As I mentioned in a previous post, “Moving to Windows 7“, I have completed a second major task that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.
CrystalTech and fastCGI
This task has been bittersweet, in the sense that I’ve been with my previous host, CrystalTech, for 10+ years and they have always been very responsive during that time, but ever since I moved to a WordPress environment, I’d been having issues.
- WordPress and CrystalTech – Posting Issue Solved
- Poor Server Response Time with WordPress Install
By no means, do I mean to slam CrystalTech in any way shape or form.
The hosting service has done me well for well over a decade, and I have set up many of my clients with them during this time.
My issue with their hosting at this stage the game is purely technical.
CrystalTech’s main mission is to provide Microsoft based Hosting services, which was great for me during my early days of HTML, FrontPage and DotNetNuke adventures, but as I move to WordPress, it became apparent that their Linux/Unix emulation services left a little to be desired.
Again, I do not blame CrystalTech directly because they are offering WordPress in an emulation mode in a Microsoft environment.
Where I see the major issue in this, is the reliance on the little piece of software called fastCGI.
Since I did not have direct access to the error logs, I can only make this inference based on the errors that were coming up in my browser screen, and they seem to indicate more times than not, that fastCGI was the culprit, and I surely do not want to offend anybody that has not had any issues at all.
Again, during my time with CrystalTech, I was never aware of any major outage, and the tech support staff was readily available during instant messaging session, and were always courteous, and I would recommend them for someone wishing to host a pure Microsoft environment.
Inmotionhosting.com
As mentioned previously, I have been investigating a new hosting service for some time, and during some research for new client of mine, I discovered Inmotionhosting.com.
After setting up a new domain registration and hosting requirements for my new client, Filec Services, LLC, I got my first taste of what it was like to be in a purely Linux/Unix environment.
I was first struck by the speed in which I was able to install a brand-new installation of WordPress, and from there, the installation of my various required plug-ins seem to take seconds to install compared to that of my previous hosting service.
When it became time to actually add content, I could just add the information as needed and my WordPress installation just seem to flow with each new page.
Based on this initial experience, I prepared my old site for the migration to Inmotionhosting.com.
Again after doing numerous backups, of both my content and my database, and reviewing as much information on the topic as possible, I made the import of my old website into my new hosting environment, and was extremely pleased to see that nearly everything transferred without any issue whatsoever!
Once in place, I started to tinker around and was still greeted with the new speed that I had just gained for my web site!
In reading further of SEO, Google has announced that website response times are now linked to your ranking, so hopefully I can get my site further up the scale when potential clients are searching for my services!
In the meantime, please take a look at my various posts and pages and see if you do not also agree that the site seems faster than it was a few days ago.
Update
I still find it amazing, how many little bits and pieces need to be reconnected when one moves to a new host, especially after 10+ years!
In reviewing my Google Webmaster Tools account, it seems to indicate that prior to my move to my new host, my page load times were nearly 20 seconds!
It will be interesting to see how those load times will change during the course of the next several months, but already I know, or I should say, that they ‘feel’ a lot faster!