A hosted server and Movable Type looking likely

I've had some helpful suggestions for the next step in the evolution of my blogs (do I stay with TypePad, upgrading to the Pro service level, or switch to a hosted server solution and run my own blogs).

In combining those suggestions with ones I've already had, plus my own thinking, things are leaning towards the hosted server solution. And I would very likely use Movable Type for my blogs; more on that in a minute.

So I've been looking around to see what's out there.

My first choice would be GoDaddy. My experience with them - I've bought domains there - is very good and their offerings for hosted space are also good. The only negative at the moment is that they don't seem too clued in about using their hosting service for running blogs, judging by the responses from their support team to my emails asking about Movable Type support.

I'm also looking at Bluehost and Midphase, two hosting services that seem to have rave reviews by users. Both offer very attractive deals. I used the recommendations from the Hosting Comparison site which has some great reviews of the various offerings out there.

I did look at PowWeb, but was a bit put off by lots of negative comments from users in their own support forum.

So, decisions to be made soon.

Meanwhile, I'm trying out Movable Type version 3.17 which I have as part of my membership in the Six Apart Professional Network.

I'm trying MT out on a local computer, set up as a server so it will run. I followed Six Apart's excellent step-by-step instructions for installing it on a Windows PC.

Still a bit of learning to do, though - while the MT install went perfectly, the MT-check script which ran on my first use this morning produced this error:

Bad ObjectDriver config: Connection error: Access denied for user ''@'localhost' (using password: YES)

Need to figure out what I did wrong in the configuration, which I suspect is more to do with the MySQL setup and access rights to the database than with MT.

Also getting some great knowledge from Learning Movable Type, a truly excellent resource by Elise Bauer.

Stay tuned...

Comments

[Anil Dash]

That error probably means the mt-db-password.cgi file doesn't have your correct database password, but you might find setup easier on the new version 3.2, which is already in beta. Also, we have a number of hosting partner providers (linked on the Movable Type homepage) who offer Movable Type preinstalled and can even help on migrating from TypePad. That might be a good bet.

[Nevon]

Anil, many thanks for that tip. I'll look into 3.2.

Re Six Apart hosting partners, yes, I've looked at them from the links on your partners page. I guess I was focusing more on the bandwidth offered by hosting services where the ones I mentioned in my post offer a lot, much more than the hosting partners, and at lower cost.

But as I've pretty much decided to go with Movable Type, a partner with specific skills, knowledge and support is more important. Migration help from TypePad will be important, too.

More food for thought, thanks!