Just wondering... Our Moodle sites are hosted at phpwebhosting.com. We have been very happy with this host, but have recently had many, many occasions when we simply cannot connect to the Moddle database. They have been very nice and are looking into it, but the problem persists. This is happening with two Moodle sites on the same server, "Hazel."
Anyone out there having a similar problem with Phpwebhosting.com? Or is it - as I suspect - just our problem due to something going on on that server?
Thanks,
Art Lader
I was having that when Moodle.org was there! That's why there is now an option in config.php to put:
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
Give it a shot.
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
Give it a shot.
I have made the change in the config file on both of my Moodles and will get back to you with the results.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Nope. nu luck. After we are on the site for fifteen or twenty minutes, we can't get back in.
My students must think that I am an idiot.
My students must think that I am an idiot.
Exactly what errors are you seeing?
Most frequent errors: "timed out" and "cannot connect to database"
Consider moving to another hosting company. I have analised many of them just for Moodle hosting and I can recommend 2:
a) Best one: http://moodle.com/hosting A good server optimized by Martin just to run Moodle sites, with optimum install, customization, mantaining and support for moodle.
- Lots of services and optimization for Moodle
- 200MB (can add more at 10$/month per 100MB)
- 10GB transfer/moth (can get more at 2$/month per GB)
- 99,9 uptime
- Cpanel 7
- SSH on request
- 50$/month
b) A good, cheap, one: http://www.totalchoicehosting.com Has been successfuly tested by Moodle admins.
- PHP Safe mode = OFF
- 500MB (can add more at 1,75$/month per 10MB)
- 10GB transfer/month (can get more at 2,5$/month per GB)
- 99,9 uptime
- Cpanel 7
- 5$/month
I have been using Totalchoicehosting for testing purposes, and I think it is really reliable and with good support, though it is not optimized for Moodle and does not offer SSH. In the future, I think I am going to use moodle.com hosting for serious projects in my company. Hope this helps.
a) Best one: http://moodle.com/hosting A good server optimized by Martin just to run Moodle sites, with optimum install, customization, mantaining and support for moodle.
- Lots of services and optimization for Moodle
- 200MB (can add more at 10$/month per 100MB)
- 10GB transfer/moth (can get more at 2$/month per GB)
- 99,9 uptime
- Cpanel 7
- SSH on request
- 50$/month
b) A good, cheap, one: http://www.totalchoicehosting.com Has been successfuly tested by Moodle admins.
- PHP Safe mode = OFF
- 500MB (can add more at 1,75$/month per 10MB)
- 10GB transfer/month (can get more at 2,5$/month per GB)
- 99,9 uptime
- Cpanel 7
- 5$/month
I have been using Totalchoicehosting for testing purposes, and I think it is really reliable and with good support, though it is not optimized for Moodle and does not offer SSH. In the future, I think I am going to use moodle.com hosting for serious projects in my company. Hope this helps.
I want to move to moodle.com, of course, and I have been trying to squeeze $500.00 out of our school system. Guess I need to keep trying. I know that it would be money well spent.
I actually have two Moodles, so I need $1,000, I guess. Well, you pay for quality, right?
The only other problem I am having with Phpwebhosting.com is that my students sometimes tell me that they have not received a confirmation e-mail to set up their accounts.
The truth is, though, that I KNOW that the problem may very well be something that I am doing wrong, not the host. It has happened before.
Sigh...
I actually have two Moodles, so I need $1,000, I guess. Well, you pay for quality, right?
The only other problem I am having with Phpwebhosting.com is that my students sometimes tell me that they have not received a confirmation e-mail to set up their accounts.
The truth is, though, that I KNOW that the problem may very well be something that I am doing wrong, not the host. It has happened before.
Sigh...
Actually, I should say that I want to use Moodle.com for my Moodles. I would still like to stick with Phpwebhosting.com for my other stuff.
I am not unhappy with Phpwebhosting.com, it's just the Moodle problems that are making me crazy.
This really is driving me nuts. I use Moodle with my students every single day. (Yes, weekends, too.) Just two nights ago, I proudly showed the parents at our Open House our German I site and invited them to create accounts. Now, I suspect they cannot get in. And in a couple of weeks, I will be demoing Moodle to several administrators, hoping they will see how Moodle could be useful in their schools. And after that (Oct. third), I will be presenting Moodle at South Carolina's EdTech conference.
I really need to work this out.
Well, I'm sure that it will be straightened out soon.
What, me worry?!
I am not unhappy with Phpwebhosting.com, it's just the Moodle problems that are making me crazy.
This really is driving me nuts. I use Moodle with my students every single day. (Yes, weekends, too.) Just two nights ago, I proudly showed the parents at our Open House our German I site and invited them to create accounts. Now, I suspect they cannot get in. And in a couple of weeks, I will be demoing Moodle to several administrators, hoping they will see how Moodle could be useful in their schools. And after that (Oct. third), I will be presenting Moodle at South Carolina's EdTech conference.
I really need to work this out.
Well, I'm sure that it will be straightened out soon.
What, me worry?!
Using http://www.totalchoicehosting.com until you move to http://moodle.com/hosting for 5$/month could solve all your problems. Moodle does not have any problem at all to run there (I am currently running 2 moodle servers in 1 single account, and they run really good).
My hosting server (http://server35.totalchoicehosting.com) is a 4 Intel Xeon machine at 2GHz each and 1GB of RAM. I have never seen more than 35% of memory used and no more than 80% of CPU usage (Linux load can be up to the number of processors, 4 in my case, that is 100%). You can take a look at my testing server at http://www.aprendimiento.net/lms/. The running data for the servers is also public. In my case: http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/web-hosting-server35.html
I also plan to host good projects in http://moodle.com/hosting but I use that meanwhile, and it is running really good.
My hosting server (http://server35.totalchoicehosting.com) is a 4 Intel Xeon machine at 2GHz each and 1GB of RAM. I have never seen more than 35% of memory used and no more than 80% of CPU usage (Linux load can be up to the number of processors, 4 in my case, that is 100%). You can take a look at my testing server at http://www.aprendimiento.net/lms/. The running data for the servers is also public. In my case: http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/web-hosting-server35.html
I also plan to host good projects in http://moodle.com/hosting but I use that meanwhile, and it is running really good.
David,
I am also using total choice hosting and am very happy with the service. They do offer a limited form of SSH called jailshell, however I have been unable to use CVS through it.
I'm wondering whether you have been using CVS on total choice hosting? Do you know whether it is possible?
Tim.
If their service is so good why are you asking here? 
Perhaps you could make the first CVS checkout ( cvs -z3 -d:ext:myusername@cvs.moodle.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle co moodle
) in a cron job, quickly disabling it after it is done, and then making the updates in another cron job ( cvs update -dP ). I think this could work, but I am too busy to try right now
(I will).
By the way, Martin... TCH service is good, but not as good as moodle.com, I do know it, and that is the reason why I think that I will host my production projects on it (I already said that).
I use TCH just for testing purposes. I know moodle.com is optimized for Moodle, and with excelent support and customization. I have always recommended it as the best hosting solution for Moodle. TCH is just a very cheap alternative for small sites, but it works.
) in a cron job, quickly disabling it after it is done, and then making the updates in another cron job ( cvs update -dP ). I think this could work, but I am too busy to try right now
By the way, Martin... TCH service is good, but not as good as moodle.com, I do know it, and that is the reason why I think that I will host my production projects on it (I already said that).
I use TCH just for testing purposes. I know moodle.com is optimized for Moodle, and with excelent support and customization. I have always recommended it as the best hosting solution for Moodle. TCH is just a very cheap alternative for small sites, but it works.
Okay, I have set up an account at total choice... I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the advice, everyone.
Thanks for the advice, everyone.
Well, so far, so good. Everything seems to be up and running. Now, I have to figure out how to migrate courses from phpwebhosting.com to my new Moodles at total choice. I assume I will become very familiar with the back-up and restore utility. Or maybe I have copy the entire databse from one server to the other.
Guess I am going to learn a lot! Any tips will be greatly appreciated, of course.
Guess I am going to learn a lot! Any tips will be greatly appreciated, of course.
Just backup your moodledata directory, and backup your whole database too (with phpmyadmin/Export or mysqldump). Restore the database in your new host (with phpmyadmin/SQL or mysql), restore your moodledata directory also. Upload the latest Moodle files and unzip them. Edit your config.php (or create it form the config-dist.php) to put the data from your new host if needed, and finally enter your Moodle as admin, to make final changes.
I have done it migrating a moodle installation in Windows to TCH and it works fine. Take into account that if your database backup is larger than 2MB, you will not be able to restore it in phpMyAdmin, since PHP uploads are limited to this size. In this case, I think you could restore it using the MySQL tools in CPanel.
Hope this helps.
I have done it migrating a moodle installation in Windows to TCH and it works fine. Take into account that if your database backup is larger than 2MB, you will not be able to restore it in phpMyAdmin, since PHP uploads are limited to this size. In this case, I think you could restore it using the MySQL tools in CPanel.
Hope this helps.
Hi David!
I'm also looking for a place to set up a test installation of Moodle. I've seen that you've been recommending TotalChoice and it sounds fine. I only have a couple of questions:
Reading this post (http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3665&hl=moodle) I wonder what needs they (TCH) can't satisfy? Do I need their help to set up Moodle? And what is Jailshell? Can you do the same things with Jailshell as with regular SSH access or are there some limitations? Maybe it's basically the same thing?
Regards
/Håkan
I'm also looking for a place to set up a test installation of Moodle. I've seen that you've been recommending TotalChoice and it sounds fine. I only have a couple of questions:
Reading this post (http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3665&hl=moodle) I wonder what needs they (TCH) can't satisfy? Do I need their help to set up Moodle? And what is Jailshell? Can you do the same things with Jailshell as with regular SSH access or are there some limitations? Maybe it's basically the same thing
Regards
/Håkan
Hi, Håkan:
I am currently running 2 Moodle services at a time in a single TCH account with no problems at all. Regarding your questions to TCH, that was because of your requirements that they told you you'd better take a dedicated server:
1. I need to have some way of transferring the data files from my old server to the new one and then untarring them. Unless I have some kind of SSH access then this will require me to download the files to my computer and then upload them again, which is time-consuming and fiddly.
You asked for SSH. They will not give you. They offer a limited shell access called JailShell, wich only allows you to access your own files. I do not know much about it, but I know it is much more limited that SSH. Anyway, I did not need it for anything related to Moodle. And to transfer files, just use the old, standard, FTP (though it is not as secure as scp, it works).
2. I will soon be installing the new version of this software, which is 1.1 (thus I will be unable to use the Fantastico installer, which doesnt support this version). Then I will need to be able untar the installation file directly on the server. I also need to be able to automatically archive directories for backup purposes. Will this be possible?
No problems. You have a web-based file manager that allows that.
3. I need to be able to set the owner of my moodle data directory to the web server (apache or nobody). I doubt I can change ownership like this via the cPanel and will probably need SSH access to do it.
That is also a difficult thing to do. You can just put your moodle directory as 755 and your moodledata directory outside it as 777.
4. I need to check certain settings in the httpd.conf and php.ini files. Will I have access to these?
They will never allow you to touch their shared, general httpd.conf and php.ini files. I think you can make an .htaccess file that overides them, as shown in the installation instructions for Moodle. Anyway, you do not have to do that, since the options they have in httpd.conf and php.ini files are fine for Moodle.
5. I need PHP version 4.1.0 or later, with the following settings:
o GD library turned ON, with support for JPG and PNG formats
o Sessions support turned ON
o File uploading turned ON
o Safe Mode must be turned OFF
You already got all that with TCH.
So, there is no problem at all to run Moodle, and even many Moodle services in just one TCH account for 5$/moth. The problem is that you are asking too much for that: ssh, access to httpd.conf and php.ini, etc.
Anyway, I recommend TCH just for testing purposes and small sites. To have a good, optimized, Moodle hosting for production sites I do recommend http://moodle.com/hosting
Hope this helps.
I am currently running 2 Moodle services at a time in a single TCH account with no problems at all. Regarding your questions to TCH, that was because of your requirements that they told you you'd better take a dedicated server:
1. I need to have some way of transferring the data files from my old server to the new one and then untarring them. Unless I have some kind of SSH access then this will require me to download the files to my computer and then upload them again, which is time-consuming and fiddly.
You asked for SSH. They will not give you. They offer a limited shell access called JailShell, wich only allows you to access your own files. I do not know much about it, but I know it is much more limited that SSH. Anyway, I did not need it for anything related to Moodle. And to transfer files, just use the old, standard, FTP (though it is not as secure as scp, it works).
2. I will soon be installing the new version of this software, which is 1.1 (thus I will be unable to use the Fantastico installer, which doesnt support this version). Then I will need to be able untar the installation file directly on the server. I also need to be able to automatically archive directories for backup purposes. Will this be possible?
No problems. You have a web-based file manager that allows that.
3. I need to be able to set the owner of my moodle data directory to the web server (apache or nobody). I doubt I can change ownership like this via the cPanel and will probably need SSH access to do it.
That is also a difficult thing to do. You can just put your moodle directory as 755 and your moodledata directory outside it as 777.
4. I need to check certain settings in the httpd.conf and php.ini files. Will I have access to these?
They will never allow you to touch their shared, general httpd.conf and php.ini files. I think you can make an .htaccess file that overides them, as shown in the installation instructions for Moodle. Anyway, you do not have to do that, since the options they have in httpd.conf and php.ini files are fine for Moodle.
5. I need PHP version 4.1.0 or later, with the following settings:
o GD library turned ON, with support for JPG and PNG formats
o Sessions support turned ON
o File uploading turned ON
o Safe Mode must be turned OFF
You already got all that with TCH.
So, there is no problem at all to run Moodle, and even many Moodle services in just one TCH account for 5$/moth. The problem is that you are asking too much for that: ssh, access to httpd.conf and php.ini, etc.
Anyway, I recommend TCH just for testing purposes and small sites. To have a good, optimized, Moodle hosting for production sites I do recommend http://moodle.com/hosting
Hope this helps.
Thanks alot for the quick answer David!
Just to be clear - I didn't write the question to TCH - I just read it in their forum.
I think I'll open an account with TCH - it sounds just like something I need.
Thanks again for your answer
Best regards
/Håkan
Just to be clear - I didn't write the question to TCH - I just read it in their forum.
I think I'll open an account with TCH - it sounds just like something I need.
Thanks again for your answer
Best regards
/Håkan
While I do not use Phpwebhosting.com, my moodles along with some other MYSQL db's are hsoted at Dream Host.
Coincidently, They have been having problems with their MySQL server. I have only noticed one small outage but their advisories talk about running out of file handles.
When the MySQL server was down the moodle page was blank.
Perhaps you are seeing the same problem.
David
Coincidently, They have been having problems with their MySQL server. I have only noticed one small outage but their advisories talk about running out of file handles.
When the MySQL server was down the moodle page was blank.
Perhaps you are seeing the same problem.
David
Well, sometimes we get an error message saying the site cannot be found. Ten minutes later, it's there.
100 MB
75 e-mail
5gig/m
Free SSL, Telnet/SSH, FrontPage2002 extensions, Control Panel, Hit Stats, anywhere-Webmail, MySQL, 2 mailing lists, and great customer support. As low as $10 a month when you pay annually and take advantage of our free domain name offer.
- $14.95 monthly
- $12.00 / month when paid annually - $145 total
- $10.50 / month when paid 2 year - $250 total - *Best Deal*
Never had a problem they did not solve quickly. I have two moodle and three different PostNuke sites up. REAL people answer their phones.
Jeff Watkins