Trap17's servers are very reliable, and give me what i need at the moment but some of the infrastructure is outdated and i am reading about some of the "new and marvellous" things you can do with newer infrastructure.

Apache version 1.3.37 (Unix)

The Latest Version is v2.2.3



MySQL version 4.1.21-standard

Latest Version is 5.1

PostgreSQL version 7.4.13

Latest is 8.2


PHP version 4.4.4

Latest is 5.2

PERL version 5.8.5

Current is 5.8.8

cPanel version 10.9.0-RELEASE-57

UP TO DATE!
cPanel Pro Version 1.0 (RC36)

UP TO DATE!

I am not saying that I am dissatisfied with trap17.com. I am VERY happy with the hosting it provides as well as the support you give us, but i really think it would be nice if you could upgrade to the latest versions of their software, considering that most of it is free, although I acknowledge the difficulty it causes to the admins.

Having the latest version does not mean the hosting is better or the latest version offers better hosting capability.

Apache 2.x version already gone through serveral revisions--what makes this better than 1.3.x when 2.x are still being fixed? ReWriteRule?

Postgre is no longer supported by Trap17 and have stopped supporting by cPanel for Trap17 hosting accounts. Thus this is no longer in discussion.

This leaves MySQL and PHP. The discussion of PHP5 can be viewed here http://www.trap17.com/forums/php5-upgrade-future-t42023.html so please SEARCH the forum before making a redundant topic.

The bottom line is this: cPanel releases updated version and according to what is the most STABLE version that is out there for universal usage. Individually I'm sure it can benefit individual's hosting operation but collectively Trap17 must supply with the most stable versions out there. This means sometimes the application versions may be out-dated or just under the current released version.

What if the newer version was installed and few days/weeks later a patch is released for the fresh installed one? It would mean an endless hours of constant upgrades. This leads to slowing down of server CPU and resource, which in turn means hosting members suffer ultimately. This is the case with IPB forums. Sometimes it's best to sit back and wait until all holes have been patched and then install at one shot.

I agree wholeheartedly with BuffaloHelp here, going with the newest of anything is not always a good thing, mostly a bad thing from my experience. For a simple example of this, just think about how many times you have seen recall notices for new model cars. These recalls are usually for something quite serious, that if not addressed can lead to a dangerous situation. The same goes for new software, time and time again you see patches put out for recently released software. Installing these patches, as BuffaloHelp pointed out, means more down time for the servers, not installing them could lead to far worse consequences. When trying to provide a stable service, something Trap17 can rightly be proud of, it pays to be very cautious about what changes you make to the servers.

What would you prefer? A reliable service that might be running a software version one or even two versions below the latest, or a service that is frequently taken off-line so it can be upgraded and/or have patches installed? I know which one I prefer.

Trap17 is working perfectly well and most times the sites are down or the mysql doesn't work or whatever it´s because there's some kind of update going on. So I also think that we don't need everything up to date as long as things works well. The admins only have to worry that things don't get completely obsolete, but not more of that.

I mean most of the times something goes wrong and I enter here and read that servers are down because something is being updated I ask myself if updating was really necessary. And I guess it was, but I think the admins criteria is enough to do this, I don´t want my site down a couple of hours every night.

Bigger, better, faster, stronger, longer, wider and first don't aren't always the best, as BH says.
Stability is critical to allow the member sites to perform as expected and in a manner to which the clients browsers perform properly, etc. I, for one, would rather have a dependable service. I have faith in Opaque and BH making the right choices, too, so I am certain that when there is a need for the updates, and they are stable enough, the Forum and Web Hosting will include the proper updates.
In the meantime, as to updating, if you guys knew the machine I use on a daily basis to cruise the 'net, you would laugh. Most of the Graphics cards in your machines are faster and have more memory than the computer I am currently using.

detportal



cPanel wont run that well on the latest Apache version untill cpanel 11 is released.


Not many software packages currently support SQL 5.1 as its recently new so developers have to update there software which takes time.



Again the same as MySQL developers need to update current software and also 5.2 is unstable in some areas and is sometimes buggy around cpanel servers.