http://forums.hostgator.com/quick-install-beta-f41.html

http://blog.hostgator.com/2010/07/30/july-2010-newsletter/

On our test on Hostgator OScommerce run without any problems, and we have tested most of the features without any problems. Fast and easy installation can be done via Fantastico de luxe cpanel tool. SSL options are available also on Hostgator for your ecommerce site.

https://server.hostgator.com/~cpaneluser/

where server is the name of the web server you are on. This is usually in this form gatorxxx where xxx are numbers, and can be found in your hostgator welcome email.
When you access the site this way a warning message may appear. Better option for you would be to buy dedicated SSL certificate from Hostgator. Hostgator sells Comodo certificates which are one of the most recognizable in the SSL industry offering up to 256 bit encryption and free installation. Please note that if you already have the business shared hosting plan you are entitled for free dedicated SSL certifacte as well as free dedicated IP address which is required for dedicated SSL. You may also buy SSL from third party but there is $10 installation fee.

SSL certificates

SSL certificates secure and encrypt the data that is traveling between your computer and the webserver. The standard way leaves the data in plain text and someone might read it while it travels. So if you have an online store or any other site where users enters important information (like credit cards, social number etc) you should have secure connection. SSL creates secure connection.

nsxxx.hostgator.com
nsxxx.hostgator.com

Where xxx are numbers.If you don’t get them in your welcome email or you have deleted that email contact the support.

Namerservers

Nameservers are required in order your site to be live. Since every computer connected to the Internet (including any servers) requires unique IP address (at the moment of connecting and while is connected). Because IPs are hard to remember (they are numbers) people have invented the DNS (Domain Name System). When you want to visit some site, the browser in background uses DNS to find where the server is. Once it founds it, it connects to it. Nameservers are part of this system and are used to resolve the domain names to their respective IP addresses. At least two name servers are required in case one of them fails the other one will be the backup. They are entered at your domain name registrar.

Both are USA based hosting companies, Bluehost based out of Utah, and HostGator based out of Houston.

Statistics

Hostgator hosts more than 2,500,000 domains and 200,000+ active customers, Bluehost with Hostmonster and Fastdomain host more than 1.9 milion domains and have more than 500,000+ customers. Number of employees for Host Gator: 260, Blue Host and others: 240+. So here they are pretty much the same in statistics.

Support

Both Host Gator and Blue host offer support via live chat, phone and and e-mail(tickets) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Features

Almost all hosting features (PHP, MySQL, cPanel etc etc) are shared (same) between these two hosts.

Hosting Services

Blue host offers only one shared hosting plan, while Hostgator offers three shared hosting plans, reseller, vps and dedicated server hosting. This is where host gator beats Bluehost. With Hostgator there is room to grow if your sites become very popular, while with Bluehost you have only one hosting plan.

Reviews and Rating

They have received good reviews from users and hosting reviews sites. Both have good rating and are listed in top 10 best web hosting providers.

There are many reasons why yous should buy dedicated IP address. Some say that is good for Search Engine rankings (you rank higher than other sites), though this is not proven. Other use could be if you want to install SSL certificate for your website.  SSL allows secure transfer between the server (where your web site is ) and the host (the user that access the websites). Installing SSL will allow https version of your site. HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protorocol Secure. Ecommerce websites should have secure access to their websites because the customer when purchases some items it sends sensitive data like credit card, social security number and other.

HostGator Dedicated IP address

On Host Gator you can have dedicated IP address for $2/monthly. ($24 a year) shared and reseller hosting, $1 for VPS . On shared hosting you can have only one dedicated IP. The IP addresss will be assigned to the entire cPanel account (only your websites will shared that IP). Hostgator purchase IP form can be found at https://secure.hostgator.com/ip.php .

Hostgator Ruby on Rails

Hostgator supports ROR on all its shared and reseller servers. The latest version (currently installed) is:
Ruby Version : ruby 1.8.6 (2008-03-03 patchlevel 114) [i686-linux]
Gem Version : 1.0.1
Rails Version : Rails 2.0.2

Ruby on Gator it comes with the following gems preinstalled: actionmailer, actionpack, actionwebservice, activerecord, activesupport, bluecloth, builder, daemons, feedtools, gemplugin, gnuplot, htmltools, mongrel, mysql, payment, rake, sources, tidy, uuidtools, xml-simple and others. Refer to this forum post for more: http://forums.hostgator.com/ruby-rails-support-t13038.html

You will need SSH access to develop Ruby applications. Visit
https://secure.hostgator.com/sshrequest.php for more info on enabling SSH access on your account. You may also want to enable SVN (Subversion), you submitting a ticket.