IsMyWebsite Free Hosting Development Blog

I’m getting a lot of questions about how the nodes system will work. Here it is, in a nutshell:

1. You visit http://this.ismywebsite.com/ (or any other subdomain)
2. One PHP page will process the address you visit and send the right response.
3. If there’s no interest in that subdomain, no account has been created yet, or the account is offline at that time, the appropriate page will be displayed.
4. Otherwise, you will be redirected to another domain (for example http://this.ismyws.com/ or http://this.isnumberone.org/)
5. This ‘node’ will display the proper website.

Here’s a quick FAQ:

Will my domain be the same?
Your website will be hosted on a similar but often shorter domain, with the same subdomain. (For example, instead of this.ismywebsite.com, it would be this.ismyws.com). However, this.ismywebsite.com will always function as a redirect to that site.

How do you choose my node?
Most of them have already been chosen. I am assigning people to nodes where they fit, in the order hosting was requested.

How do I access cPanel?
Generally, you just go to http://yournode.com:2082/ and login. You will receive all your login details by email once we know things are working.

What features will I get?
There is no plan to change the features. One of our nodes is run by HostGator, which refuses to enable overselling, so if you need the full 100MB from that node, just request it. Over 95% of our clients don’t use it all. (On that note, if you need more than 100MB on any node please ask as well. You earned it through your patience.) On top of this, some of the nodes have different extra features so there may be some pleasant surprises.

What happens if my site goes offline?
We are monitoring all the nodes and if the downtime is for an extended period, a temporary error page will be displayed on the IsMyWebsite subdomain.

Do domains still work?
Yes. However, the nameservers are going to be different depending on your node. You should also receive those instructions by email when your account is set up.

I’m using another host now. Can you set up a redirect?
Sure, just tell us where to direct it to. And remember, you can still place our ads on your site and use our toolbar.

Do I still need to place ads?
Now more than ever. And you should place them well.

When will things be finished?
Right now, it’s looking to be 4 days before the first accounts will be completely ready to go. (So 4 days plus whatever time it takes to build all the accounts before yours.) We are going as fast as we can.

It was cPanel before, and now it’s the entire site! According to Host-Tracker, the connection is being refused everywhere. In other words, the server is not answering requests deliberately.

Hi,
Yes sir, i am able to perfectly access [cPanel URL] at my end!

Regards,
Smokyhosts Support Team

Regardless of how that turns out, I am now getting hosting with Wildcard DNS enabled from CorexHosting, so instead of creating the thousands of subdomains they can automatically exist! They are remarkably fast at setting up my account, so I will have the site back online shortly, originally as a redirect to this blog.

As far as development goes, I’m on schedule to complete the administration tools that will enable me to effectively manage the multi-node setup. This is the first critical step in creating and fixing everyone’s accounts. There are lots of offers to create nodes now, so I have plenty to fit everyone.

Thanks to those who have stayed with me up to this point, and most definitely you will be able to get whatever hosting you need in the end. It’s just a matter of time, since I’m not giving up.

I have superbhost.us ready to accept accounts to signup for free goto http://superbhost.us/creator

I just want to let everyone know that I am aware of some difficulties you may face accessing the cPanel and have informed SmokyHosts of the trouble. As far as I know the main site is working for most of the world now, and if it doesn’t work for you, get OpenDNS - http://www.opendns.com/

I realize that there are also a lot of other troubles with certain accounts working. Once I can rebuild my script to test, I can figure out which ones are experiencing trouble, and rectify them. The IP address is different, and many of the old scripts I was using are not built with multiple nodes in mind, so until they are modified I’m stuck with the primitive and laggy WHM interface. (Does it really have to load a list of all 1000 accounts just so I can modify ONE?)

So, we have:

• Accounts not working
• Scripts to fix this in need of modification
• Deletion requests piling up without any page to handle them
• Hundreds uninformed the site is back online
• No easy way to make account modifications
• Major inactivity at all levels
• cPanel on IsMyWebsite.com not working at all
• No explanation of current troubles
• New accounts piling up
• Nothing to spend credits on except advertising
• Little motivation to place proper advertising
• But other than this, everything is FINE!

So, as far as a plan for fixing this.

1. Broadcast a PM to explain all damages. Reconstruct the control panel and create all functionality necessary to handle future tasks. (4 days)
2. Use created scripts to assess and repair the situation universally. Email notification to all Advisors to announce this, which they should pass on to their clients. (4 days)
3. Upgrade the interface to include a delete account page. Recreate the script to provide a solution to just about all client-related problems, and improve relations through email. (4 days)
4. Upload e-books and other sales items onto reliable password-protected storage facility. Each will have a different password, and that is how items can be downloaded by purchasers. (4 days)

Any suggestions or further questions about this plan?

Two things have happened:

1. SurfWebHosts can’t offer us the required LayeredPanel hosting, which I also doesn’t appear it would have worked as well as predicted.
2. SmokyHosts can’t seem to get the domain to change, and in addition changing the domain on all the accounts is proving to be a harder challenge than initially thought. (First you have to fetch just about every detail of the account, and only then can you change one aspect of it.)

Essentially, changing the domain to work with SmokyHosts again will get us online today, with nodes, and the option to transition away from them later. As the server usage increases, we can move accounts off to IsMyHost.com - which is now working as well!

IsMyWebsite.com (70%)

I have two accounts now. The original is still cPanel and I’m going to try with Cron Jobs creating one subdomain at a time which should use a lot less CPU. It will take a lot longer, but if it gets to the point that everything else is finished but some of the subdomains, I will open the site without them. (They aren’t totally important.)

The new LayeredPanel account is essentially free hosting, so it needs to be upgraded in order to meet our needs. I’m starting to wonder how much faster it will be. (The fact I can’t upload .bmp, .css, or .ico isn’t that great either.)

The actual interior is restored (and those with the toolbar will be able to use their account), however the ‘Hosting’ section is still being upgraded for the multi-node setup.

IsMyWs.com (100%)

Success! All accounts on this node are now created.

IsNumberOne.org (50%)

Ran into a problem - overselling is not enabled. (And of course HostGator refuses to enable it.) Right now, I’m looking at lowering the storage to 30MB so everything will fit, and increasing at the request of individual users. (Most will not use 30MB anyways.)

IsMyWebs.com (40%)

I’m abandoning custom nameservers in favour of working ones and still working my way through changing all the subdomains. Have a script to complete this now, however. This could all be done literally overnight.

Overall (75%)

Still to complete the following:

• Creation of subdomains. (Not critical.) (weeks)
• Modification of ismywebs.com subdomains (2 nights)
• Getting ismywebs.com domain to work (3 days)
• isnumberone.org account creation (1 night)
• Upgrading ‘Hosting’ section (2 hours)
• Send out mass email (just over 1 week)

Your Input Please

Do you think it’s important to have a way for users to delete their accounts ready when we launch?

Pros:

• No manual account deletion.
• Account deletion would be handled in a systematic manner.
• The system has been designed to help retain users and gather feedback.
• Easier for the user, and more professional.

Cons:

• Could delay the launch by up to a day.
• Possibly says ‘we expect you to leave’.

Imagine, for a moment, you were subliminally told you were an evil, selfish, and/or ignorant person because you didn’t place ads and that you had to or your site would go offline!

Imagine you are a typical, standard human being with a million other things you’d rather do at this particular moment in time, and you are now forced to add commercial content to your website, which you already painstakingly made perfect. Essentially going out of your way to contribute funds to somewhere you don’t know or even care about.

When you get this communication, after ‘Who?’ and ‘What?’, your first question is ‘Why?’, with the obvious answer being something like ‘because we’re in charge and we can shut your site down if you don’t’. Followed by ‘When?’, which means you’ll have to put off one of your million things for another day. Then ‘Where?’. Well, there’s some nice space at the bottom here somewhere… Finally ‘How?’.

‘How?’

Let’s say, for example, you built your site with Fantastico, the very easy, ’single-click’, installer of dozens of ready-to-go scripts. It took you all of 5 seconds to get online. And now, you are faced with the challenge of sifting through hundreds of configuration files to find the exact one the edits the right part of your layout to insert the ads, which you don’t want there to begin with.

Finally, before you pull all your hair out, you locate that there is a section of the forum to help you and it does have the answer you’re looking for. Mustering up the courage to trust the resources provided by another user where you have no idea what you’re doing, you set out…

Not shown: The wait for Google AdSense to be generated, what happens if your script is not covered on our forums, what happens when you don’t get the email about this, and of course, any inkling of a patriotic duty to your free host to place proper ads.

Apart from the idea above, which keeps popping up and I almost went through with, does anyone know what can be done to solve our advertising problem? We don’t need ads placed. We need ads placed well!

Well, if you want to start a small hosting site, or even a medium sized hosting site, cPanel is the way to go. Want more than 1000 users or subdomains however, and cPanel quickly becomes a nightmare.

Now, 8000 subdomains? With cPanel, not a chance.

Which is why my script to create the subdomains was still running earlier today, and finally resulted in my account being suspended for a brief period when CPU usage reached 70%. You may recall that for increased reliability of the main domain, I am using a shared hosting account on SurfWebHost.

Now, the solution, LayeredPanel, is specifically designed to “host over 40,000+ accounts”. Enough to sustain our future growth as well as current situation. As soon as this upgrade is complete, all subdomains will soon follow.

All client accounts will still be hosted on cPanel, as this is what I know is preferred and for your patience you deserve the best.

There are a lot of people asking for an ETA of when the site will be back up. I want to assure everyone that I am working as hard as possible on this. The current issues which need to be resolved before we come back online are:

1. The DNS for ismywebs.com needs to work and the subdomain needs to be changed for the accounts.
2. The creation of the remaining subdomains on our main domain. I also need to finish the subdomain page to have the proper redirects and a full array of messages.
3. Some accounts on the nodes aren’t being created. I just need to figure out why and resolve those issues.
4. Slight modifications to the website to display a link to the new cPanel, FTP, and File Manager links.

Most of these can be done with automated scripts, which means I can work on more than one at once. Also, parts of the site and numerous accounts are already open. I hope this weekend will be our last offline, and if things go smoothly it easily could be.

I will cross these out as they are completed so everyone can see.

I just bought a node. When its up the URL is http://superbhost.us