With effect from 1st April 2021 I will be offering website hosting on a higher performance hosting platform based on a Virtual Private Server (VPS). This means I have total control over the memory loading, processor loading, disk input/ output, network bandwidth for the VPS.
Where you are located currently this is in shared hosting which can be affected by other websites and functions sharing the same platform. I can now offer an upgrade path to higher performance.
The difference is faster access speeds and responses. Editing is notably faster too, I am developing all of my new sites in this space now.
The current fees for shared hosting with me, is £5/ month per account paid annually in advance.
If you wish to move to the higher performance hosting with dedicated resources the cost will rise to £10/ month paid in advance. Should anyone wish to move back to shared hosting, I will move them back within 28 days and refund any balance. So migration to and from the higher performance system is risk free.
Owncloud private cloud file sharing platform
If you move over to the VPS high performance hosting system I will also add in an OwnCloud file sharing platform into the hosting as well. I cannot do this in shared hosting, but because I effectively purchase disk space, I can use it for other things.
Why might file sharing be important?
We have all been locked down for pretty much 12 months. We have had to learn to work remotely, so people that used to touch base every now and again, or visit an office have not been able to do that.
OwnCloud provides a private and secure storage area on the server within your account. The nominated person in your organisation will access it to configure it and manage it, or I can do this for you. For your staff, or your trustees, or your volunteers; each person will have an account on the system. They download a free program on their computer, run it and log in. What happens now and subsequently every time they turn their computer on; a directory on their disk drive synchronises with a virtual folder in the cloud, and subject to access permissions, synchronises with it. It remains in synchronisation with the server while the computer is powered on. It works with Windows and Mac computers.
This means all of the nominated people can work locally on shared documents. Any changes are copied back to the cloud, and then sent to everyone else automatically.
Each account has a password and user name which is private to the person accessing the system. So you have complete access control. This system is much more robust than having a password protected page, because in this case it is much more secure, and depending on write and access permissions everyone can both read and write to the common storage area.
I already use a password protected page on my site
A password protected page limits the ability of the public to view something in a website, but it is a common password shared by a lot of people. Apart from the administrator, all participants are read only. It works fine, but it has limitations.
If you are in a group working on and sharing documents, this system is much more effective and secure.
A practical example of how it works
Many of the people I provide support to are worried about their IT skills. One of the benefits of this system after it is installed, is it works in the background.
Let’s assume we have Fred who is the chair, working with Sarah and Peter who are Trustees. Sarah owns the task of revising a policy. Peter and the Chair have signoff on it. If they have this system installed on their computers, it will work as follows:
Sarah starts working at 6pm, loads the old version of the policy into MS Word and starts to work on it. As she is working she adds notes into the document suggesting things to change. She saves the document locally on her disk drive in a special “OwnCloud” folder. When she saves it a copy is also passed back to the server on the internet as her copy is re-synchronised with the server automatically.
At 7pm Fred turns on his computer. A short time later his OwnCloud folder has synchronised with the server and a copy of Sarah’s working document has been downloaded. He can now review this. Make his own copy of the document, add his comments in and save it locally. When he saves it locally it also resynchronises with server and the file is uploaded back to the cloud.
At 8pm Peter turns on his computer. It synchronises with the server and finds two new documents. One from Sarah and one from Peter. He can open both and see Sarah’s original comments, and another version with the chair’s comments.
Peter appends his comments to the version that the chair raised and saves it locally. It is automatically synchronised with the server again.
Meanwhile Sarah left her computer on the whole time. As the variants were uploaded to the cloud, they were downloaded to Sarah’s disk drive, so she can see other people are working on the files.
Summary
OwnCloud is a very powerful system with lots of parameters which can be controlled by the administrator, including who can see and edit what. It will significantly help with remote collaboration.
Owncloud Provided with VPS hosting
If you move your website into the VPS hosting, I will add in an Owncloud private storage area and set it up for your users. You will have initially 3GB of storage space on the server. So this system is really for documents, not images. Things like Policies and Procedures are a good example of where this system can provide benefits. More storage is available if you need it, but it will be priced in increments.
There will also be a non refundable fee of £50 for setting up the OwnCloud system and documenting how it is configured. Training will be provided to your administrator.
