hi everyone i have been designing a website for a client and i have already bought hosting and a domain. i bought the domain and hosting with 123-reg.co.uk however at the time the client didn't need/ want anything that required a database so that is why i choose 123-reg.co.uk because it was cheap and reliable. however now my client wants a members area added into the website, and because 123-reg.co.uk dont have database servers like mysql i can't think of a way to make a secure database for the members are. would it be possible to get an external database with another hosting company and some how make a members area by doing that?

 

thanks

 

josh

Using an external databbase is always a bad idea unless the two servers are clustered together.

 

No - you should just upgrade your hosting package to one with a MySQL database.

hi everyone i have been designing a website for a client and i have already bought hosting and a domain. i bought the domain and hosting with 123-reg.co.uk however at the time the client didn't need/ want anything that required a database so that is why i choose 123-reg.co.uk because it was cheap and reliable. however now my client wants a members area added into the website, and because 123-reg.co.uk dont have database servers like mysql i can't think of a way to make a secure database for the members are. would it be possible to get an external database with another hosting company and some how make a members area by doing that?

 

thanks

 

josh

 

It depends if the host you plan to use MySQL with allows external access, however speed on the database powered pages will not be great.

 

I'd recommend you advise your client to move to a host that supports MySQL with their packages.

ok then well do you know of a way i can make a members area for the website without a database, thanks.

ok then well do you know of a way i can make a members area for the website without a database, thanks.

 

One of the other options is storing everything in files, though I wouldn't recommend it.

If you want a simple database, then SQLite might work for - read here

i dont think i can use the sqlite, is there any other option???

ok then well do you know of a way i can make a members area for the website without a database, thanks.

 

You could do it the old school way - with a flat file system. Because i imagine it would need to be a bespoke development though, the actual cost of it may exceed just changing hosting companies.

 

Amember is an excellent pre-built membership system that can slot into websites - it's a pretty classy piece of software in my experience. But it does require MySQL and PHP.

ermm well ive been in touch with the client and he said would it be possible to do like a universal password. so a person signs up to the site and then everyday an automailer will send out a daily password and the password will change everyday automatically, would this require a database or could you do it a simple way. also could u encrypt it using md5 or sommit to make it more secure. thanks

It's possible without a database, if you store the password in a file.

To do the MD5 hashing all you'd do is use the PHP MD5 function.

 

<?
//genPassword would be the function you use to generate a new password
function genPassword() {
  return $somepassword;
}

$newpassword = genPassword();
//store the new password as MD5 in a file somewhere
$passFile = "password.txt";
$fh = fopen($passFile, 'w') or die("can't open file");
$stringData = md5($newpassword);
fwrite($fh, $stringData);
fclose($fh);

//use the php mail function to email the password to everyone.

To send the emails, you could use PHPMailer which might make life easier for you.

 

The problem is your password is saved in a file on your server, so you'd have to make sure it's secure, and also you're taking a risk by emailing password over unsecured email.

 

You'll need an additional file of the email addresses that the password should be sent to.

Finally, you'd need a Cron job to run daily to execute the script and send out the password. If your host doesn't do MySQL Databases, then I doubt they'll support Cron.

 

An alternative would be to restrict the access using the .htaccess file, but as far as I know, you'd have the change the password manually.

hi ive just done a quick search on the internet and have found this product called html password lock, i was wondering if any of you have used this or know about it and would this solve my problem. thanks

If using a flat file system, make sure you store it outside the web directory...

 

Back to the topic at hand Its probably going to be much more hassle for you to develop secure a flat-file system than it would be to move to a hosting provider which supports MySQL

It is free to transfer .co.uk domains and i am sure any host here will offer you a refugee deal to move your hosting to them. It will save you big time and hassle. Can you afford not to spend a few quid extra for better hosting ?