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Sep
6
(2006)
Running stuff on Other People’s Servers sucks
Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: rants.
I’m doing a couple of projects that involve writing some custom code and deploying it on Other People’s Servers. The code works great locally and on my server. I can run through the entire thing, and it works great.
Then, I move it to Client’s Colocated Server That Is Managed By A Third Party. It’s completely locked down. Like I can’t even use which to find commands in bash. Like I had to grovel for MySQL command line access (and was eventually granted mysql - but not mysqladmin access). Want a text editor? Yeah… We haven’t enabled your account to see any of those. Want to run your custom code? Yeah… It’ll fail for some unknown reason. Access to the error log so you can debug it? Nah…
I don’t know if I’m just a total control freak, or have been totally spoiled by having my own servers for so long (or both) but I feel like I’m hobbled. I can still do the project, but every little task takes at least an order of magnitude longer as I have to find workarounds or wait for things to be “enabled” for our use. Frustrating.
I could install the entire frakking project on my Dreamhost account with more than enough bandwidth, disk space and bandwidth to spare. And it would run perfectly without these silly and arbitrary “security” precautions getting in the way. But the terms of the project won’t allow that.
If Dreamhost can let me hammer away on a shared server with full access to any service and command that I can think of, why on earth is it acceptable for this other server to be so locked down? If I had the cash, I’d pick up an XServe or a Blade or something and just host the damned thing myself. It’d be easier and more efficient in the long run.
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6 Responses to “Running stuff on Other People’s Servers sucks”
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Hi D’Arcy-
First rule we adopted long ago on building sites for clients-
our server - or bust.
Something goes wrong- it takes a whole lot less time to determine if it’s their ISP, their network, their individual computer- or something on our end.
When only one person is having a problem- it’s not our fault-
when 20 clients start contacting you- we’ve done something wrong.
Welcome to our world-
and- the rule is- your server- or they pay a LOT more.
I shouldn’t stick my head in places I don’t understand, but what the hey!
Is Amazon’s EC2 a possible solution to this sort of problem, or is it a whole different kettle of fish?
Amazon’s out as well. The requirement is that the servers be managed by Canadian companies, on Canadian soil, on Canadian networks - the only surefire way to avoid (for now) the Patriot Act and having student records secured from random inspection by The Man.
Same problem here. For $20 a month I can far more control and spend 75% less time on web projects if I moved them off campus servers. The security restrictions make it nearly impossible to work as you have to request everything and if you are wrong the sys admin doesn’t know what you were trying to do so you waste both your and his/her time.
Drives me nuts… nuts! I don’t blame the sys admins as they aren’t the ones that make decisions. They aren’t crazy about the situation either.
I should have specified - these are for after-hours projects. For my on-campus ones, I stick to servers that I (co-)manage, for just that reason.