Frustration and a sense of despair...

[mudd]

Our company was previously hosted by EarthLink. We had decided to change do to frequent down time and a limited stack of capabilities.

Upon coming to HostGator, we were hoping to be able to run 2 programs through our site:

TimeTrex Time and Attendance
-and-
OrangeHRM

After much frustration, and much to my dismay I was unable to use either do to two problems.

1. InnoDB databases are not able to be used on shared hosts (which is shown to be available in phpMyadmin) (needed for orangehrm).
2. PHP memory limits are set in stone (timetrex).


This is very frustrating, especially because of the amount of money involved in a dedicated server and the amount of time spent trying to get each app to work before tech support finally telling me that those two issues existed.

The purpose of using OrangeHRM and TimeTrex was the fact that they are free. We are a medium sized ambulance company with very little resources for our IT, so the dedicated server is out of the question for us.

Now it seems that the only thing I did was give us more web space to waste by not using it. I have been trying to talk the owners of this company into buying a server for quite some time now, but this has been futile. I had a shimmer of hope that I could use our website to compensate for something, but I was wrong. Not only do I feel stupid now, but I also feel frustrated about the whole thing. I don't see what the problem is with being able to use InnoDB.

Sorry for the rant of frustration, but this has just been a hassle.

However, despite the lack of capabilities, if all you want is a plain old website, then HostGator is great.

[GatorFord]

1. InnoDB databases are not able to be used on shared hosts (which is shown to be available in phpMyadmin) (needed for orangehrm).

InnoDB databases are still available on some of our older or original server setups where we did not disable InnoDB, you *may* be able to talk to sales about getting you moved to an InnoDB capable server. Keep in mind, that InnoDB storage engine is *MUCH* more likely to have data corruption than MyISAM so your database(s), which is why we no longer support InnoDB

2. PHP memory limits are set in stone (timetrex).

On our shared and reseller servers you must understand that if everyone had a higher limit, everyone would suffer. If the installation for the software needs a temporary boost in the php_memory limit, open a ticket and we can up the limit for you temporarily until it's installed properly, and then revert back down to get everything sorted for you.

We'd like to keep your business and I think this is just a misunderstanding. Please PM me a ticket number and I'll get this all sorted out for you. Thanks!

[mudd]

I wanted to bump this thread so I could clear some things up.

1. I always have and always will think HostGator is the best web hosting service available, and especially for the cost.

2. My gripe is not about HostGator as a whole. Rather it was frustration with being told by some support that I could do things which turned out I could not. I just wish someone would have pointed it out when I asked how to use the innodb or increase php memory limits right away. Maybe I just wasn't asking the right questions.

I have recommended HostGator to everyone I know who wants a website, and I run my own website here. I was just hoping that if there was a clearly stated "Not suitable for running some web applications" statement on the bottom of the shared hosting specs it would prevent this kind of confusion.

I have to change this to a positive review if possible. After all, it was my own *ahem* noob-ness that caused much of this frustration. And despite that, Brent still tried to rectify the situation by emailing me personally.

Thanks, and sorry for the whining previously.