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As I say, I think the initial premise of the thread is a little misplaced because the plans around this have been developed somewhat further than has been suggested, and we have no intention of putting the platform at any element of risk from out of date software.

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PHP 4 is already out of date as support ceased at the end of last year. It's critical security fixes only on a case-by-case basis until 2008-08-08.

I chose my words carefully and I don't think anything I said was inaccurate. I said:

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If anyone thinking of migrating to Plusnet is intending to use their hosting and use PHP on the CGI servers they should bear in mind that at present Plusnet do not have PHP 5 available. As an increasing number of packages require PHP5 this may be an issue.

What is more worrying is that they have (<snip>) not published any plans for when PHP 5 may be available.

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I have highlighted the pertinent facts - both are true - although I suspect I will have bounced you in to doing something about the second RSN.

These two reason are perfect examples of why I moved my hosting elsewhere. My current host announced the PHP EOL to their customers July last year and have dealt with the issue over the 8 months to February (When they made the switch). PlusNet appear to have stuck their heads in the sand until the last minute ....

I could be talking rubbish (wouldn't be the first time) but I believe most providers (it could be all if it is the only way) offer both PHP4 and PHP5 at the same time by running one version natively - don't know the technical term - and the other in CGI mode. My hunch is PN only offer PHP in CGI mode for some 'security' reasons made when the servers where last redesigned. If this is the case then simply bolting PHP5 on top may not be possible.

The best way I can see would be similar to how the CGI and CCGI servers ran concurrently for a while. Setup new servers running PHP5 and then after a few months turn off the PHP4 based servers.
If I was PN I would also take this time to improve the hosting platform and make it more integrated. Every other host I have used have had PHP, Perl and std HTML served from the same box, and in many cases SQL too. They could also introduce a better customer control panel (something like CPanel) at the same time.

If Plusnet are using Plesk which I remember seeing somewhere, there is an option to run sites on PHP4 or PHP5 and providing the sites are compatible, normally just a case of choosing which version in the control panel per account.

Cpanel does the same but I think this needs PHP running in different modes.

The standard PN hosting that comes with accounts doesn't use any real control panels IIRC. Its on PAYH which uses a true control panel (Plesk, Cpanel etc).

In all fairness to the customers, if they are using PHP then surely they themselves would check to see if the latest version etc. As for Plusnet, its an area they really need to keep up to date on, PHP4 is years old and its not as if the announcement of end of life has only just happened.

PHP 4 end of life announcement
[13-Jul-2007]

Today it is exactly three years ago since PHP 5 has been released. In those three years it has seen many improvements over PHP 4. PHP 5 is fast, stable & production-ready and as PHP 6 is on the way, PHP 4 will be discontinued.

We don't run Plesk on the main platform, just on the PAYH product which was originally one we acquired from Parbin (along with Metronet). We run a hardened OS based on Debian, with a significantly locked down Kernel. That's fundamentally why the same solution other providers have implemented won't work for us.

As I say, it's not a problem that's being ignored. It's just one for which there is no simple fix. We've had a massive overhaul of our hosting provision planned for years, and I'm certain we will do that. The question is about when, and how we can find a work-around to fix this issue on the current platform at the same time as continuing development on our next generation hosting service.

Ian

Hi Ian

I would write to all your customers on your platform on PHP4 and tell them the facts.

ie PHP4 is old and decrepit (like Don) and you are going to change it over and give them a deadline for when you are changing over. F2S have done this and it seemed to work on the whole.

Of course not everyone's website will be compatible but in all honesty that ain't your problem. If people don't keep upto date on technology or standards etc you can't hold their hands.

I bet you a hundred quid, most of your hosted sites are just HTML anyway. Those who have the knowledge to use PHP enabled programs should be fine in all honesty.

Just make sure you tell people on what to do and give them notice.

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I bet you a hundred quid, most of your hosted sites are just HTML anyway

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In that case they are better off using the homepages servers and not the CGI servers (where PHP is available). Only those needing PHP should really be hosting their websites away from the CGI servers