Thread

Hi ,I am looking to use expression engine for my site , but my hosting provider has advised me not to because of their fairly recent experince of using the software.

They said that they had the following problems

1.The PHP code was not using MysqlI on PHP 5 and the modules where doing very inefficant calls to the db and not caching queries that should of been

2.It was not using MySQLi ...only the old MySQL connection methods

3.The mail system at that time did not support SSL connections

Please could you tell me if this is still the case ?

Hi Bleak,

1.The PHP code was not using MysqlI on PHP 5 and the modules where doing very inefficant calls to the db and not caching queries that should of been

ExpressionEngine absolutely has the ability to cache database queries.  Due the to dynamic nature of the system, not everything can be cached, but ExpressionEngine is very efficient in this area, and cached queries can be served very quickly.  I’m not sure what specific queries they felt weren’t cached, but we’d be happy to comment on these if you had more details.

2.It was not using MySQLi ...only the old MySQL connection methods

This is true.  MySQLi is only available for MySQL versions 4.1 and up, but ExpressionEngine can run on MySQL versions as low as 3.23.32, so for compatibility reasons, we use these.  Also the MySQL connection functionalities are much more widely supported then MySQLi.  While we are looking at expanding our database capabilities, currently EE requires MySQL extensions.

3.The mail system at that time did not support SSL connections

I’m not sure what they are pointing out here.  ExpressionEngine supports sending mail via the native mail() functions, via sendmail, or via SMTP.  If you could tell me how your host would want you to use email, I could tell you if EE supports it, but my hunch is that if they allow PHP scripts to trigger email, then ExpressionEngine could almost certainly handle it.

One other thing is that it sounds like this host has implemented these restrictions for the sake of security, performance, or both.  I want you to know that ExpressionEngine takes both of these aspects of design very, very seriously.  I invite you (and your host) to audit our security record (a single, mostly theoretical hole in the entire life of our product) vs say, WordPress, or Drupal.

Performance wise, we cache generously, but more importantly, allow for for designer and programmer control, so that they can implement choices that best suit them.

If we can answer anything further, don’t hesitate to write back.  Also, I’m moving this into the presales forum to ensure that all the right eyeballs are on it 😉

Derek

I am looking to use expression engine for my site , but my hosting provider has advised me not to because ....

... their inadequate setup is not suited for dynamic solutions like EE? Only reason I can think of, really.

1.The PHP code was not using MysqlI on PHP 5 and the modules where doing very inefficant calls to the db and not caching queries that should of been

Well, EE does not require PHP5, that is correct, it will happily run on PHP4. And that is a good thing, given the (very low) propagation rate of PHP 5. EE supports cacheing on all levels, too.

Mysqli is simply not an option at this point for compatibility reasons.

3.The mail system at that time did not support SSL connections
Please could you tell me if this is still the case ?

SSL connections? EE is not a mailserver. It will happily talk to and use one, but it is not a POP/IMAP server where that would make some sense.

So, technically what your host says is not wrong, but no criteria for selecting a CMS. It’s like saying you should’t use EE because you don’t like the color. (Mauve has the most RAM, you know?)

>SSL connections? EE is not a mailserver. It will happily talk to and use one, but it is not a POP/IMAP server where that would make some sense.

I just came across this thread and I had the exact same question about SMTP/SSL support in EE that the OP did.  I think you misunderstood the OP’s requirement.  Say your mail server and EE run on differnet servers (possible in different data centers) and you can only send mail via SMTP (rules out mail() and sendmail). You want to use SSL to protect your SMTP login credentials.

Are there plans to add SMTP/SSL support?

We don’t have a roadmap available, as we’ve found it hasn’t served us very well (discussion).  I’d strongly encourage you to make a feature request if you require this.