Is FastHosts Even Worth Trying ?

[TBird1]

Hi Folks,

I have been developing my first site with Actinic and will soon be ready to upload to my web site. I have web space with FastHosts which provides the following;

ASP.NET, ASP, PHP, Perl, Python scripting
Open database connectivity (ODBC) or MySQL
Password protected folders
SSL secure web space
Virus & spam protected email

To be quite honest, from reading all the other threads concerning Actinic hosting on Fasthosts I am almost being put off the whole idea of using or even trying Fasthosts at all.

Has anybody had a good experience of hosting Actinic on FastHosts Windows servers ? I know people normally post on these forums because they have a problem - if anybody has any 'good stories' to tell about Fasthosts I'd love to hear from you ? Should I 'not even go here' and just go with Actinic hosting from the outset ?

Second question . . .

I intend to use HSBC payment gateway (using Fasthosts shared SSL (unless I get put off Fasthosts ref above)). Again keen to hear from any body that has had positive experiences in this area.

Many thanks,

TBird1

[Mark H]

Take care to check that Actinic will work on Fastworks WINDOWS servers - Actinic requires CGI which many (all?) Windows servers do not have - I think you need to go for Linux/Unix servers.

PS we host on 1&1 (including SSL) and have always found them very good.

[jont]

Actinic will host on Windows servers but there seems to be an uphill struggle in the setup stages etc .... a *nix platform seems to be the best solution for an easier life with Actinic

[I-CC]

Actinic WILL work on a Windows server, just seems to be more difficult, especially when trying to enable it for http and across the shared ssl that they provide with hosting accounts.

If at all possible, Linux is best for Actinic, as it has less issues thats all.

The shared ssl is another issue all together, which is not a Win or Nix issue, just how the folder trees are set up and connecting between them, but check posting on Fasthost ssl and you will get a drift for this and some solutions others have used, but if at all possible, go the Linux route as it will save you a lot of headaches

[chris ashdown]

I have five actinic sites on fasthosts four with Linix and one with windows

No downtime for last three years that I can remember

Good telephone support with any problems but not so good email support

Did have some set up problems but imagine that is solved by now(mainly permissions on cgi-bin)

I do not use SSL as my psp Protx offers a secure link to them but understand you have to use full site ssl and not just checkout pages with fasthosts, and that this slows down the whole site

I find them helpful and a good service but others will have something else to report,, same with most other sites

Site prices are great value at fasthosts

Hope this helps

[StevenG]

I have just set up my first Actinic site on a Fashosts Windows platform. I did initially have some setup problems and was advised to remove the load balancing from server. This seemed to solve the cgi-bin pathing problems I was having. The site now works. However, I haven't attempted to set SSL again since I did this.

My company has been with Fasthosts for about 6 years and in that time my site has only been offline due to Fasthosts problems once.

Steve