We're considering switching from Plesk due to a bunch of odd problems it has been having for us. H-Sphere looks to be exactly what we need, but I would like to know, from existing customers, if there is anything I should be aware of before continuing.

It would be appreciated. :)

In my experience no real major problems. Little issues show up every once in a while, but tend to get fixed promptly.

Greetings:

We've been using H-Sphere for several years now; and over those years, we've only encountered a few small issues that Positive Software support fixed promptly.

Over those years, we've worked with a growing number of H-Sphere providers who run H-Sphere on anywhere from one physical server to close to a score of physical servers.

We find it rare for those customers to have problems with H-Sphere in terms of bugs.

Where we have seen the most problems is on FreeBSD when compared to problems over the years against RedHat and CentOS; and in some cases with Windows 200x (most of the time, Microsoft related issues with the Windows OS).

Let me end in stating that 2005 will be our tenth year in business; and over those years, we've used a number of different control panels and automation systems (though none as complete as H-Sphere).

We've found H-Sphere to be complete, and one of the best technology and business decisions we made.

Thank you.

I use it for more than one year without any problem.
For optimum perfomance you will need few separate servers.
example
server 1 - unix - CP + web
server 2 - windows web
server 3 - mail server
server 4 - database (mysql)
....

Thank you JTY and dynamicnet for confirming my thoughts. :)

samdax, do you mean optimal performance on a server with heavy load, or in general? I don't at all plan to buy three more servers just to deploy H-Sphere.

Dynamicnet,

What specific problems do you know of that are on the FreeBSD platform. I've got one server running FBSD and another that I will be moving over to FBSD. I think H-Sphere will suit my needs but need to know what kind of issues you've come across. Were they major problems or just minor bugs?

H-sphere have a flexible system to add more servers if you grow
For start you can use one single box it is OK
But what is special about h-sphere
You can offer both windows and unix hosting in same time.
In that case you will need two server in cluster
one for unix and one for windows
and all of your clients (resellers) will be able to offer a both solutions.
With other CP if you have 500 MB hosting account, it is like folder with 500 MB quota,
With H-pshere if you have 500 MB hosting you can 'spent' it on every server in cluster (ie 200 on windows+300 on unix)

That is what I mean with optimum perfomance
With one single box (must be unix) H-sphere is like any other CP, but with more servers in cluster H-sphere offer what others cannot offer

Greetings:

1. To be clear, unless you have Windows hosting, you can run H-Sphere well in a single physical server environment.

We secure and manage several providers who run H-Sphere from one single server without a problem.

I do agree that if you can afford it, multiple servers helps bring out a faster ROI picture from H-Sphere.

2. In terms of FreeBSD:

A. Java is limited to 1.3.x; Igor Seletskiy can provide more details as to what is going on in the FreeBSD world as it relates to licensing of Java as to what's the deal.

H-Sphere's heading towards a Java 1.4.x world which, if my understanding is correct, FreeBSD doesn't support.

B. The most recent problem (which is now a few months old) was when FreeBSD 4.7 and 4.8 pkg_* tools became outdated on a wide number of FreeBSD servers running H-Sphere; and the update from psoft ended up removing software (it did a pkg_delete prior to a pkg_add -- the add failed).

People who report the least "FreeBSD" problems are running 4.10.

You can find out more information about these issues at http://forum.psoft.net/

3. In terms of optimal performance under heavy load... this is just my take, and not "samdax"

A. By having multiple physical servers whose main purpose is "web" hosting, then you can split your web hosting customers among several servers.

B. By having one or more physical servers whose sole purpose is "email" hosting, then you can handle a larger volume of email per day, and tune the server more for the processing of mass email in the areas of spam tagging, spam prevention, virus scanning, etc.

Please note that H-Sphere does provide spam tagging, spam prevention, and virus scanning from a single physical server environment on up.

However, if you are financially able to have multple servers, then H-Sphere will shine more than it does in a single server environment.

BTW, the additional physicla servers can be located anywhere in the world; they don't have to be from the same data center or in the same co-location facility.

This means you are in control of getting the best deal for your physical servers, bandwidth, etc.

Thank you.

DynamicNet: Since H-Sphere can cluster this well, I could pretty much have a server with only an email system, and have it integrate easily with H-Sphere?

samdax: How/where are files stored then if they don't have absolute paths? (or atleast ones that resemble the way cpanel and plesk have them)

How/where are files stored then if they don't have absolute paths? (or atleast ones that resemble the way cpanel and plesk have them)
Domain account have an absolute path for web files, but for e-mails or databases you can use completely separated server (if you want)
Reseller with 500 MB quota can choose where want to setup one account and wich server (ie windows or unix)

H-Sphere is a great web hosting platform. We evaluated cPanel and DirectAdmin, finally deciding to use H-Sphere. We haven't regretted it since. PSoft's support is always responsive, replying to trouble tickets within hours. We've had a few minor problems (errors using control panel installed 3rd party scripts) that have always been quickly fixed by PSoft support. The integrated billing and support provide a complete experience for our customers, with a single logon. There's an active community of H-Sphere hosts at PSoft's forums that's always willing to help solve any problems that arise. One thing about H-Sphere is you don't get total control over DNS records, such as with Plesk. Modifying default TTLs requires hand-editing a script. That's about the only limitation I've ran into.

Originally posted by DanX
DynamicNet: Since H-Sphere can cluster this well, I could pretty much have a server with only an email system, and have it integrate easily with H-Sphere?

you can even have 2 mailservers setup so if one fails, mail goes to the second ;)

I'm sold. :D

I can't edit, so..

I was looking more at the demo and noticed that it's very hard to navigate. How hard would it be to create and implement a new skin for H-Sphere?

Greetings:

See http://www.hspheretemplates.com/ for a good source of skins.

See http://www.hspherepackages.com/ for a good source of add on packages.

Positive Software has extensive documentation on creating your own skins and packages.

See http://www.psoft.net/HSdocumentation/customization/index.html and http://www.psoft.net/HSdocumentation/devel/index.html

Thank you.

Thanks DynamicNet. :)

I can't say I really like HSphereTemplates, though.

Greetings:

God made everyone uninque; which is a good thing.

We and a number of other providers use http://www.hspheretemplates.com/ ; but there are other providers who do not, and still others who craft their own templates.

Positive Software is among the very few companies I know that go through extensive efforts to document everything about their control panel system including providing ways for companies like hspheretemplates.com and hspherepackages.com to create 3rd party add ons.

In fact, there is a discussion right now in http://forum.psoft.net/ about creating an add-on to allow the management and billing of shoutcast services.

Thank you.

Originally posted by DanX
Thanks DynamicNet. :)

I can't say I really like HSphereTemplates, though.
For a very low cost, Jeffery @ HT will make you your own custom template :)

DanX - welcome to the world of H-Sphere, and to a true hosting automation system.

Simon

What are shoutcast services? :)

Thank you again, DynamicNet and Simon. :)

anewcomer: ShoutCast is Winamp's live music streaming service. By selling it with H-Sphere, you could allow people to use your servers to broadcast music or a radio station online.

Thanks Danx