[OSGeo Africa] Web Hosting

Wed May 11 10:33:49 EDT 2011

Hi Frank

Glad to hear from you again, was actually waiting for your reply.

Please forward me more details of the US based server. It will be great to
use a tried and tested host.How do you deal with support due to the time
defference?

On the OS side, we work as a team instead of one person going of developing
on Linux and the other on Windows. So our focus is to select an OS which has
the most in-house support. Can you imagine if your were to relocate and now
someone else has to work in your Linux environment? so its just a matter of
having to ability to provide pro-longed support as a team instead of one
individual when it comes to hosting solutions. I can work on both Linux and
Windows no problem and both has their strengths and weaknesses in support.
My personal opinion about OS is based on personal preference but I did find
more support on the MS4W forums which is a plus for Windows developers.

Anyway, hope to hear from you soon.

Regards
Sarel Coetzer | GIS Developer

Malaria Research Programme
Medical Research Council
Tel : 031 203 47 94
http://www.malaria.org.za/

 On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Frank Sokolic
<sokolic at worldonline.co.za>wrote:

> 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
> ==============================================
>
> _______________________________________________
> Africa mailing list
> Africa at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/africa
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/africa/attachments/20110511/d6eb6ca6/attachment-0001.html