Hosting Dhru Fusion: Server Requirements and Cron Job Setup

Dhru Fusion is not a demanding application in raw terms — it is demanding in a specific way that generic hosting configurations tend to get wrong. Most of the problems we see when someone migrates to us come down to three things: cron frequency, PHP execution limits, and database write patterns.

Cron job frequency is the main issue

Dhru Fusion processes order queues via cron. On most shared hosting the minimum cron interval is 15 minutes, which means an order can sit unprocessed for up to 15 minutes after a customer pays. For an unlocking service where customers expect near-instant delivery, that is a support ticket waiting to happen.

We configure 30-second cron on our shared Dhru plans and 10-second cron on VPS and dedicated plans. If your current host will not go below 15 minutes, that alone is a reason to move.

PHP execution limits and API timeouts

Dhru talks to supplier APIs, and some suppliers are slow. If your PHP max_execution_time is set to the common default of 30 seconds, a slow supplier response will kill the request mid-transaction — leaving an order in a stuck state that needs manual cleanup.

Recommended settings for a Dhru install:

• max_execution_time: 300
• max_input_time: 300
• memory_limit: 256M minimum, 512M if you run many suppliers
• post_max_size and upload_max_filesize: 64M

Database write patterns

Every order, every API call, and every status change writes to the database. A busy Dhru site generates far more database writes per visitor than a typical brochure website, which means disk I/O matters more than raw CPU.

This is why we put Dhru accounts on NVMe rather than standard SSD, and why the I/O allocation on our Dhru plans is higher than on equivalently-priced general shared hosting.

Backup frequency matters more here

For most websites, a daily backup is fine — you lose at most a day of content edits. For a Dhru site, a day of backups means a day of transactions. We run database backups every 4 hours on Dhru business plans and every 6 hours on shared, specifically because transaction data is not something you can recreate.

What to check before you migrate

Ask your prospective host these four questions:

• What is your minimum cron interval?
• Can you set max_execution_time to 300?
• What is the disk I/O allocation on this plan?
• How often are database backups taken, and can I restore them myself?

If a host cannot answer those specifically, they have probably not hosted Dhru before.

Migration without downtime

The safe sequence is: copy files and database to the new server, test with a hosts-file override, disable cron on the old server, take a final database sync, switch DNS, enable cron on the new server. Done properly, customers see no interruption.

We handle this free of charge on all Dhru plans, and we do the final sync at whatever time of day is quietest for your business.