IsMyWebsite Free Hosting Development Blog

Several hours yesterday were spent in heated discussions regarding our future with them. A short 2 weeks ago, there were discussions regarding the Crissic banner design competition, as well as a reduction of $2/mo off our hosting cost to show up as a donation on our donation wall. However, three days ago, the following email came in:

“I am sorry to say that we can no longer support the bulk accounts that you have placed on our server. The amount of accounts you have placed on the server is causing the shared server much stress, causing FTP, HTTPD, and other services to fail on a regular basis. Last night we had downtime in excess of 25 minutes due to these issues.”

110 accounts were terminated immediately. (These had been already moved to other nodes.) On top of this, it was requested that we move 150 further accounts off the server to bring the level to “keep it around 650-700 accounts TOPS”. We selected approximately 350 accounts that would be moved to Node 10, lowering the number of accounts to 505. This is the official statement released by Skylar from Crissic:

“We had to pull out due to the amount of strain the amount of accounts had been placing on the server. For IsMyWebsite to run correctly, they need a medium-sized cluster of dedicated servers. The reasoning behind the time constraint on asking clients to move their data in one week is because the issues that are being caused are too large. FTP and HTTPD are constantly failing, causing outages for hundreds more paying clients with Crissic Solutions. For the sake of our paying clients, holding [the] additional clients that are free clients with IsMyWebsite is not worth [what] Matt is currently paying us. We have [also] received a few isolated cases from the free clients that include warez forums, spam email, and a few other items. The never-ending risk of a free client potentially rooting into the server, or another hacking incident that happened a short few months ago with IsMyWebsite is too large to risk for our paying clients. We wish the best of luck to all at IsMyWebsite, and hope that your future endeavors are successful.”

Skylar MacMinn, Crissic Solutions, LLC

Despite additional attempts at a settlement, the final verdict was reached.

“You have until the morning of the 8th of July to move all data off. Regardless if you are transferred off or not, all remaining accounts will be deleted.”

Skylar has stated that all data currently on the VPS may remain, and we are looking into the potential purchase of a dedicated server with them. As Mike puts it, “I am pro-Crissic is because the servers are fast and reliable and we are getting a good deal”.

The new server wont be here for another 1-2 weeks. Skylar has promised your data will be safe for this time.

I just finished talking with Skylar from Crissic Solutions, the company behind our 8th node. There were two phases to this deal. The first:

1. They are willing to donate $2/mo off our bill to get their name up on the IsMyWall.
2. They want us to help design banners for their site through a competition. They are willing to provide free Standard Resellers to the winners for a year. They are also willing to upgrade us to the Standard Master Reseller in exchange for our efforts here.

So, anyone with graphical skills can start thinking of what they will be designing. We are going to need banners in 88×31 and 125×125 dimensions. What does everyone think of this? More information as it comes…

I didn’t actually believe this would go through. (In fact, I was recently promised another $100 donation that has yet to be paid.) But here it is, actually sitting in my PayPal balance. $190.

It started yesterday with a tiny comment on the blog:

Hmm… Tell me, what is the average cost of your nodes?

Depending on the price, I may be willing to donate enough for 1 year on 1 node, in exchange for waiving of ad requirements for my 1 site, provided that the money goes to a new node to help grow. Contact me on my email to discuss, please.

Bryan Bartlett, username Valareos, issued the following statement about why he donated:

The true value of any company, of any service, is not how they react when everything is running at 100% efficiency, but when a problem arises that shakes the very foundation of that company or service. What IsMyWebsite has went through these last few months could have been the end of the community entirely.

I joined IsMyWebsite just a few days before the great crash. In fact, I was in the queue to have my website accepted. My entire purpose was finding a free hosting service that supported SQL databases so I could develop my scripts in a test environment before going live on my paid hosting account. I was also going to use this service as a backup for all my files.

When the site suddenly stopped responding for days, I assumed that they just folded up, and vanished off the face of the earth. I continued to look for a different service, every so often checking back to see if perhaps the site would come back. Finally, the blog appeared, explaining everything. I waited, I watched, and I was amazed how quickly IsMyWebsite addressed the problem, fixed the problem, AND worked to ensure the problem didn’t repeat itself.

As I was waiting for IsMyWebsite to finish their nodes, and give me domain space, my original host deleted my entire website. Why? Clerical error caused them to show me a year behind on payments. There was nothing I could do. They offered to give me a year free service, but all my files were permanently gone, and there was no backups to go to.

So what did that show me? That IsMyWebsite, a relatively small, free hosting service that is supported by unobtrusive ads placed where the designer wants them handled a crisis with more professionalism, and more care for customer satisfaction than a large “professional” company.

It is for this reason, and many others, that I have donated $190 CDN, to pay for a full year hosting and domain for a new node, to help this community grow.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

This is the first donation to ring through in months, and I really hopes it stirs up more. Donate like Valareos here.

I’d like to apologize on behalf of DeiseHost’s strict ‘no overselling’ policy. As you will see here, hosting with Overselling Enabled was not only initially requested, but at the top of our list. Dan from DeiseHost has replied offering their services.

http://freewebspace.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2208334

Unfortunately I received a recent email. (Delayed I may add.)

I am sorry but we do not allow Overselling.

Regards,
Dan

Now we’re stuck with unlimited hosting (the default) for all our clients and there’s no way to change that since no matter what move we take, we’ve still exceeded our allotment by infinity. Here’s a follow-up:

May i firstly like to quote what dan actually said to you in this post.

“Hello,

DeiseHost.Com can offer you the following:

5 GB Disc Space
50 GB Data Transfer
cPanel/WHM 11
Fantastico De Luxe
Unlimited Features
Host Unlimited Accounts
24/7 Dedicated and Friendly Support

Monthly Price: $8.99″

no where in that did Dan offer you overselling. Therefore you chose to select this offer on the basis of what Dan offered you here.

Kind Regards,
Neil Hickman.

Speaking of which, no other company does mention that they offer overselling or even PHP URL access. Isn’t it odd how all the others just had these features or else checked my requirements before replying. But, I guess, you are right. No where did you actually say you offered overselling.

The Node 4 No Overselling curse lives on. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Hi everyone.

I must apologize for not having a lot of time to post lately, but as you know - making sure things work for my clients is almost a full time job. However, as of late the number of actual problems has been swamped by a new epidemic - confused clients not knowing how to access their sites.

I want to say this once (even though I know I’ll have to say it again elsewhere), the cPanel button in your ‘Hosting’ section works. Trying to access through ismywebsite.com doesn’t and will only frustrate you! You can also get FTP connection details with the ‘FTP Info’ button. On past request, I have upgraded the system to a more secure button with passes an encrypted phrase (which doesn’t even match your password) to verify you. So it’s more secure than anything else right now.

Regarding the Kudos mentioned in the title, the Wildcard DNS was broken for the last 12 hours, and as anyone who’s dealt with that type of thing, it’s a real pain to have to fix. But rest easy because after some hard work they fixed it successfully - so all your redirects are fully working now!

Work continues on virtually all nodes.

Node 1 - SmokyHosts
Still preparing to send a mass email regarding the transfer, and possible upgrade the ‘Hosting’ section to also display this (as a button to the ‘Old cPanel’). I’m hoping the button and email can be finished tonight, perhaps sent through the virtually unused SmokyHosts server.

Node 2 - IsMyHost.com
We’re giving away hosting for 2 more days on the top node, which you can just reply to get. We have just installed Installatron, so you can do some installing of your favourite scripts. (It’s like Fantastico.) Also upgraded all accounts to the top stage yesterday, since with the recent trouble I thought everyone deserved it.

Node 3 - IsMyWs.com
Not much to say. Still working well.

Node 4 - IsNumberOne.org
We will be switching to another hosting company here for sure. All accounts in queue for creation on this node are being moved to our new Node 9. All accounts already created will be transfered to the new server when we move. Due to the restrictions in place on this node, we cannot enable extra features of any kind, but it is possible to switch to a new node once all the old accounts are successfully created.

Node 5 - IsMyWe.com
Nothing’s changed… Still great, working node.

Node 6 - IsMyWb.com
We are running into the same trouble with PHP URL file access. Except now, Nixism wants me to send it to their technical department. It’s already been a whole month’s worth of hosting down the drain. Should I switch or continue pursuing this?

Node 7 - SuperbHost.us
Starting to feel a strain. I’ve also received word that Mike wants to get a VPS in place of his reseller with the domain ismyhost.net, which will be great. So given those two factors, all remaining accounts are being created on Node 9 for now.

Node 8 - IsMyWebs.com
Remember the company that originally hosted us on a VPS for a short period earlier and was also originally going to host IsMyHost.com. Well, now they’re back to hosting a reseller for us. Everybody welcome Crissic Solutions, run by Skylar.

Node 9 - IsMyWall.com
I’m reusing the domain name of our donation page simply because it’s already registered. I thought it fit the part fairly well, and it might attract more donations if it’s used for something. Anyways, this domain is going to host the remainder of accounts from IsNumberOne.org and SuperbHost.us.

Node 10 - IsMyHs.com
Just registered 7 new domains, this being the first one, with plans to build 7 new domains. I have found a small company to host this one, which is new to reseller hosting but confident in their ability. (The plan is to host a low number of accounts here to start.)

Node 11 - IsMyHt.com
Another domain seeking a server.

Node 12 - IsMySe.com
Node 13 - IsMySi.com
Node 14 - IsMySt.com
Node 15 - IsMyWi.com
Node 16 - IsMyWt.com
All seeking a reseller. I have a number of companies in mind, that I will be utilizing as we need them for future expansion. (Could be you who hosts them if you want to.)

So just a few hundred accounts left to build, and they are actively being created throughout the day.

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.

Sean here with some good news for you! Matt has been really good with my account on IsMyWebsite and I decided to return the favor. Today I bought a reseller account and am going to be hosting some accounts on my server.

The domain is IsNumberOne.org, but at the moment the domain will be redirecting you to here until we sort out the templates etc.

To sign up, send an email to hosting@isnumberone.org and request an account to be set up. You will need to provide the following:

1. The subdomain ( yourname.isnumberone.org ) or domain to use (Myname.com/.net/.co.uk)
2. A short title and description about your website.
3. Username/password to use for the account.

For more information, email me at support@isnumberone.org.

Thanks,
Sean