Monday, July 19, 2021

lifeboat

In the time of need, Tim Parnell from Strawberry Software threw me a life...boat.

Monday, July 19, 2021 - Sam Rowlands

Disclaimer: I've known Tim for a while and when he saw my issues, he gave me a copy of Lifeboat, I was so impressed that I purchased a copy.

If you're unaware, the Ohanaware website experienced some issues between the 25th of June and July the 11th 2021. You can read more here. Tim, like many others offered their assistance. He's been trying to get me to change to Digital Ocean for years, but I'd been hesitant, until it felt like I didn't really have a choice. Now it's done, I am grateful and you're reading this from a site managed by Lifeboat and hosted on Digital Ocean's hardware.

While Tim did his best to make sure I had everything I needed, I made several mistakes.

The host Digital Ocean, has an overwhelming website, which made it awkward to find just the information I needed. Seemed like they offered way more than I need. Wrong.
Lifeboat appears to be about delivering and running Xojo made web apps, that's not what I want to accomplish. Wrong.
Lifeboat's interface is really simple (compared to my last host's configuration), maybe that is because it's for Xojo made web apps. Wrong.

1. Digital Ocean's website is overwhelming

This is most certainly true, if you're not interested in running apps and just want some space to post a website that mainly consists of HTML, CSS & JavaScript.

However make no mistake if you're looking for a place to host just a website, Digital Ocean is for you. Digital Ocean don't just rent space online, they rent Virtual Private Servers called Droplets. You can keep your Droplets as simple or as complicated as you like. They start from $5 a month, but you can up that with different hardware specs also. Digital Ocean also offer a $5 60 day trial.

2. Lifeboat appears to be about delivering and running Xojo made web apps

Third icon in the source list "Static files", that's what I needed. Oh, yeah, you can use Lifeboat to also deliver and run Xojo made web apps, I'll tinker with that later, now that I know it is easy to deploy such apps.

3. Lifeboat's interface is really simple, maybe that is because it's for Xojo made web apps.

Biggest mistake, was underestimating the complexity that Lifeboat shields you from, and the amount of time Lifeboat will save you. The above screenshot is how I got an "A" rating for the SSL Certificate on my site. Several people have asked how do I get an A grade and I keep telling them, it wasn't me, it was Lifeboat.

A grade SSL Certificate installation and renewal.
Installs and configures web serving software on the remote server.
Keeps the web-server software up to date.
Connects domains to pages (which took me ages to complete with my last host).
Makes it easy to configure error pages (coming in a Lifeboat update).

If you're anything like me and would rather spend your time writing Mac software, get Lifeboat and let it manage your website for you.

Download Lifeboat now and use the FREE trial to get started.