Hosting options for Koha installation
Dear Community, I am a librarian from Vienna, Austria and I would like to install Koha for the library of my cultural association. As it is a small association we have no institutional backing and therefore no IT team. I tried to install Koha on the server of my website but I have no root access. I asked at the hosting company and they said they don't offer root access. After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month). It would be great if you could share your experiences on which hosting is best. Specifically my questions are: - Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok. - If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine". - Is there a better/easier way? Your help would be greatly appreciated! All the best from Vienna, Andreas
Hi Andreas, On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 1:21 PM, Andreas Resch <inselkette@gmail.com> wrote:
I am a librarian from Vienna, Austria and I would like to install Koha for the library of my cultural association. As it is a small association we have no institutional backing and therefore no IT team. I tried to install Koha on the server of my website but I have no root access. I asked at the hosting company and they said they don't offer root access. After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month).
The amount sounds about right!
It would be great if you could share your experiences on which hosting is best. Specifically my questions are:
- Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok.
The pricing you have mentioned is for entry level VPSes. There is very little to differentiate at those levels between different web hosts. I use online.net's servers hosted in France and DigitalOcean's servers in their London DC for my Europe based Koha clients. Have found them both to be reliable.
- If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine".
Being proficient with the command line it should be easy for you. Get a VPS with Debian 8.x 64-bit and follow the instructions for Debian based installation on the Koha wiki and you should be up in no time.
- Is there a better/easier way?
Yes! You can work with a Koha hosting service provider :D
Your help would be greatly appreciated!
hope this helps. -- Indranil Das Gupta L2C2 Technologies Phone : +91-98300-20971 WWW : http://www.l2c2.co.in Blog : http://blog.l2c2.co.in IRC : indradg on irc://irc.freenode.net Twitter : indradg
Dear Andreas, On 31/01/2017 09:51, Andreas Resch wrote:
Dear Community,
I am a librarian from Vienna, Austria and I would like to install Koha for the library of my cultural association. As it is a small association we have no institutional backing and therefore no IT team. I tried to install Koha on the server of my website but I have no root access. I asked at the hosting company and they said they don't offer root access. After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month). I've run Koha using a VPS before, but they are limited in terms of the resources you get. I found i frequently ran out of inodes and space and had too many bandwidth limitations. A dedicated server would be best, but as you've already found, they can be quite expensive. Another option you could try is using a cloud server - you can pay per unit time ( hour/minute/second etc. ) and this might be cheaper than a dedicated server.
It would be great if you could share your experiences on which hosting is best. Specifically my questions are:
- Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok. - If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine". - Is there a better/easier way?
For hosting companies, you can try 1and1 or Godaddy, they have some low cost VPS and cloud servers. Another alternative that you may not have considered is to install Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS on a desktop and running Koha locally. As for the actual installation itself, you can follow the instructions on the Koha Wiki. <https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Koha_on_ubuntu_-_packages> They should be fairly straightforward.Koha The easiest way would be to have a Koha support company install and host your Koha system for you. I offer Koha support and hosting - you can email me directly or visit www.bibliotechzw.com and get in touch using the contact form. Regards, Lennon Mazonde
Excerpts from Lennon Mazonde's message of 2017-01-31 12:38:06 +0200:
I've run Koha using a VPS before, but they are limited in terms of the resources you get. I found i frequently ran out of inodes and space and had too many bandwidth limitations.
I'd like to know more about this, since I'm in the process of switching our library over to using Koha on a Linode VPS. Our catalog is not large (about 24K holdings), and the $10/month plan with 2GB of RAM and 24 GB SSD seems adequate so far, at least in my admittedly limited testing. When would I be likely to see the limitations you mentioned? Also, if there are other users out there using Linode, I'd like to hear about their experience with that service.
Hi, as it look like a small library. I suggest digital ocean with the USD10 / per month package you can get a good performance with it and you can upgrade RAM / cpu anytime if needed in the future. I think you can start with the usd5 /m package and make sure to enable swap on it. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-add-swap-on-ubuntu-1... Choose Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or debian 8 as it is easy to follow up with the package installation instructions there. https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Koha_on_Debian https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Koha_on_ubuntu_-_packages Best wishes. Karam. On 31 Jan 2017 3:51 pm, "Andreas Resch" <inselkette@gmail.com> wrote: Dear Community, I am a librarian from Vienna, Austria and I would like to install Koha for the library of my cultural association. As it is a small association we have no institutional backing and therefore no IT team. I tried to install Koha on the server of my website but I have no root access. I asked at the hosting company and they said they don't offer root access. After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month). It would be great if you could share your experiences on which hosting is best. Specifically my questions are: - Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok. - If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine". - Is there a better/easier way? Your help would be greatly appreciated! All the best from Vienna, Andreas _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz https://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
I use Digital Ocean as well for some of my Koha projects. Their least expensive option is USD $5 per month, and unless you have dozens of users at once, it should be enough. You can go from a small system to a larger one (more RAM, more processors, more disk space), but you can't go from a large system to a smaller one. One of my favorite features of Digital Ocean, which may be available on similar services, is the ability to take a snapshot of your current system, then spin it up as a new system to practice on--basically the same thing as making a copy of a local VM system. Then if you break the system or do something horrible to it, you can delete that one and start over. This probably isn't a major concern for most folks, but I'm modifying templates and other bits for a special project. You can also create a system and delete it within minutes if you just want to test something briefly. You can see a basic USD $5/month system at http://www.philobiblios.info, and a 2-processor USD $20 system at http://www.philobiblios.website. Neither one is as developed as I'd like it to be, but I'm juggling several hats at once and I've been out with the flu for weeks. :-( NB: speaking ONLY for myself, and I have no relationship with Digital Ocean other than customer. Fred King Medical Librarian, MedStar Washington Hospital Center fred.king@medstar.net 202-877-6670 ORCID 0000-0001-5266-0279 Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe. --Douglas Adams -----Original Message----- From: Koha [mailto:koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Karam Qubsi Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2017 6:11 AM To: Andreas Resch Cc: Koha Subject: Re: [Koha] Hosting options for Koha installation Hi, as it look like a small library. I suggest digital ocean with the USD10 / per month package you can get a good performance with it and you can upgrade RAM / cpu anytime if needed in the future. I think you can start with the usd5 /m package and make sure to enable swap on it. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.digitalocean.com_community_tutorials_how-2Dto-2Dadd-2Dswap-2Don-2Dubuntu-2D14-2D04&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=XqNVIx7IDwPYFwrCrsIDqDSciUohqbfCse0NjKEkYec&e= Choose Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or debian 8 as it is easy to follow up with the package installation instructions there. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wiki.koha-2Dcommunity.org_wiki_Koha-5Fon-5FDebian&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=mFRGj5URPHLXmcb12Z3kUCKZrX74iXoRMtSbjWsrU74&e= https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wiki.koha-2Dcommunity.org_wiki_Koha-5Fon-5Fubuntu-5F-2D-5Fpackages&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=6Jpasw7svtjKSrsLlDFYrZYNe5g9HUb50rhsIs6KEqQ&e= Best wishes. Karam. On 31 Jan 2017 3:51 pm, "Andreas Resch" <inselkette@gmail.com> wrote: Dear Community, I am a librarian from Vienna, Austria and I would like to install Koha for the library of my cultural association. As it is a small association we have no institutional backing and therefore no IT team. I tried to install Koha on the server of my website but I have no root access. I asked at the hosting company and they said they don't offer root access. After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month). It would be great if you could share your experiences on which hosting is best. Specifically my questions are: - Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok. - If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine". - Is there a better/easier way? Your help would be greatly appreciated! All the best from Vienna, Andreas _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__koha-2Dcommunity.org&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=gPvPo1punw1vepKI7kkEh-VySGqsAtx83q4UyqM2CmI&e= Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.katipo.co.nz_mailman_listinfo_koha&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=AsqivAvft1on0gdURVXOKkBS7JPFrcBelVtrlYfIoBc&e= _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__koha-2Dcommunity.org&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=gPvPo1punw1vepKI7kkEh-VySGqsAtx83q4UyqM2CmI&e= Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.katipo.co.nz_mailman_listinfo_koha&d=DwIGaQ&c=RvBXVp2Kc-itN3g6r3sN0QK_zL4whPpndVxj8-bJ04M&r=vKh6XwOmjyC51IkP1OfsdjQZoWT2vpi6VZl8El8EPRI&m=LeutSQjgtwNsdIaE9TH8pWOmQuj38P7UXrAwN58Y-AE&s=AsqivAvft1on0gdURVXOKkBS7JPFrcBelVtrlYfIoBc&e= ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MedStar Health is a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare delivery system, the largest in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region. 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Hello Andreas, Very soon, I will be doing something similar for the library of the *Seminar für Sprache und Kultur* (https://spracheundkultur.org) here in Burbach, Germany. They, too, operate on a restrictive budget and have a strong desire to keep their data in Europe. I researched hosts more than a year ago, and there was one host in Austria that made my final list: http://www.emerion.com/de/vps They are located in Vienna, too. Our instance will be hosted here: http://www.server4you.de/vserver/#compare Their headquarters is in Köln, and their data center is in Strasbourg, France. I cannot add much else to the advice of the others, with respect to installation. Currently, I have a test instance installed locally, which was easy enough, but it will be better for our production server to exist in a more reliable environment. One suggestion I will make is to secure your client connections with free certificates from Let's Encrypt and the Certbot client, which makes obtaining and renewing certificates simple. Regards, ------------------------------ *David Liddle* *IT Support Specialist* Wycliffe Global Alliance - Europe Area Siegenweg 30, 57299 Burbach, Germany *Direct:* david_liddle@wycliffe.net *Support:* sos_europe@wycliffe.net *Bomgar:* https://sos.wycliffe.net <https://sos.wycliffe.net/download_client_connector?id=65&name=David+Liddle> *Office:* *+49 2736 297 207* *Mobile:* +49 176 421 473 69 *Skype:* dfliddle On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 8:51 AM, Andreas Resch <inselkette@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Community,
I am a librarian from Vienna, Austria and I would like to install Koha for the library of my cultural association. As it is a small association we have no institutional backing and therefore no IT team. I tried to install Koha on the server of my website but I have no root access. I asked at the hosting company and they said they don't offer root access. After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month).
It would be great if you could share your experiences on which hosting is best. Specifically my questions are:
- Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok. - If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine". - Is there a better/easier way?
Your help would be greatly appreciated!
All the best from Vienna, Andreas _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz https://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Greetings,
... install Koha for ... a small association... we have no ... IT team.
good back story.
After some research I found providers offering "root servers" or "managed servers" which are a little costly (about € 30,- a month).
Well, I'll pipe in another voice for Digital Ocean. We host on the $20/month server and we're starting to bloat. I think we'll be bouncing up to $40/month for the extra ram (we're operating like a consortium). From what you say, I'd recommend starting with the $10/month.
- Are there any recommended hosting companies and products? It would be best if they were in Austria or Germany but also abroad ist ok.
Digital Ocean has Frankfurt servers. I recently had the pleasure of our backup system failing, and needing to migrate our backup processes. We chose Frankfurt, because Digital Ocean let's you attach Block Storage. This would also be handy if you plan on hosting a lot of PDF's, etc. for your 856$u references. :)
- If I get a root server will I be able to install it only with the Installation instructions? I am proficient with the command line and I already installed and set up Koha on a "virtual machine".
If you have succeeded at setting up on a virtual machine on a desktop, a host setup with any "root servers" (as you call them) is going to essentially be the same.
- Is there a better/easier way?
Not that gives you *dramatic voice* ultimate power *regular voice* over your data and configuration settings. The beauty of hosting is as another person pointed out: snapshots and backups. Also, they provide and maintain the hardware for your software. No more budgeting to buy a new server every 5 years. And another benefit, offsite backups. If your building floods, burns down, or is destroyed... your data is safe. Granted, taking a backup and storing it locally would be good too, but effectively the "offsite backup" portion of a good backup plan would already be handled. I've heard stories of horrible data loss due to poor backup plans. May you succeed in finding what you want to meet your hosting needs. GPML, Mark Tompsett
participants (8)
-
Andreas Resch -
David Liddle -
Indranil Das Gupta -
Karam Qubsi -
King, Fred -
Lennon Mazonde -
Mark Alexander -
Mark Tompsett