How to Find the Best Solution for Drupal Hosting Requirements

Drupal is a free, open-source content management software (CMS) solution that is widely used in e-commerce to power websites across the Internet. It was developed in 2000 and has grown to be the third most-used CMS system on the Internet after WordPress and Joomla. It is highly customizable and provides many features that make it appealing as a website development platform in addition to its utility for managing content.

Drupal is distributed under the GNU Public License which affords users more flexibility than what is offered by proprietary software. Code can be modified and extended at will to meet business requirements. A large online community of Drupal users and developers makes it easy to learn Drupal and make the most of its feature set. The newest version of the software is Drupal 9 which was released in June of 2020. 

Top 10 Considerations for Choosing a Drupal Web Host
Once the decision is made to use Drupal for your website, you need to find the right hosting service. Many options are available when deciding on the best host for your Drupal application. Choosing the right site that conforms to the needs of the software and your prospective users is critical to the success of your website. In the ultra-competitive business world of the 21st Century, you need your offering to work as flawlessly as possible. Customers will search for other options if they are not satisfied with the functionality or responsiveness of your site.

You also need to consider the choice of hosting site from the perspective of the person or persons who are creating the Drupal application. The necessary tools should be easily available as well as the technical resources required to protect the application and its data. 

The following list contains what we consider to be the most important factors to consider when selecting a Drupal web host. The host you choose should be able to address all of these requirements to ensure a successful project that can grow into the future. 

1) Basic Drupal system requirements
The hosting provider you select must be able to meet the minimum technical requirements for running a Drupal site from both a hardware and software perspective. You can either choose cloud VPS hosting or dedicated hosting. Here’s what you will need:

Hardware 

• A dual-core processor running at 2 GHz or faster;
• A 64-bit operating system, preferably using Linux;
• At least 4 GB of memory;
• A minimum of 120 GB of available disk space.

Software

• Drupal code;
• PHP is needed and must be complied with support for cURL, DomDocument, and SimpleXML;
• An Apache server is recommended although it is possible to run Drupal on other servers;
• Apache Solr and Java are required if you plan on using the Drupal toolkit;
• A database system is required and MySQL is the recommended solution due to its compatibility with the Drupal toolkit.

2) Speed
One of the most important aspects of a website or web application is the speed at which it responds to user queries. It is estimated that a delay of more than three seconds can result in the loss of more than half of your mobile users. While some of the issues with loading speed can be addressed with compression and optimization, the server power behind your site is a crucial factor in its responsiveness. As a hosting platform gains in popularity, it may stretch its resources which can lead to reduced speed and responsiveness. 

3) Reliability
Your site needs to be up and running to attract visitors and serve your business. Your hosting company should be willing to agree to service level agreements (SLAs) that establish the minimum percentage of uptime they are willing to guarantee. This is a situation where you want to see numbers in the 99.99% range, indicating that your systems will be essentially always available for your users. 

4) Security
Maintaining the safety and security of your data resources is a critical component of your Drupal hosting platform. Your hosting service should provide network security to ensure that only authorized users can access data assets. Encryption should be used to protect data at rest and in transit, preferably with keys under your control.

5) Compliance
Based on the type of business you run on your Drupal site or the kind of data you collect on your customers, you may be subject to one or more regulatory standards such as HIPAA or PCI DSS. In some cases, such as PCI Hosting, these regulations pertain to backup retention to cover potential legal action. Data privacy regulations like those contained in HIPAA or GDPR define who can access sensitive information stored in your databases. For instance, HIPAA Compliant Hosting providers should offer systems that are compliant with healthcare regulatory guidelines that mesh with your requirements. 

6) Automated backup and recovery solution
The inclusion of an automated backup solution by your hosting provider is an essential component of data protection. You need to be sure that if a server or storage device goes down, your information has been backed up and is available for a timely restore. This is another area where an SLA may make sense to define the maximum amount of time the provider can take to restore your systems without paying a penalty. The viability of your business often depends on the availability of reliable backup and recovery procedures. Make sure your provider has this well-covered.

7) Development platforms and workflow
Unless your application is completely static, you need testing and development options included in your Drupal hosting agreement. You should be able to have a test and development environment with which to improve your site and make modifications without touching your production systems. 

8) Customer support
If you run into problems with any aspect of your Drupal hosting, you need to be sure that you can quickly get the required technical assistance. Customer support is one of the defining features of a high-quality hosting provider and you should be able to access it at any time of the day or night.  

9) Reputation
Everyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time surfing the web knows that taking advantage of the knowledge of other users can greatly enhance your experience and save you a lot of time and heartache. We have all looked at reviews before making a purchase as a way of identifying the best product or solution to fit our needs. You should adopt the same strategy when engaging a hosting provider for your Drupal application. 

10) Price 
The amount you pay to run your site has an impact on its potential profitability. While you want to make sure you are not overcharged, simply going with the least expensive alternative may not be your best move. Paying a little more for robust backup, security, and compliance should be seen as a legitimate cost of doing business. The monetary savings will become irrelevant if your data is lost or compromised. 

Conclusion
As you can see, there are many things to look at when choosing the hosting provider for your Drupal environment. In some cases, certain aspects may be more important for your organization than others. Data security and compliance may need to take precedent over price or response time guarantees. Perhaps reliability and uptime are more critical than the ability to host a test system with your provider. You need to look at your specific needs as you search for a host.

We believe you should take these factors into account when choosing a Drupal hosting provider. It will leave you in good shape and on the right road toward creating a website or application that addresses the desires of your customers while protecting the time and money you have invested in the project. It just may be possible to keep everyone happy by making the correct selection.