I need to arrange hosting for my first umbraco site. I prefer a UK based provider, with good tech support. Is there anything specifically required apart from .net hosting with a SQL 2005 backend?
Should add in answer to your question that specifically Umbraco requires <a href="http://coolwebdeveloper.com/2008/09/what-is-asp-net-full-trust-hosting-and-a-few-good-full-trust-hosting-plans"> Full Trust </a> hosting.
Apart from that it's just standard .net 2.0, ajax & sql server.
I've used hostway for shared hosting who were very good.
I currently have a dedicated server with easyspace who I am happy enough with but at is dedicated I rarely have to deal with support so have no idea what they are like.
We have used Titan Internet for shared hosting a good number of Umbraco sites, good and helpful technical support. We usually use their WIN100 package. Recent sites have been on SQL 2008, which is only an issue if you want to restore the site back to your system; but they have been willing to do a script export so that this can be done.
hostingUK and not eHosting UK. eHosting UK I have used once in the past without problems, bar permissions being awkward to set through their plesk file manager. Have had problems with hosting UK support in the past and also with hostway. Generally they are fine and service is ok, but both have made what I would consider serious mistakes and have cumbersome enough support systems that it is not possible to resolve in a timely manner.
All the other providers we have seen seem to be standard hosting companies which then require you to setup the Umbraco elements; put the files in place, setup the database, apply permissions etc. The setup process can vary from provider to provider, with varying levels of success.
We have taken a different approach and taken the hassle out of setting things up. We have created Umbraco specific hosting packages and automatically provision an Umbraco instance within minutes of placing an order.
We are currently offering 3 months no obligations free hosting across all our Umbraco packages, so feel free to come and see what you think.
I can whole heartedly recommend us, but their again, I would. We are friendly and care about our customers. We are happy two answer any queries ('contact us' link to the top right of our site) and are keen to work with you to improve our service.
Hope to see you try us out, even if it is just to see what you think and cancel your order before any charges apply.
Diskspace quota appears to be checked on FTP upload
Updating a small javascript file (14kb) by FTP caused a zero size file to be created on the server because the quota is exceeded (in effect deleting the original JavaScript file - checking FTP response log I see: "226-Disk Quota - Current : 583.987 MBytes - Max : 500 MBytes - Available : -83.987 MBytes")
This leaves me with a broken site on a Sunday because the host have deleted an existing file on FTP transfer rather than just refuse the transfer (unacceptable) and no way of contacting them (Yes support is only Monday-Friday 9.00am - 5.30pm GMT http://www.titaninternet.co.uk/contact.cfm )
@Matthew, I agree entirely, but I'd go so far as to say that Titan is now a strong 'avoid' in my book, after having previously recommended them to customers. I had the same issue recently with a client site; uploaded a changed config file by FTP and because they were (unknowingly!) over their disk space quota it zero-byte'd the config file and brought the whole site down. The client had to upgrade their package to allow me to correct this, which took around 18 hours for Titan to action, whilst the website was down. In the meantime I spoke to 'support' a couple of times and they were worse than useless. When I told them my concerns that not only did their system allow this to happen, which it shouldn't - it should either prevent the account going over quota or inform the customer to upgrade, it's potentially going to cripple their network if any hosted site can write unlimited files to disk (except by FTP) and their response was "yeah, it is worrying because there's no redundancy on these servers either so if something does happen..." Wow. Not good at all since they got taken over by Iomart.com.
To be fair to Titan, In the case above they did agree to upgrade the allowance without the cost of moving up to the next package level, but I still feel very uncomfortable with the setup. As the site grows there is another potential time bomb waiting to go off again when the next limit is reached. I won't go as far as moving the site away from them at this point, but I won't put future hosting with them either.
Last time I checked, NetCetera didn't offer a means of client back-up or restoration on their shared packages. Obviously you can use FTP for the files, but what about databases? If your client website gets hacked or there's a major bug that suddenly crops up in Umbraco - it has happened ('disappearing nodes' bug in 4.0.3 anyone?) - and your SQL Server database screws up, what happens? I would never rely purely on the hosting companies own back-up, and actually many of them don't even make those available to customers anyway, or, like Pipeten they charge £160 for a website and database restore (http://www.pipeten.com/pdfs/d12.price.list.pdf). Yikes. It's a mine-field.
Regarding Storm Internet, they look interesting and I'd welcome any reviews from people who are using (/have used) them.
Titan? Absolutely the worst hosting company I've ever dealt with - used to be one of the best, but no more.
Seeing as this thread seems to still be active, I can highly recommend TSOHost (http://my.tsohost.com/aff.php?aff=1496). Their support is outstanding and I host my Umbraco site with them without issue. When I have had any weird Umbraco problems, I've contacted them and within 15 minutes or so they have restored my site to the previous backup and got it back up and running for me.
When I set it up I did have to set the file permissions for Umbraco to work but other than that all easy and straightfoward. Their hosting is load balanced so you can't use an embedded SQL file (due to access problems), but if you go for the PRO package you get 1 MSSQL DB and unlimited MySql databases anyway so you really don't need to worry about that. They do 2 backups a day and you can see the last 30 days backups via the file manager. All their hosting is on the cloud and the control panel is really good.
I've been with these guys for 2 years now and I have absolutely no plans to go elsewhere!
Recommended hosting in UK?
Hi there,
I need to arrange hosting for my first umbraco site. I prefer a UK based provider, with good tech support. Is there anything specifically required apart from .net hosting with a SQL 2005 backend?
Do you have any recommendations?
Many thanks.
Hakan.
I've not used them for Umbraco but I host a couple of .NET/SQL Server sites with Titan Internet and their support is very good.
Personally I would avoid fasthosts.
Should add in answer to your question that specifically Umbraco requires <a href="http://coolwebdeveloper.com/2008/09/what-is-asp-net-full-trust-hosting-and-a-few-good-full-trust-hosting-plans"> Full Trust </a> hosting.
Apart from that it's just standard .net 2.0, ajax & sql server.
I've used hostway for shared hosting who were very good.
I currently have a dedicated server with easyspace who I am happy enough with but at is dedicated I rarely have to deal with support so have no idea what they are like.
We have used Titan Internet for shared hosting a good number of Umbraco sites, good and helpful technical support. We usually use their WIN100 package. Recent sites have been on SQL 2008, which is only an issue if you want to restore the site back to your system; but they have been willing to do a script export so that this can be done.
I know http://www.ehosting.co.uk/ supporst full trust
Anyone used DiscountASP.net?
http://www.eukhost.com/ haven't been bad either.
Would stay clear of hostingUK
I also use titan Win 100 ( MSSQL Express) . good value , service. I have about 5 umbraco sites there. No issues.
@Chris McVite : why stay clear of eHosting UK ?
+1 for eukhost, no problems here (so far!)
hostingUK and not eHosting UK. eHosting UK I have used once in the past without problems, bar permissions being awkward to set through their plesk file manager. Have had problems with hosting UK support in the past and also with hostway. Generally they are fine and service is ok, but both have made what I would consider serious mistakes and have cumbersome enough support systems that it is not possible to resolve in a timely manner.
to whever asked earlier, i've used discountasp but have no idea what their support was like as never needed it.
All the other providers we have seen seem to be standard hosting companies which then require you to setup the Umbraco elements; put the files in place, setup the database, apply permissions etc. The setup process can vary from provider to provider, with varying levels of success.
We have taken a different approach and taken the hassle out of setting things up. We have created Umbraco specific hosting packages and automatically provision an Umbraco instance within minutes of placing an order.
We are currently offering 3 months no obligations free hosting across all our Umbraco packages, so feel free to come and see what you think.
The following page gives a few more details:
http://www.carbonsoft.co.uk/umbraco-hosting.aspx
This one provides details of the available plans:
http://www.carbonsoft.co.uk/umbraco-hosting/plans.aspx
I can whole heartedly recommend us, but their again, I would. We are friendly and care about our customers. We are happy two answer any queries ('contact us' link to the top right of our site) and are keen to work with you to improve our service.
Hope to see you try us out, even if it is just to see what you think and cancel your order before any charges apply.
Richard
Beware of diskspace allowance if you choose Titan Internet.
@Matthew, I agree entirely, but I'd go so far as to say that Titan is now a strong 'avoid' in my book, after having previously recommended them to customers. I had the same issue recently with a client site; uploaded a changed config file by FTP and because they were (unknowingly!) over their disk space quota it zero-byte'd the config file and brought the whole site down. The client had to upgrade their package to allow me to correct this, which took around 18 hours for Titan to action, whilst the website was down. In the meantime I spoke to 'support' a couple of times and they were worse than useless. When I told them my concerns that not only did their system allow this to happen, which it shouldn't - it should either prevent the account going over quota or inform the customer to upgrade, it's potentially going to cripple their network if any hosted site can write unlimited files to disk (except by FTP) and their response was "yeah, it is worrying because there's no redundancy on these servers either so if something does happen..." Wow. Not good at all since they got taken over by Iomart.com.
Thanks Dan,
To be fair to Titan, In the case above they did agree to upgrade the allowance without the cost of moving up to the next package level, but I still feel very uncomfortable with the setup. As the site grows there is another potential time bomb waiting to go off again when the next limit is reached. I won't go as far as moving the site away from them at this point, but I won't put future hosting with them either.
+1 for ehosting.com - I've used them for over 5 years without issues.
Agreed on the file permissions being a PITA but 15 clicks or so later, you're up and running.
Their support is second to none, I have had responses from them on weekends and late nights!
netcetera.co.uk - easy to install via their control pannels microsoft web app, you can back up / zip / download DB & site files
storminternet.co.uk - instal via FTP ! - permission on folder issues !
Titan - change hands and reviews say support has dropped in quality
Hi Colin.
Last time I checked, NetCetera didn't offer a means of client back-up or restoration on their shared packages. Obviously you can use FTP for the files, but what about databases? If your client website gets hacked or there's a major bug that suddenly crops up in Umbraco - it has happened ('disappearing nodes' bug in 4.0.3 anyone?) - and your SQL Server database screws up, what happens? I would never rely purely on the hosting companies own back-up, and actually many of them don't even make those available to customers anyway, or, like Pipeten they charge £160 for a website and database restore (http://www.pipeten.com/pdfs/d12.price.list.pdf). Yikes. It's a mine-field.
Regarding Storm Internet, they look interesting and I'd welcome any reviews from people who are using (/have used) them.
Titan? Absolutely the worst hosting company I've ever dealt with - used to be one of the best, but no more.
Seeing as this thread seems to still be active, I can highly recommend TSOHost (http://my.tsohost.com/aff.php?aff=1496). Their support is outstanding and I host my Umbraco site with them without issue. When I have had any weird Umbraco problems, I've contacted them and within 15 minutes or so they have restored my site to the previous backup and got it back up and running for me.
When I set it up I did have to set the file permissions for Umbraco to work but other than that all easy and straightfoward. Their hosting is load balanced so you can't use an embedded SQL file (due to access problems), but if you go for the PRO package you get 1 MSSQL DB and unlimited MySql databases anyway so you really don't need to worry about that. They do 2 backups a day and you can see the last 30 days backups via the file manager. All their hosting is on the cloud and the control panel is really good.
I've been with these guys for 2 years now and I have absolutely no plans to go elsewhere!
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