Hi, I'm working on building myself a web site which will archive my art, curation and publishing activities over the past 10 years. I'm using youtube to host most of the videos and flickr for most of the images. I have been looking into different hosting options and was going to go with bluehost until I noticed that they have shut several people's sites down for using profanities. While I'm not one for swearing, I would like to maintain the option to use them if I want. I eventually thought I'd host with fasthosts as I already have another web site with them. They offer one 150mb data base with the home package. Is this enough to support an evolving web site that will contain images, linked videos, sound files, and of course text? Any help on this matter would be really appreciated. These forums have been an amazing help since I started trying to get my head round wordpress.
[resolved] is one 150mb database enough to support an evolving site? (14 posts)
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justustinin
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
adiant
Posted 2 weeks ago #I'll let others comment on the 150MB size restriction. It is the "one database" restriction that worries me.
In my experience, you really need to be able to run multiple WordPress installs. Yes, it is possible to use different prefixes for WordPress database tables and share a single database. But sharing a database between a test and production "system" really compromises the isolation that common sense says should be provided between test and production environments.
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The key question would be "can you upgrade" from 150mb to more space if needed. If so then a database of 150mb would be sufficient for an evolving site. Remember images, viedeos, and sound files are NOT kept in the database (note references to those are in the database) so make sure you have enough space for those.
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Posted 2 weeks ago #Hi Adiant,
Thanks for your response. I'm a little confused though. How come I would need multiple wordpress installations? I want to run one site. I'm not going to be using it for development purposes. I do all my development on my local MAMP set up. Is there another reason I'd need multiple set ups? -
Posted 2 weeks ago #Hi MichaelH,
Thanks for the quick reply. I can upgrade the 150mb if I need to. it's £30 ($48.90) per extra 300mb. However if I need multiple data basis and size upgrades it starts to push the price of hosting up considerably, and I'm sure there's cheaper options with hosts who are geared towards hosting wordpress, which my host isn't although they are happy to do it. Is there a way of calculating a guesstimate for the size of a database? -
Well I can point you to:
http://www.google.com/search?q=mysql+estimating+size+of+databaseBut you will want to have an idea of how many posts and pages you plan to write.
I'm not too sure if that's the best price for database space...might look for alternative hosts.
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Posted 2 weeks ago #I wasn't aware that you would be doing WordPress development on your local environment. But multiple databases can still help give you a "zero downtime" WordPress change by allowing you to very quickly switch from one WordPress install to another by simply renaming WordPress folders.
Admittedly, you would only need multiple databases if you were also changing databases as well as WordPress files/folder. Which implies either freezing changes to your site during prep of the new database. Or some way of syncing "after the fact", leaving you out of date for a period of time.
For me, freeze/sync is not an issue as all my WordPress sites are closed to input from others.
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Posted 2 weeks ago #Adiant, MichaelH Thanks both of you, that's been very helpful.
I think I'll stick with my current host and if the site grows too big I'll look at switching provider then. Their web sites load quickly and there customer support has been very helpful. I haven't experienced any problems with them since I've been using them.
Thanks also for the insight into how you can use multiple data basis. I Never thought of that before!
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bh_WP_fan
Posted 2 weeks ago #If corruption occurs in a database, then it can be difficult to try to pull data from it. Having everything in one database may not be good because of this as well as because the more you put into one database, the larger it gets and many hosts have database restrictions, or a malformed query can take a long time to complete if it ends up trying to search the entire database.
If you do look into another host again in the future, consider giving BlueHost a call and speak with their Abuse department beforehand to see if the level of profanity on your site might get it shut down. While they may shut a site down for specifically profaning certain people to an extent that it causes multiple complaints, I doubt they'd shut it down just for having swearing on it. That is one thing they may be able to clear up for you.
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Posted 2 weeks ago #Which brings up another point: there is value to having a host that has been fully tested with WordPress, and fully supports running WordPress on their web servers.
The only war stories I can personally recount are not from commercial web hosting companies, but in-house web servers, at some Canadian provincial government sites, according to a recent poster I worked with on this forum. WordPress kept crashing because of Apache configuration errors that never bothered their other, HTML-only, sites.
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Posted 2 weeks ago #Interesting. I might to have a little think about hosting then. My provider is fasthosts:
http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/
and they said they have a number of other customers running wordpress sites on their servers. They said they don't offer any particular support for it in the way bluehosts does, but that it's possible to install and run it.
Also, I've read a lot of bad things about bluehosts on the web that puts me off using them. Also, their own home page seems to load slightly slow, compared to fasthosts, which to me isn't a good sign. -
Posted 2 weeks ago #There are many web host companies that provide great support, reliable service and understand WordPress. I've never used BlueHost, so cannot comment one way or the other.
Personally (i.e. - I'm not part of the WordPress Project Team), I like where I am now: Arvixe.com.
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Posted 2 weeks ago #Personally I use and love BlueHost and they have been wonderful for me for years. Other people on the forums also often recommend ASmallOrange.com. It is a small company, so you are less likely to find bad reviews about it. Any large hosting company is bound to have bad reviews from different places, but there are also lots of good reviews. Most of the complaints I have seen come from those with very bulky websites with errors and problems which needed to be properly taken care of. A site load test on BlueHost, ASmallOrange, and FastHosts, shows BlueHost with the best results, followed by ASmallOrange, and then FastHosts.
You can use tools like these to help you in your search for the right host for you:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
http://www.just-ping.com/index.phpHope that helps, good luck!
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Posted 2 weeks ago #Thanks bh_WP_fan,
I actually went with bluehost in the end. I took your advice and got in touch with bluehost via there live web chat. I pointed them in the direction of some of my work, which I was worried might cause offense. They said that they thought it was fine as it wasn't pornographic. They also showed me there terms of conditions, which after reading, I was happy that I wouldn't be violating them. The tools you pointed out above are very useful. I just bookmarked them for future reference. If I have any future problems I may well try asmallorange.comThanks again to everyone who responded to my questions. These forums and the people who contribute to them are such a valuable resource.
With deepest appreciation,
Justin
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