Lab rats required to test new free hosting service
Lee
OG
As some of you may know I sold my hosting business in September last year, part of the sale conditions was that I cannot offer any paid hosting services for 2 years. So, to keep my hand in I decided to set up a free hosting service.
After a few weeks of playing around with things and a very last minute decision (yesterday) to use Blesta, I have decided to do a bit of a 'soft launch' to get things started.
As always I have too many ideas and trying to do too many things that if I wait until they are done, it will be 2021 before I actually offer anything. So I wanted to get something out there for review.
You can find the new site at - HostingCubes.net
Due to the last-minute decision to use Blesta I have added only two services for now so that I can get some feedback on whether everything is working as it should.
As a side note, I have removed most of the client signup fields in Blesta, all that is required is a name, country, and email address. Saves you thinking up fake info.
There are a single domain and multi-domain account on offer. Using @Francisco at BuyVM in both LU and LV for these. The main site and Blesta are hosted at DigitalOcean in the UK, the mail for both is all being handled by @jarland at mxroute.com.
As much as I have tested things, there is bound to be something I have missed, so really appreciate people signing up and kicking the tires before I announce any further services.
A few things in progress:
- New, way better site design and proper Blesta Integration coming.
- Other locations being added for shared hosting.
- Reseller services coming soon and will be offered to a limited group, i.e. LES members.
- Other services also coming along which I will update on later, you will think I am crazy!
There are others but I need to calm down and stop!
Feel free to embarrass me here when you find any issues.
Comments
hmmm ... it is the year of the Rat, after all
HS4LIFE (+ (* 3 4) (* 5 6))
Indeed ?
I liked the special “idontcare” email account.
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I did an earlier roll out using services in the Netherlands, mostly through restricted channels to gauge interest, but one person seriously did ask, "what is the SLA and is there any comp for downtime".
Great !
I like the idea but it's hard to continue without profit .
However, try your best
MetalVPS
Thanks, profit is not something I need to be worried about for this and it is all very well automated so it will not be that time-consuming.
Once I was asked about SLA for free hosting. That was the day, I completely stopped offering helpdesk support for free hosting clientele........
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I have had a few requests already about location, I have decided to press ahead with the intended Germany location which I was holding off until next week, same plans available, services courtest of @MikePT and all paid up for the next year.
Germany is available as a location now.
This is great. I'd think typically after a "2 years no sell services" deal most people would be sitting back smoking the big ones but you're back to work thinking outside the box. Best wishes.
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
I have a problem according to my wife who says I can't sit still and do nothing for more than 5 mins at a time.
Most of those non-compete agreements are not legally binding; I mean you do have to eat.. but then again we're talking about a country which makes you license porn now, so..
@Lee I have no use for this but I'd be happy to throw one of my throwaway domains at it if you need some testing.
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
Glad to be somehow part or your project.
Best luck!
The more testers the better
Luxembourg - Single Domain
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
If he's willing to host people who try to DDoS the president, I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to take the T1 CC uses to host everything on.
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
First issue - went to PHP 7.4, tried to enable:
nd_mysqli
nd_pdo_mysql
It just comes back with an empty checkbox and no further info.
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
I'm on the same node, same issue confirmed.
Get the error popup in orange "skipped as conflicting".
Maybe it's just me but on the CloudLinux panel you cant have both mysqli and nd_mysqli selected at the same time, one or the other. Same with pdo_mysql and nd_pdo_mysql. I remember this happening to me a while back on something else.
If I set mysqlnd off, then I can activate nd_mysqli, and then it turns mysqlnd back on. Just.. never seen that before.
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
I know it's odd, does not act that way consistently on different servers.
@teamacc @FAT32 Who wants to write some blog posts for colocropping? Got WP setup and you're more than welcome to post whatever isn't sueable.
My pronouns are like/subscribe.
Going to add this to LEBRE sidebar for another reliable free option.
No time to test due to trying to figure out some computational social science research shit with craploads of data that makes the threadripper 3990x look so tempting to buy.
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Now thats not a problem but a feature. Keep it up!
And thanks to everyone who has signed up so far, more popular than I thought it would be. And fewer issues than I was anticipating.
Although it has made me consider whether the last location I was planning for shared services is going to be the right choice. Everyone seems to prefer EU over US but maybe that is just because of the US location, LV is not getting much love at all.
LV location definitely gets love!
https://hc.srvr.ovh
Works just fine! Even though not from OVH. :-)
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
No love for Asian users
?
MetalVPS
@Lee you are very talented & if it is going to be even half of what you claim then it'll be unfair to providers for whom the business of shared hosting is bread & butter
While I like the idea of free hosting by someone as knowledgeable about hosting as you & there would hardly be any people who hate the massive gutter of Buffalo more than me still I would request to do it in a way that it doesn't hurt providers out there trying to earn honest money from this business.
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@vpsgeek
I will be completely honest as I appreciate your comments, some have expressed the same in private. I set an annual budget for this project and put the 1st year in an account with Revolut (OCD organization). Then I halved it as I took on board comments in private.
I am not trying to compete with anyone or lose anyone an opportunity to make money. Some things will still go ahead, a couple of other shared locations in place of other plans as they are probably too close to having an effect on some providers so they will be canned to prevent that.
As I have said, its a personal project, one of several I am involved in. There is no intention to step on toes.
As a paid provider with similar services I also see this as an opportunity for providers like me to grow and learn from your successes in this project. As @vpsgeek said you are somebody respected with great knowledge in the industry. I've got no beef.
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail