Operations
What TYPO3 Needs From Your Hosting
TYPO3 runs on ordinary web hosting, but not on all of it. The technical minimums are quickly listed; more interesting are the points that rarely appear in a quote and decide the project anyway.
The technical minimums
Current TYPO3 versions require a modern PHP version; the exact range per major is set out in our version overview. Add an adequate database version (MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL) and enough memory for PHP, so image processing and backend modules do not run into limits.
Image processing also needs a suitable graphics package on the server. Without it the site still works, only the automatic scaling of images stops. That fault surfaces late, because it only affects newly uploaded files.
The points that really decide
Using Composer. Modern TYPO3 installations are managed with Composer. Where it cannot run, updates are considerably more work and dependency conflicts only surface in production.
Command line access. Database migrations, cache operations and the scheduler run there. Without that access you are left with detours through backend modules, and some things are not possible at all.
A route to automated deployment. Over SSH or some other way: you need a reproducible means of getting a new state onto the server. Upload every change by hand and sooner or later you make a mistake nobody can retrace.
Cron jobs. The scheduler does not start itself. Without a regular call from outside, scheduled tasks do not run, and that goes unnoticed for a long time.
What needs more room
Some requirements go beyond simple web hosting. A Solr search is a service of its own and needs an environment where you are allowed to run one. Larger installations with many editors benefit from separate environments for testing and production.
Points like that belong before the hosting decision, not after it. Moving while the site is live is doable, but nobody enjoys doing it twice.
Security is a hosting matter too
A current TYPO3 is of little use on a server with an outdated PHP version. The responsibility is shared: we keep the application current, the host keeps the platform current.
What matters is that the split is spoken aloud. Anyone who has to establish who is responsible when a security advisory lands loses exactly the time that counts. There is more on this under securing TYPO3.
A practical order of questions
Before signing a contract, a short list is worth having: PHP version and how easily it can be changed, database version, whether Composer is possible, command line access, cron jobs, backups including a tested restore, and a data processing agreement.
Seven questions a provider answers in a few minutes, and which keep a project from coming unstuck on something that has nothing to do with TYPO3.