Plesk or Helm on Windows Server 2003

[jasuk1970]

Hi,
I am currently waiting on problems with my recently re-installed server which has been suffering what seems like a string hardware failures. It is basically a new machine now (The disk was the final thing to die) Every time I have had to do a re-install I have always had a problem with the Plesk installation, it seems different every time. And because of this my websites have now been down for 2 days now. (The latest issue is still being investigated).

Due to all these Plesk issues. I am seriously considering switching to a different control panel. But I dont want to leap out of the frying pan and into the fire. Have people experienced problems with Helm? How does it compare to Plesk. (I am also interested to know if other people have issues with plesk on windows too)

Jason

[EDIT]
To add insult to injury, I have tried copying the backup files created BY Plesk before the windows re-install using the ftp tool in Plesk and I get the message:

Error: The file 2007-08-25-Full Backup is not a valid Plesk domain backup file.

I hope no one else is relying on these backups in Plesk. :mad:

[DXD]

Hi,
I am currently waiting on problems with my recently re-installed server which has been suffering what seems like a string hardware failures. It is basically a new machine now (The disk was the final thing to die) Every time I have had to do a re-install I have always had a problem with the Plesk installation, it seems different every time. And because of this my websites have now been down for 2 days now. (The latest issue is still being investigated).

Due to all these Plesk issues. I am seriously considering switching to a different control panel. But I dont want to leap out of the frying pan and into the fire. Have people experienced problems with Helm? How does it compare to Plesk. (I am also interested to know if other people have issues with plesk on windows too)

Jason

[EDIT]
To add insult to injury, I have tried copying the backup files created BY Plesk before the windows re-install using the ftp tool in Plesk and I get the message:

Error: The file 2007-08-25-Full Backup is not a valid Plesk domain backup file.

I hope no one else is relying on these backups in Plesk. :mad:

Control Panels should not be considered GOOD ADMIN REPLACMENTS. No Control panel will solve all of your problems. All control panels have their own sets of issues. All control panels have different features and different ways of doing things. Things that work in Plesk may not work or exist in HELM and things that work in HELM may not work or exist in Plesk.

I always say if you didn't have a control panel at all could you do what needed to be done to host websites without it? If you can't maybe you shouldn't be hosting on your own server but reselling for someone else that does know. There will always be days where the control panel can't do something or becomes broken and you will be the one responsible for fixing it and if you can your screwed.

That said I prefer HELM. I'm actually using HELM 4 although SB doesn't offer that as an option yet if you buy or lease your own licenses you can install it yourself. Sure its' got some bugs still but I get by because things that don't work yet I can do manually.

[jasuk1970]

For me its a hobby more than anything else. I'm not running a business with it. But I do use it for development on asp.net applications which is also a hobby.

A control Panel makes it easy for me to host sites for friends etc. (I'm not charging them and doing it as a favour)

One of which has become a quite popular forum for a on-line game community. Unfortunately due to all these plesk issues I cannot get the site back up again. I cannot create a physical hosting domain and it will not recognise the backups that were made before the hardware change as valid backups. (They are zip files without the .zip and can be extracted with no issues)

I am intending on learning about IIS configuration/administration etc. in due course but at the moment, I need something that can easily host sites for me and friends. while I learn. Unfortunately Plesk is turning in to a pain in the neck. (I think for me and SB who are trying to get it working properly)

Jas

[chavez]

I don't have much to add to DXD's comments. It does seem like Helm has a steeper learning curve initially, but is more flexible.

That said I prefer HELM. I'm actually using HELM 4 although SB doesn't offer that as an option yet if you buy or lease your own licenses you can install it yourself.

We released Helm 4 a couple of weeks ago. It is now installed by default on all new Helm servers. :)

[jasuk1970]

I am still without Plesk running, How easy would it be to switch to Helm? I do not mind the learning curve as long as the simple creation of a domain is achievable quite quickly.

Thanks for the comments.

Jas

[DXD]

Oh, wasn't aware of that. I figured SB would wait till more of the bugs are worked out of it.

[jasuk1970]

Thanks for the comments. I am very disillusioned with Plesk at the moment (SWSoft seemed to be taking for ever to look into the issue), so have asked SB to re-install with Helm 4.

I am currently waiting for this to complete and hopefully will have my sites up again soon. Touch wood and crosses fingers legs and arms :)

Jas

[DXD]

Lot's of info at http://forums.webhostautomation.com on HELM

Also check out http://tutorials.helm4.com/GettingStartedWithHelm4 it will give you alot of insite into how HELM 4 works

[jasuk1970]

Thanks for the links, the tutorial video was really helpful in getting me up and running.

After an initial hicup and worry about Helm not getting installed correctly (Its late and I'm tired and it was a Doh! moment), I've now got everything set up. Ad am about to try and create my first domain.

I've joined the helm forums so expect lots to stupid questions there :)

Jas

[jasuk1970]

Just a quick question. SB are trying to resolve this issue but I seem to have got in the jumping out of the frying pan into the fire routine.

When trying to add the local server (1st step in setting up Helm) I end up with the following event in the event log and a non response on the webpage:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: .NET Runtime 2.0 Error Reporting
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 8/29/2007
Time: 8:08:44 AM
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER10
Description:
EventType clr20r3, P1 w3wp.exe, P2 6.0.3790.3959, P3 45d6968e, P4 wha.network, P5 1.0.0.0, P6 46b89da2, P7 23, P8 180, P9 system.exception, P10 NIL.

Is this a common issue?

[jasuk1970]

Just did another web search and found the solution. I was using the wrong port number but instead of reporting an error it crashed.

Jas