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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    59

    My tiny experience with WebFaction

    Hello.

    I just want to share my tiny tiny experience with WebFaction.com .

    I was looking for a Hosting plan where I could have some basic control on my account, like possibility to run Java webapps, custum . After many researches here and on the web, I decided to gove a try with WebFaction.

    Why WebFaction? Just because here and everywhere, I just saw good reviews ont them, any bad review! and I was looking for something in UK or NL.

    I signed up for their Shared 2 plan (webfaction.com/services/hosting) for one year. Less than a week later, I ddecided to stop with them (they have a 60-day money back guarantee). Why?

    I stopped with WebFaction because :
    - They have a great, but basic support (My opinion)

    - You need to understand how their (proprietary) control panel works, and it's not so easy for a beginner. In fact, it's something like Cherokee web server admin web control, nut they use NGINX and Apache (60-day money back guarantee, which is very great) I think, not sure at 100%. What about compatibility if you need to change later ?

    I don't say that they don't have good services, just that IMO, their services aren't for beginners.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    139
    Great review! Thanks for taking the time to post it.

  3. #3
    Glad to read the review. Thanks for sharing.
    SUPPORT FACILITY | 24/7 TECH SUPPORT
    SERVER MANAGEMENT | WEB HOSTING SUPPORT | WP EXPERTS

  4. #4
    In my eyes as someone that knows what their doing they actually sound pretty good. They should thank you for your review

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    452
    Who have you decided to go with now that works better for you?
    Fully customized hosting to your specific needs, no general plans found here!
    'Read before you click I agree' - J

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    59
    Quote Originally Posted by jshtoch View Post
    Who have you decided to go with now that works better for you?
    I continue to search.

    Thanks.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    2,853
    I think it's pretty important to see what sort of control panel the host you're going to sign up with is using. Some are extremely different as seen in this case.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    59
    I think I'll look for cPanel (and WHM for reseller).
    I've never used DirectAdmin and don't know if it's simple as cPanel.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    on WHT
    Posts
    106
    @ the OP, how long have you been with them?

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark L View Post
    I think it's pretty important to see what sort of control panel the host you're going to sign up with is using. Some are extremely different as seen in this case.
    In this case better to sign up with such web hosts which you are familiar with.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    59
    Quote Originally Posted by cheminroad View Post
    @ the OP, how long have you been with them?
    As said in my review, less than a week (3-4 days). It's why "tiny" in the title of my review.

    As mentioned in my review, my feelings don't concern the quality of servers, but the fact that their control panel could be difficult to understand for beginners.

    If you want to know more about their control panel, it's something like the web administration interface of Cherokee web server (cherokee-project.com)

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    2,637
    Quote Originally Posted by bfine View Post
    As said in my review, less than a week (3-4 days). It's why "tiny" in the title of my review.

    As mentioned in my review, my feelings don't concern the quality of servers, but the fact that their control panel could be difficult to understand for beginners.

    If you want to know more about their control panel, it's something like the web administration interface of Cherokee web server (cherokee-project.com)
    Great. Will take a look on that Administration Interface.

    and of course, cheers for the review.

  13. #13
    Well Support and the service they provide are two different things.

    By the sound of stuff they provide a great service. But they're support requires some work. But that doesnt stop what you are doing on your server.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    3,816
    Quote Originally Posted by bfine View Post
    Hello.

    I just want to share my tiny tiny experience with WebFaction.com .

    I was looking for a Hosting plan where I could have some basic control on my account, like possibility to run Java webapps, custum . After many researches here and on the web, I decided to gove a try with WebFaction.

    Why WebFaction? Just because here and everywhere, I just saw good reviews ont them, any bad review! and I was looking for something in UK or NL.

    I signed up for their Shared 2 plan (webfaction.com/services/hosting) for one year. Less than a week later, I ddecided to stop with them (they have a 60-day money back guarantee). Why?

    I stopped with WebFaction because :
    - They have a great, but basic support (My opinion)

    - You need to understand how their (proprietary) control panel works, and it's not so easy for a beginner. In fact, it's something like Cherokee web server admin web control, nut they use NGINX and Apache (60-day money back guarantee, which is very great) I think, not sure at 100%. What about compatibility if you need to change later ?

    I don't say that they don't have good services, just that IMO, their services aren't for beginners.

    Thanks.
    Their control panel doesn't seem anything like Cherokee's.

    You basically add a "domain", then an "application" - you pick the app you want (Django, etc will get your own apache instance and be reverse proxied by nginx - your confs are in tbe webapp folder)

    Then you go to 'sites' and assign the domains/subdomains an application.

    Basically to get a simple PHP site up and running,
    1. domains/websites -> domains (add a subdom of www too, this isn't automatic)
    2. domains/websites -> applications (pick php/static/cgi)
    3. domains/websites -> websites (select the www and the non-www from select box, add the path of / and the appname)

    and it's live.

    I would say webfaction isn't really newbie friendly, but if you're a geek or developer that needs hosting, SSH by default, full httpd.conf access, etc, they're pretty sweet.

  15. #15
    I joined WF a month ago and I am liking their service so far. THey happily let you compile absolutely anything in your homedir and will even setup an nginx gateway to a custom port for your app, so you can run custom versions of apache or anything else you want.

    As mentioned though, the panel is pretty hideous. It works exactly like quantumphysics describes it. I actually don't mind it because once you get things setup who cares anyways, right? So while I don't like it, I wouldn't really use it to take any points away from WF, because at the end of the day all that matters is if it serves teh purpose you wanted it to

    A reminder, I've only been with them for a month now, I will happily come back here a few months down the road if/when I'm still with them. Googling around I have heard complaints that they begin to overload servers a few months after provisioning. If thats true or not only time will tell, but so far so good.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    New Delhi
    Posts
    643
    well WF seem to have very good support and customer friendly attitude.
    But yes, they are not for the starters. Definitely not for those who don't know how to migrate your hosting when you have different panels at both ends (and that is not easy for even experienced guys).

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    6,884
    Thanks for sharing your experience with them and letting us know that for newbie it's not the right choice with the control panel. I hope those who are experts wouldn't have much problems with them. I hope they'll look into this and will do something to accommodate newbies in web hosting also

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