Modx in the Cloud

Does anyone have any experience running Modx on a cloud platform like Rackspace, Joyent or Aptana? I’m currently working on a site that will likely outgrow the capacity of our 1and1 shared server at some point, and I’m trying to get an idea of what the best solution would be for running Modx in the Cloud. I’d like to have a solution figured out before any issues develop in our current setup.

Also, when utilizing a cloud platform for running apps, would you keep all media files on the cloud server, or would you use the cloud app in combination with some type of Content Delivery Network for streaming video and large files?

-matt

I prefer my sites on a vps than a cloud if they outgrow a shared environment. That said I do have clients on Cloud Sites(mosso) and Media Temple. Setup is pretty straight forward.

Cloud hosting and CDN don’t really have much to do with each other. You can take advantage of the benefits of a CDN even if you are on a shared hosting account for large files or/and static.

Storage of the files depends on the cloud setup, but having files on a cloud doesn’t mean its a cdn.

hi there,

i’m running several modx sites on cloud setups (spread across both rackspace cloud and mediatemple). Personally, i prefer rackspace cloud, however if you go for the rackspace server, you’ll need a server admin or GOOD working knowledge of setting up your own web server. However, the rackspace cloud sites is brilliant and scalable and comes with fanatical support (but its $100 a month compared to $10 a month to start with Rackspace cloud server).

If i recall, mediatemple are currently trialing a few new systems including a vps setup. checkout mediatemple labs as that might be a good way forward (google it).

i’ve had great performance from running modx on cloud servers - probably as good as some of the dedicated server setups we’ve done for clients (dedicated mysql, web and mail servers all load balanced). really depends on your budget, but cloud is good if you go with a good company like MT or Rackspace.

Hope this helps - just let me know if you want more info
André

Quote from: andre at Nov 01, 2009, 01:50 AM

However, the rackspace cloud sites is brilliant and scalable and comes with fanatical support (but its $100 a month compared to $10 a month to start with Rackspace cloud server).

Thanks for the responses! I’m ok with setting up servers but not great. I’m going to do some more research on the "rackspace cloud sites" that you mentioned.

Do you use a Content Delivery Network in addition to Rackspace?

hey,

sorry for the delayed reply. We tend to use CDN’s (amazon s3) for our static file delivery system and then run the modx install from the cloud. All depends on your budget but rackspace also do rackspace files in the cloud which you can use for cdn in conjunction with either server or sites setup. the charge is also per unit, not a flat monthly fee or something like that, so if its all setup properly, it can be really well priced.

hope this helps!
André

Yes - it was definitely helpful. I’ve talked with Rackspace and I think we’ll probably go that route just as soon as we get up and running and have a few paying members to justify the cost. Does amazon s3 have some way of protecting URL access for member-only access? When I talked with Rackspace they said that they use limelight for cloud storage, but (with limelight) once a URL is public there’s now way to authenticate whether a user can access it or not via the limelight CDN structure.

Amazon recently announced secured delivery for Cloudfront, their CDN built on top of S3.

Cool! - That looks like exactly what I need. Now I just have to figure out how to work with their API. Thanks!