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Reserve Your Seat Today July 7, 2008

Posted by ismywebsite in features, innovation, insane, uptime.
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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:

  1. Have finished building your website.
  2. Have placed proper valid ads on your website.
  3. 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.

Another Node Status Report May 31, 2008

Posted by ismywebsite in features, uptime.
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14 comments

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.

Site Back Online May 28, 2008

Posted by ismywebsite in development, uptime.
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2 comments

I brought the main website back online today, although a lot of client websites still aren’t online. I’m looking forward to the day when all websites will be online. Here’s the current status of all nodes:

Node 1 – SmokyHosts
This is the present location of most of previous websites. Due to SmokyHost’s inability to change the domain name we are now stuck abandoning this node and moving all accounts over to the other nodes. It is still being debated whether we should drop SmokyHosts altogether or request that the reseller be reset to use a different domain.

Node 2 – IsMyHost.com
Hosted by NetXServers, this is our most prestigious node, with the most freedom for those hosted here. Although we had difficulty with nameservers, everything was online up until yesterday. (I’m still getting the full story, but I’m sure Mike would have alerted all of you and backed up data if he could.) Haloclan.us domains are hosted here.

Node 3 – IsMyWs.com
750 websites are successfully hosted here, and there has been no trouble since their creation. Despite being a relatively new company, TornadoGaming has proved a valuable reseller to use, being both affordable, fully working, and providing helpful support.

Node 4 – IsNumberOne.org
The massive hosting company HostGator is behind this node, bringing with them much experience in stability at the expense of restrictions on the hosting itself. Overselling could not be enabled, and thus accounts created on this node have to request every extra MB they will be using. We are looking into upgrading to increase the available resources.

Node 5 – IsMyWe.com
This node is currently using FelWebs, and successfully working. All 750 accounts were created smoothly and are now fully working. Reasonable support is also provided.

Node 6 – IsMyWb.com
This is one bad investment, however discounted it was originally. URL file access is disabled, and any request to Nixism to enable it or get a refund went completely ignored. It would be possible to manually create and adjust all accounts, or more likely just choose a different reseller for this node.

Node 7 – SuperbHost.us
Despite the undesirable name, this node has functioned surprisingly well, with almost all accounts now successfully created. This will be finished soon.

Node 8 – IsMyWebs.com
At this point, just a fantasy. InfernoWrestling is looking into helping us purchase this additional expansion with a better hosting.

Node 9 – IsMyWall.com
Reusing an existing domain name (for our donation wall) with a good reseller. The search is on to find the right company.

Node 10 – Your Name Here
This is a great opportunity to run a free host without having to worry about finding new clients, developing a main website, establishing a working support sytem, or finding a control panel to manage accounts – at the same cost. Just choose a hosting company we’re not using and order a good quality reseller package able to fit over 100 accounts from them.

One way or another we will make it through this. If you have doubts, please email me so I can address them. I would really like some strong-willed people to help us make sure this never happens again.

Current Progress May 10, 2008

Posted by ismywebsite in uptime.
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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.