I've been trolling forums since deciding to try CS-Cart for a revamping of my small hand-coded ecommerce site. One thing I don't see discussed a lot in the hosting forum is hosting your site locally (geographically speaking). If my local bandwidth provider offers shared and dedicated hosting plans, is there a reason (such as prior CS-Cart or some other db-intensive experience) to shy away from them? I'd figure to ask all the right questions, and only look elsewhere if I keep getting all the wrong answers.
Seems there's enough comments about any hosting provider (that would be known if mentioned in this forum) that would make one want to keep looking. I guess, in my first forum post, I was looking for professional unbiased comments and no “host with us, we're great” comments. TIA,
-chuck
Chuck,
My understanding is that it is best to host where your target audience is. If you are a company that provides a local service, than a local host may be good. For me, my main customer base is the whole USA, so I have my server here in the US. If I remember correctly, I believe my server is actually in Dallas, TX, which is pretty darn close to the middle.
I'd be curious to know more about your local host. Are they really hosting things locally or do they just have a couple of dedicated servers somewhere? If they host locally, what kind of guarantees do they have?
I personally have my sites on a dedicated server with ServInt. I've been very happy with them and their service. They offer some great VPS packages that are priced good. WiredTree is also a very good host that I've used in the past and I work with for other people's sites. Hostgator has a good dedicated server package, but I'm not impressed with their VPS packages.
I know there are a bunch of us here on the forum that are either with ServInt or WiredTree.
As for shared hosting, I've worked with hostgator before and they seem to be pretty good for shared hosting. I'm not really sure why their shared hosting and their dedicated hosting are good, but their VPS packages are kind of weak.
Anyways, those are my opinions. I'm sure if you ask the next guy, they might say something else, but I hope it helps you.
Thanks,
Brandon
It is best practice to host closest to your main customers. As it removes a lot of latency issues. Which is one of the factors in getting a fast page load speed
Brandon,
Target audience is all over the US. Located in KY, but customers from ME to FL to WA to CA, so I see the point of a centrally located server.
I currently connect to local provider via high speed, line-of-sight wireless 3 meg up and down. I'm hosting my existing 10YO site on my own server in my own facility over that connection, so anything up the pipe would be an improvement. They offer colocation and do have their own data center. They quote relatively low numbers of businesses using them as a web host, so I would assume a shared server might fare well. I read of some instances with CS-Cart usage spikes, but barring those, does the cart itself necessarily demand a VPS or dedicated server to run a small site well?
You mention that your sites (pl.) are on dedicated. So is that saltwatertogo (nice looking site BTW) and other companies that you host on a servint dedicated server? IOW, multiple CS-Cart based commerce sites?
Any good thread or outside source on choosing VPS vs. dedicated vs semi vs shared you can pass along too would be appreciated. Again, I'm sure that site size and traffic dictates server needs. I'd hope that a CS-Cart installation wouldn't be a complete rebuild to move up the server chain if demands warranted it? Also, thanks for the recommendation of two hosts.
-chuck
Chuck,
As long as us here in California can connect well to it, you should be good. Don't worry about Maine. My brother lives there. Not much there except snow and water, so no loss there.
I really don't know much about local servers like that. I've done the whole small server thing. I was able to move before it had problems, but others on here completely lost their sites. Not good.
Since moving a site from server to server is totally cake, you could start with them and see how it goes. If it sucks, go with someone like ServInt. If it is great, sweet, you are supporting someone locally. Being able to keep your business local is definitely something nice to be able to do.
CS-Cart will run on a shared host just fine. Hopefully you'll outgrow it, but that is a good problem. I'm on my own dedicated box, and I'm very happy with it. The only problem is the $200 per month bill that I get (and now to think of it, I need to pay).
I don't know if there are any real numbers on what is what when it comes to servers and loads and stuff. All I know is that I have more than one site and I help others with multiple CS-Cart sites on one dedicated server and they work great, so I guess it is cool.
There are a bunch of threads on this forum that talk about hosting. My recommendation is to either go with your local company or go with a major company like ServInt, WiredTree, or Hostgator. There is actually one other that I deal with from time to time, but I can't remember what it is, sorry.
Like I said, moving a site from server to server is totally easy, so not much to worry about there.
I hope that helps,
Brandon
Can I also have a Professional Edition installation for my primary business as well as a Community Edition installation for a small sideline of basically unrelated products on the same server? (Rather than buying the Ultimate Edition).
-chuck
Chuck,
That is one nice thing about the community edition, you can run as many of them as you want. There are a few guys on here that have one main store and then a bunch of side stores that are on the community edition.
Thanks,
Brandon
That is one nice thing about the community edition, you can run as many of them as you want. There are a few guys on here that have one main store and then a bunch of side stores that are on the community edition.
this is nice . i say really thanks to all
All,
I DLd and ran Community 3.0.1 locally using XAMPP to test the waters before I buy CS-Cart. It worked fine but I was pulled away for a couple months. I'm back looking again and bought myself a shared web plan with the same local provider I mentioned before in this thread.
I have managed to install the demo store from community edition 3.0.1 at www (dot) refennell (dot) com. Speed-wise, there's a bit of a hesitation before page loads but maybe that's typical. Lots of hiccups for a first timer and newbie at getting it installed remotely and serving up pages. May be holes I missed but trudging on.
On to deleting sample data and starting to upload some of my own data to test the waters. Then I'll try to hire locally for skinning it. I have a good graphic designer who can give me the look I want and hand over in Photoshop files but she won't be able to integrate it. Figure to ask for PHP, CSS and Smarty knowledge.
Hope to be able to control home page after initial setup - CMS system? Block Mgr?
chuck~