Testing URL

Hi There, I'm interested in signing up with dreamhost and just wanted to check a couple of things. I'm hoping to sign up tonight so thought I would get a quicker reply in here.

1. When creating a sub hosting account, am I able to set up a testing url to test the site during development before pointing the domain name over?

2. Can I connect to MySQL using localhost?

3. Can I create users and give them limited access to their own cpanel account so they can manage their own hosting account (i.e. adding emails, etc)?

4. What is the server speed like, does anyone have any sites they host on dreamhost that I could take a look at to see what the speed is like?

Thanks in advance.

Edited by someusername on 11/27/07 07:18 PM (server time).

1. You can set up subdomains.dreamhosters.com.

2. Yes, but you have to add your IP to a list.

3. Yes, but the control is not fine-grained.

4. It varies. See wiki.dreamhost.com and look for DHSOTM.

tor.eff.org
Promos: MaxTOR: Save Maximum TOR: Save Maximum and give $1 to TOREdited by Tor on 11/27/07 07:20 PM (server time).

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1. When creating a sub hosting account, am I able to set up a testing url to test the site during development before pointing the domain name over?

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Yes. There are instructions in the DreamHost wiki for viewing your site before DNS change

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2. Can I connect to MySQL using localhost?

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No, you have to use a DreamHost host, but you *can* connect to it remotely (from your own computer or another host) when configured appropriately - you can set this up in the Control Panel

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3. Can I create users and give them limited access to their own cpanel account so they can manage their own hosting account (i.e. adding emails, etc)?

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Yes, but understand that *you* remain accountable under the TOS for everything they do. Also, DreamHost does *not* use cPanel - I think their custom Control Panel, and shell access is *much* more useful and powerful than cPanel.

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4 . What is the server speed like, does anyone have any sites they host on dreamhost that I could take a look at to see what the speed is like?

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I find the speed to be fine, others may have different opinions. It has everything to do with how efficiently as site is coded. There are a lot of examples of DreamHost hosted sites to be found in the list of DreamHost Sites of the Month.

--rlparker

Thanks so much for your help and I think I'll move ahead with dreamhost. One last question for you.

Currently my site and client sites are being hosted elsewhere an on the signup page for DH it asks me to enter my first domain to host. I assume this is my master domain. Am I ok to put in my domain name being hosted elsewhere and change the DNS settings later?

I'm actually hoping to set up some new client sites before I move my own site over, can you foresee any issues with this?

Thanks again

Thanks heaps for your reply much appreciated and really did help!

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Currently my site and client sites are being hosted elsewhere an on the signup page for DH it asks me to enter my first domain to host. I assume this is my master domain. Am I ok to put in my domain name being hosted elsewhere and change the DNS settings later?

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No, there is no master domain here at dreamhost. It's not a cpanel setup at all. You can just choose to not name any domain up front and just add domains to host later. The default setup for web directories for domains is /home/yourusername/yourdomain.tld, /home/yourusername/yourotherdomain.tld, /home/yourotherusername/subdomain.yetanotherdomain.tld, etc.

Yes, you would do fine by putting your domain name in and changing DNS later. In fact, doing just that is one of the ways of setting up your domain and testing it before you switch over DNS from your old site.

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I'm actually hoping to set up some new client sites before I move my own site over, can you foresee any issues with this?

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Nope, that's fine too. You can host any number of domains and subdomains in any order you want.

BTW, when you say you want to test out speed, do you mean download speed or speed of execution of sites?

Wonderful and thanks to everyone who got back to me so quickly, this is really great stuff.

All sounds good and I think I've got it sorted now thanks.

In terms of site speed, I was referring to execution of sites.

Cheers.