On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 12:04 PM, Patrick R. Michaud <[email protected]> wrote: > I have and use reseller accounts on my VPS (provided through > powervps.com) to set up multiple domains and wikis. Maintaining > a wiki farm in such an environment is fairly easy to do, and the > individual accounts are able to manage their own mail settings, > mailing lists, and other items through the cpanel interface. > It works very well. > > That said, I've never actually done any invoicing or bookkeeping > for these accounts, as I host them as a donation/courtesy to > various organizations I'm involved with or feel like supporting. > > In 2006 I also wrote a longish message on this subject on > another list [1], and what I wrote there continues to be > true today -- it's important to find a service provider where > their "typical client" fits your profile, because their support > systems are then tuned to meeting your needs most effectively. > For many years I would be at providers where the issues I had > were not the common ones for the provider, and I had many > frustrations and delays as a result. > > [1] http://www.ntlug.org/pipermail/discuss/Week-of-Mon-20060828/026653.html > > To answer some of the specifics of your message: > >> Do reseller accounts typically include Virtual Private Server service, >> or not? If not, that is something I should also look for, right? > > VPS and reseller accounts can be either separate or combined -- > i.e., one can have a VPS-only, reseller only, or VPS+reseller. > I have the latter. I decided to go with VPS because I wanted > better ability to troubleshoot and tune things myself without > having to go through support (and would probably choose this > even if I didn't already know how to do that because I can always > learn). > >> In >> either case, I would need the host to provide support for hardware and >> LAMP system stuff, as I would have no clue how to administer my own >> environment. How do I ask for this - what's the correct terminology? > > This is normally provided for you as part of any VPS or reseller > package -- the provider takes care of the basic operating system > and software updates, you're responsible only for any customizations > you perform. > >> AND I'd ideally like to be able to manage the client sites as fields >> in a wiki farm, so somehow I'd like to be able to have the PmWiki >> engine installed on a parent account that the client fields would take >> orders from. Is this possible, in a reseller environment? > > It's certainly possible, but in this case you probably want to be > sure to get a virtual private server. With a reseller-only account > you might not have sufficient access to be able to easily make > the wikifarm installation available to your clients -- having a VPS > means you almost certainly can do it. > > Another reason to favor having a VPS is that with reseller-only > accounts there may be other resellers' clients sharing the > server (virtual or otherwise) with your clients. This can make > things a bit more complicated if you ever want to upgrade > your service level with a provider, or migrate to another > provider. Also, having your own VPS means you don't have to > worry about other resellers' clients being able to > (accidentally or maliciously) access your clients' data. > > > If you decide to go with a VPS+reseller combination similar > to what I have with pmwiki.org, I highly recommend PowerVPS.com . > I've had very good experience with them, both in terms of > long-term stability and in the responsiveness/quality of their > support teams. Unlike many providers, they _only_ offer VPS > and dedicated hosting packages, and not individual site accounts. > The advantage of this (and the primary advantage I was looking for) > is that my support questions aren't buried in a flood of > "How do I change my password?" and "What is a domain?" types > of questions that come from the people buying smaller packages > available from other providers. The potential disadvantage > is that I don't know how much "hand-holding" they're able > to provide for those types of questions if you're likely to > have them. However, it appears to me that the web interfaces > they provide are such that even someone with limited LAMP > experience would be able to function well in their vps. > > Hope this helps; if I can provide any more details or answer > other questions I'll be glad to do so. > > Pm
Wow, that's great, and makes all kinds of sense. I'm looking at and impressed with PowerVPS, and right away see that I would need to choose between cpanel and plesk. I have the impression that cpanel is a little "friendlier" to a less-knowledgeable user. Is that correct, do you think? If so, do you know if I would Iose functionality I need for a wikifarm if I chose that? _______________________________________________ pmwiki-users mailing list [email protected] http://www.pmichaud.com/mailman/listinfo/pmwiki-users
