Hello,

I am looking to improve my local dev environment and to do this i need to improve my hosting package.

I currently have bronze here - http://www.tech-hosts.co.uk/hosting/reseller/

This is perfect and support is second to none, plus it's very cheap.

However I need GIT access and they do not have SSH access so cannot allow and I need to develop in my local environment using the live DB not, having a local DB in MAMP aswell as the live *headache*. But they do not allow external MySQL connection.

So I need all of the above. I have looked about but I don't really know what's the best. I just want my current host to allow the above but they cannot and said I need dedicated server at ~£50 p/mo which is excessive.

Any thoughts, WHW would be a bonus as sometimes I dev under john3.co.uk and point a sub-domain to that for the client to view and then when I want to go live I change to john.co.uk.

I do not think you need a dedicated server as your current provider suggested and I would agree with your title that a VPS might be your best bet. On the other hand some shared/reseller hosting providers do allow what you require to connect to GIT on a limited access SSH. Do you know why your current provider did not recommend maybe using one of their VPS packages: http://www.tech-hosts.co.uk/hosting/linuxvps/

 

You might want to do a Google search for "GIT hosting" and then see what is about

Developing locally with a live DB is potentially dangerous, you should really have a DB for each one of your environments (local, staging, live/master) and get into the habit of syncing them if you need to make changes.

 

Am I right in thinking you want to push the contents of your git master branch to a remote site?

 

 

Developing locally with a live DB is potentially dangerous, you should really have a DB for each one of your environments (local, staging, live/master) and get into the habit of syncing them if you need to make changes.

 

Am I right in thinking you want to push the contents of your git master branch to a remote site?

 

Good point, but really you want staging and live to be different instances/servers and guess budget can get in the way of this.

 

I was assuming @CHEWX wanted to push to GIT Master from local and then pull down (Update) the live server... Might be mistaken here.

I would of thought he means something like this.

 

I know my hosting company would install it on my behalf, I've asked before. They won't let me install it personally for security reasons, but will action it via a support ticket. Perhaps you could bring this up with them?

I would of thought he means something like this.

 

I know my hosting company would install it on my behalf, I've asked before. They won't let me install it personally for security reasons, but will action it via a support ticket. Perhaps you could bring this up with them?

 

Yep that might be it, we have done this for our clients before... GIT and SubVersion etc are all becoming very common so most hosting companies will allow server side software or a limited SSH to be enabled on an account to access them.

A decent entry level VPS should easily handle multiple databases, be they dev, staging or live.

 

We have a client who runs 3 instances of Magento on our entry level VPS (single core) and we all know how heavy handed Mage can be!

 

In many cases your provider/host is more important than spec.

A VPS is your best bet here, certainly to start off with.

 

This will provide you with unrestricted SSH access to use GIT (or anything else you may want for that matter), and give you as others have stated the ability to effectively segregate dev and live instances.

 

You will also benefit from being able to directly control the versions of software and packages that are installed, such as the control panel, PHP/MySQL versions and so on.

 

If your reluctance to consider a VPS is related to the management aspect, there are a good number of hosts out there who will offer VPS services on a semi-managed basis. As has been previously stated, looking at the host is more important than the raw specs, as with a VPS you want to ensure that you will be given adiquate support and not placed onto a platform that is already oversold/overworked.

 

Remember that with a VPS you are sharing the physical hardware with other users still, so the last point is extra important. Obviously though a dedicated server removes this consideration as the hardware is then essentially yours as long as the contract remains live.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Jon

I do not think you need a dedicated server as your current provider suggested and I would agree with your title that a VPS might be your best bet. On the other hand some shared/reseller hosting providers do allow what you require to connect to GIT on a limited access SSH. Do you know why your current provider did not recommend maybe using one of their VPS packages: http://www.tech-hosts.co.uk/hosting/linuxvps/

 

You might want to do a Google search for "GIT hosting" and then see what is about

 

Unfortunately their VPS plan do not have GIT installed.

 

Developing locally with a live DB is potentially dangerous, you should really have a DB for each one of your environments (local, staging, live/master) and get into the habit of syncing them if you need to make changes.

 

Am I right in thinking you want to push the contents of your git master branch to a remote site?

 

That is why my current hosts do not allow, however it makes developing multiple websites on a Wordpress platform horrifically painstaking and slow.

 

Good point, but really you want staging and live to be different instances/servers and guess budget can get in the way of this.

 

I was assuming @CHEWX wanted to push to GIT Master from local and then pull down (Update) the live server... Might be mistaken here.

 

I don't want staging, staging will essentially be local, and if I set this up the same I can push direct to master.

 

I would of thought he means something like this.

 

I know my hosting company would install it on my behalf, I've asked before. They won't let me install it personally for security reasons, but will action it via a support ticket. Perhaps you could bring this up with them?

 

Already asked

 

Yep that might be it, we have done this for our clients before... GIT and SubVersion etc are all becoming very common so most hosting companies will allow server side software or a limited SSH to be enabled on an account to access them.

 

That's good to hear.

 

A VPS is your best bet here, certainly to start off with.

 

This will provide you with unrestricted SSH access to use GIT (or anything else you may want for that matter), and give you as others have stated the ability to effectively segregate dev and live instances.

 

You will also benefit from being able to directly control the versions of software and packages that are installed, such as the control panel, PHP/MySQL versions and so on.

 

If your reluctance to consider a VPS is related to the management aspect, there are a good number of hosts out there who will offer VPS services on a semi-managed basis. As has been previously stated, looking at the host is more important than the raw specs, as with a VPS you want to ensure that you will be given adiquate support and not placed onto a platform that is already oversold/overworked.

 

Remember that with a VPS you are sharing the physical hardware with other users still, so the last point is extra important. Obviously though a dedicated server removes this consideration as the hardware is then essentially yours as long as the contract remains live.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Jon

 

Thanks Jon, this is my exact reluctance to leave Tech Hosts, their support is second to none but I'm really needing what I mention in the OP the more and more websites I am taking on.

 

My problem is you never know how good a hosting company is until you try them, much like an insurance claim. Any name drops that meet my criteria ?

@CHEWX I am liking your reply, you went through everything haha

 

You are right about hosting and comparing it to car insurance as company reviews can only tell you so much but unlike car insurance you will be using the companies hosting services constantly unlike car insurance... unless you crash a lot and like to make claims

 

I would recommend getting a list of companies that you think that will fit your needs (a short list if you like) and post them here for people to go through and offer their views. That way you might get some more information and be able to pick the right company first time

Will do, what sort of acronyms am I looking for ?

 

WHM, VPS, SSH and external DB connect ?

Will do, what sort of acronyms am I looking for ?

 

WHM, VPS, SSH and external DB connect ?

 

I would look for something like: "Managed Linux VPS Hosting" or just "Managed VPS" (SSH should always be included with a VPS)

In regards to control panel, cPanel is normally an extra as it requires a cPanel license (as it's paid software) so this is normally shown as an addon to a VPS service. There are many control panels that are free but just check on the VPS details page of the company you are looking into for more information.

Found this nice list - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1172855 - how will I know if they allow external DB access ? I don't believe people run 2 DB's especially with CMS development.

Found this nice list - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1172855 - how will I know if they allow external DB access ? I don't believe people run 2 DB's especially with CMS development.

 

I wouldn't go by that list... all the companies in that list have a not so good hosting rep. Many of them are owned by a single large company or are mainly domain registrars that offer hosting services (with backing of 3rd party companies).

 

Here are a few companies that you could speak with that would be able to offer what you need:

- EUKHost (UK)

- VivioTech (US)

- CWCS (UK - Would provide custom quote/contract for you)

- WiredTree (US)

 

Hope this helps

Found this nice list - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1172855 - how will I know if they allow external DB access ? I don't believe people run 2 DB's especially with CMS development.

 

Send them a support ticket and ask them. It's a good way to check out whether the support is any good.

 

I did the same thing when I moved hosts, they helped me with the whole move, answered all my questions (even with a bit of banter) and didn't charge anything. Win.

 

 

I wouldn't go by that list... all the companies in that list have a not so good hosting rep.

 

Yeh, I agree with that.

Ok sweet thanks

Send them a support ticket and ask them. It's a good way to check out whether the support is any good.

 

I did the same thing when I moved hosts, they helped me with the whole move, answered all my questions (even with a bit of banter) and didn't charge anything. Win.

 

 

Yeh, I agree with that.

 

Jack, you have never mentioned who you are hosted with ?

 

Nail in the coffin today, 3 our of 6 of my sites have been hacked. My host is blaming me for not keeping WP up to date. Whats the likely hood they found all 3 sites.. through my host ! Think they have their server I.P and are killing peoples sites, I don't have time to be messing about with that and I think it's up to my hosts to keep my back-end secure (cpanel etc, not WP).