CloudAccess Review

***Update May 2012***
After several months of using Cloud Access we wanted to follow up and let everyone know we are still happy with our service. The speed is second to none for a shared server, control panel is easy to use and navigate, and tech support is stellar. They are timely and helpful.

A recent example came about when we were trying to get an extension to start working. We submitted a ticket around 9pm EST. With in 30 Minutes we had a response from a technician who had already gone through our site and looked at the problem. When they emailed us back that had a solution for us to try. It worked and even though they are not technically supposed to be responsible with 3rd party extensions they were still able to help me with it.

Their knowledgebase is helpful too. We had to set up a new email for the domain. They use Google Apps and so do we. The tutorial was straight forward and it just worked with no interruptions. This is impressive. Phone support would still be helpful when you have a complex issue that is hard to describe over email. Otherwise we have had nothing but good things come from this company

***Initial Review January 2012***
Sign up and Setup:
We found it easy to register for Cloud Access. The sign up process does not take long but could be shorter.

After this is complete, you are taken to the dashboard. Here you can manage account information and buy products. It is clean, intuitive and makes working with Joomla very simple.

Joomla install
To start a Joomla site click, “Launch Joomla! Application”. This takes you to the area where you can demo a Joomla site before signing up with Cloud Access. We chose to use "install an instance of Joomla 1.7".

We clicked “Order Now” to start the demo. In the next screen it asks how we wanted to set up the domain. We chose to use the free Cloud Access domain to start with. Once order is complete you can start using Joomla.

To get there type in the name of the domain you installed Joomla to and you will see the site is already installed and ready to go. Login by using “/administrator” after the domain. You can find your login information in a message sent to you account and email after install.

Using Joomla
We thought getting Joomla up and running was simple and easy. After it was set up and we were logged in, it was just like any other Joomla administrator backend.

What makes Cloud Access different is they have a custom control panel pre-built into Joomla. It comes with several different options that are worth mentioning.

Resources:
In this section you can see plan related statistics like monthly bandwidth, disk space usage, and email usage. There is a tab that expands the bandwidth into a daily view to make it a little more detailed.

Backup:
This section utilizes a component called Akeeba Backup. It is the industry leader in Joomla backup. Cloud Access Incorporated this into their control panel, so no need to install it separately.

PHPMyAdmin:
One of the more unusual tabs to see inside of Joomla is PHPMyAdmin. This holds your Joomla databases accessible directly from the Joomla backend. This is very unique and not a standard practice.

Clear All:
This is a one tab tool that’s sole purpose is to delete everything. It works great for deleting sample data that is installed with Joomla.

These control panel options are pretty cool. Cloud Access run most of the Joomla extensions that we run on our sites, but we think they could include more. Having builtin backup is great and being able to access the database right from Joomla does save a lot of time. Other tools included in the Cloud Access control panel are Domain DNS, Domain Aliases, and Cron Jobs.

We like the built-in Joomla control panel, but think it is limited to the more advanced users. Using a service like Cloud Access is great assuming that you would rather have them be in control of the technical side instead of you.

Using Templates
On the front end of Cloud Access head over to the Templates section. If you purchase a Cloud Access hosting plan all of the templates are free and they will install them for you.

Another aspect of using Cloud Access that we like is that they will install any 3rd party templates for you for free too. In order to use this service, purchase one of the plans and then search the internet for any template you want to use. Email them and they will install it for you.

Speed
Cloud Access is really fast. Publishing a page in Joomla takes less then a second. We found it to be seamless, without any interruptions or issues. Cloud Access keeps things fast by having top notch server environments.

We think their speed is great, but we did wonder why they did not include a caching plugin as part of their Joomla bundle. This is something we will be installing to any of our Joomla sites. Caching speeds up webpage delivery by a lot. Also, we think a builtin plugin that allows easy access to a CDN would be an improvement.

After following the server response times for a few days using Pingdom, we found that Cloud Access' Servers are very fast. They delivered our test page below 800ms. That is great speed for shared hosting.

Support
We got help from support almost instantly. Even with only a demo site running, tech support gave us a quick response. We asked them if there was any way to not install Sample Data when Joomla was installed. They replied that their Joomla Configuration included Sample Data. We thought they could have mentioned their “Clear All” that will delete all menu items, modules, articles and categories. This gets rid of the Sample Data after install.

Conclusion
Cloud Access handles everything Joomla related to their web service. You don't have to install anything and you can pick from a bunch of pre-built templates. They have a great control panel, their speed is incredible and a great Joomla tech support staff. They could have phone support for even better support, but we have been doing just fine with what they have given us to work with. We highly recommend running your Joomla site with Cloud Access.