[zenerdiode]

Hello all,

I am a engineering contractor with approximately 20 "customers". I would like to set up a website where each customer can "sign in" to 1) retreive CAD models I design for them and 2) send me CAD models they want me to work on. These files range from 5MB to 300MB and I probably transfer 5 files a week.

Could someone with experience recommend a hosting plan for this level of activity.

Additionally, since I'm a newbie at web design, I would also appreciate it very much if someone could point me to a tutorial on how to create these "accounts" for my customers to login to.

Thanks for all your help

[Raz2133]

Quote:Could someone with experience recommend a hosting plan for this level of activity.

Any of the shared hosting plans should be able to handle this level of traffic easily, so you might as well save yourself some money and go with the level 1 plan.

Quote:I would also appreciate it very much if someone could point me to a tutorial on how to create these "accounts" for my customers to login to.

There are quite a few ways you can achieve what you want. One option would be to create a new machine user and sub-domain for each of your 'customers' and provide them with the FTP log-in details for these, they could then upload the files using an FTP client. There are a few 'issues' with doing it this way, mainly to do with file permissions, but they can be overcome with a little extra configuration.

Probably a better option would be to obtain a script to handle the uploads, this way your 'customers' would be able to upload their files using nothing more than their web browsers. There are many such scripts that are freely available and most will work fine here at DreamHost. A good place to look for such a script is...

http://www.hotscripts.com

There is one issue that you might run into with this second option. If the script is written in PHP, then it will be limited to ~7MByte for the uploads, obviously this is not adequate for your needs. Thankfully, this PHP limitation can be overcome by installing a local copy of the PHP executable and PHP.ini file in your domain, but this procedure is a little involved and if you are not familiar with the SHELL, you might have difficulty.

Mark

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[seiler]

Quote:Please recommend a plan for a beginner

Beginner or not, I'd say go with the cheapest plan. You can always upgrade (and downgrade) from the panel at any time, if needed.

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[Raz2133]

Quote:You can always upgrade (and downgrade) from the panel at any time, if needed.

A good point and upgrading/downgrading at DreamHost is as slick as it gets. There is no need to contact support, it can all be done via the panel with absolutely no downtime or inconvenience and any pre-paid credit you have with your current plan will automatically be used to offset the new plan cost.

Mark

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[zenerdiode]

thanks for the input folks. the link to hotscripts helps a lot.

what do you think of this particular script?

http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/5947.html

[Raz2133]

Quote:http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/5947.html

PHP-Nuke is a full Content Management System (CMS) and to be honest, I think it would be a complete overkill for your requirements.

I recall rlparker recommended a couple of (non-PHP) scripts in a recent thread, I'll see if I can find the thread...

Here you go...

http://discussion.dreamhost.com/showthre...#Post64185

I have not used these scripts myself, but rlparker is a very 'switched on' individual, if he says they are good, then they probably are.

Mark

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[nathan823]

the good point is as what DH says.

You can always try out. They guarantee 97 days money back. That is the longest time I've seen so far.

agree with the above posted. any plan will do. maybe you'll go for the cheapest one.

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[Mojo]

Quote:They guarantee 97 days money back.

read the small print, the guarantee is for "Credit card and Google Checkout payments only."

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