I started using WordPress on Gadgetnate.com back when version 2.0 was out.  The latest version is 2.2.. So, two significant releases have been made since I started using WordPress.  I started using 2.2 for ISpeakHindi.com and could see many improvements… the auto save feature was one.  But I saw no compelling reason to upgrade.

Well, I changed hosts.  And at DreamHost.com, they have the one click install for WordPress 2.2.  So, this presented a problem… how to get my 2.0 blog from one site over to the next.

A big feature that is missing in 2.0 is the ability to export.  This feature has been added to 2.2.  So, the easiest thing seem to be to upgrade the 2.0 to 2.2, export, then import it in at the new host.  After googling the upgrade process, I found that upgrading was a matter of overwriting the files and then accessing /wp-admin/upgrade.php.  This prompted me with a message saying that the database needed to be updated.   I clicked “OK”.  Then, just like that, I was on WordPress 2.2.

I exported the file.  But I had sooooo many comments, 7,000+ that it timedout before doing a full export.  Seems I had been hit by some comment spam.  I accessed the MySql database deleted all the records in the comment table.  Then I was able to export and import in.

Then I just needed to copy over the theme, and that was it.  And now here we are!!

My brother in law recommended a wonderful hosting provider:  DreamHost.  They offer a wonderful deal.  If you are willing to pay $190 upfront, then you get two years of hosting, which comes out to be a little less than $8/month.  For that, you get all this:

146 Gigs of disk space (increases by 1 Gig a week.  So, as long as you produce less than 1 gig a week of content, then you should be safe :-))

1.4 Terrabytes of data transfers.  This increases by 16 gigs a weeks.  Again, I don’t see myself pushing those limits anytime soon.

unlimited number of MySql databases, email addresses, announcement lists, discussion lists, and most importantly, Domains!!

That is right, for less than $8/month, you can host an unlimited number of domains!!  No need to have a dedicated box or pay extra per domain.  That means you can host all of your sites, your families, sites, your friends sites without any issues!

They support PHP4 and PHP5.  (Can’t imagine myself using PHP4 at this point…) 

Full Unix Shell.  You can SSH over to the box rmoe files around, compile some programs, get into your mysql server, etc.

Crontab access…  So you can schedule programs t run.  Maybe to send out a news letter, do backups, do some cleanup, whatever.  This is a big thing for me!

Ruby on Rails support… After I master MySql, PHP and Apache, I’m going to learn Rails.

Subversion adn CVS repositories.  This gives you version control.  Used correctly, it should let you revert back to an earilier version.

SSL support, Data backup, access to the log files, one click installations of popular programs like WordPress.  www.dreamhost.com/hosting.html