Webhost 3.0

Webhost 3.0 provides an updated platform that combines the hosting services onto a single VM.

The service is intended for customers have some technical skills/knowledge in installing/maintaining web software. Customers that have limited technical knowledge/skills may be more comfortable with some of the options listed at: http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/hosting/

Webhost 3.0 provides the following level of support: http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/hosting/support.cfm

Customers that require a higher level of customization and/or have a deep technical background may be more comfortable with a "Managed Server" and installing the web application stack on their own: http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/managed_servers/

What's new

A summary of the updated features:

64-bit RHEL 6 (Coldfusion can allocate more than 2 GB of memory)
- CF9/LAMP currently using 32-bit RHEL5
Coldfusion 10 using Java 1.7
- CF9 currently using CF9 with Java 1.6
PHP 5.4
- LAMP2 currently uses PHP 5.3
- PHP-FPM also now available as an alternative to mod_php (uses less memory)
Python 2.7
- No change from LAMP2
Ruby 1.9.3
- LAMP2 currently uses Ruby 1.8.7
Perl 5.16
- No change from LAMP2
MySQL 5.5
- Same version from LAMP2
- MySQL database located on same VM versus separate
Local storage
- No longer uses NFS (Shared File Service) for storage
- Customers can opt to continue to use SFS, but will incur additional charges
Updated administrative tools
- Can now modify both ".wdaccess" and ".htaccess" via web inteface
- Can upload files via PHP Shell
- Can utilize "pip" for installing Python software
Shared Apache instance
- Provides lower memory footprint for hosting multiple isolated instances

The PHP Shell/virtualenv utilities are no longer an "experimental" utility. There are some new "experimental" features that may be of interest for advanced web developers by special request.

Git Repository
- A git repository that can be used as an alternative to webdav for publishing code
Mercurial Repository
- A mercurial repository that can be used as an alternative to webdav for publishing code
nodejs
- possible to run under mod_passenger
memcache
- distributed memory object caching system
varnish
- web caching proxy server

Details

Software Versions

	Static	LAMP1	CF9	LAMP2	Webhost3
Apache	2.2	2.2	2.2	2.2	2.2
Coldfusion			9.0.1		10
mod_php		5.2		5.3	5.4
php-fpm					5.4
Python				2.7	2.7
Ruby				1.8.7	1.9.3

Shared vs. Standalone Apache

In CF9/LAMP2 each "instance" represented a separate apache instance that could be started/stopped independently. This provides a high level of isolation, but can also consume more system resources and complicate server administration. The "shared" apache instance makes it possible to host a larger number of instances on a single apache instance while still providing isolation between the instances.

	Standalone	Shared
Apache	2.2	2.2
Start/Stop Apache	Yes	Yes*
mod_cgi	Yes	No
Custom virtualhost include	Yes	No
mod_php	Yes	No
PHP-FPM	Yes	Yes
Start/Stop PHP-FPM	Yes	Yes
Coldfusion	Yes	Yes
Start/Stop Coldfusion	Yes	Yes
Python	Yes	Yes*
Ruby	Yes	Yes

* Will start/stop ALL sites that are behind the shared Apache
** Use of Python w/out custom virtualhost include is somewhat limited

Webhost 3.0 introduces a new platform of