. After a year, I am not sure that it made much difference with Moodle 2.0. Their Pro servers still have the same environment and you can still end up on a server under attack which can decrease your access to your site.
Overall - I was very happy with Bluehost running Moodle 1.3 through 1.9. Not so much since I have become "trapped" in Moodle 2.0 without an easy way to migrate back to 1.9 or forward to the newer versions of Moodle 2.1 and 2.2.
Good luck. If you find a host that meets the needs of your college, please post the information.
Daniel,
I don't understand your comment that BlueHost does not support a Moodle 2.2 installation. I'm running Moodle 2.2 quite successfully on BlueHost. Also, PHP 5.3 should be available to you via the PHP Config page. If not, shoot them a note and have them switch you to a server that has 5.3. It is available.
I've been using BlueHost for a couple years as a site to host Moodle. They did delay in getting PHP 5.3 running, but that has now been solved. BlueHost provides excellent service and support. Their online chat help service staff are great. That support, in itself, will save you many hours of frustration.
I'm currently running Moodle 1.9, 2.1 and 2.2 on their servers. My Moodle Server Environment check tells me BlueHost is running PHP 5.3.10 and MySQL 5.1.61 - both are versions beyond that required by Moodle 2.2 (PHP 5.3.2 and MySQL 5.0.25).
Their SimpleScripts service installs only Moodle 2.0.2. However, I have stopped using SimpleScripts. It is way too easy to create your own installation:
1. Use the MySQL wizard to create a database. Add a database user account so Moodle can access the account.
2. Download Moodle from Moodle.org. Use the BlueHost ftp service to place the downloaded zip file on your account.
3. Unzip the file to the public html site.
4. Run Moodle - follow the instructions.
I have a BlueHost PRO account with an SSL certificate.
My use of Moodle on BlueHost is mainly for development work. I don't know how it will respond to a larger group of users, say 50 or 100. But overall, I'm very satisfied with their service. I should also add that their automated backup service saved my butt a couple times!!
I've had a Bluehost account for 2 years, just installed Moodle - the first message I got after the installation of Moodle 2.3 was that it can't run on this server and php should be upgraded, so I contacted Bluehost asking when they were planning to upgrade - and to my delight my account was upgraded instantly so everything works fine now
Does BH work with 2.5?
Thanks for any info you have on this...
I have Moodle 2.5.1+ running on Bluehost, for experimental purposes only, however. So yes, 2.5 works with BH.
I am not sure how my system would perform under load. How many courses/students do you want to handle?
Gone, BlueHost, apparently no longer hosts Moodle. Seems to be Strictly WordPress and maybe RedMine. Had to get refund as I didn't do my homework. I had attempted an install a couple of years ago. Any other reasonable HOSTs out there?
Interesting. I just checked and my Moodle 3.0.2+ (Build: 20160218) is still running on Bluehost. What do you mean they don't host Moodle?
Some folks don't like this suggestion, but GoDaddy can also work.
It might depend upon what one is looking for. Neither GoDaddy or Bluehost support moodle. They are server companies, not moodle companies.
I am not associated in any way with either Bluehost or GoDaddy. I have just used these companies.
My apologies for the rash comment, what I meant to say is they appear to no longer offer Moodle as as install directly from BlueHost. I had install their module over a year ago in a test and went back to find the module was no longer offered or they were unwilling to point me in the direction as I clearly was new at this. Did you install a Bluehost Moodle Module or did you install it yourself?
Other than a quick test of a new script you really shouldn't use one-click installs anyway. They tend to do funky things with the install and are slow in updating therefore potentially leaving you open to security issues.
It is not odd for companies like Bluehost to say one thing then do other things. I just checked, and the one-click install system on my Bluehost still shows Moodle (see graphic below).
I installed manually, which is what I and others generally recommend.
The one-click install for moodle is only for those who know very little and just want a quick install of moodle for experimental or exploration purposes, with a short-term need. Upgrading these one-click installs can become challenging.
