Thread

I am looking for best EE hosting solution for UK-based site (as my hosting is coming up for renewal).

I will tell you why that is a question to me at all: it’s to do with memory allocated to pHp (currently 20MB) whereas ExpressionEngine recommends 96MB for EE2 (as far as I understand).

Here is the background:
Being the amateur I am,  the whole installation is much bulkier, slower and inefficient than it needs to be. I am using Solspace Calendar which strictly speaking at the moment I do not need to, but might at some point want to expand into, using that functionality.  I have had occasional error messages to say that there wasn’t enough memory. But I haven’t had users of my site complain about it, and it has been very rare,  so I’m not sure it’s worth making a fuss about.
But on the other hand, I don’t know what the alternatives are and which other companies are offering more pHp memory as standard.  I spoke to streamline,  and their memory limit is fixed and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

I have looked at EngineHosting, but to be honest don’t understand all the language, terms and implications,  don’t know how much data transfer I need ( probably the minimum),  and don’t quite understand the prices (at the top it says Quarterly, but in the column $10/month).  The bottom line is that it is probably three times as much as I’m paying now ...

So the question is:  can anybody recommend a hosting company that allocates more PHP memory as standard?
How much attention should I be paying to whether that company is based in the UK or maybe in the US -  will that make a difference to the performance of my site considering that most of my users are UK-based?
Because the time to switch would be now ...

Looking forward to any advice and recommendations ...

Thanks

Michael

Not sure whether I am allowed to but I recommend tdrnetworks based in Northern Ireland.  I have been with them for several years on a shared host and now dedicated.

Keith looks after you very well, drop him an email, not sure how much it is these days for a shared hosting.

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Thanks, Scott, will check it out ...

I have looked at EngineHosting, but to be honest don’t understand all the language, terms and implications,  don’t know how much data transfer I need ( probably the minimum),  and don’t quite understand the prices (at the top it says Quarterly, but in the column $10/month).  The bottom line is that it is probably three times as much as I’m paying now ...

I’m based in Scotland and use EngineHosting. In terms of pricing, if you choose to pay Quarterly it’s $10 a month ($30 a quarter), if you pay 6 monthly you get 5% off that price and annually gets you a 10% discount.

If you have any queries about EngineHosting I would email the guys. I certainly sent them a few emails before signing up and always received quick and helpful responses.

Much like yourself a lot of the technical jargon goes over my head but I decided for the little extra it costs it was worth it for a platform built for EE and one that allows natural expansion of my ‘server’ as and when my site grows - if I ever get it live!! 😊

Euan

Thanks, Euan, very helpful, much appreciated.
Michael

I’ve used http://www.clook.co.uk for many years and they’ve been superb for EE hosting, reliable, and really fast support. Their servers run SuPHP so you don’t have to faff about with permissions on folders and files which makes installation that bit easier.

Indeed I ran into memory issue with Solspace calendar as well and the fix was to simply adjust the memory allocation for the site via a custom php.ini file.

Thanks, Rob, that sounds good - so do you know what the maximum memory allocation is that they allow on clock.co.uk?

The default is generally 32mb across all shared & reseller servers which is usually more than enough (on Virtual and Dedicated you can specify your own anyway), but in theory there is no specific maximum limit though I would say that if you regularly need lots of memory, say 128mb and above, then Virtual or Dedicated would be the way to go. Clooks support is very pro-active so if you have a special need for a *lot* of memory they can help you find the best solution.

I upped the site that was running Solspace calendar to 64mb and it ticks along quote nicely 😊

Hi Rob,

Not very familiar with SuPHP and above you mention that in theory there is no maximum limit on memory. I was just wondering what you meant by this?

Do you mean that you can pay clook more for more memory or you can use whatever you like?

Just wondering as it sounds like a great deal if the latter.

Thanks,

Mark

SuPHP sets a lot of permissions server side and is supposed to be more secure, eg for writable folders you can leave as 755 and avoid 777, not sure of the technicalities but that’s how it works 😊

With memory you can set a limit on a custom php.ini file over and above the default withing reason. You could set it to whatever you wanted (no extra charge!) but on a shared account you couldn’t take the micky by allocating 512mb else you’d be hogging the server. Setting to say 64mb/96mb is usually fine and enough for most needs anyway.

Hi Rob,

Many thanks for the information there. Definitely sounds interesting.

Best wishes,

Mark

SuPHP sets a lot of permissions server side and is supposed to be more secure, eg for writable folders you can leave as 755 and avoid 777, not sure of the technicalities but that’s how it works 😊

With memory you can set a limit on a custom php.ini file over and above the default withing reason. You could set it to whatever you wanted (no extra charge!) but on a shared account you couldn’t take the micky by allocating 512mb else you’d be hogging the server. Setting to say 64mb/96mb is usually fine and enough for most needs anyway.

There will always be a hard limit imposed by a server admins ... most custom PHP.ini configurations are design to allow you to turn on|off errors, certain functions etc ..

If anyone is interested I run a hosting company and can offer memory of 128MB as standard, run APC caching to help performance and for good security I run Suhosin PHP hardening aswell as DNSRBLs to prevent a large amount of script kiddies attacking the server for EE installations.

I would note that Suhosing PHP is not the same as SuPHP (Suhosin is a PHP module that removes certain source code issues with a baseline PHP install, whereas SuPHP is a way of executing PHP in a user environment as an non privileged user)

PM me for more information, a quotation or even a trial on the service.

Keith