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Twitter has always been a big question mark in my head. I must admit, I do use it more and more as businesses use it to send alerts, super sales, and general status updates. And I suppose I wouldn’t of been able to deal with all of this information if it wasn’t for Tweetdeck. What a good way to organize all the noise. Personally I have setup a Loud group, for all those tweeters like Elijah Manor (@ElijahManor) and Jeff Atwood (@CodingHorror). Then there is the main group, for most of the other stuff except for the ones in the last group, alerts. Alerts are for my ISP and other providers who post system and service update via twitter. I actually really like this functionality aspect of twitter, as I am watching one feed to get all my information. In the past (and I guess I still do) I would have to subscribe to many, many rss or atom feeds.
Twitter in one respect is becoming a bunch of bots following each others tweets. There are so many apps out there which auto-follow based on keywords or when someone follows them, that you get these clusters of drones passing data to each other. We should be careful you never know if this may become some AI cognitive network!
For months and months now I have asked myself, “Self, what language next, Ruby, Python, something else?” and has driven me crazy. Someday I will ask myself why I spent so much time thinking about it instead of just digging in to something. Well the real truth to that is time. Sure I have spent time on the Ruby site going through browser-enabled 15 minute intro and some general reading. It never really sticks until you throw together a couple of apps.
Over the last eight months I have been on a big web front end kick, getting myself up to speed on web display stuff like CSS, JavaScript, and jquery. It’s been a lot of fun, but I really am not a good page designer, so besides reproducting current layouts there wasn’t a real lot for me to do.
And there is always ASP.NET MVC which I have been following and learning off and on since August of 2008. Having the web skills when putting together some learning MVC sites was really useful. Don’t worry, I wont go on another, “I love MVC…”, rant.
Saturday morning I was in our local library with my two sons picking out movies reading some books, messing around and found myself at the card catalog computer screen. Hey do you remember actual card catalogs, the rows and rows of drawers which contained cards of all the books in the library. Here is one area computers help one-billion percent. Anyway, I did my usual search for ASP.NET, came up with the same books as usual. A 2008 book I had already checked out (and didn’t like too much) during my web learning, and some older stuff. Oh hum I thought….
Than I had an idea and started typing
ruby programming
A match, wow a match and a recent book too. I was was feeling a bit excited. Okay, let’s try another
python programming
Ah, nothing on that one. Well that settles it—right, wrong or indifferent, I will start with Ruby. Well, I have always been leaning this way anyhow. The exposure I have had, I have liked, now to come up with an app to put together. Then of course if I get my arms around the language I will have to move on to Rails, and Iron Ruby (Uses .NET’s DLR).
Take control of your social network, don’t let your social network take control of you!
After searching and searching for a new web host who can provide me with Windows 2008 server and decent number of MS SQL databases without breaking the bank (>$20 / mo.), I finally found one to sign up with and try out. That company is Planet Small Business hosting, wish me luck!
5/1/2009@1600:
First thing to run into, is that it seems account setup is a manual (human-driven) process. I couldn’t pay and keep going with the setup. Just for the record, I finished my payment by 1600 on Friday, May 1, 2009.
5/1/2009@1620:
OK, Site was available in about 20 minutes, that is acceptable. Well as long as it’s automated and I can set up stuff at 2am.
5/1/2009@1645:
45 minutes into this setup, and no email from them about the site. I do have access to it though. What are their DNS addresses, I can’t find them anywhere.
5/1/2009@1808:
I sent a ticket into tech support asking about DNS server address and email, and they replied in 10 minutes. I sent this at 1805 and received it at 0614, that’s good response(!). Once DNS propagates, I should be good to go. With n0t getting the email, I wonder if Yahoo! has blacklisted them; it happens.
Well not in this case, the emails where in my junk folder, not sure how I missed them the first time. Oh well, one of these days I will learn how to use an email client.
5/1/2009@2030
The host uses a new version of Plesk. Pretty easy finding things, speed is tolerable. Now it’s just taking the time to configure the server and how they run things. So far it’s looking OK.
5/1/09@2130
Hey cool! I have been a little bummed over the fact that PlanetSMB only allows one domain (unlimited aliases). I was wondering how I was going to host all of my domains. I wasn’t really interested in purchasing separate packages, as it would be a pain flipping between them. Well I discovered it just now, their reseller plans support multiple domains, and at a fair price, and still with UNLIMITED MS SQL databases. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
But before I get too excited here, I need to get my applications loaded up on the site and see how the run.
5/4/09@2259
I have loaded up two of my ASP.NET MVC applications and they are both running perfectly. One of the two uses SQL2008, and that is working great to. I must say I like Plesk 9.2 a whole lot better than HELM 3.16, which is getting quite dated. All the stuff available to me for $5 a month is just great. If you are a .NET developer and need a place to throw your stuff, this is it. The systems are ready to rock ‘n roll.
OK here is a big wtf they are pulling. The mid level developer package I am using only allow 1 mailbox. Yeah you read that correctly, one mailbox. You can alias other email addresses to it, but still only one box. Very, strange. Even their reseller packages are pretty restricted on mailboxes.
There is no doubt, if service levels remain the same, I will move all my domains over to planetsmb.com using a reseller package for multiple domain support.
5/26/2009: It’s been a few weeks I have been using PlanetSMB and everything is fine. I setup a DotNetNuke portal pretty painlessly and haven’t had any issues with my .NET 3.5 sites. I like the fact that I can setup a new database for whatever and not have to worry about running out of allotted databases. Makes life much easier when your host doesn’t get in your way.
Come this August I will be moving all my domains from iHostasp.net to PlanetSMB, as my iHostasp.net account lapses in September. I am planning for a happy future with my new host.
Chomping at the bit to get ASP.NET MVC up and running on my regular hosting environment, iHostasp.net, I sent their support a ticket today asking if they plan IIS7 installations in their shared hosting environment.
| Brett Slaski |  |
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Posted On: 29 Apr 2009 10:50 AM |
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Greetings, I just wanted to check to see if there is an ETA on any IIS7 installations for shared hosting? Thank you, Brett |
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Their response, unfortunately:
| Clint Schleeper |  |
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Posted On: 29 Apr 2009 02:06 PM |
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Hi Brett, At this time we have no plans for incorporating IIS7 into our shared hosting environment. IHOST, LLC |
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So now I have work to do, find a host with a like offering as iHostasp.net running IIS7, is there such an animal? I have tried in the past and haven’t come up with anything so any suggestions is highly appreciated.
I find it ironic that I needed to send iHostasp the support ticket today, from work, out of the blue. When I got home today, my copy of Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0
Please post comments if you know of a good hosting company providing shared hosting of IIS7.
Thank you.
My current plan, which runs around $16/mo, $88.83 every 6 months. I have to say the two things I like the best is dedicated memory pool for each domain and 3 MS SQL databases. Three databases was the major reason I went with them in the first place.
- Dedicated application pool for each domain!
- Customer accessible database backups!
- Storage – 2400MB
- Bandwidth – 20GB
- DNN Installations – 3
- Parent portals – 60
- Child portals – Unlimited
- MSSQL 2005- 3 x 250MB each
- MySQL 4/5 – 6 x 250MB each
- Mail – Unlimited POP3/SMTP/IMAP/WEB MAIL Accounts. Accounts. MailFoundry spam & virus filtering included.
- FTP – Unlimited FTP accounts with ability to set user permissions.
- Sub domains – Create & manage your own 3rd level domains.
- Statistics – Detailed real-time statistics to track your visitors.
- ASP.NET 1.1/2.0/3.0/3.5, ASP 3.0, PHP5 supported
- Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX extensions
- Can run wide array of other ASP, PHP, .NET based web applications without any limits
This is a bit silly, but I couldn’t resist. I replied to their support email and simply said
Please?!
And their reply:
Hi Brett,
We do not have IIS7 available within our shared hosting environment and do not have any plans to incorporate it in the near future. However, we do offer virtual dedicated server hosting environments and we could set you up with IIS7 on a virtual dedicated server. Our virtual dedicated server packages can be viewed at the link below.
iHost Virtual Dedicated Server Hosting Packages:
http://www.ihostasp.net/HostedAppliance/Default.aspIHOST, LLC
Customer Support
https://support.ihostllc.net
support@ihostllc.net
Local/International: 1.440.793.0323 x2
Toll-free: 1.800.593.0238 x2UPDATE: (4/17/2010)
It was really interesting to me that the owner of iHostasp.net left a message on this blog post about their service and how it was incorrect for their technician to say what they did. But the truth holds; it is now April 17th of 2010 and still they have no known installations of II7 in their shared hosting environment. What if I would of took him for his word and stayed with iHost? I would be stuck and still without the environment I need.
Trying to make good of your company is one thing, making up stories is something completely different.
Just the other day I decided to sign up with dreamhost for SVN and web hosting. This hosting service is setup really well. They have one very reasonably priced plan, and charge for extras from there. Not that I need any. They are running an unlimmited storage and bandwidth special right now. Normally 50G (not sure on bw); 5 MySql databases, unlimited email and shell/ftp users,unlimited mail, imap access, webmail client, etc., etc. Truly full service hosting. You can setup a virtual private server for on $15 per month extra!
Programming support for PHP5, Perl, Python, Full Unix Shell (one of my favorite parts), Crontab access, Full CGI access, Ruby On Rails, SSI, CVS and SVN reopos, and they have mod_dav_svn installed!
Running on Debian Linux, friends have told me that they have had very little down time with the service.
You cannot go wrong with all they provide for the price they charge ($9/month?), easily the best Linux based hosting I have come across. Only time will truly tell me how reliable the service is. The word on the street is good!
Oh yeah, and they are a green hosting center 
A new installation of VS2008 Team Edition said it was missing a dll. Other methods I found to add the dll failed as the whole directory under c:\windows\WinSxS where the dll should be, was missing. Perhaps I forgot something during the install; I went to Add/Remove programs and clicked the VS2008 installation. After the installer, did this and that a dialog box poped up reading:
A problem has been encountered while loading the setup components
After clicking OK on the dialog the installer just closed. This isn’t good, I thought to myself.
I found this post through google which fixed my issue
There is a critical hotfix (kb952241) which is creating this issue with Visual Studio 2008. Removing this hotfix and rebooting my computer allowed me to successfully run the installer again.
For reference I have included the entry in Windows update for this hotfix.
| Visual Studio 2008 | Security Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (KB952241) |  |
Saturday, November 01, 2008 | Microsoft Update |
Not sure if I will be prompted again to load the hot fix (I am sure I will) or how sever the security hole is that this is suppose to fix.
As always, I hope this helps one other out there. If you have any further information about this issue, please put in the comments and I may add it to the post.
Update: Now of course Windows Update wants to load the hotfix every day I boot up. I an not sure if I want to load it again for obvious reasons.
4/1/2010: I am loading my new Windows 7 computer and much after loading VS2008 and SP1, I realized I failed to load unit test support (Doh!). When I went to load the feature in VS2008, I received a similar error as before. The difference this time, the hot fix isn’t on my system, its now incorporated into SP1.
To fix this issue and let me select new features in vs2008:
- I had to remove VS 2008 SP1
- Update the features using VS 2008 installer
- Reload SP1.
A pain in the ass, but it does work.
To remove VS2008 SP1, go to Programs and Feature (or Add/Remove Programs) and click View installed updates. You will find it listed in here, and uninstall it from here.
Instead of creating a bunch of short articles, I am going to consolidate my experiences here.
Please note that this experiment is being conducted on GoDaddy’s economy plan which came free with a domain purchase. I assume its functional, just with the annoyance of ads. Thinking about this now this experiment may not have much weight, since I don’t know if these ‘free’ trials are throttled, etc.
- Making a connection to FTP took some time to complete
File upload speeds where decent, but switching from file to file was very slow. Updating a dozen files all of 80KB in size takes no less than 30 seconds, I would hate to see how long Mediawiki would take to upload. I am using FileZilla as an FTP client.
Sorry to keep adding to this bullet, but the more I use the FTP, the more the delays annoy me. Just grabbing a file to edit it, is so much slower than my current host. - Wow, this is annoying: There are ads on Yellow Error screens!
Those sly bastards, the free one month hosting which comes with a domain uses ads. That is just lame. I understand it, but it’s lame. - The file manager is nice. It allows you to upload files and zip and unzip files on the server, and edit files. Of course other basic file manager stuff too.
Screen loads of the file manager have a tendency to be slow. - Woot, PHP now on a Windows host. It’s about time!
- While in their web manager, clicked on the help/blog link and the generic GoDaddy welcome page showed. Nice.
- Having issues with file-level security. A new app I am writing works with .NET’s System.IO classes, and most of the calls fail under this hosting plan. If the app is running at a virtual web of http://mydomain.com/myapp, I cannot change directories in the app to the root, it’s not allowed. I am unable to any System.IO.FileInfo methods on the files at all. The ones I have tried are throwing a SecurityException.
In a nutshell things aren’t going great. It’ s just cumbersome to use their hosting. Perhaps I prefer more control over my settings, I don’t know. The slow FTP is a huge factor. 30 seconds to upload 12 files with a total size of 80k, is just silly. Sure it’s only 30 seconds, but there is no room for scaling.
Final word: I’ll stick with iHostasp.net. They may not offer as many items, but their service is much more solid. Overall they ihostasp.net wins. Just started hosting for my programming stuff with Dreamhost.com, for linux hosting, I haven’t found anything better.
For those of you pointing to CrystalTech, yes, I think they are a really good host, a bit expensive for me, for my use. I have used them in business and they have rock solid hosting and excellent support. Only one database and having to use code to map to other domains, isn’t great for multiple projects.
In all fairness to GoDaddy’s upload issue, I didn’t realize the website I was using to check out their capabilities was a free website with my domain, not a one month subscription for a website. So it makes sence that they would throttle the hell out of it. It would be useful if the would indicate something along those lines.
Google has put up a new favicon, looks good. Ah the little things…
Forgot about this annoyance with GoDaddy; any time you change anything on your virtual host you have to wait for it to be processed.
I just added a sub-domain and fifteen minutes later it’s still in a ‘pending’ status. I wonder how long the new virtual web directory will take to complete?
