Hi all

This is actually an extension on an earlier posting of mine (http://drupal.org/node/33564) to which I got only VERY little response.

So, I guess I need to rephrase or ask the same question in a more market related way. So here goes .... :-)

We need to host our own international VPN with CMS which we are aiming to base on Drupal. Since I have been following the hosting issue for a long time now, I see that many people are crying for decent Drupal SPs, but are cringing at the cost thereof.

So, NOW is your chance to assist me in doing a decent marketing exercise to establish a good Drupal SP/host.

The question you need to answer is below, but first read through the following, do some maths (aaghh!!) and answer the simple question.

We will offer:
- Option A -
1. Unix based server
2. VPS (OK, for the not so technical - Virtual Private Server) which will allow you:
* root access to your own server
* A choice of PHP 4 or 5
* A choice of mySQL or postgreSQL database server
* Apache 1.3 or 2.x with access to your own config and .htaccess files allowing you multiple domain hosting
* FTP account
* phpMyAdmin
* ability to change php.ini variables
* Fantastico Installer for Drupal (UP TO DATE)
* multiple ssh shell access
* the ability to install your own pre-selected applications
3. 3+ gigs of space
4. unlimited, unshaped bandwidth

I just got an e-mail from my host (http://www.elitehosts.com) complaining that my Drupal site is loading their servers too much. It read as follows:

is there anyway using multiple databases for 1 host? thanks

Hello,

Last me a hostprovider that I've only been with for 4 months went out of business without letting customers
know, leaving me in the lurch. I tried switching to a company called Siteground on Friday and their customer
support was hideous so I cancelled and tried a service called SiteLogic, I'm having a ton of issues trying to get
drupal to work on their service, and they haven't responded to a single support request in the last 4 days, so I'm
going to move to someone else on Friday, because I'm not getting the "warm fuzzies" from Startlogic.

I have yet to find a shared host that will provide for a modest mail list.

My hope is to set up a forum and then tie the forum into a mail list so that when USER#X posts a message to the forum, Drupal will send an email to all other users who have opted in at the forum level. That is, I'm not expecting my users to have to opt in to every single thread.

However, when I suggest to a webhost (ixwebhosting, lunarpages, dathorn) that my email traffic might approach 10,000 messages in a day (500 people with 20 messages a day - actually, I can see it getting much higher) and note that Yahoo!Groups provides this service for free, I get told in no uncertain terms that the normal limit is something like 200 messages per hour and anything more than that will get my site shut down. Further, none of them will even allow me to purchase an add-on just for the email levels anticipated.

So I have a question or two or three:

1) Is having a mailing list on a Drupal site fundamentally inconsistent with hosting services?

2) Am I misunderstanding the number of emails that a mailing list will generate? That is, suppose 500 members with 20 messages per day. Is it possible that the system only really sends 20 email messages out, but that each has a really, really long "To:" header?

3) Assume the answers to 1) and 2) are Yes and No, respectively. Is anybody aware of a third party SMTP email provider that would support the scenario mentioned?

It might be eaiser to find the Holy Grail than a good web host.

A year ago, I set out to find a good web host. It took about a month of research, longer than anything else in my project. I found Lunarpages, and I was happy.

But now, Lunarpages says they no longer support Drupal, which has sent me looking again for web host, and pulling my hair out in the process.

I have tried a number of the hosting review sites, but most of them have bogus information since they make their money off of referral fees and will recommend whichever hosts pays the most. And hosts which pay out more to acquire new customers often times make up for that expense by overselling their resources, which is what it looks like happened to Lunarpages.

I have scoured the forums here looking for hosts, but it is a very tedious process which thus far has not led me to what I need. Specifically, I am looking for an inexpensive shared account that can host five domains that I can use for development, which can be ramped up to a semi-dedicated or dedicated server when the need arises.

It would seem that a community like this one, which can produce such a great CMS, could find a better way to organize a list of Drupal-friendly hosts, complete with ratings and reviews. If someone could build the structure, I'd be happy to pass on what I have found in my searching so far.

I am off again on my quest.