[OSGeo Africa] Web Hosting

Wed May 11 07:51:57 EDT 2011

Hi Sarel/Tim,

We (GIS Solutions) also offer hosting services using MapServer and use linux for exactly the reasons that Tim has so clearly outlined. We find that the clients don't mind, or even understand, about linux. I do MapServer development on a Windows machine (my colleagues here in the office are welded to Windows) but I do the design so that porting to linux is fairly seamless. As Tim mentions, it is usually only a few paths that need to be changed.

Our server is a cloud server based in the USA so we don't have to worry about hardware, etc. We find it to be extremely stable and we have full control over software, OS updates, web hosting etc.

Regards, Frank.

From: tim at linfiniti.com
Sent:2011-05-10 13:59:20
To: africa at lists.osgeo.org
Cc: 
Subject: Re: [OSGeo Africa] Web Hosting
Hi

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 1:33 PM, Sarel Coetzer geotech.sarel at gmail.com> wrote:
Gavin,Thanks for the input. Yes I will provide feedback soon. I have a couple of days to list and document so whats this space. Tim.As last resort I think it will be possible to "port" from Windows developed stack to Linux OS. All it requires is the actual code to be ported to an already setup mapserver stack (same versions) on a linux system hopefully with same build libraries.
Yes probably the only thing that should be affected are file paths if you are using any absolute system paths. Also if you used any windows specific php (unlikely, it's pretty generic) you may need to port that. We can help with the porting effort if needed.
   Would a Linux OS be setup with the required stack? if yes then it means we just move code from Windows to Linux. 
Yes. Typically for a dedicated server, the hosting farm provides a default install. We usually take that, lock it down as much as possible, install the FOSSGIS stack and typically provide a detailed manual of what and how we set up the machine for your records.

 Would this be possible as an alternative scenario? 
Almost certainly yes. There are plenty of good reasons to run it on Linux rather than Windows (besides the fact that I am obviously a windows hater :-) ):

- remote management of linux boxes is awesome
 - no viruses etc
- server reboots are only occarsionally required if there is a kernel update. All other updates don't require rebooting
- linux uses few system resources so your machine's processing power is spent on your applications not the underlying operating system
 - using apt (the software distribution system for linux) you can install your software and keep your system up to date in a very simple automated way

There are hundreds more good reasons, I could go on all day, but I will leave you with this last gem:

- Almost every FOSSGIS project's developement effort that I am aware of happens principally on linux. When things go wrong developers are much more amenable to helping because the are on 'home turf'. Speaking personally, if someone reports a QGIS problem on windows, I usually groan inside and have to be really motivated to dig out a mothballed windows xp virtual machine to look at the problem....

Regards

Tim

Sarel Coetzer | GIS Developer

Malaria Research Programme

 On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 1:05 PM, Gavin gavinjfleming at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Sarel

I have had experience with Hetzner in Germany and DataPro in Cape Town. Hetzner with dedicated servers and DataPro with a clients' own servers. 

Offshore hosting has the advantage of negligible bandwidth costs. 

I have come across a couple of North American services that cover the mapserver and postgis part of your stack, not sure about the MS though.  

I have generally done full management along with Tim Sutton (Linfiniti) or directly with my clients on the following stack:

Ubuntu server
PostgreSQL/PostGIS
MapServer/Mapnik/GeoServer/QGIS map server
Python (mainly Django)/php(a little)

A few of us (AfriSpatial and Linfiniti so far that I know of) are offering / keen to offer hosting solutions on more or less the above stack so please continue the discussion on or off list. These would most likely be VPS or shared servers.

It would also be interesting to see your results if you're planning to share them.  

Gavin 

On Tue, 2011-05-10 at 12:18 +0200, Sarel Coetzer wrote: Hi There   I am currently documenting and listing hosting solutions in (Africa or European) that caters/supports the following stack:   Stack:OS: MS 2008 R2 Mapserver PostgreSQL PostGIS PHP     I am interested in VPS, shared or dedicated servers.I would like to know your experience with the hosting source aswell. Any info will be great.   Your assistance will be appreciated   Regards
Sarel Coetzer | GIS Developer

_______________________________________________
Africa mailing list
Africa at lists.osgeo.orghttp://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/africa

-- 
Gavin Fleming
t: 0218620670
c: 0845965680
f: 0866164820
Paarl
South Africa
18°59'18.8"E 33°44'40.2"S

_______________________________________________
Africa mailing list
Africa at lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/africa

_______________________________________________
 Africa mailing list
Africa at lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/africa

-- 
Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
==============================================
Visit http://linfiniti.com to find out about:
  * QGIS programming services
 * Mapserver and PostGIS based hosting plans
 * FOSS Consulting Services
Skype: timlinux Irc: timlinux on #qgis at freenode.net
==============================================
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/africa/attachments/20110511/6fe6065c/attachment.html