Re: [Dfey-nw-discuss] CMS for website

[Robert Leverington]

On 2009-07-22, Tim Dobson wrote:
> Also why are we moving to a VPS for "more flexibility" when wordpress is  
> one of the least demanding pieces of software written in php out there?
>
> I mean, I'm not suggesting we should be using thinks for the sake of it  
> being difficult but it does raise some serious questions - what  
> "flexibility" are we currently lacking?
>

Before we rented a VPS DFEY did not have any hosting specific to it,
everything was running on members personal hosting (at least this is my
impression, correct me if I'm wrong).  Therefore the comparison of
flexibility is essentially between shared hosting and a VPS, since there
was no real "before and after" points.  Compared to a "regular" shared
hosting account VPS has the benefit of:
    - Multiple people being able to have the highest level of access to
      the "account", for example multiple sudoers can be defined.  This
      means that when members come and go from the group (which will
      inevitably happen in a group aimed at young people) the hosting
      will not dissapear with them or require any migration.
    - The ability to chose what applications DFEY wants to use and
      install applications not normally available.  I know that there
      was trouble with image rendering software where the DFEY-NW wiki
      is currently hosted, having a VPS means this can easily be
      resolved.
    - Being able to do more than just host the websites and e-mail.  For
      a decent shared host you are probably going to have to pay around
      £5/month anyway, and with a VPS there are additional utillities
      such as the shell accounts (which I know at least three people are
      currently using permanently to some degree).
    - Resolving most of our own issues is possible.  With a shared host
      there may have been significant waiting when problems arise and
      you are always at the mercy of changes by the provider, there is
      not the same level of integration with the provider on a VPS so it
      is not an issue so much at all.

Robert