Edit: I have an update on blacknight that you may want to read http://lacy.ie/not-impressed-with-blacknight/

I’ve been using blacknight for a week or so at this stage.

My first encounter with them was in my search to for a host that would provide .Net 3.5 support. As always hosting companies are reluctant to do anythign that might add to their downtime and .net 3.5 can be quite difficult to install. To cut a long and uninteresting story short, they fitted the bill in terms of the technical requirements for the project. They also met the client’s requirement for it to be hosted with an Irish provider.

At 5 euro a month with a 5 euro set up fee they are by far the cheapest hosting package I’ve ever had, they must have about half a million clients all packed onto each server. In terms of performance, I’m not noticing much of a difference (our application is a small one); in terms of functionality I’m really noticing a difference.

I am quite used to plesk, on my dedicated server I use it to manage DNS, firewall, database and a few other things. I like plesk, its simple, it works, I feel that lack of frustration is worth paying for. However the recesion has hit, and we’re all looking at the bottom line a little more closely these days. So I’m currently sitting staring at Blacknight’s version of plesk which is buggy but its usable. Perhaps plesk licenses cost too much when each user of the system is only paying 5 euro a month for the privilege of hosting 30 domains on the minimus shared hosting option but you can’t help but think that they could be the holy grail of hosting if only they got some license agreement with a company that’s far more specialised into this area.

My second gripe with the blacknight is access to the mssql server. I’m not sure what the issues are with mssql but either it hasn’t been written with shared hosting in mind or blacknight are paranoid but having to use mylittleadmin rather than Microsoft Sql Server Management Studio feels like trying to operate with one hand tied behind my back. Where is my graphical sql builder? Where is my export data? etc etc. All of which is available if you go with Host Ireland (who oddly enough seem to have their servers in Britain) but then again you don’t want to go a month with them telling you they will have .net 3.5 “you just have to wait until tomorrow, definately tomorrow!”.

Now before you begin saying, but Stephen, if you want a better hosting package, then pay for it, particularly given that you are spending valuable time on this! Keep your dedicated server and ditch blacknight or get a virtual private server. I am finding something about the blacknight, I’m getting used to the way they do things. Their system could be better, it could make more sense in general but the more I use it the more sense it makes to me. I’m finding ways of getting things done quickly, I mean everything I want to do is in that control panel… somewhere, all I have to do is find it.

If you are considering getting hosting with blacknight it may be worth doing some calculations in your head. If you are going to start migrating all your clients onto it, then go for it, you’ll get used to how they do things and massive amounts of money will be saved. If you want a simple blog site, and don’t mind spending a day setting it up, go for it. If your time is expensive and you want something quick, simple and you will only want it once, look elsewhere.

Its been a while since I wrote a blog entry, sorry if it hasn’t been the most coherant, I’ll get better

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