So it’s been a week since I first signed up with Mosso. As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to leave the headaches of my dedicated server behind me, and give their Cloud Sites option a shot instead. I’m happy to say that their product works as advertised, and I think it’s going to be a great fit for us.

That’s not to say the migration hasn’t been without issues. I’ve moved 39 sites over to Mosso. It has been a MASSIVE undertaking (and I’m still not done!).. Their control panel really needs some work. For the casual hoster, it’s just fine. But if you’re a power user like me, you’ll get frustrated pretty quickly.

The biggest issue? They don’t have one-click installs (eg. Fantastico).. The process to install WordPress is entirely too time consuming! You need to provision the domain name. Then you create a database. Then you download WordPress onto your PC, and then transfer it to your Mosso site via FTP. Then you have to run the WordPress installation script to setup the wp_config parameters (database name, password, SQL host location, etc). Then, after all that, you get to go and setup your e-mail addresses. But wait, there’s more! If you’re using WP Super-Cache, you need to tweak your settings to work with Mosso. Then, if you want WordPress to be able to e-mail you (notifications, comment moderation), you’ve got to add a line to your .htaccess file.

Thankfully, that’s the biggest complaint I’ve got with Mosso. Their control panel is still a thorn in my side, sometimes timing out for no apparent reason. And I’ve had some provisioning hiccups where a domain gets added twice. But all in all, once you get past the setup headaches, it’s clear sailing from there on out.

CPU cycle usage was my biggest concern coming into this. Based on my calculations, I may exceed my 10000 cycle limit, but not by too much. (I’m saving $100/mo with Mosso, so even if I spend an extra $25 for the month, I’m still ahead by $75)

It would be great if you could get usage reports for a specific time period, but for now they only report usage since your last billing cycle.

If you’d like to give Mosso a shot, send me an e-mail and I’ll give you a referral code good for $25 off your first month. And as always, they offer a 30-day money back guarantee, so you’ve got nothing to lose!

When I was a kid, I had a poster in my room similar to the one above, only with exotic cars of the 80s. (Think Countach, SL500, Porsche 911, etc) It’s a great poster, and it’s amazing how many people I run into who had the same poster when they were growing up. Parents loved it because it reaffirmed a positive message, and kids loved it because cars are cool!

Fast forward 20+ years, and cars are still my motivating factor in life. Right now I’m looking for a bigger house, but that’s only because I want a 3-car garage. Each garage will have a lift, so I can comfortably fit 6 cars in there!

Without something to work towards, you’ll never achieve your goals. When I get in a rut, I think about the next car I want, and I get motivated to push through it.

I thought it’d be a good idea to put it down on paper – A bucket list of cars, if you will.

My list so far:
Eleanor (GT500E)
Shelby 427 Cobra
1969 Camaro SS
2010 Nissan GT-R
2010 Shelby GT500
Ariel Atom

I’m sure I’ll keep adding to the list as time goes on..

When moving your website to another host, it’s frustrating having to wait for the DNS changes to take effect on your computer. I knew there had to be a faster way to get it done, and after some searching across the web, I found these instructions:

Once your name servers are updated with your registrar, it may take up to 12 hours for the process to complete. You can speed up the process of propagation for your local network by flushing your DNS cache.

Do the following:

1. In windows click START > RUN and type in “cmd” (a command window will open)
2. Type in “ipconfig /flushdns” and press “Return/Enter”

You will see:
Windows IP Configuration Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

In most cases, your site will begin to work immediately from the new host. Hope this helps!

As I mentioned in my last post, a series of issues with our dedicated server have convinced me to give Mosso’s “Cloud Sites” offering a shot. They bill you at a flat rate of $100/mo, plus any overage charges that you might incur. Right off the bat, you get 500GB/mo of bandwidth, 50GB/mo of storage, and 10,000 computer cycles/mo. I was able to track my bandwidth usage through WHM and cPanel, and I’ll be fine. Storage isn’t an issue, as most of these sites are database-driven blogs.

That leaves the mysterious computer cycles.. No matter how you slice it, it’s impossible to figure out how many computer cycles you’re going to use until you’re actually on their system. But with a 30-day money back guarantee, I figured it was worth a shot.

So I signed up today, and got instant access to my management console. It’s VERY different from cPanel, but watching a few of their video tutorials helped me figure it out for the most part. There were a few things that weren’t very clear, but a quick talk with someone on Live Chat got my questions answered in a timely fashion.

I’ve only moved one site over so far. It’s a fairly time-consuming task, and moving almost 40 sites over is going to take some serious effort. You don’t have the one-click luxury of Fantastico to install WordPress for you. Instead, you’ve got to first create a database. Then you’ll FTP WordPress onto your server, and configure your wp_config file with the database info. Once that’s done, you open up phpAdmin and import your WP database into there.

The whole process takes about 15 minutes. It’s a little cumbersome, but for anyone that’s computer savvy, they should be cool.

Once that’s done, just FTP your theme files and plugins to the server, point your domain to their DNS, and wait for it to propogate.

I’ll post an update after a few more days with them.

I’ve been dealing with an ongoing server issue for the past 5 days, and it’s been an absolute nightmare. Apache is out of control, and I haven’t been able to pinpoint the root cause. We moved to a dedicated server last summer, and it’s been a bit of a headache. I’m by no means a sysadmin, and I don’t really want to become one. Yet I’ve wasted two entire days dealing with this latest issue, while important tasks get pushed aside once again.

I’m seriously considering moving to a Cloud offering. I almost went this route with MediaTemple before moving to the dedicated server, but I came across so many horror stories that I immediately crossed that option off of my list. But now I’m hearing about Mosso, a RackSpace company that has a pretty cost-effective plan that SHOULD meet our needs. The big question is if our sites will exceed the monthly alotted CPU cycles or not, and that’s a conversation I need to have with their tech guys.

On paper, it sounds ideal. Good performance, cheaper monthly cost, and no server issues to deal with. If anyone’s gone this route, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Thanks!

I’m sure you’ve the commercials.. A family out at the football game, bundled up in their Snuggie. Sounds ridiculous. But then again, there was someone at the inauguration who was wearing one!

Our media room tends to get a bit chilly, so the wife finally ordered one. We just got it (perfect timing, with a high of 75 degrees tomorrow!), and let me tell you, this thing rocks! The perfect size, the holes for your arms.. It’s a wonder why no one thought of this before..

Check it out.. It might just surprise you!