SugarCRM with PHP MySQL cPanel Hosting

[Julian]

Hi,

I'm looking for web hosting and I have a few questions. Right now I'm looking to host a really low-volume static web site (probably only about 5 to 10 pages and no ecommerce). For this it is pretty clearthat your most basic cpanel package would be sufficient however the other thing I want to host is a two user SugarCRM system so my questions really relate to that.

Firstly, is it possible to host SugarCRM with a Linux cPanel hosting account? I think it just needs PHP and MySQL and the data size will be tiny.

Next, I would want to be confident that my data is secure. I see that the cpanel hosting plans all have a tick against the "Shared SSL" feature. What does this mean? Does this mean that I get "out of the box" (if you see what I mean) ability to establish an https connection to a subdomain of my main domain? If not then what would I need to do to ensure that the traffic between my browser and my web site is encrypted for either cpanel or vps hosting?

Next, how does the security (privacy) of the data on the hard drive compare between a cpanel hosting plan and a vps hosting plan? How can I be confident that other customers sharing my node won't accidentally get access to my data? For vps is each customer account running as a different Linux (or Windows) user on the node so that the security is handled by file permissions on the underlying shared Linux file system and each user only sees their portion of the tree? How does the Virtuozzo enforce seperation? Is there any practical difference? My suspicion is that effectively cpanel and vps are the same in that theoretically there is total data seperation between users but in the unlikely event that a pointer or mapping variable got corrupted somewhere in the OS or in the Virtuazzo virtualisation layer then if one was really unlucky then another user might end up getting access to your data. The really transition point comes in going to 100% dedicated server when the hard drives are physically separated.

Next, how are backups handled? Do both cpanel and vps have the ability for 100% automated regular backups without the user needing to remember to log on and explicitly execute a backup? If so then is it possible for the system to send an email to either actively confirm each (nightly?) backup and/or to inform about a failed backup?

Finally, is the up status of the Apache server automatically monitored and the server restarted on failure when on a vps container or is it left entirely to the "owner" of the vps container to monitor and manage the health of all software running within their container?

Sorry for so many questions. I really like what I see of your company and having a forum shows a great confidence and good attitude to your customers so I'm hoping that I can do what I need to do because you look good so far.

- Julian

[James]

Hi Julian,

Thank you for your interest in Web Hosting UK's services.

I've answered all your questions as following:

Originally Posted by Julian

Firstly, is it possible to host SugarCRM with a Linux cPanel hosting account? I think it just needs PHP and MySQL and the data size will be tiny.

SugarCRM works on both Linux as well as Windows platform. You can consider one of our cPanel hosting plan to run SugarCRM website.

Originally Posted by Julian

Next, I would want to be confident that my data is secure. I see that the cpanel plans all have a tick against the "Shared SSL" feature. What does this mean? Does this mean that I get "out of the box" (if you see what I mean) ability to establish an https connection to a subdomain of my main domain? If not then what would I need to do to ensure that the traffic between my browser and my web site is encrypted for either cpanel or vps hosting?

We have Shared SSL installed on all our shared servers. Shared SSL allows you to browse your website with https://server.hostname/~username/ If you opt for Dedicated SSL then you will be able to browse your website with https://www.yourdomain.com If you wish to establish an https connection to a subdomain of your main domain then you will have to consider Wildcard SSL. Wildcard is an ideal solution if you need to secure multiple fully qualified domains that share the same base domain name, reside on the same physical server and share the same second level domain name.

Note: Shared SSL is not offered on VPS and Dedicated Servers. You will need to consider Dedicated or Wildcard SSL with VPS/Dedicated Servers.

Originally Posted by Julian

Next, how does the security (privacy) of the data on the hard drive compare between a cpanel hosting plan and a vps hosting plan? How can I be confident that other customers sharing my node won't accidentally get access to my data? For vps is each customer account running as a different Linux (or Windows) user on the node so that the security is handled by file permissions on the underlying shared Linux file system and each user only sees their portion of the tree? How does the Virtuozzo enforce seperation? Is there any practical difference? My suspicion is that effectively cpanel and vps are the same in that theoretically there is total data seperation between users but in the unlikely event that a pointer or mapping variable got orrupted somewhere in the OS or in the Virtuazzo virtualisation layer then if one was really unlucky then another user might end up getting access to your data. The really transition point comes in going to 100% dedicated server when the hard drives are physically seperated.

Each VPS act as a stand alone server with its own partition. Each VPS uses its own disk space, OS, RAM, CPU, IP addresses and it can be rebooted independently. Each VPS user would have administrative root ssh access to his part of the server only. VPS are setup with Virtuozzo in such a manner that one VPS user can not access or read data of any other vps on the same node. As far as security of our shared servers is concerned, you can be rest assured about that as we have enough security measures in place to ensure that data of all clients on the servers remains safe at all times. Additionally we have disabled many functions on our shared servers including root access which could potentially compromise the security of a shared server.

Originally Posted by Julian

Next, how are backups handled? Do both cpanel and vps have the ability for 100% automated regular backups without the user needing to remember to log on and explicitly execute a backup? If so then is it possible for the system to send an email to either actively confirm each (nightly?) backup and/or to inform about a failed backup?

We maintain daily backup of all our shared servers and weekly backup of all our VPS nodes in case you wish to maintain separate backup of your data you can opt for our off site backup storage service which will allow you to configure daily incremental backups. The sytem will also send an email once the backup is completed. You can view the backup plan details at Backup Service | Offsite Data Backup Solutions | Web Hosting UK | Dedicated Server | VPS Hosting

Originally Posted by Julian

Finally, is the up status of the Apache server automatically monitored and the server restarted on failure when on a vps container or is it left entirely to the "owner" of the vps container to monitoer and manage the health of all software running within their container?

We have our in-house monitoring system in place which notifies our support team instantly if any of the services running on the VPS fail. We will add your VPS IP into that script which will notify you and our support team at the same time.

In case you have any more questions please do not hesitate to post here.

[Julian]

Thanks James. Those are great answers, you've done nothing but raise further my opinions on your capabilities and customer support.

I'm pretty much done now so I'll just ask a couple of follow on questions and one new one at which point I think I'll have the full picture.

Regarding rsync backup service (only for vps I assume?). If I took one of these services then essentially I just have an ftp login (well, more than one) to a backup server elsewhere in your data centre so I setup rsync on my vps to backup to my ftp account on one of your backup servers and it is then up to me to set up rsync as I like in terms of what is backed up and how often? If I do this then is the rsync backup totally separate from your normal weekly backup so essentially, if I chose to rsync the whole server, I have two full backups, one the weekly one-shot backup that you provide as part of the vps package and the other my rsync backup with is taken as a full snapshot on first rsync and then incrementally updated at a frequency of my choosing (e.g. daily)?

Regarding your monitoring of services on a vps, am I safe in assuming that if it is a standard service (e.g. Apache) that fails then, as soon as your support gets the notification, that they will fix it? I'm just trying to make sure that if I go the vps route then the official policy isn't "everything inside the vps is the customer's responsibility". I can see that if some really complex custom web application is being run that your support teams have no idea how to restart then clearly that is up to the customer to debug and fix a crash but on something pretty standard like a SugarCRM setup then what is the situation?

That's it on the clarifications but I do have just one last new question.

Your vps plans look really good value but (and I know this sounds a bit cheap!) the extra £5 per month for cPanel adds 40%-ish to the price. The options I see are no panel, add Plex for £24/year or add cPanel for £60/year. With no panel then does one just administer everything via editing appropriate config files, directly accessing traffic logs, etc. or are there any basic GUI tools for common stuff, just not integrated into a comprehensive control panel? If I was to go for a panel then what is there in cPanel that justifies the 2.5x price vs Plex?

- Julian

[James]

Originally Posted by Julian

Regarding rsync backup service (only for vps I assume?). If I took one of these services then essentially I just have an ftp login (well, more than one) to a backup server elsewhere in your data centre so I setup rsync on my vps to backup to my ftp account on one of your backup servers and it is then up to me to set up rsync as I like in terms of what is backed up and how often? If I do this then is the rsync backup totally separate from your normal weekly backup so essentially, if I chose to rsync the whole server, I have two full backups, one the weekly one-shot backup that you provide as part of the vps package and the other my rsync backup with is taken as a full snapshot on first rsync and then incrementally updated at a frequency of my choosing (e.g. daily)?

The Rsync backup space which you purchase would be setup as per your requirements. You can let us know the backup frequency as well as the data/files you wish to backup and we will set it up accordingly. The weekly backup which we maintain is for our security and would be compeltely separate from your rsync backup space. You would effectively have two separate backups of your VPS account. Our rsync backup would be incremental backup.

Originally Posted by Julian

Regarding your monitoring of services on a vps, am I safe in assuming that if it is a standard service (e.g. Apache) that fails then, as soon as your support gets the notification, that they will fix it? I'm just trying to make sure that if I go the vps route then the official policy isn't "everything inside the vps is the customer's responsibility". I can see that if some really complex custom web application is being run that your support teams have no idea how to restart then clearly that is up to the customer to debug and fix a crash but on something pretty standard like a SugarCRM setup then what is the situation?

The monitoring service which we provide is not a standard feature with the VPS. You can request for the service after your VPS is setup and we won't charge any fees for that. This monitoring service would cover monitoring of all the processes running on your VPS. Apart from coding issue we will fix all the other issues related to your SugarCRM website. We do not provide support for third party software/applications but still we would try to resolve the issue but I won't guarantee that we will fix the third party software issues or bugs completely.

Originally Posted by Julian

Your vps plans look really good value but (and I know this sounds a bit cheap!) the extra £5 per month for cPanel adds 40%-ish to the price. The options I see are no panel, add Plex for £24/year or add cPanel for £60/year. With no panel then does one just administer everything via editing appropriate config files, directly accessing traffic logs, etc. or are there any basic GUI tools for common stuff, just not integrated into a comprehensive control panel? If I was to go for a panel then what is there in cPanel that justifies the 2.5x price vs Plex?

Cost of Plesk Unlimited Domain License and cPanel control panel is £50 per year. You will get root ssh access with the VPS through which you will be able to manage the VPS. If you are comfortable with ssh access then I'd not suggest you to go for control panel but if you are new to all this then I'd strictly recommend you to opt for one of the control panel. Control Panels make life easy becuase it automates a large number of tasks that allow you to concentrate on productivity rather than server administration.

In case you have any further questions please do not hesitate to post here.

[Jan]

Hi Julian,

Which hosting package you have finalized ?

[chineslb]

I would like to know too

[reginaldjoyce]

I am thinking if signing up. What is the best package.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by reginaldjoyce

I am thinking if signing up. What is the best package.

Hi,

It all depends on what you are looking to host on your website(s). Let us know what you'll be hosting and I will give you a recommendation

[harry]

Originally Posted by reginaldjoyce

I am thinking if signing up. What is the best package.

Welcome to Webhosting UK community forum It would be better if you could post your web hosting requirements so that we can suggest you most perfect hosting package.

[James]

Originally Posted by reginaldjoyce

I am thinking if signing up. What is the best package.

We offer fully managed hosting services on both Linux as well as Windows platform. Let us know what applications or scripts or softwares you are planning to run our servers. So, that we would be able to suggest you the appropriate hosting package.

[snowwhite]

good q's OP, and answers.....

[James]

Originally Posted by snowwhite

good q's OP, and answers.....

snowwhite I've caught your spam, check this post
http://www.webhosting.uk.com/forums/20098-post8.html

[snowwhite]

Originally Posted by James

snowwhite I've caught your spam, check this post

Won't happen again, once again i apologize.

[The Chef]

Nice thread!

I am also in the same boat as Julian. I've signed up for a VPS and am currently evaluating it for SugarCRM hosting. I would also like to know how Julian and other SugarCRM users are getting along.

The main thing I'm wondering is whether to use suexec/fastcgi for apache (for security) rather than the old mod_php, but any other experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks.