What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Richard B -
Number of replies: 7

I'm trying to determine if it is practical to host Moodle 2.4.1 on a virtual server.  The requirements for Moodle specify that both PHP and Apache installations be newer than what a lot of hosting companies offer, which narrows the field considerably.

Even if the hosting company meets Moodle's requirements some hosting companies have their 'dirty little secrets' that will inhibit good performance from the program. 

For example, a basic install of Moodle creates over 300 DB tables, which increases with additional plugins. Bluehost has a limitation of 1,000 tables per basic account. In addition it has a limit on the number of program files, which includes emails associated with the account. As a result it may be unwise to host more than Moodle account there.

Please share your experience using Moodle 2.4.1 on a virtual host server and the company providing the service. Also, include the country where the server resides along with a general idea one the number of enrolled students and courses offered. If you have an understanding of phpMyAdmin include the number DB tables--you'll find the number next to the name of the Moodle database.

Thanks for your help.

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In reply to Richard B

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

I'm not entirely sure I understand your question. There's nothing to stop you hosting Moodle on a virtual server per se as long as Moodle's requirements are met. I do it all the time. Perhaps you are specifically talking about the 'economy' end of virtual servers?

Most commercial virtual servers I have used - it's effectively your own machine. There's no limits on anything and you have a choice of base operating system. Certainly not the limits you describe. 

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Richard B -

Could you be more specific as to what you don't undersand. Are you confused on table or file limitations or something else? 

At one time or another I've used virtual servers at the more popular hosting companies and assure you there are differences. For example, some hosting companies cap CPU cycles. That means if your site uses over a certain percentage of the CPU your site's performance is slowed down. Other companies restrict CPU usage anywhere from 5-30%, which tells you right off that performance among hosting companies is going to vary greatly.

Another issue is that with Moodle 2.4.1 is not suitable for all hosting companies because it requires a more current version of Apache and PHP than the server provides. There was one hosting company I found that was still using PHP 4 when the rest of the world was using PHP 5.2.

I'm taking it that you haven't done a direct comparison between hosting download speeds or my question would be crystal clear. There are tools to help you with this and something that I'd encourage you to investigate. 

When you say there are no limits suggest that you are not aware of what the hosting industry refers to as their 'dirty little secrets'. It's an advertising come-on and when you pull back the curtain you'll find a world of difference.

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In reply to Richard B

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers

Richard, I am unaware of any direct comparison of VPS.  What I have seen is that there appear to be many that work, and some (maybe many) that don't.

I am just a moodle user, smaller installation (approx 15 courses per year, 100-150 students, or so), and I have a GoDaddy Economy VPS.  It meets all the requirements for Moodle 2.4, and even 2.5.

Here's what I am running: 

Moodle 2.4.3+ (Build: 20130411) PHP Version 5.3.15, MySQL 5.1.63, CENTOS 6.2, Apache 2.2.24.

You will find many here on moodle.org with different companies.

What you should seek depends upon the size of Moodle that you need.

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In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Sam Mudle -

Rick Jerz said:

Here's what I am running: 

Moodle 2.4.3+ (Build: 20130411) PHP Version 5.3.15, MySQL 5.1.63, CENTOS 6.2, Apache 2.2.24.

You will find many here on moodle.org with different companies.

What you should seek depends upon the size of Moodle that you need.

Hey,

I'm currently using a generic hosting via Cpanel.  How hard is it to go from Cpanel to a blank CentOs install?  Do you have to install Apache, MySQL, PHP all from scratch? 

Seems doing this all via SSH is a pain.  Any good resources for someone looking to do what you did?  How good is the official guide? (http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/CentOS_Linux_installation)

Thanks!

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In reply to Sam Mudle

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

I depends on your point of view I suppose. I absolutely hate cPanel but I'm very comfortable with the Linux command line. cPanel seems to take forever.

Most server installs (whatever the technology) will come with all the basics installed. Anyway, even if they don't, it's trivial to install the PHP/MySQL/Apache packages from the command line. There's a few walk-throughs in the Moodle docs for a start.

If you are going to go command-line and haven't done it before then you have a bit of a learning curve - it'll be good for you though. You'll not go back wink

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Richard and Jeremy

Here is some background information on what the others are trying to tell.

The current discussion, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_Shell or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPanel, is a manifestation of the age old discussion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface (CLI) or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface (GUI). There is no one answer for all. This article http://www.markus-gattol.name/ws/cli_vs_gui.html is a good comparison.

Limiting outselves to installing Moodle on a remote Linux VPS, the CLI version could look like http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/CentOS_Linux_installation as already pointed out. (Careful: Though the URL says /24/ the content is on "Installing Moodle 2.0 on stock version of CentOS 5.5" written in February 2011.) For Debian-based distributions I maintain my own notes: "Installing Moodle on a Debian-based LAMP server" http://www.syndrega.ch/?p=38. (Depending on where you start, you might need "Setting up LAMP on a Debian-based server" http://www.syndrega.ch/?p=33 too.)

I only had a quick look at CPanel a long time ago. I believe these posts representative of how you work on CPanel:
- "Trying to install moodle 2.4 on cpanel" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=227108
- "Notes on upgrading Moodle from 1.9.x to 2.4.1 on a shared server" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=224561

The choice is yours!
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In reply to Richard B

Re: What Virtual Host Server Do You Use?

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

I just don't really recognise what you are saying - I think we are possibly talking about two different things. You seem to be able to get a kind of virtual host that comes with cPanel and all sorts of other junk you don't need which are intended for less technical users. Is that what we are discussing?

I (or my organisation) purchase virtual servers from a few different companies and they ask us what version of Ubuntu (usually) we would like and we specify the latest LTS and it runs the latest Moodle just fine. We just get a terminal login (via SSH) but that's all we want. There are no limits on anything on the box excepting those based on the virtual hardware that we bought.

Again, I strongly suspect a case of 'you get what you pay for'. I don't need to compare download speeds etc but, to be perfectly honest with you, I've never had to care about it as the bandwidth we get has always been huge. Your mileage may vary.

You seem a little bitter - I'm not sure why thoughtful

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