Michael’s Techbox

Update: Since writing this article GoDaddy have improved their software to allow upgrades from IIS6 -> IIS7, but all databases need to be deleted prior to the upgrade.

GoDaddy is a reputable, reliable web host. Or so they would like you to believe.

I just want to warn you, be very careful to fully plan what you want upfront before signing with goDaddy. Making mistakes during the setup with GoDaddy is a costly experience time wise. I sincerly get the impression that the staff at GoDaddy are really dedicated to giving you a solid professional service, but the software that runs GoDaddy is in my experience a bit outdated, and limited.

Here are a few things to consider before you configure anything with the GoDaddy software.

Make sure you research everything, if you need help ASK!

You can’t go wrong if you get a support consultant on the phone  with you, while you’re configuring your site. They’ll be glad to assist, and you’ll save yourself loads of time. Sorry to say, but the software is not intuitive enough. If you have a strict deadline, its essential that you do this. You’ll soon discover that its not easy to undo mistakes made by “clicking here and there” or selecting default values because you thought they would be ok. Read the FAQ’s and make sure that you know exactly what you’re in for before applying any setting.

Here are some additional mistakes I’ve personally made.

If you’re planning on getting a windows package BE VERY CAREFUL,. Only your main domain can support PHP, no subdomains support PHP.

Thinking of hosting a few wordpress installations? Think again! Only your main domain is capable of supporting PHP, this is a GoDaddy limitation, and I really wish GoDaddy would advertise this fact upfront.

IIS management is rubbish

I don’t mean to sound harsh and I am just being truthful. GoDaddy don’t really provide any real IIS management. You can change the .net version and setup a few virtual directories (that’s it)

No detailed .net errors

GoDaddy hide all your .net errors, instead they send out one 500 (there was an error with your request), there is no way you can turn on decent error handling, making it difficult sometimes to detect what exactly is wrong with your application.

GoDaddy won’t install WordPress on IIS 6.

I started by signing up for a Deluxe Windows Hosting Package, so that I could test out some MVC stuff, and play around with new .net stuff. At the same time I was told that it was “no problem” to install a wordpress blog in the Windows package. It was a matter of a few clicks. Unfortunately the GoDaddy software requires you to select IIS 7 during the account setup, if you intend to run PHP. There were no warnings or prompts about this. Technically PHP is capable of running on either IIS 6 or 7. So this is a GoDaddy specific issue. I installed IIS 6, hoping to install an older version for maximum compatibility. The only way to resolve this is to completely delete the account and restart. This implies getting refunded on money spent and repurchasing the package. If you don’t believe this – here is offical GoDaddy communication to confirm this.

Upon review of the currently hosting plan you have with us, it is not compatible with WordPress.  WordPress requires PHP language support.   Your hosting account is an IIS6 Windows hosting account, which does not support PHP scripting.  If this website is using only non-Windows based programming, then it is advisable to migrate the account to a Linux hosting account.  If you must use Windows for any ASP.NET, Microsoft databases or other specific Windows scripting, then this account will need to be canceled, repurchased and then setup as an IIS7 configuration for Windows which does support PHP 5 scripting (not PHP 4).  We do not offer an upgrade from IIS6 to IIS7.  Please use the steps below for the different options suggested to resolve this connectivity issue.

No matter how you look at this, its totally unacceptable. But could have been avoided if I had a support technican on the line with me during setup. I would also like to again remind you that You absolutely cannot blame the support engineers for this type of answer,  instead the real reason behind this, the outdated software that drives GoDaddy.com. I decided it was easier (cheaper too) to migrate to Linux.