Hosting: Website and Server Access FAQs

WHAT is the difference between shared and dedicated hosting?

Orbit relies on the platform-based hosting providers like WP Engine and Pantheon for hosting WordPress and Drupal websites. Their platforms are becoming more robust every year through upgrades of the underlying hardware and software configured for virtual server implementations – which is the long way of saying “cloud-based hosting.”

Nowadays, a dedicated environment is simply one cloud instance limited to your website, while shared hosting will use the same dedicated environment but put multiple websites on it. Any dedicated environment can be configured with more CPU, RAM, resources and storage. And a large one can easily serve 20-30 low traffic websites. Thus, Orbit can provide shared hosting on a premium level WP Engine server giving many clients the benefits if an expensive environment at a fraction of the cost.

WHAT happens if we outgrow shared hosting?

WP Engine’s platform was built to quickly migrate to different plans and servers. If your website exceeds the performance limits for shared hosting, Orbit would recommend moving to your own dedicated plan.

Depending on the cost of the plan or your business needs, Orbit may request that you open your own business level account with WP Engine or Pantheon, and Orbit would continue to offer managed website and support services.

What access does Orbit hosting provide to my website?

The content management system allows you to update almost all content on your website. It also includes features to upload and manage media assets such as images, pdfs, and any static html files. There is a 10GB storage limit on shared hosting environments. Upon client request and Orbit review:

• FTP access via SFTP to allow uploading of large media assets and/or data
• MySQL access with a restricted user account via network access
• Access to a git repository for outside development of non-proprietary code

What is the process for updating my Drupal or WordPress website hosted by Orbit?

Orbit Support is available to field your request or issue.

Should you require access to do your own development, we will provide a Git repository. You would use the Git repository to create your own development environment, then submit all changes to the repository. Orbit will be made aware of the pull request, review the changed code, and will provide a plan to make changes live.

What are the options for full access to my website or the server?

Orbit’s Mighty-Site® hosted service is a proprietary system, and full access to code and the server is not available.

Full access to Drupal or WordPress websites is available with dedicated hosting. In this scenario:

• Hosting on your own server is an option*.
• You can get your own server with a service like Pantheon that allows for development, testing, and production environments. The client is responsible for the server or hosting environment account and payment with that provider.
• Orbit provides a Managed Website Services agreement to provide CMS updates and hosting provider support
• In either situation, Orbit can remain a support resource to your website upon request (See our Support Policy).

What are the requirements or recommendations for hosting WordPress or Drupal?

Orbit strongly recommends using platform-based hosting providers like WP Engine, Pantheon, or Acquia to ensure the best service for your website.  These platforms provide development and test environments allowing for multiple parties to maintain code and content. However if you prefer to self-host here are the minimal hardware and software requirements for your servers:

If Orbit does not host your website, but you would like us to support it, we will need a method to transfer files and data to and from the hosting environment (FTP or git via ssh for example)

Recommended Requirements for Orbit Support

• A shell account accessible via ssh, with access to web document root
• Access to MySQL database, either via MySQL’s local command-line client, phpMyAdmin or network access
• Access to web and database log files
• Git and the ability to write to a local git repository

*Where Orbit is not hosting or providing managed website services, Orbit’s support responsibility is to code developed or implemented by Orbit.