Switch from vendor CMS to self-hosting

[wbcderek]

We currently are using e-zekiel as our vendored CMS, but would like to switch to doing our own. Wondering if others out there have done this and what pros and cons you have had with this switch.

[iamcam]

We're in the process of planning our own custom CMS here at Flood (still the very early stages). There is a LOT to think about, and it is a ton of work, especially if there is only a small number of people developing the site together.

It is nice being able to have everything just-so with a custom CMS. The site design and the way things are done are the way you need/want them to be instead of having to design around somebody else's idea of what a CMS should be. While this is nice, you'll also have to consider your resources. If you don't really have the people power or the time, a standard CMS system may still be your safest route. On the other hand, even minimal cms-like functions on a few pages can help things out tremendously.

Keep us updated!

[wbcderek]

Cameron,

You're obviously already a step ahead of us as ours is an online CMS that we must pay monthly for as well as for our steaming hosting, also all the additionals such as more email addresses, stats, etc. Currently it's running about $100 a month, plus our DSL costs.

Big question I guess is once you purchase or have designed a CMS, what are your ongoing costs to keep online, etc.

I'd like to begin hosting on-site, it eliminate some of those cost as well as be able to some custom features that haven't been available on our current vendor.

Derek

[iamcam]

wbcderek,

The ongoing cost really depends on the nature of the CMS you choose. There are many free open-source software projects out there (mambo, phpNuke, postNuke, Xoops, etc) which do a great job. Of course writing one yourself only is free but costs much time.

We've been fortunate so far in that our hosting has been donated to us, however we are looking to move to our own equipment eventually to relieve the burden our site is putting on the administrator (our donor), current servers and network.

Several companies offer dedicated hosting for around $100-150/month, which isn't bad considering you receive total control over your own computer, control panel software of some sort, an entire disk drive worth of space, bandwidth, people to fix it if something breaks, etc. It really isn't a bad idea considering the up-front costs of buying a comparable server, network capabilities, backup, administration, etc. I'd be interested to see a long-term cost comparison of comparable on-site vs off-site hosting.

[Greiggy]

I'm working on a fairly minimal budget. I have Unix-based hosting with more than enough capacity -- can't remember the amounts but it wouldn't be an issue except for a commerce site -- and it has all the bells and whistles for PERL, php etc, good control panel and PERSONAL SERVICE! If I have to wait 2hrs for a response, that's a long time. All for ?40 a year (around $70 I suppose). It is a Christian company with a definite ethical code, which my church wanted -- called Christianhosts and/or Godsweb. As this is a Christian co dedicated to serving people like us it seems fair to give them a plug (but sorry if I have transgressed).

I'm thinking of adding an off-the-shelf CM package which will cost $125 but I can use this on other sites as well, and there's an annual licence but only about $57.

It can be done at low cost if you find the right people.

[David Gillaspey]

It is a Christian company with a definite ethical code, which my church wanted -- called Christianhosts and/or Godsweb. As this is a Christian co dedicated to serving people like us it seems fair to give them a plug (but sorry if I have transgressed).Mentioning specific names of products or companies on this forum is generally OK with me. However, for one particular thread I started to compare web hosting plans, I felt it best to not mention such specifics. But that does not reflect any general policy prohibiting the mentioning of product names or company names.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
Administrator

[srmcatee]

Hello,

We use a CMS system for us that is affordable and provides great functionality. You can see our site at http://broadway.churchledger.com.

Steve