Magento Stratus beta finally here! …and it’s kinda weak
We finally got access to our beta of Magento Stratus. Sadly it's not anything near what it was hyped to be. Performance is ok, but nothing great. Definitely faster than a shared hosting setup but nowhere near the performance of a good dedicated server. We have no FTP access to the site, just a Magento admin and frontend. It is running Enterprise 1.9.85505.0 so the feature set is pretty cool.
I have had a couple different phone conversations with some of the Stratus managers before we got setup and I was pretty surprised at what they were asking of us as beta testers. We would get access to a beta site, but would have no FTP access at all. Also, when the service actually launches, we may (or may not) have the same level of service and features that we do in the beta. We get free support access but so far their response speed has been pretty bad. Let's be honest, in the world of e-commerce, support has to be quick and helpful. If it takes a day or two for simple answers, my opportunity as a store owner could already have passed.
We will keep working with the Stratus beta but I can't see how we could possibly be expected to put a production store on it. I can't even change the logo from the Magento logo to mine. Hmmm.
Bottom line grades....
Performance: B
Features: A+ (for now...)
Control: D
Price: N/A (will update this when we know more)
Overall: C
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December 10th, 2010 - 16:14
We’re just getting started, actually today we just got our keys. Performance seems pretty good but like you say there are a lot of concerns with control. Did you take the sample data or import your own? I would think they want you to have your own data but we’re not coming from another Mag cart so cart2cart is out with this being hosted and no access to root.
My conversation wasn’t very complete with them and I was never given specifics of what they are looking for! I asked today but haven’t heard anything yet. I will be following your experience, I hope you keep us well informed.
December 13th, 2010 - 15:01
We just got the keys to our cloud and you’re spot on with your assessment. It seems like this might be a good idea, cloud based, but hard to say with the beta so limited by what you can do with the control. My rep never told us what they expect from beta testers either, I’ve asked but not heard a word back. I’d be interested in knowing what they told you.
January 22nd, 2011 - 12:29
Anyone who’s ever head experience dealing with Varien will avoid this like the plague. To say their support is slow and unhelpful is an understatement.