Hosting Problems

Handruin

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In more series of events with web hosting, I've found out on my own that not only has my price been bumped up after years of service with these people, that my SSH access has been removed after having it allowed for all these years. This means right now I have no real way of doing backups or upgrades.

I'm looking for alternatives for hosting right now, but I just wanted to make you all aware. I know I should have moved long ago, but it's a pain to move everything to a new host, so I'd hoped to work things out with these folks first.
 

P5-133XL

Xmas '97
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Jan 15, 2002
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Salem, Or
np, hosting is a commodity business so go for the best deal that supplies the service you need.
 

Handruin

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Do you have any experience with them? I'm not completely understanding their pricing.
 

Handruin

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So their staff won't budge with the SSH. Seems I need to have a static IP address at my home ISP for them to allow me.
 

Handruin

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Their pricing plans are kind of difficult to swallow. If I want to try them monthly I have to pay a $50 setup fee...otherwise the next best option is to prepay for a year. I don't see SSH anywhere, where did you find it?
 

Handruin

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I would like to find somewhere that I can. Dreamhost seems to be an individual account, not for resellers.
 

blakerwry

Storage? I am Storage!
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Handy, I can provide free hosting on an underutilized web hosting server at work.

We typically only offer FTP access (no control panel or ssh), php, perl, MySQL, via Apache 2.x, but maybe I could setup a VM if you want more control. Alternatively, I could turn an unused desktop (pII/pIII) into a home for SF and give you complete control of the box.

We run a multihomed network with over 100Mbps to the internet, redundant network, power, etc.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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I'm not paying for electricity and have a significant UPS. If I could get FiOS I would build a server for you right here.

Uh oh. If you don't pay the electric bills it will be lights out, UPS or not. ;)

Meanwhile the fourm is sooo slow. :(
 

ddrueding

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Nope. The complex is old enough that it has a building-wide meter. Therefore utilities are included in the rent. The only thing stopping me from going crazy on power consumption is a bit of guilt for this whole global-warming thing*.

*Which is almost completely canceled out by sticking it to my landlord.
 

Handruin

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Sorry for the delays on this. I'm home for the next couple weeks because I had my tonsils removed and I'm in a bunch of pain right now. Once I start feeling a little better I planned on solving this problem for us.
 

ddrueding

Fixture
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Sorry to hear than Handruin. I hope they gave you some good drugs ;)

It actually hasn't been bad recently, but their long-term performance warrants an eventual switch anyway.
 

Handruin

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I had the surgery yesterday morning. I'm really sore right now, but I should be back into things in the next few days. I'm sitting at my kitchen table with my laptop, this ice pack strapped around my neck, my cat sleeping in the chair next to me, and a bottle of gatorade by my side.

The only thing I have is a liquid form of Tylenol with codeine that I take every 4 hours. It seems to help, but isn't the best. It's easier on my stomach than the other things they were going to give me.

I know the performance has been sucking here. I really want to do what you suggested and host it myself with something like FIOS. I would build a machine for it as well.
 

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
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Chicago, IL
Are you planning on getting consumer FIOS? This section of the Verizon TOS might be of use to you then:

Restrictions on Use. The Service is a consumer grade service and is not designed for or intended to be used for any commercial purpose. You may not resell the Service, use it for high volume purposes, or engage in similar activities that constitute such use (commercial or non-commercial). If you subscribe to a Broadband Service, you may connect multiple computers/devices within a single home to your modem and/or router to access the Service, but only through a single Verizon-issued IP address. You also may not exceed the bandwidth usage limitations that Verizon may establish from time to time for the Service, or use the Service to host any type of server. Violation of this section may result in bandwidth restrictions on your Service or suspension or termination of your Service.
 

Handruin

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I can't even get FiOS but if I could, I would do it the right way. They do offer a plan for hosting. Thanks for digging up that info though.
 

Bozo

Storage? I am Storage!
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Twilight Zone
Sorry for the delays on this. I'm home for the next couple weeks because I had my tonsils removed and I'm in a bunch of pain right now. Once I start feeling a little better I planned on solving this problem for us.

Eat lots of ice cream :thumbleft: Ice cream is great after having your tonsils removed.

Bozo :joker:
 

Handruin

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I've been eating sherbet, pudding, and mac & cheese (when I can swallow it). I also bought a bunch of gatorade to keep fluids in me.
 

Handruin

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I think I might try using a VPS from a place called known host. I read a lot of positive feedback from people online and the VPS solution will give me root access to the virtual environment which will give me even more control at the backups of the database.
 

Handruin

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Thanks Will, that's some good info from Rad. I'm reading through it now and his hosting company does sound good. They use the same Virtuozzo VPS that I was considering with knownhost. knownhost is also managed and less expensive, but that doesn't mean it's better. My largest concern is the amount of configured memory they offer. I don't know if 256MB is enough, but I suspect it might be for us since we aren't that busy of a website.

I sill need to read through all his research to learn more. Thanks for sending me that info.
 

timwhit

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I'm almost certain that 256MB is plenty. As a comparison our company Intranet runs in a VM with 256MB of RAM and has as many as 100 simultaneous users. Content is served out of Joomla, which I would guess is similar to the forum software.

I never notice any performance problems.
 

Handruin

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So if that is the case based on your experience with that amount of RAM, I can try knownhost since it would cost me the same per month as I'm paying now and we should theoretically get much better performance because we'd be given a proper slice of CPU time and resources. It still uses cpanel/whm so I can do reselling/multiple hosting which is what I want for flexibility.
 

Handruin

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Just letting you know it's in progress. I order a VPS package a few minutes ago and I'm awaiting my account creation (which is within 24 hours). I'll probably get some things up and going to test drive for a little bit before we move over. When the time comes, I'll probably ask for some of you to test response times, transfer rates, etc if you wouldn't mind.

If it seems acceptable, then I'll move us. Otherwise I have 30 days money back to try it out.
 

Handruin

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No rush. I just wanted some opinions outside my area. The data center will now be in Texas vs New Jersey where it is now.

Since it's VPS, we will get our own share of resources, so I'm curious to see how it goes. I'll need to play with things for a bit before anything gets moved, but I'll likely put up a point in time snapshot of the forum to play with and some large files to do download speed testing.
 

Handruin

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I'm getting there. :) Today is the first day I can tolerate being off the pain meds for a while. That's why I'm starting on this now. I had a scare this morning though after waking up with blood all in my mouth...scared the crap out of me. It stopped so I didn't need to go to the ER. I think it's because I got more than 3-4 hours of sleep last night and my mouth dried out.

I'm off work until April 22nd to recover, so I have time to play. I also ordered my 750GB hard drives and an external case to give me something else to pay with.
 
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