Abby and Win’s Blog

Posts Tagged ‘godaddy’

Jeff called me up asking for help with his dedicated server on Godaddy. He needed to update his PHP 5.1.6 to the latest stable version. His server is running Centos 5.2 (Final). He tried to call Godaddy for assistance and of course they were no help. I’m no expert myself but have played around with different systems. I found out that you can use the yum command to manage the installed packages. The problem is that the current repositories yum looks at does not contain new versions of PHP. This is why you get an error that says something like – cannot find PHP. What you need to do is add a repository that does have a newer version of PHP. We’re going to add Jason Litka‘s repository.

• Log in to the Simple Control Panel
• Log in using SSH
• Type “su – ” to log in with root privileges
• Type “nano -w /etc/yum.repos.d/utterramblings.repo”. If you’re not comfortable with nano, use whatever editor you’re more comfortable with.
• In the utterramblings.repo file type the following
  

  [utterramblings]
  name=Jason’s Utter Ramblings Repo
  baseurl=http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/EL$releasever/$basearch/
  enabled=1
  gpgcheck=1
  gpgkey=http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/RPM-GPG-KEY-jlitka

• Save the file and close it
• Now you can use “yum update php” and it should update it to the latest that the repositories have
• Restart Apache

This tutorial is based on the one found at http://www.jasonlitka.com/yum-repository/. It took awhile for me to find the solution. I hope this helps out people who had the same problem as I did.

Last year I pre-paid a hosting account from Godaddy and had my sites hosted there. The price for a shared hosting account is great. It’s been okay at first but then my needs grew and my sites started to lag a little. I thought it was my WordPress at first so I started disabling themes and plugins. That didn’t fix it. Then I went through the database to see if I can optimize it further, no go. I guess it’s a common thing to happen when you have a shared server that your sites may lag a little. There were times I get a timeout error though and that isn’t really normal.

Aside from the lag, I didn’t like how to access MySQL’s interface (phpMyAdmin). Every link I click on opens a new window/tab until I have like 3 different ones opened. There is also the possibility that your databases are in different servers. Also, creating a database can take up to hours before it is complete.

GoDaddy’s Hosting Connection is just horrible. Many of the add-ons are free but some aren’t. The selections aren’t that appealing nor many. After seeing that, I started to miss cPanel.

Finally, my year was up and I started to look for another host. After doing some research, I chose Hostmonster. The price is slightly higher than GoDaddy but I get unlimited storage and bandwidth. I also get my cPanel (hooray!) – amongst other goodies.

I’ve had them for almost 2 weeks now. There have been some problems. Last week my sites were inaccessible a couple of times on Monday but it was due to system updates. Kind of odd that they were running it during work hours. I’m used to seeing those done usually late at night or in the weekend. Now today same thing. This time they told me that someone else on the server was taking up most of the computer’s resources. It’s been a weird experience so far but for the most part my sites are loading up normal (faster than GoDaddy). I hope they can provide a more reliable service, consistently. I will see in the next week or two. If not, I’ll be switching to another company. What’s great with Hostmonster is you pay in advance, but if you leave early, they will prorate what you have already used and refund the rest.

I don’t think I’ll be using GoDaddy as a host again but I will continue to buy domains from them until some other company starts to charge less than they do. GoDaddy provides good packages for hosting needs. But as a developer, my needs can’t be met unless I get a more expensive package from them.

I recently found out how to install PEAR on a Godaddy shared hosting account.

1. Visit http://pear.php.net/go-pear. Save the text displayed onto your desktop and name it go-pear.php. Upload this to your server. If you’re hosting multiple domains on the account, it’s best that you should upload this file in your root folder. Run this file on your browser and follow the on-screen instructions.
2. After completing the installation, it is time to edit your php.ini file. If you are running PHP4, there should be a file in the root directory called php.ini. If you are running PHP5, there should be a file in the root directory called php5.ini. If not, create one and add the following: include_path = “.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php:/home/content/s/a/m/sample/html/PEAR”. Keep in mind that /s/a/m/sample is just an example. Doing this will ensure that every page, you create, will look in the PEAR directory so that you it will use the installed packages.
3. This installation will include Pear_Frontend_Web which is the web-based admin interface. It may have created an index.php file in the directory where PEAR is installed (root). If not you can get a copy from PEAR/docs/PEAR_Frontend_Web/docs/index.php.txt. I would suggest creating a folder called pear_admin in the root directory and storing this file there. If you didn’t install PEAR in the root directory, you may need to edit this file accordingly.
4. You will need to create a .htaccess and .htpasswd file in the same directory as the index.php file. An example of how the .htaccess file should look as follows:
   AuthUserFile /home/content/s/a/m/sample/html/pear_admin/.htpasswd
   AuthType Basic
   AuthName “Web-based PEAR Frontend”
   Require valid-user
   

   An example of how the .htpasswd file should look as follows:

   
   admin:cGyUX9QugYMgE
   

   This will create “admin” as the user name and “password” as the password. You can generate your own by going to this link – http://www.htaccesstools.com/htpasswd-generator/

   Be aware that files beginning with a dot are invisible. You may have to edit your settings on the FTP app you’re using so that you can see them.

Once the files are created and saved, you can now go to http://your-domain.com/pear_admin/index.php. It will ask for the user name and password. Once you are logged in, you can now manage Pear via web browser. That’s it! Now you can run PEAR on a shared account from Godaddy. One less complaint

I’ve been using Godaddy as my host for a couple of months now and for the price, they’re not that bad. For $3.95/month, you can host numerous domains on 1 account. But there are a couple of things I wish it had:

• Â iMAP support for email
• a better online file manager (they have been working on this feature for almost a year now and still nothing)
• allow remote access to the database
• SSH access
• PHPÂ Pear
• better support

Then I found Hostmonster. For $4.95/month (first 2 years pre-paid, then $5.95/month for the next 2 years pre-paid), I get what I’ve listed above, plus more.

• bigger storage space
• more monthly bandwidth
• RoRÂ (Ruby on Rails)
• WebDav
• each add-on domain can have their own separate FTP, login, etc. accounts
• cPanel

And that’s just what I’ve noticed so far. I just created an account today and I’ve already set my DNS on my sites to point to the new server. There might be some down time, so bear with me please. I will keep the Godaddy account active until I’m sure the new hosts lives up to my expectations. If not, I can simply change my DNS settings back to Godaddy and get a refund.Â