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We have reopened to new member requests.

We have received a number of reports on postgresql issues, particularly with Django sites. We are currently working to resolve the issues.

Update:
The issue centered around Python and Django being unable to access Postgresql. The issues were a symptom of our method of upgrading Python, which left older versions in place for compatibility, and pathing issues within Python, which made the install and use of eggs fail.

Once we determined the apparent underlying cause, we removed all older versions of Python and reinstalled it, along with all the Python eggs we use.

At this point issues with Django sites should be resolved. If you are still having issues, please get in touch with us.

We’ve recently added support for Django. To help all our new Django-happy members I’ve taken the time to put together a quick tutorial on how to start running a site using Django.

The Django application folder (here, we’ll use ~/mysite/ as the example) should be placed inside your home folder on the server. This is the same folder that has your public_html folder.

Within the public_html folder, create a file called .htaccess. Inside this file you’ll want to have:

PythonPath "['/home/MYUSERNAME/', '/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages'] + sys.path"
SetHandler python-program
PythonHandler django.core.handlers.modpython
SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE MYAPP.settings
PythonOption django.root /
PythonDebug On

MYUSERNAME would need to be changed to your username. MYAPP will need to be changed to your Django application name.

Settings.py will change slightly based on what kind of database you’re using. The DATABASE_ENGINE will be set based on the database you’ll be using. The DATABASE_NAME can be gotten via our admin interface, under Virtualmin Virtual Servers ➝ Your Domain Name ➝ Edit Databases. When your account is created, the MySQL and PostgreSQL users are created with the same password. Your database password can be changed by accessing the Edit Databases, then clicking Password. You can reset your MySQL and PostgreSQL passwords separately.

DATABASE_HOST and DATABASE_PORT can both be left blank, as we run PostgreSQL and MySQL on the default ports.

We admitted 10 members out of approximately 40 applicants from the last pool.

We are now open for requests. We will close again on 5 Feb. We will take 2-3 weeks to review the requests from this new pool.

We have completed reviewing hosting requests for the last application window and have sent out notification emails to everyone who applied. We admitted 12 new members during this window; these are the last new members added in 2009.

We have reopened the system to accept requests for the rest of the year. On January 4th we will close again so that our committee may convene and discuss the applicants from this applicant pool. As is typical we expect to take 2-3 weeks to review requests and send out final notices to all who apply. This means if you apply now, we won’t start reading until Jan 4 and you will likely have to wait until ~Jan 25 to begin using your account if we grant you a membership.

During this last applicant pool we struggled to decide on whether to approve accounts to students (and educators) who did not tell us why their school could not host their website. We decided to be lenient and grant most of these requests. In the future we will not do so.
If you are a student or educator requesting an account you must specify why your school can not host your site or your request will be denied

For the past week we have been reading and discussing all of the hosting requests submitted in the past application window. Out of roughly 50 requests submitted, we are more closely reading and discussing 22 requests. If you haven’t heard from us yet it is because we are still discussing your request. I hope to send out final decisions some time next week.

A common question that comes up when reviewing requests by students is “Why isn’t their school providing hosting?” Some of you do a good job in your application explaining how you looked into hosting at your school and found it wasn’t offered or was limited in some fundamental way that would prevent you from using it for the website you have in mind. But many requests do not address the issue at all.

Middle and High schools may offer hosting either at the individual school level or at the district level. Ask around to see if students at your school can get hosting – most schools would require you to make a special request.

Universities probably have a number of ways to procure hosting. Hosting services by the University IT system may exist, but you may also find hosting at the college, department, or program level. Often the Computer Science department can provide hosting even if you aren’t a student in that department. Even if your school doesn’t have a formal system for providing hosting services you will likely be able to find someone who can hook you up with an account; especially if your website idea will provide a service for students. Doing this may even lead to the University helping to publicize your website, provide you with course credits, or even fund your project.

If you are a student you really need to demonstrate to us that you have looked into what hosting services your school provides and have a good reason for not using it. We often reject requests because we do not think we are the right host for them; demonstrate to us that you have researched your options and have decided our service makes the most sense for your project.

As the years have passed it has become more common for individual AmbitiousLemon members to use more than what we consider their fair share of server resources (namely bandwidth and storage space). Each time we have identified a problem and contacted the member in question, the member has quickly dealt with the problem and apologized.

Despite the respectful nature of these interactions we have noticed a disturbing pattern. All of the sites that have caused excessive bandwidth or storage space usage have been created in-addition-to or as a replacement-of the site we had approved when the member was first granted AmbitiousLemon membership. None of these sites would have made it past our formal approval process. Often the site that was added was created for a friend of the AmbitiousLemon member rather than for the member him/herself; completely bypassing our careful review process for new members.

We’ve decided that this is unacceptable. While AmbitiousLemon members have always enjoyed the ability to add additional domains on their own as of today we are changing member privileges to block this ability. Our formal policy is that we allow an unlimited number of domains for each member, but each member must receive permission to add a new site or replace their existing site with something fundamentally different.

Furthermore while members have never been allowed to share their accounts, we are now adding language to our rules page to make this policy plain and obvious to our members. If you have a friend who needs an account, they will have to formally request their own account.

Please review our rules page to make note of these changes.

We are now accepting applications for new members. Applications are due by November 24th, at which time we will close to review the pool of applicants. You can expect a decision on your request by December 14th.

You may wish to review previous posts to this blog concerning tips on your application.

We have been experiencing frequent intermittent downtime throughout the last 10 hours totaling about 2 hours in accumulated downtime.

We are still looking into the cause, but suspect it is related to the undiagnosed downtime from a couple weeks ago.

We are upgrading the kernel on AmbitiousLemon tonight, so there may be momentary downtime as the server reboots.