asp host

["D. L. Fox" <we...@frigginjiggy.com>]

howdy, all. I was on this list for quite some time a while back, but 
then signed off the net for a bit. Didn't hardly even touch a computer. 
(Can you say "withdrawal"??) Recently made my way back on and have 
rejoined this list.

Does anyone have a list of web hosts that support Apache::ASP? I keep 
sifting through stuff I get from searches, but it's extremely time 
consuming trying to figure out which ones are supporting Apache::ASP, as 
opposed to MS or ChiliSoft. I've tried internet searches and host site 
searches. I've tried using "Apache::ASP" as a term but that usually 
brings me back to the Apache::ASP website. :) Oh, and I've looked 
through the few listed on the Apache::ASP website. Just thought there 
might be more of a choice now.

My current host supports it but I'm not completely happy with them. 
Nothing major - I'll stay with them if I can't find an alternative.

Four days ago I signed up for an account with another host that 
advertises supporting Apache::ASP, but the Apache::ASP is not working. I 
think their tech support is still running around in circles trying to 
figure it out - even after four days. I say "think" because they've only 
bothered to contact me four or five times with a "We're still working on 
it!" type message. It took them less seconds to charge my credit card 
than it has days to get my account setup. I will have to ask for my 
money back.

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Re: asp host

["D. L. Fox" <we...@frigginjiggy.com>]

Warren, thanks for the response packed full of info. It makes for a good 
tutorial on how to get started, IMHO.

> some names to demonstrate the variety out there: VPSLink, Linode, Web 
> Intellects, and Verio.

Now this is a lesson to me. As many times as I've installed Apache, 
mod_perl, Apache::ASP, etc. on my boxes at home (Windows and Linux), I 
never even thought to go this route. DOH!

I really like the thought of having that much control over the server. 
Then if it breaks, I can only blame myself (backup, backup, backup).

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Re: asp host

[Warren Young <wa...@etr-usa.com>]

D. L. Fox wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have a list of web hosts that support Apache::ASP? 

You're narrowing your scope unnecessarily here.  Unlike with the _other_ 
ASP, it isn't the case that Apache::ASP is either supported or it isn't. 
  It would be nice if it were preinstalled and configured, but that 
isn't necessary.  What you really must have are: 1) Apache; 2) 
permission to modify httpd.conf; 3) mod_perl; and 4) the ability to get 
arbitrary CPAN modules installed.  There are a whole lot of web hosts 
that fit that criteria.

There are a few web hosts that let you do all that without root access 
to the server, but I wouldn't recommend them.  You often have to involve 
their tech support droids to get things set up, and that usually results 
in too much hassle, as you've found out.  I imagine you're not in the 
market for a dedicated server.  Therefore, I would recommend any of the 
VPS sort of web hosts: ones that give you root access to a virtual 
machine so you can run CPAN yourself.

I've just been through this myself, so I can give you a few tips in 
selecting a provider:

1. Be sure to check versions of everything.  I briefly tried setting up 
Apache::ASP at one hosting provider that was still using Red Hat Linux 
7.3!  You probably have no idea how hard it is to get modern software to 
build on something that old.  Since new software is freely available, 
the Linux world tends to abandon backwards compatibility much more 
quickly than the commercial software world.  You want to find a host 
where the major pieces aren't more than a few years old.  You don't need 
to be bleeding edge, just avoid the overly conservatives ones.

2. A lot of cheap hosting providers keep their prices down by putting 
some pretty severe restrictions on the amount of RAM given to each 
customer.  64 MB is just not enough.  Even if you strip down MySQL and 
Apache to turn off all the space-for-time tradeoffs they have -- child 
prespawning in Apache, big caches in MySQL, etc. -- you'll still be 
running up against memory limits.  You might actually get it working, 
but you won't be able to run things like system updates while the web 
and database servers are up.  Start a second Perl interpreter instance, 
or a C++ compiler, or a tool like yum, and you're running the system out 
of memory again.  Apache::ASP does Bad Things (TM) when it runs out of 
RAM.  I'd say 96-128 MB is the smallest reasonable amount.  256 MB is 
plenty, ignoring application-specific overhead.

3. As for how to find such hosts, a Google search for "Linux VPS" will 
turn up dozens.  There are a few companies using OSes other than Linux, 
and some don't call it a VPS, but you'll get plenty of choices.  Just 
some names to demonstrate the variety out there: VPSLink, Linode, Web 
Intellects, and Verio.  Between those four, you can probably find a 10:1 
price ratio, a 5:1 base resource ratio, not a single control panel 
that's the same among them, wholly different management models....  Look 
at those four, then look at another dozen before making your decision. 
There's a company out there with exactly the right feature balance for 
you.  There's too much competition for two companies to offer exactly 
the same service set.  We've got hyper-differentiation going on here.

> bothered to contact me four or five times with a "We're still working on 
> it!" type message. It took them less seconds to charge my credit card 
> than it has days to get my account setup. 

Naturally.  Charging your credit card is a solved technical problem. 
One should not rely on someone else's tech support droids to solve 
technical problems.

I hereby posit the theory of the 4 Rs of Tech Support: Reboot, 
Reinstall, Replace, or Refuse to Acknowledge.  If your problem requires 
another solution, you're better off doing it yourself.

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