Hi, I am new to ActiveSocial, and DNN.  After much research I have decided to go with Active Social for a new site I am setting up.  I am now looking for the best place to host the site - I need a host pre-configured for DNN and able to offer support, as have no previous experience.  Therefore I have a few questions - 

1.  At this stage I will be looking at shared hosing, but would like an easy upgrade path for when the site grows.  I am reading good things about the following on various DNN forums, but wondered if anyone has any good/bad reports on using them with ActiveSocial and Active Forums -
       -   DNN4Less
      -  3Essentials
      -  PowerDNN
      -  DNN-portals.co.uk  (haven't read any reviews about them but they are UK based)

2.  Sorry if this is a rather basic question but....  I am based in the UK, my readership will be global, but I anticipate the majority will be from the USA.  Is there any advantage to me finding a hosting company in the UK rather than USA?

3.  My site will be fairly image heavy - one of the reasons for chosing ActiveSocial is the auto-resize image function.  The images will be inserted in blog posts, groups, and possibly discussion forums.  As some hosts put limitations on general file storage and database size I need to know if uploaded images are stored in the database?  Or will they be classed as general file storage?

4.  Are there any other factors I should be taking into consideration - e.g. memory, no. of portals?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks Gill

Can anyone help with this please - I really need to make some fast decisions, and am floundering a bit here...

Gill,

Choosing the right hosting provider is definitely important...I'm currently using PowerDNN in a shared hosting environment and do not have any problems with AS/AF...I also do not have lot of traffic...I've used PowerDNN, WebHosting4Life (don't recommend them), GoDaddy (just for test sites), and PortalWebHosting (Pretty good). I like PowerDNN the best so far...they are very helpful and knowledgeable. I've read of a few folks on the forums here who have dedicated servers through PowerDNN...a few searches through the forums will likely turn up a lot of recommendations and opinions. You can also check out DNNCreative's forums for similar discussions. Oh...my experience with DNN is only 5 years old...

I too have been around the block with providers over the years. I landed with PowerDNN and unless something changes, I have no plans on ever leaving. They have really good services and support. I have nothing bad to say about them after several years of being a customer.

I'm pretty sure PowerDNN has a UK location now.


They are stored on the file system.


This is difficult to evaluate. As you add more portals your memory usage will increase. Your biggest factor will be the number of concurrent users. I've seen as many as 100 in a shared hosting environment. Anything more and you will probably need to consider a dedicated or virtual private server. FYI, I'm referring to just a standard DNN install. Active Social will add a little more overhead, but not much.

I currently use PowerDNN, Webhost4life, and GoDaddy for shared hosting of DNN and non-DNN sites. PowerDNN has been the best host for DNN sites by far in terms of uptime and support. I run multiple monitors on all of my websites and Webhost4life has a lot of sporadic, though usually short, downtime. Their support is usually responsive though. The only issue with PowerDNN is their pricing structure. Unless you are running insecure child/parent portals in single DNN installs, your cost runs up very quickly. In some business models, that is not an issue, in others it is.

I also have dedicated servers with GoDaddy, SuperbHosting, and MaximumASP. SuperbHosting gave me a phenomenal deal on a lease to own. I don't know how their support is really because in 10 months I've only had one issue and that was a question.

Hi Gill,
Sorry about the delay in responding. I didn't see the post about us (PowerDNN) until today. My answers to your questions are below:

1) We have quite a few customers using products from ActiveModules (including quite a few _VERY_ large deployments [100+GB])

2) While people don't typically think about it, electricity takes time to travel. You want your website on servers that are as close to your customers as possible. If you're expecting most of your viewership to come from the US, put your website in the US - just keep in mind it might seem a tad bit slow when you access it. We do have the ability to do a geographically load balanced PowerGrid cloud so you can have ultra fast access speeds regardless of where you or your customers are based, however, that is most likely out of your budget judging by the other hosting providers you listed.

3) That depends on your hosting provider. We give our customers space for their website, space for their email, and space for their database.

4) Those are all factors that become more important as you grow. With our hosting plans, we are very generous in terms of memory and we don't limit the number of portals that you can run. If you're planning on running a small site, a shared hosting plan is most likely perfect for you.

Thanks for considering us and I hope you'll host with PowerDNN!

(In the interest of full disclosure, I work for PowerDNN)