Sorry to rehash this. I'm still developing my course websites for the upcoming academic year and became alarmed after running across previous postings about TotalChoiceHosting shutting down one Moodler's site without advance notice.
Currently I'm using TCH but have been planning to switch to Surpasshosting, which others have recommended. Any issues with the latter hosting Moodle for a couple of courses? Approximately 150 students with light usage (mostly for posting course schedules, with some links and uploaded resources; not many activities). I would love to use Moodle.com, but my school will not pay for this.
TIA.
We use TotalChoiceHosting for everything and have not had a problem. Our main school site is a combo PostNuke/Moodle site with lots of traffic and no problemo so far.
I would like to put together a small consortium and rent a dedicated server. What is too expensive for any one of us... $300.00 a month, becomes tolerable with 10 or so...
I have seen dual xeon 2.4 with 1gb ram and 80 gb hard drives for 300 or so.
Jeff
I use www.Surpasshosting.com , www.TotalChoicehosting.com, and www.firstcallhosting.com. So far the best experience has been with totalchoicehosting. However, they are only being used for evaluation purposes. When Moodle really gets off the ground in a big way at our school, then we will seriously consider moving to a dedicated server package.
Thanks Martyn. I just signed up with Surpass minutes ago. They have a "buy 1, get 1 free" offer. So I can run two Moodle sites with them. Will keep TCH in the meantime just in case. I'm satisfied with them too.
Now, time to migrate Moodle.
Best,
Steven
Now, time to migrate Moodle.
Best,
Steven
Thanks again Jeff. I will stick with TCH while testing out Surpass. Good to know you have not had any problems. They will not give me any definite answer regarding abusive usage. But my course sites are mainly for e-syllabus and resources. Nothing heavy in the way of activities.
Best,
Steven
Best,
Steven
Just to follow up, I have migrated my site to Surpass and their servers seem to run slower. Pinging them confirms this. I'll monitor their performance over time to get a better indication.
Anyone else having problems with Surpass? I'm on 66.194.41.160 and 66.194. 152.190 and experiencing some difficulties. Pinging them gives me slow response times and packet loss.
Steven, I just thought I would add some of the things I have learned about Surpass Hosting (as well as Hasweb and Hostdime):
Surpass appears to be a division of parent Hostdime (www.hostdime.com). I host with Hasweb, another division of Hostdime. All three companies have moved or are in the process of moving their accounts to their own data center in Orlando, Florida. Each of the three (Hostdime, Surpass, Hasweb) have their own hosting plans with various configurations and prices. None offer telephone support, but they have a web-based helpdesk where you can submit trouble tickets as well as community forums. My support experience with Hasweb has been great. Any support tickets were quickly answered and the two "liaisons" in the forums have been extremely helpful.
My account with Hasweb gives me 5GB of space and 100GB of data transfer a month for $100 a year. I hosted my Moodle site there during spring semester 2004 with 5 classes and about 100 students. I have been very pleased with the uptime and the support.
For Moodlers, these prices are outstanding, but there are things to watch out for:
1. If you need to use the full space on your account, can you actually do so? I know some hosts advertise that you get X amount of disk space yet pack so many accounts on a server that the math makes it impossible for all of them to use their full disk area at once. I would ask in the forum what happens if you will be pushing the limit of you disk area.
2. The same goes for data transfer a month - what happens if you actually try to use what they advertise? I used only a fraction of my disk area and data transfer, so there was never a problem.
3. Shared hosting is a little like living in an apartment complex - you are always at the mercy of what some idiot might pull. In an apartment it could be a fire from someone smoking; on a shared server it could be someone running a script that brings down the entire server. The only problems I have encountered on Hasweb have been of this nature - to Hasweb's credit they acted quickly to suspend the accounts of the offenders.
The best way to go, of course, is to host with Martin or one of his partners. Another route is to purchase your own dedicated server. Both Surpass and Hostdime offer these starting at about $100 a month. For those of us really straped for cash, shared hosting is what we have to live with
In a related area, I often used www.alertra.com to check on the status of my site. You can just type in your domain in the box on the top right and it will show you how long it took to contact your site from various places around the world.
Hope this helps!
Surpass appears to be a division of parent Hostdime (www.hostdime.com). I host with Hasweb, another division of Hostdime. All three companies have moved or are in the process of moving their accounts to their own data center in Orlando, Florida. Each of the three (Hostdime, Surpass, Hasweb) have their own hosting plans with various configurations and prices. None offer telephone support, but they have a web-based helpdesk where you can submit trouble tickets as well as community forums. My support experience with Hasweb has been great. Any support tickets were quickly answered and the two "liaisons" in the forums have been extremely helpful.
My account with Hasweb gives me 5GB of space and 100GB of data transfer a month for $100 a year. I hosted my Moodle site there during spring semester 2004 with 5 classes and about 100 students. I have been very pleased with the uptime and the support.
For Moodlers, these prices are outstanding, but there are things to watch out for:
1. If you need to use the full space on your account, can you actually do so? I know some hosts advertise that you get X amount of disk space yet pack so many accounts on a server that the math makes it impossible for all of them to use their full disk area at once. I would ask in the forum what happens if you will be pushing the limit of you disk area.
2. The same goes for data transfer a month - what happens if you actually try to use what they advertise? I used only a fraction of my disk area and data transfer, so there was never a problem.
3. Shared hosting is a little like living in an apartment complex - you are always at the mercy of what some idiot might pull. In an apartment it could be a fire from someone smoking; on a shared server it could be someone running a script that brings down the entire server. The only problems I have encountered on Hasweb have been of this nature - to Hasweb's credit they acted quickly to suspend the accounts of the offenders.
The best way to go, of course, is to host with Martin or one of his partners. Another route is to purchase your own dedicated server. Both Surpass and Hostdime offer these starting at about $100 a month. For those of us really straped for cash, shared hosting is what we have to live with
In a related area, I often used www.alertra.com to check on the status of my site. You can just type in your domain in the box on the top right and it will show you how long it took to contact your site from various places around the world.
Hope this helps!
Wow! Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply Paul. This information is very helpful. At this point I am somewhat concerned since I'll be running Moodle for actual courses this fall. Although the sites will function primarily as e-syllabi and a communication channel, I do hope for smooth Moodling on a share web host. Since our university is already paying for WebCT and faces severe budget restraints (thanks to the so-called "tax-payer bill or rights" legislation, or TABOR, enacted a decade ago), there is no way that they'll pay for dedicated hosting. Even the language lab does not seem to want host for me. So for now, I'll stick with shared hosting plans. Lately Surpass seems to be performing well on a consistent basis.
Thanks again.
Steven
Thanks again.
Steven
Just to follow up on this thread. After using Surpass for several months now, I must note that their servers are demostrably faster (up to TCH's speed generally) and support has been fantastic. This is a great relief to me since I have a couple hundred students enrolled in courses. Moodle 1.4 is working very well, so thanks to Martin and all the others working to make our favorite CMS continually better.
Best,
Steven
Best,
Steven