Moving to Hostican soon...

[auto_freak]

Hello Guys,

I registered today to inquire some more things that I might need to know before switching to you guys from Ixwebhosting (ixwebhosting.com). I contacted 2 of your chat support staff and they responded very well, however, I still have a few questions left. The package, I am looking for is the VPS-Rage. My website's url is WheelsBD.com. Its Bangladesh's Largest Automotive Website. The website contains a vbulletin forum, a photopost gallery, a photopost classifieds and the Joomla Homepage. The gallery is the only thing that pushes the memory quota. Right now, my site's disk space is around 5GB. My site eats up around 35GB in bandwidth every month. The community is growing and I want to enhance the site and not have worries of moving to a new host after this. Here are the questions:

1. Do you provide PHP5 & MYSQL5 versions?
2. I do not want any older models.It says 45GB Diskspace, if my site is getting bigger in disk space, I will be upgrading to the VPS-Extreme Package. Bandwidth says its 2000GB, so that means my site wont be shut down if I maintain the limits correct? Do you think thats enough for my site to handle for now or do you recommend a dedicated server?
3. I do not have much knowledge about Linux, it says setup is free and instant. Can you help me with links on what I would need to know about my vps account?
4. I am hosted with IXWebhosting, its their Unlimited Pro Shared Hosting, its good but its shared, that means its much slow and more restricted. My forum averages around 100 users online everyday, so do you think the VPS can handle 500 or even 1000 users everyday pretty soon?
5. I will have to move all the files and the databases since your support staff said that only cpanel transfers are done by you guys. I am ready to pay your estimate if you guys can do the ftp backup of my site and then restore it in your vps account once I purchase the plan from you guys. I live in Canada and the upload speed is ridiculously slow. I am ready to shutdown my site for 2 days for this transfer to go smoothly. My host uses hsphere control panel.
6. My domain is a domain for life from Ixwebhosting.com (WheelsBD.com). I will need you guys to transfer it and change the dns issues because I have no idea about this. I am weak in domain related stuff. Can you do the smooth transfer of the domain seamlessly?
7. My shared hosting has issues with mailing the users from the vbulletin forum interface, part of me moving to a VPS is to make sure that the mails get sent to all my users and the server doesnt crash or time out everytime. I have around 3700 members to send mails in a weekly basis. I will have default phpmail settings in vbulletin, so will I have to do anything else to send the mail easily? I will create a mail account called (noreply@wheelsbd.com) under your cpanel to make it work.
8. With VPS-Rage, how many mysql databases can you make? What is the size that each database can carry? Are there any limits?
9. I will also sign with Managed VPS, so its 19.95 over 44.95 that I will already pay for this vps. Is it worth taking the Managed VPS? Does that make my site more secured? What exactly falls in this category, do you take regular backups and restore the website if its hacked?
10. My sites never got hacked because i keep my file settings and chmod intact, so please advise me if managed vps is a good addon.
11. Is Cpanel better or is Plesk better? What do users normally recommend? I want a good interface thats easy to work with.
12. How fast are your vps rage hosted servers? Can I see a demo of sites using this particular package? I can monitor how that site works then.
13. I understand your uptime guarantees, I hope its as good as it sounds.
14. How long will the domain transfer take? Once I buy the vps package, what should I do to make the smooth transfer? I will shutdown the site for 1 day, to back it up and then backup the databases too and then restore it in your vps account. I would appreciate if you can tell me how smoothly the transfers usually go. I would appreciate any customers opinion who did such a transfer. 5GB might seem less to transfer but for me in Canada, its a headache, most of the times, the files dont get transferred. My gallery consists of 3.5 gb, the forum and other contents carry around 1.5 to make it 5GB in total.

Please check http://www.wheelsbd.com/webalizer and http://www.wheelsbd.com/modlogan to see if the site activity is a piece of cake for your company's VPS-Rage accounts to cooperate with. Lastly, is there any coupons this month for such an account to be a little bit cheaper, if not any idea when it might get cheaper?

[sirbrett]

Hi,
I do not work for HostICan, but I believe I have answers to many of the questions you are asking... I also am pretty familiar with HostICans services.

You have lots of questions, thats great; Let me see if i can give you a better idea of what having a VPS is like, as many of your questions imply that you arent familiar with running a VPS and your history is exclusive to shared hosting with cPanel.

Running a VPS has many advantages but it is far different from shared hosting and considerably more complex. In many ways running a VPS is identical to running and managing a dedicated server. When you order your VPS it will be preconfigured by HostICan... they use an image to perform the installation of centos (linux os) and cPanel WHM. The default installation of cPanel WHM is configured to handle most common uses, but you will need to spend some time configuring settings yourself. cPanel WHM is pretty great as far as allowing you to do most basic things from its user interface, and not needing to know much about the linux command-line/terminal. Once domain transfer is complete you may cancel your old hosting account.

cPanel WHM is very different from the cPanel you have used before... its functions are totally different. cPanel WHM is used to manage your server and create and monitor cPanel accounts. Once you configure cPanel WHM you would add a user. Users that you add in WHM can be regular users or resellers. Regular users will have access to their account using cPanel (the same type of cPanel you are likely used to) and Resellers have limited access to WHM and can hence create more cPanel users.

Some of this information may seem irrelivant to your questions, but I want to give you a basic understanding of the functions of a VPS.

Answers to specfic questions:

1. Do you provide PHP5 & MYSQL5 versions?
   
   A: Yes, by default cPanel WHM builds apache with both PHP5 and MySQL 5.
   Because its your server you can rebuild Apache to support anything you like.
2. I do not want any older models.It says 45GB Diskspace, if my site is getting bigger in disk space, I will be upgrading to the VPS-Extreme Package. Bandwidth says its 2000GB, so that means my site wont be shut down if I maintain the limits correct? Do you think thats enough for my site to handle for now or do you recommend a dedicated server?
   
   A: 2TB of bandwidth is really quite a lot, I wouldnt worry. However, if you exceed this amount your account could be suspended (not automatically deleted). I also believe you can upgrade your bandwidth limit, rather than upgrade your entire VPS package.
3. I do not have much knowledge about Linux, it says setup is free and instant. Can you help me with links on what I would need to know about my vps account?
   
   A: Like I said above linux command-line/terminal knowledge is not essential, but is suggested. HostICan will only likely be able to provide you with limited support regarding the setup and configuration of your server, as it falls outside of their influence. However, cPanel Forums is a great place to post your cPanel and WHM related questions.
4. I am hosted with IXWebhosting, its their Unlimited Pro Shared Hosting, its good but its shared, that means its much slow and more restricted. My forum averages around 100 users online everyday, so do you think the VPS can handle 500 or even 1000 users everyday pretty soon?
   
   A: This shouldnt be a problem for your VPS.
5. I will have to move all the files and the databases since your support staff said that only cpanel transfers are done by you guys. I am ready to pay your estimate if you guys can do the ftp backup of my site and then restore it in your vps account once I purchase the plan from you guys. I live in Canada and the upload speed is ridiculously slow. I am ready to shutdown my site for 2 days for this transfer to go smoothly. My host uses hsphere control panel.
   
   A: I dont know why you were told that only HostICan staff can do cPanel account transfers. Once you have your VPS active you can perform cPanel account transfers from WHM.
6. My domain is a domain for life from Ixwebhosting.com (WheelsBD.com). I will need you guys to transfer it and change the dns issues because I have no idea about this. I am weak in domain related stuff. Can you do the smooth transfer of the domain seamlessly?
   
   A: Domain name transfers are never really seemless. DNS propagation takes time.
   I am sure they can help you with the transfer, as good as any other service.
   However, my personal preference would be to transfer the domain to an independent domain service (like godaddy, for example). When your VPS becomes active you will be provided settings for the Name Servers, these are the only settings you would need to change for your domain name, and should be very easy to do.

1. My shared hosting has issues with mailing the users from the vbulletin forum interface, part of me moving to a VPS is to make sure that the mails get sent to all my users and the server doesnt crash or time out everytime. I have around 3700 members to send mails in a weekly basis. I will have default phpmail settings in vbulletin, so will I have to do anything else to send the mail easily? I will create a mail account called (noreply@wheelsbd.com) under your cpanel to make it work.
   
   A: Not exactly sure I can give you a cut and dry answer on this. But because in a VPS you own and control the server, the only potential limits for sent mail would be ones you set yourself. As far as using phpmail or sendmail, some minorreconfiguration of your site might be needed.
2. With VPS-Rage, how many mysql databases can you make? What is the size that each database can carry? Are there any limits?
   
   A: Again, you own the VPS so its unlmited.
3. I will also sign with Managed VPS, so its 19.95 over 44.95 that I will already pay for this vps. Is it worth taking the Managed VPS? Does that make my site more secured? What exactly falls in this category, do you take regular backups and restore the website if its hacked?
   
   A: I dont know much about this service from HostICan.
4. My sites never got hacked because i keep my file settings and chmod intact, so please advise me if managed vps is a good addon.
   
   A: There are many more things to consider in site and server security then chmod and "file settings". You will be responsible for much more server-wide settings and configuration with a VPS. The default installation is secure for most scenarios, but there is always room for improvement.
5. Is Cpanel better or is Plesk better? What do users normally recommend? I want a good interface thats easy to work with.
   
   A: cPanel and Plesk are geared towards different markets. Plesk is easier to use for new users but compared to cPanel it is FAR more limited in options, configuration, and performance. I personally strongly prefer cPanel WHM.
6. How fast are your vps rage hosted servers? Can I see a demo of sites using this particular package? I can monitor how that site works then.
   
   A: They are pretty fast! I have 2 VPS's here, they run large sites and also serveral dozen of my client's sites.
7. I understand your uptime guarantees, I hope its as good as it sounds.
   
   A: As a VPS customer with HostICan, I have been very pleased with their network up-time. Please understand that because you are in charge of your VPS (like a dedicated server) some factors of up-time depend on you. Unlike with a shared hosting plan, where you arent in charge of the server and the hosting provide is responsible to server configuration and up-time.
8. How long will the domain transfer take? Once I buy the vps package, what should I do to make the smooth transfer? I will shutdown the site for 1 day, to back it up and then backup the databases too and then restore it in your vps account. I would appreciate if you can tell me how smoothly the transfers usually go. I would appreciate any customers opinion who did such a transfer. 5GB might seem less to transfer but for me in Canada, its a headache, most of the times, the files dont get transferred. My gallery consists of 3.5 gb, the forum and other contents carry around 1.5 to make it 5GB in total.
   
   A: This is a complicated question. I would do it like this.... First buy the VPS and take a few days to set it up (you will be given IP addresses you can use to access the account). Shut down your site on your current host (I dont mean cancel your account; but suspend forums, blogs, etc. -- to prevent any data being lost in the gap between the time the backup/transfer was made to the time the new host goes live) and transfer the cPanel account in WHM (or this can also be done from a backup created from your old hosts cPanel). Test the site (again you should be able to do this using the IP addresses assined to your VPS) once everything seems in order you may begin the domain transfer (this can take from 1 day - a week, it really depends on many factors), upon DNS propagation you may terminate your old hosting account. If, however, you take my previous suggestion and instead transfer your domain to a third party the order of these steps would be slightly different, and perhaps be more efficient in providing the potential for shortest downtime.

[sirbrett]

If you require extensive consultation, or assistance in migrating your website I am available at an hourly rate, just reply to this post with your email address or via PM.

[auto_freak]

Thanks for the reply. Domain transfer might take almost a week huh? Yikes! Yeah, I will buy the vps package very soon and I guess I would need to backup the data from my current host and then restore it into the vps account. The reason Hostican cannot transfer data from my old host is because its not in Cpanel, the control panel of ixwebhost is HSPHERE which is different. I do not understand what they meant by root access, but I will mail them the link and access to my current control panel and see if they can figure if they can transfer my site or not to their vps services.

[sirbrett]

You can expect the domain to be transferred in 1 - 3 days, but be prepared for it to take longer. Again, I would suggest, if you are wanting to make the transition as smooth and quick as possible, to transfer it to a third party domain registrar. You could even do that today, and have the entire transfer process over before you setup your VPS.

I say this because when a domain is in the transfer process (which has the potential to take upto a week) you (or anyone else) cannot make changes to your domain names configuration, such as changing the nameservers to point to the new server.

If you were to transfer it now there would be no hiccups because during transfer it would still point to your old server, after transfer you can change the nameservers at anytime, and it could be easily directed to your new sever quickly.

Also, you wouldnt have to go through the process of transferring it to another hosting company, should you ever change your mind.

[auto_freak]

Unfortunately, Hostican cannot transfer my site's contents via the admin panel. I gave them the login details to see if they could, its not possible for them. So, I would have to backup 5GB worth of data and then restore it into the vps. Everything is so good about Hostican except this issue. VexxHost and some other companies such as InmotionHosting is ready to do the transfer for free for me.

Thank you for the details about the domain transfer, one question though. Suppose, I transfer my domain from Ixwebhost to Godaddy using their services via authorization key, my details and other things that the require. So, can I still keep the domain to be pointed to the dns servers hosted by IXwebhost until my migration to Hostican is completely done. I do not want my domain to show nothing while this transfer is done. I understand that the domain will point to ixwebhost even during the transfer process to Godaddy, but my question is. Forget that I bought the Hostican VPS, think like this. I am transferring the domain to godaddy only, can the domain point to the dns of ixwebhost where my site is currently hosted? If so, what dns servers should it point to? Could you give me details about how to keep the dns pointed to my current webhost and simply transfer the domain to a different registrar, in my case just Godaddy. Should I expect any downtime during this transfer process?

The name servers for wheelsbd.com at ixwebhost is:
ns7.ixwebhosting.com -> 71.18.255.99
ns8.ixwebhosting.com -> 71.18.216.3

Once the domain is transfered to Godaddy, would I need to do anything to change the name server settings? If so, what should I do?

[sirbrett]

Hey again,

Some quick infos.... I can understand the problem with HIC having problems transferring your site into cPanel. Honestly because you are not using cPanel at your old host I truely think most any host will not be able to help you (atleast not easily). They could easily transfer your sites static content, but they will not be able to easily, if at all, migrate all of your mysql databases, subdomain configurations, email accounts (including mail currently on server), etc. I am pretty certain that to COMPLETELY migrate from HSPHERE to cPanel (or Plesk) will require them to do most everything manually, if you hear otherwise I would love to know.

But if you are concerned about future growth of your site, and changing to more demanding hostin plans, I would highly recommend moving to a cPanel (or Plesk) host at this time. These non-industry-standard, or propreitary, control panels many hosts use are more trouble then they are worth, by far!

Anyway, on to your other question. Transferring your domain to a third party registrar is a win-win in nearly all scenarios. Your domain will work with any host once transferred. The only setting that would need to be changed is the nameservers, nothing else should be needed.

Currently your domain is setup with nameservers of:

NS7.IXWEBHOSTING.COM
NS8.IXWEBHOSTING.COM

Once your domain is transferred to a third-party registrar you can set
the nameservers, if you set them to the above it will work the same as
it always has. If you setup a VPS with HostICan you will be given your
own custom nameservers (ie. ns1.wheelsbd.com and ns2.wheelsbd.com) by
changing your domains nameservers to your HostICan custom ones the
domain will resolve to your new server.

Changing your domain's nameservers with a registrar like godaddy is dead simple. Once you log-in to your account you will find a link to change the nameservers, simply fill out some textboxes with the correct ns addresses, and apply.

[auto_freak]

thanks a bunch. I wanted to know how long it might take for the name servers to be recognized. Suppose I transferred the domain to godaddy, I kept the name server as it is right now as ixwebhostings name servers. But, during the transfer, will my site go down? Will my site even go down when the name servers are about to change? Any downtime can be expected? Such as I just changed the server names just like you said in the text box, while this changes, should I expect a downtime for my domain to be recognized in the new server?

I just realized it took 3 hours for the 5 gigs backup, I am planning to purchase the vps rage by this week, then migrate all the data from ixwebhosting to hostican. I will shut down the site from access so that the database or new uploads or edits are not made in the site. The backup will take 3-4 hours and the upload into hostican will take about 4 or more hours depending on how fast the internet is. The databases can be upload easily if its compressed in gzip and then uploaded in sql mode. I just asked so many questions to ensure everything goes fine. Only thing to worry is the config whiles in my scripts (vbulletin, photopost gallery, joomla, photopost classifieds) will need to be changed. I am also imagining if any images would need to be rebuilt for such purposes in case the thumbnails dont appear right. The directories will be changed once I move to the vps from hostican I suppose. What do the normal directories hosted with hostican start with? mine is like hsphere/tauhid/wheelsbd.com/gallery etc....

I just dont want to regret paying for all this later on if the site doesnt work that is. Its all simple but yet again quite painful. But at the end of the day its worth it, isnt it?

[sirbrett]

There wont be any downtime. What will happen is that during the domain transfer the nameservers will be locked to thier current setting, in your case that would be your current host. They cannot be changed during transfer period. This is why I recommended doing the transfer before you get the ball rolling on your new hosting account. Because transfers can sometimes take up to a week (although unlikely)... in a scenariod when you are changing hosts and domains transfer at the same time there is the potential to be locked out of changing the nameservers when youre most likely wanting to make changes. I hope that I have expressed that clearly.

So, your domain will start transferring, during that time your nameservers will be locked to your current host. Once the domain transfer is complete you can change the nameservers at will. Nameserver changes are usually quick, sometimes taking as long as 12 hours. During the change you wont have "downtime" but some visitors might still resolve to the old server and some to the new server, until full propagation has occured (like i said, up to 12 hours).

In your HostICan VPS your users directory structure is this: /home/*cpanelusername*; unless you modified your scripts to specifically store data files below webroot then the home directory structure change shouldnt really affect anything.

Your databases are prefixed like this: cpanelusername_databasename, and your database user names are prefixed with cpanelusername_mysqlusername.

You may need to change your configs for your php apps (forum, blog, etc) to match the new mysql structure, but this should not be a big problem at all, usually just a line or two in a file.

Once your databases are migrated from your old account to your new cpanel account (use PHPMyAdmin to do this) and your config settings are made for your php apps, the transition should be fluid.

One other important thing to remember is that CHMOD settings on directories will not be retained (because you are unable to do a direct account transfer), so youll need redo those.

[sirbrett]

About your last comment... is it worth it, if it doesnt work out?

Id say yes, its worth it. The change may sound intimidating, but really it should go fairly smoothly and once its done youll be in a much better place. Because youll be using a cPanel host your options for ease of future migration and growth will be much better.

A VPS will provide you with MUCH better performance and versatility over the shared hosting youve experienced in the past.

Like I mentioned in a previous reply, you can always setup a VPS account and take a few weeks to set it up the way you want (but this may not be realistic for a site with an active forum). During your testing you can access the new server using its IP address (and not have to change your domains nameservers yet). Also, I believe that HostICan still offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, if you dont like it you can cancel and not lose anything but some of your time.