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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 that have 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

How many instances

Using a VM with 2 GB of memory the following are some guidelines on possible deployments. Individual applications may vary (i.e. it's possible to have a single PHP/Python/Ruby/Perl application that consumes 100% of the memory. Increasing the amount of memory may make it possible to run more instances, but it is not a recommended best practice.

Please note that each instance could host anywhere from 1 website to 100 websites depending on how the software is configured (i.e. a single multisite drupal instance serving 100 websites).

Coldfusion

  • 2 instances shared or standalone

PHP

  • 3 standalone
  • 9 shared

Python

  • 3 standalone
  • 9 shared

Ruby

  • 3 standalone
  • 9 shared

Static

  • 3 standalone
  • 100 shared

The estimates below are based on the following observed utilization

 

Memory (MB)

Apache (mod_php)

85

php-fpm

35

coldfusion

350

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