V10.08 August 2008

0. Introduction.
1. New... 50GB Free Personal Backups!
2. New... First week of DreamHost PS free!
3. New... https://demo.dreamhost.com/!
4. New... Getting SSL certs is easier!
5. Remember: mod_fcgid and xcache for PHP!
6. DHSOTM


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0. Introduction.

Man, I was *sooo* close to just making this newsletter a combined August
September one (the DreamHost Saugust Newsletter), seeing as how this has
GOT to be the latest I've EVER been in sending a newsletter (not to
mention probably the first time on a SATURDAY). But then I thought, "No,
why should YOU poor people suffer for MY languor?"

But, I have a good excuse. I was waiting for Apple to approve my AWESOME
iPhone app:

http://blog.dreamhost.com/2008/09/12/arguing-on-the-internet/

Read it for ALL the exciting details, and even some SPOILERS for the
rest of this newsletter! Also, take the time to vote for us as the BEST
corporate blog in the world; you know it's true, and you know we only
need four more votes to clinch it. You don't want to force me to sign up
for even MORE fake blogger's choice award accounts, right?


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1. New... 50GB Free Personal Backups!

I've noticed my newsletters seem to have less and less themes recently.

Well, except for last month, I guess that had the Olympic theme. I guess
by recently, I mean really recently; like really, REALLY recently. Like,
just this newsletter.

In keeping with my no-theme theme, uh oh, I think I just made a destroy-
the-universe-LHC-style self-contradiction, here's a new feature that
pretty much has nothing to do with anything I said in the introduction!

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=users.backup

Now, you know how we give out a LOT of disk space with our hosting? Well
technically that space is only supposed to be used for your _actual_ web
site (and email / database stuff) .. not as an online backup for your
music, pictures, videos, other servers, etc!

Well, just like every other web host does, we've been sort of cracking
down on that some lately, and it seems to catch some people by surprise!
Nobody likes being surprised, especially in the shower, which is where
we typically brought it up, and so now we offer a solution:

You CAN use 50GB of your disk space for backups now! The only caveat is,
it's a separate ftp (or sftp) user on a separate server and it can't
serve any web pages. There are also NO BACKUPS kept of THESE backups
(they should already BE your backups, not your only copy), and if you go
over 50GB, extra space is only 10 cents a GB a month (a.k.a. cheap)!


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2. New... First week of DreamHost PS free!

This section IS sort of keeping with the theme of the newsletter, if
that theme is "the most recent blog post at blog.dreamhost.com," that is!

So, we noticed one of the biggest questions people had about signing up
for a DreamHost PS (our neat-o/hassle-free/even MORE flexible virtual
private server offering) was that they didn't KNOW how much memory to
choose when they signed up:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=vserver.provision

And the truth was, neither did we. How could we, we're idiots!

But what we told people was, don't worry, just pick a level and then
once you're moved over you'll see if it was too much or too little, and
you'll only be charged a few cents during the time you figure it out.

People didn't like that though, because these days you can buy a lot of
gas with just a few cents, and it WAS a pretty lame solution.

And then, last week: _total_ brain storm! What if we just gave everybody
the MAX memory possible for FREE for the first week of their DreamHost
PS, and then at the end of the week AUTOMATICALLY adjusted it to the
right level for them (unless they'd already manually adjusted it, in
which case we'd leave it alone)?!

ALL PROBLEMS SOLVED.

So that's exactly what we've now done!


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3. New... https://demo.dreamhost.com/!

And yet another biggest question people have before signing up for us AT
ALL, is "Do you guys have cpanel?" And our answer was always, "WHAYEAH!?"

Well, now our answer can be, "YES, WE DO!"

https://demo.dreamhost.com/

If that doesn't look like cpanel to you, it's because I was just kidding.

No, we don't offer cpanel and no, we never will, not because it sucks,
necessarily, but we like to say so. Mostly it's because we already wrote
our own and we don't have to pay for it. Not to mention it is 100% the
best web panel in the world, and now we can prove it to people BEFORE
they plunk down their cold hard credit card digits.

And that should hopefully mean a better chance for YOU to get REWARDS
when you send somebody our way:

http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting-rewards.html

And don't worry, even though it LOOKS like you can do absolutely
_everything_ in our demo panel, it's all going to a completely separate
database and so nothing ever ACTUALLY happens. Total brain storm.


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4. New... Getting SSL certs is easier!

Okay, I'm starting to run out of features here, but I like having around
five, so:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=domain.manage

Did you know you could manage your domains at our web panel? NICE.

More specifically, we've now integrated our panel with GeoTrust's API
for creating/renewing SSL certs with them, so if you get a certificate
from us, it's no more emailing back and forth and linking around, and
all that gw bush league stuff. It just works how you'd sort of expect it
to based on how the rest of our panel works. All in one nice place, like
a house by a lake in the country.


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5. Remember: mod_fcgid, mod_php, and xcache saves memory!

Okay, let's see if I've got this straight. Dallas says we currently use
mod_fastcgi for our FastCGI option you might see when you edit or add a
domain at:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=domain.manage

BUT, on DreamHost PS NOW, and someday SOON on "regular" DreamHosting,
we're using mod_fcgid instead.. which is the same thing but is supposed
to work better overall and is still being actively developed.

PLUS.. if you're on DreamHost PS and turn on PHP xcache to go along with
it:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=vserver.settings

"Holy CRAP is it good!" says Dallas. "For example, one guy's DreamHost
PS went from a load of 20 to *1* as soon as all his dynamic PHP content
started getting handled with mod_fcgid and xcache."

There's mod_php in those settings too, which also works so goooood, but
doesn't run your php as your own user and is maybe a little bit weirder
about a couple of things.

(If you're doing Ruby on Rails, of course still use Passenger!)


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6. DHSOTM

This is a definite first for a DreamHost Site of the Month winner... a
personal blog/home page site that doesn't use flash won?!

http://www.chrisstreeter.com/

I'm almost thinking he must have done a little ballot-stuffing, but alas,
I can find no evidence of it, and so I believe his clean layout, nifty
Google maps integration, and nice random rotation of header pics won the
day!

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=home.dhsotm

Is where to go to win the tomorrow!


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Won the Yesterday,
Josh Jones

P.S. Will there be no tomorrow for you, newsletter-wise?

https://panel.dreamhost.com/id/?tab=contact

URL source: http://wiki.dreamhost.com/V10.08_August_2008

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