Drupal is a free content management system trusted by hundreds of thousands of webmasters from all over the world. Since the software is completely open source, any php developer can alter its source code to suit his needs. It doesn’t matter if you want to create a corporate website, a simple blog or a community forum, Drupal is the best option.
For extra power there thousands of third-party modules (modules are much like plugins in WordPress) available on the internet. Each module gives some extra capabilities to the original CMS. There are thousands of dedicated developers who create these modules and upload them to the official directory for the whole Drupal community. These days there is a module for everything, from SEO to spam protection. Also, if you can’t find something ready-made, there are thousands of freelance developers who are well versed in Drupal development.
Don’t have any web designing skills? No problem. Drupal has a robust theme system through which anyone can make a good looking website. Both free and premium themes are available in the market. However, if you are very serious about your online business then paying for a premium theme is a much fruitful option.
Another good thing about Drupal is the level of flexibility it offers. A website created with the help of this amazing software can be customized to such an extent that it becomes completely unique. Other popular content management systems, including WordPress, can not be customized beyond a certain level.
However to enjoy all the amazing features mentioned above, you must make sure that the software runs smoothly. To ensure that, it is very important that you choose a good drupal web hosting company. There are many hosting options available in the industry but not all are ideal for running a Drupal website.
System Requirements
The basic system requirements for Drupal are as follows:
- Disk Space: The original files take up around 3MB of disk space, however, if you want to use themes and modules then you’ll have to purchase much more than that. In most cases 50MB of space is enough. While selecting disk space amount you should also keep future expansion in mind.
- Bandwidth: It depends upon the popularity of your website.
- Server Software: The CMS is supported by Apache as well as IIS but Apache is considered a much better option because Drupal has been coded in php and php runs better on Linux based server. Apache is considered to be a very powerful platform.
- Database Server: Like all other content management and blogging systems, Drupal stores all its information in an organized database. Therefore your web hosting should have database support. It is strongly recommended that you go for a host who offers MySQL version 4.1 or higher.
- PHP Version: The latest version of the software i.e. Drupal 7 requires PHP 5.2.5. Drupal 6 and 5 require PHP 5 and PHP 4.4.0 respectively. The higher the version of PHP, the better.
Before paying for a particular Drupal web hosting solution you should contact the customer support and ask whether their company fulfills all the requirements or not.
Here are some other important things that you should consider:
One-Click Installation:
Manually installing and troubleshooting a CMS is a very hard job. If you are a novice user then it is highly likely that you’ll make some fatal mistakes during the installation process. Luckily Drupal web hosting companies offer a special tool that can be used to install the software with one click. In cPanel servers, this tool is known as Fantastico. Before paying for a hosting solution you must make sure that your control panel has a similar feature in it. Otherwise you will have to spend a lot of time and effort on the installation process.
Is Free Hosting a Good Idea?
The short answer is no. Usually free hosting plans don’t offer sufficient resources and less resources can inhibit the growth of your website. Even if resources are enough, your server can break down at any time. And the worst part is, you can’t complain about anything because the service is free. There are some really good hosting companies that offer free services but finding them isn’t easy.
Always Go for Drupal Experts:
If your web hosting company doesn’t know anything about Drupal then they might not be able to solve your technical issues. Therefore you should go for a company which has some Drupal experts in its staff. Finding such a company won’t be easy because this software is not as popular as WordPress and Joomla. However, if you look hard then you can definitely find one for your site.
All the things mentioned in this article are extremely important and each one can affect the performance of your website. It is highly recommended that you choose a host from the ones given at the top of this article.
