Bringing Our Hosting Back To Earth May 23, 2009
Posted by ismywebsite in general.Tags: addon, ads, application, backup, domains, downtime, earth, features, galaxy, galaxy-hosts, galaxyhost, galaxyhosts, hosting, hosts, nameservers, node 4, node 7, node4, parked, regular, reliability, security, support, tutorials, uptime, volunteers
4 comments
Hey everyone,
Well, I hate to not have much notice for something this major, and this has been in the works for quite some time, but just now it has been finalized. We will be dropping Galaxy Hosts as our service provider for Node 4.
I understand that many of you will probably want to know the reasons, and there are many. Here’s just a quick tour of the service we experienced from this company from various angles:
Reliability
One thing could always be counted on. There would never be a consecutive string of 3 days without downtime. We did achieve a couple, and at least we haven’t dipped below 90% in average overall uptime. This was largely due to server crashes from a large server load, yet we offered many practical solutions that would help solve the problem. None were accepted.Security
How’s a major security hole, enabling anyone to gain the equivalent of root access? Well, in due fairness, they did fix it, eventually, after we pointed it out to them and gave them some guidance as well. For a company that’s been at this 2 years, they overall did not appear very competent in the area of server security and handling, and also refused to accept any help or suggestions, which would have really been mutually beneficial.Features
Unlimited bandwidth, quota, and features were mandatory, due to a cPanel glitch. Despite our being well within our limit of space used, they would not enable overselling to fix the glitch, despite our repeated requests to upgrade to an account with it enabled. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the Addon and Parked Domains did not default to zero, but alas they did so we had to move many users off for that very reason. Not impressed at all.Support
For the first week or so we were using them, support was excellent. They welcomed us to their hosting, and warmly greeted us. Finally, they realized we actually wanted to use the full extent of what they offered, and problems started to creep up. Before long, there wasn’t even a working support panel to communicate with them, and you couldn’t always be sure they even got your message.
Many of you will have personally experienced many of these problems, and many of them build on one another. We find this service is simply not of sufficient quality, and you as our clients deserve better. Lucky for you, it’s really not all that difficult to find a higher quality service. I could look just about anywhere.
What this means for every user on this node currently, is the following:
1) You should already be taking regular backups of your account, especially on an unreliable node such as this one. If you don’t know how to make backups, there is a tutorial in the ‘Tutorials’ section of your account. Be taking backups daily throughout this period. We can restore your account, and have plenty of hosting space, but we may not be able to restore any lost data.
2) For all users who have valid ads placed, we will be (hopefully) relocating your accounts to another node. I will be assembling a team of volunteers to assist with this. If you are interested, and you’ve submitted a volunteer application, then just reply to this blog post.
3) If all goes well, we will start transfering the accounts to our newest Node 7, which should be set up shortly. The transfer will happen through May 25th and 26th, and will only happen to accounts with valid ads placed. Nameservers will need to be updated if you have a domain. The new nameservers are as follows:
ns1.ismyws.com
ns2.ismyws.com
4) All remaining accounts on this server will be permanently gone on May 27th, or within a short period of time thereafter. If your account does not have valid ads placed, we offer no guarantees of any kind. All clients should have ads placed, and if you have difficulties with this, just ask and we will be glad to assist.
Reserve Your Seat Today July 7, 2008
Posted by ismywebsite in features, innovation, insane, uptime.Tags: 2.5 Ghz, 3323, addition, antony, bad, bandwidth, cgi, clients, company, continue, core2quad, cpanel, crissic, cron jobs, dedicated, delivery, dell, discount, enterprise, fantastico, features, finished\building, future, good, highest, hosting, improving, income, incredible, instructions, intel, ismywebs, long-term, mysql, news, node 8, offerings, perl, php, powerful, private, profits, quadcore, rails, relationship, reputable, review, ruby, ruby on rails, rv site builder, server, servers, skylar, solid, solutions, storage, top-notch, upgrade, virtual, vps, xeon
8 comments
I’ve just talked to Skylar from Crissic Solutions, and I’ve got some good news and some bad news. First, the bad news:
“We cannot get your Core2Quad from Dell.”
Now, the good news:
“That means we upgrade you free to a Quadcore Xeon.”
Quadcore Xeons are exactly the same high-end servers originally promised to us by Antony. Of course, we only have one of them instead of 5, but this one is offered to us by a reputable company, with a solid delivery date of 2 weeks.
Here are all the features our server comes with:
Intel Xeon Quadcore 3323 (2.5Ghz)
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB SATA II Hard Drive
2000GB Bandwidth on a 100MBPS full duplex line
4 IP addresses
If you look at the dedicated server offerings for Crissic Solutions, you’ll see the highest server as ‘Intel Enterprise’. This is a server not even typically offered by them. Just to give an impression of how powerful this server is, Skylar typically runs 20 VPSs (Virtual Private Servers) with just one of these servers. Skylar has mentioned that this server could run all, or nearly all, of our current accounts.
Because of our long-term relationship with their company, we are being offered an incredible discount for the server, however this is still a greater cost than our income. As most of you know, since I’m sure I’ve said this so many times, our earnings could be an estimated 9 times as high if everyone placed valid ads on their site. (We could afford 3 of these servers with that.) I think it’s only fair to provide our top-notch server to those clients who are doing their part to make sure we can continue hosting long into the future.
The conditions are not at all tough:
- Have finished building your website.
- Have placed proper valid ads on your website.
- Have submitted your website for review on our forums.
In addition, if you do the above, your account will be on the Improving stage with lots of extra features, 5 times the storage and bandwidth, Ruby on Rails*, and even more on top of what you already have.
Check your account’s ‘Hosting’ section for a new ‘Upgrade’ page. Websites on the Improving stage or higher will be moved ot the new server when it comes online.
What is happening to Node 8?
Node 8 will be moved to be hosted on the server, however it will still use the domain ismywebs.com. No new accounts will be allowed onto Node 8 in the future.
What do I do to upgrade?
You can just go to the ‘Hosting’ section of your account and click the ‘Upgrade’ button. Follow the instructions there.
How do I transfer to the new server?
Transfer will happen automatically once the new server is online. You earned it.
What happens to people not on the server?
Nothing at all. Your account will still have the same relative reliabiliy, and be subject to whatever company manages your node. With the server from Crissic, we will have more control over how it is set up and your accounts.
What will my domain of the new server be?
This server will use the domain ismywebsite.com. For those who use their node’s domain when advertising their site, it is good to get back into the practice of using yoursite.ismywebsite.com. This domain will almost always work to access the site.
What happens to new accounts registered now?
New accounts will still be created on one of the nodes. Once they meet the above requirements, they will move onto the big server. Empty accounts will be removed after 30 days, and accounts with content after 150. (I should think 5 months is more than enough time to complete the above.) Once you are on the new server, there will be no account removal unless requested by the client.
Does the new server have cPanel, Ruby on Rails, PHP, MySQL, Fantastico, RV Site Builder, CGI, Perl, Cron Jobs, or any other feature?
It should have all of those except for RV Site Builder, which will be available once we are making a profit exceeding $30/mo again.
Should I still back up my site files on the new server?
We have a back up system in place, but the answer is still yes. Always have a backup, even if you’re hosted with a reliable company like Crissic Solutions in a datacenter guaranteeing 99.999% uptime.
How many accounts will the server fit?
More than enough for everyone who wants to meet the above requirements.
*Ruby on Rails is not available on all nodes. If you require it, you can request to be transfered to another node.
Nodes FAQ May 15, 2008
Posted by ismywebsite in development, features, uptime.Tags: 100MB, account, direct, domain, email, faq, features, finished, instructions, ismywebsite, ismyws, isnumberone, nameservers, nodes, offline, page, php, proper, redirect, response, subdomain, system, this, website, working
1 comment so far
I’m getting a lot of questions about how the nodes system will work. Here it is, in a nutshell:
- You visit http://this.ismywebsite.com/ (or any other subdomain)
- One PHP page will process the address you visit and send the right response.
- 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.
- Otherwise, you will be redirected to another domain (for example http://this.ismyws.com/ or http://this.isnumberone.org/)
- 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.
IsMyWebsite Free Hosting Development Blog 
Special Surprise May 19, 2008
Posted by ismywebsite in uptime.Tags: 2 days, active, administration, ahead, backend, comment, complete, core, downtime, exclusive, features, online, others, reply, restoration, server, stage, visitors, website
31 comments
I’ve now completed the first stage of restoration – building the core features of the administrative backend to handle it. The next 4 days will be dedicated to creating and fixing all accounts (many of which are already created as of this writing).
Those of you who are patient and dedicated can get my special surprise – hosting on an exclusive server. The criteria to get signed up:
We can also look at getting your site online ahead of the others.