Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

by Carol Ann -
Number of replies: 10

Hi

I have just changed provider to another shared host and obviously didn't do my homework.

The highest version of moodle they can run on their servers is 2.6 due to their PHP being 5.5 (If I enable php higher on their server  the higher versions of Moodle don't even work, if I upload myself using FTP)  and anything higher needs Php 7.  Oooh.

Their one click  install for moodle have limited themes and I just don't have the time to customise themes at the moment.

Has anyone got any idea of a nice theme that is 2.6 I can install?

Altrenately, I can bin the shared host and sort out another computer to run  my own servers and host my own moodle. But I am so busy at the moment

ANY suggestions? Am I being too ambitious? I have worked with moodle for years as admin and also installed it on other machines usually with it running on windows on mac from someone elses machine and hosts. I can edit css, php, mysql, html, if I have to.

Just want a nice theme 2.6 nice and easy to manage but looks fab




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In reply to Carol Ann

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

by Andrew Lyons -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Hi Carol,

I'd strongly recommend that you find a new host.

PHP 5.5 went out of support a very long time ago and neither it, nor Moodle 2.6, are likely to receive security fixes any time soon.

If your host has no intention of upgrading to a supported version of PHP then you will be unable to upgrade Moodle either.

Andrew

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In reply to Andrew Lyons

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

by Carol Ann -

Hi any suggestions on hosting that does supply this:

Able to support 3.4 with unlimited storage and users?

Also able to host wordpress?

It is the time issue at the moment too.

I would also have to ensure my domain name comes with me (again).

Basically I want to build it on my local computer then upload to the the host and start using.

Thanks so much for the replies.

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In reply to Carol Ann

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

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

Carol, below I saw that you might be asking me to give my thoughts to your reply to Andrew.  I am doing it here.

I run my own small Moodle using a (GoDaddy) VPS.

1) Able to support 3.4 with unlimited storage and users?

Yes.  One can always buy more storage if you run out of storage space.  For my 12-15 courses per year, 400-600 students per year, my 120GB of storage space is plenty.

2) Also able to host wordpress?

Yes.  I don't, but it can be easily done.  As you add more and more server applications, making sure that you meet each products minimum server requirements becomes more challenging.  For example, I run my Moodle 3.4 with the required php7.  I don't know if WordPress runs with php7. (This is just an example.)

3) I would also have to ensure my domain name comes with me (again).

Yes.

4) Basically I want to build it on my local computer then upload to the the host and start using.

Yes, this is what I always do.  I build my moodle using MAMP, then move them to my VPS.


Having tried to answer your direct question, you didn't ask "For Free?"  But I thought that I  would add that my method is not free.  I pay for it (myself, no school reimbursement.)

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In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

by Carol Ann -

Hi

Could anyone give me the name of good host that has all the requirements for hosting moodle 3.4? Prefer Uk

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In reply to Carol Ann

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

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

You might need to provide more details.  For example, what is your budget?  How big will your Moodle become?

A Moodle Partner, for example, might be the way to go.

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In reply to Carol Ann

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

by Usman Asar -
Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Carol, there are plenty of shared hosts that can run Moodle 3.4, but issue remains with moodle adding to its requirements (that once use to be recommendations in earlier versions) therefore making shared hosts not meeting every requirement as name suggests, in shared hosting you are sharing the hardware as well as software configuration, so just making changes that your application requires may break it for everyone else.

There are PLENTY of hosting providers that give option of multiple versions of PHP, but when comes to database requirements to convert tables to Barracuda from default Antelope format, this is where all shared hosts will give up.

Though still 3.4 can be run, if you (rather starting from 3.4 directly as new install), start from 2.7, upgrade to 3.0 and then to 3.4 then it wont take database conversion as strict requirement but as recommendation only - make sure your language is set to UTF8 (and everyone even on shared hosting has this capability to change their database languages)

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In reply to Carol Ann

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

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

My advice piggybacks off of what Andrew has already said.

Find a hosting provider that supports the requirements of Moodle 3.4.

(You really haven't told us much about the history of your moodle to give you much more advice.)

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In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

by Carol Ann -

Thanks rick, can I pose the same question as I did to the other reply?

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In reply to Carol Ann

Re: Shared host or not to shared host, that is the question

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 think we're all going to find that shared hosting that supports Moodle properly will become harder to find. You really want your own VPS - I know it's quite a step up in money. 

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