For some organizations, the prospect of managing servers is daunting. Fortunately, traditional hosting companies offer an affordable alternative. Picking the right vendor and package is critical to your success. We've made the recommendations below based on our direct experiences with hosting Rock in their environments.

Density

In the end it all comes down to how many websites are packed onto a single server. You'll see packages that start for as little as $5/month. This tells you that you can expect hundreds of sites to be packed onto one server. Others may be two to ten times as much. Yep, you guessed it, fewer sites per server. And fewer sites mean more resources for your website. As you can see, price alone isn't a good measure of a hosting company.

Hosting Models

There are a couple of different hosting models to be aware of as you determine the perfect place to host. We cover each of these models below:

Base Requirements

No matter what host or package you choose, it must meet the following requirements:

• Windows: This will be the largest filter for vendors. Do they provide Windows web hosting?
• IIS 8: Ensure your vendor supports IIS 8 with full-trust.
• ASP.Net: Version 4.5.1 (or better)
• SQL Server: SQL Server 2014 (or newer). Be sure that the package you select is for Microsoft SQL Server (not MySql) and that it provides enough space for your database (recommendations below).

Small (100 - 2,500 records)

For small organizations, we recommend one of the options below. Be sure to think about growth. If your budget can manage a larger account, you won't regret having the additional resources. "This website is too fast," said no one...

• Option 1: 3 Essentials .Net Pro 2G ($25.50/m)

Medium (2,501 - 5,000 records)

For medium-sized organizations, we've outlined the options below. Again, purchase what your budget allows.

• Option 1: 3 Essentials .Net Pro 3G ($39.99/m)
• Option 2: 3 Essentials .Net Pro 4G ($49.99/m)

Large (5,001 - 10,000 records)

At this size, your organization is starting to bridge between different hosting models. Hopefully, though, your budget allows you to move into these new tiers.

• Option 1: Liquid Web Storm SSD (starting at $225/m)

Extra Large (10,001 - 100,000 records)

With this size, you should definitely be looking at larger cloud or dedicated plans. Below are some ideas of where to start.

• Option 1: Liquid Web Storm SSD (starting at $225/m)
• Option 2: Azure VM
• Option 3: Dedicated Windows Server

Some Things To Know

Here are some things to consider before you install Rock:

Domain Name: If you decide to purchase a domain name (i.e. www.rocksolidchurchdemo.com) for Rock, we recommend getting one from your same hosting provider. In most cases, hosting providers make it easy to connect your domain to your Web site and hide the mess of dealing with DNS settings. If you decide not to, that's great! Rock will work just fine.

Email: Depending on your email needs, you might need to leverage a cloud-based email service like MailJet to be able to send thousands of emails without complications. You'll want to explore this when you pick a hosting provider.

Things You'll Need During Installation

To prevent you from running into any "surprises" during installation, here are some things you should have handy:

• Email settings from your email server.
• Internal and external web addresses from your organization.
• An email address to send exception messages to.

Other Considerations

Certificates
As you configure Rock, make sure you purchase and configure an SSL certificate before making it available at a publicly accessible domain. Prices range from $9–$100+ per year, and while the setup may seem daunting, there are plenty of helpful tutorials that walk you through the setup process. Also, you can check with your current domain registrar to see if they offer SSL Certificates. If you're new to SSL, Google provides a detailed list of best practices.

The Site Manager

Below is the 3 Essentials Plesk Site Manager. This is where we will setup our environment.

Creating The Database

From the site manager select the Databases button.

Click Add New Database button.

Enter in the database name, login and password for the database. Press OK when done.

You'll now see the database you entered. During the install be sure to use the database server name of 'localhost'.

Uploading The Install File

With the database complete we next need to upload the Start.aspx file from the install package. That's easily accomplished under the Files menu. You'll want to delete all of the items in the httpdocs directory first.

Once these files are removed use the Upload Files button to place the Start.aspx file on the server.

Setting Permissions

The last step is to set permissions on the website to allow Rock to write files. To do this follow the steps below:

1. Select the Virtual Directories option from the website panel homepage.
2. Next, click the Diectory Access Permissions button.
3. From the next screen select the Application pool group
4. Enable 'Full Control', 'Modify' and 'Write' permissions for this group. Your settings should look like the screen below.

DNS Configuration

3 Essentials does not provide a temporary URL for accessing your website via the browser. You will need to ensure your DNS is set correctly before you can access the site. The steps for DNS configuration is highly dependent on your DNS provider and the names you want to use for Rock. The basic steps are discussed below.

From the control panel homepage select the Add New Domain Alias button at the top of the screen.

Next you'll see the Add a Domain Alias screen shown below. Simply provide your alias name and then enable only the Web Service. When complete click the OK button.

Once you've made this change you'll need to point the alias you defined to the IP address that 3 Essentials provided to you. (This IP address is listed on the control panel homepage). If you run into trouble 3 Essentials technical support can help you get up and running.

Ready to Install!

Now that our foundation is set, we can get the Rock installer going. Open up a web browser and go to http://"yourdomain.com"/Start.aspx. Head over to the chapter Installing Rock for detailed instructions on how to install Rock.

The first thing we need to do is to download the Rock installer, which you can find at rockrms.com/Rock/GetStarted. Place the Start.aspx and web.config files from the installer package in the root of the web folder. By default, the web root folder will be located here: C:\inetpub\wwwroot.

Open up a web browser and go to http://localhost/Start.aspx to begin the installation process.

Now we will enter in the SQL server information. If the SQL server is installed on this server, you can type in "localhost" in the Database Server box. If you are using another server for SQL, you can enter the server name instead.

Next, enter in a name for the Rock Database (e.g. "Rock") and enter in the username and password we created earlier in the SQL Chapter. Click Next.

Now the Rock installer will run some checks to make sure the environment is ready for use. If everything checks out, you will see the Pass! screen. Click Next.

The next screen will allow us to create an admin username and password for Rock. This will be the default admin account for Rock. Click Next.

Now you'll need to enter in your organization URLs.

• Internal URL: The web address you'll use to to connect to Rock internally. (Example: http://admin.rocksolidchurchdemo.com)
• Public URL: The public facing website for your organization. (Example: http://www.rocksolidchurchdemo.com)

Now let's enter in your Organization Information.

• Organization Name: The name of your organization
• Organization Default Email Address: The default email sending address for Rock
• Organization Phone Number: The main phone number of your organization
• Organization Website: The website of your organization

Now that you have all of your organization's information entered into Rock, click Next to begin the Rock installation.

Rock will begin downloading the needed files onto the webserver and configuring the database. You can observe this process by clicking on the Show Console button.

When complete, click on the Flip the Switch button. Keep in mind, this loading screen will take the longest to load since Rock is starting up for the first time.

Now that Rock is installed, you can begin by logging in. Log in with the Rock admin account you created during the installation.

Once logged in, you'll be taken to the Rock homepage. You will see the Administrator Checklist, which is a list of the recommended first steps to maxmize the potential of Rock at your organization. Don't worry about completing the list today. You can get to it as you become more familar with Rock. The list will disappear once you mark off all the items. It may reappear after updates, if special configurations are needed. Think of it as a friend that only shows up in your time of need.

Move the Existing Database

This involves backing up the database from your old hosting provider and restoring it on the new hosting provider. There are two ways of doing this.

1. Most hosts have a one click export and restore process. If you're unfamiliar with SQL Server Management Studio this is probably your best bet, but you may need some help restoring your database at the new web host. You should definitely talk to the tech support at your new host to ensure that an export from a different server can be imported through their management portal. Often times an export from a different server must be imported for you by one of their tech support representatives (sometimes with an additional cost.)

2. If you're familiar with SQL Server Management Studio you can create a script of your database schema and data. You can do this by right-clicking the database you wish to export and selecting 'Tasks -> Generate Scripts'. From the 'Set Scripting Options' tab be sure to click the 'Advanced' button and change the 'Types of data to script' to 'Schema and data'.

   When you go to import your script to the new host you'll need to use the 'sqlcmd' tool as the script will most likely be too large to run from within SQL Server Management Studio. You can use the 'sqlcmd' tool by opening up a Windows command prompt and and typing in the following syntax:

   sqlcmd -S <server> -d <database> -i <input file> -o <output file> -U <user> -P <password>

Move the Web Server Files

Next, will be to copy the files from your web folder to the web folder of the new hosting provider. This is normally done via FTP.

Web.Config

Once the database and web files have been copied over, the final step involves updating the web.ConnectionStrings.Config file that is located at the root of the web folder. That way Rock will know where the new database is located at your new host.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
            <connectionstrings>
                <add name="RockContext" connectionstring="Data Source=<database address>; Initial Catalog=<database name>; User Id=<database username>; password=<database password>; MultipleActiveResultSets=true" providername="System.Data.SqlClient"></add>
            </connectionstrings>

Global Attributes

If you are changing the domain during the migration process, you will need to update these global attributes

• Internal Application Root - e.g. http://rock.rocksolidchurchdemo.org
• Public Application Root - e.g. http://www.rocksolidchurchdemo.org
• Organization Web Site - e.g. www.rocksolidchurchdemo.org