Re: What would you want in a PHP web host?

[this is long] on 8/1/01 1:06 AM, Derek Del Conte at derek@gambitdesign.com wrote: > I have been developing PHP for a while now, and I am wondering how other > developers find their PHP hosting company. So far this has not been an > issue for me because I am always in full control of my servers (well, as > much control as possible with any web server :), but recently we have begun > to host other PHP sites. my background is networking. i've built and maintained a number of increasingly complex networks over the years and at times have been intimately involved in the customer support piece. i have had many jobs in the customer support area outside of technology too. now i write and host php apps. > We want to make sure that we are providing appropriate support to our PHP > developers. I see too many hosting companies saying that they support PHP, > but not having anyone familiar with PHP on hand. We want to have actual > support, a developer to call when you have a PHP issue. do you _really_ want to pay someone 24x7x365 to maintain a php help line? the best coding happens outside the 9-5 window. the way i see it, as a php hosting site, your job is to keep the servers up and running, 24x7x365, bug-free and up-to-date. php support is for software consultants (which isn't to say that you can't do both) folks who need hosting want realiable hosting. > > > What do you think a medium sized hosting company could do to give you (the > developer) better service and support? honesty, reliability, communication, response, bandwidth. > Is access to professional PHP developers useful when an issue arises? i doubt it, but imagine you could come up with a business model for providing php development support. probably long term stuff. maybe write and maintain an application for someone, or possibly training... i would think of hosting and consulting as separate symbiotic businesses. you'll get some referral business and a little cross-over, but don't expect most hosting customers to want support or for folks who've used you to consult on a project to host their app with you. > Are hosting companies reluctant to give you more access rights? if they say 'no', does their reason atleast seem reasonable? are they willing to think about it and get back to you? do they say 'yes' when they should be saying 'yes'? > Are they willing to re-compile their PHP build to add other options? as someone else has said, all options. php hosting should be php hosting. caveat--if there are some options that most folks would reasonably call 'optional' or 'dangerous', these shouldn't be expected. i am pretty new at programming and php, so i have no idea if things like this exist. i personally only compile in the options i use. > How long do requested changes to the server take? unreasonable delays are unacceptable. i mean, if you can get it done, do it. these are our customers. they are giving us money :) you (or your server dude(ette)) should be as excited as your customer is for the new features. you should be saying "whoa, i can't believe that's not in there. hold on... ... ... ok, try it now. it works? cool, have a good one. <click>" :) (obviously, don't do anything to your box you don't understand, and security, security, security, but you get the picture) > What other suggestions do you have for improving the relationship between > the server administrator and the PHP developer? do the right thing! i've been on both sides of this (positive and negative :) tell your customers everything you know. make it easy for them to obtain any and all reasonable information 24 hours a day. anticipate customer needs. constantly re-evaluate all of your policies and let your customers know them. your business should constantly evolve to your changing customer base. when a customer makes a request for something you haven't considered, your response should be "hmmm..., that's interesting. let us talk about that a little and get back to you". and then, slap yourself for not having anticipated the request, talk about it and get back to them. keep them informed. the successful enterprises i've been involved with cared about their customers, educated themselves about their endeavor and did the right thing. too many businesses make decisions for the wrong reasons--political infighting, process management, knee-jerk reaction, unmotivated employee, you name it. when a question arises, folks need to openly discuss it and come to concensus. too many folks can't admit they might not know something (or even that times have changed) and they keep doing the wrong thing. do the right thing! > I spent some time going through the PHP site looking at the list of hosts > supporting PHP, but I didn't find any real discussion about what people want > in a host (although I did find plenty of things they don't want :). think about what you want in support from your vendors. support is support. even monkeys can be trained. it takes someone who cares to provide good support. > I just figured that I would ask the PHP community exactly what they wanted. > Thank you for any insight that you can give me. well, not much of my knowledge is php related, but what the heck :) > > --derek -- mike cullerton