Every web hosting company will have problems from time to time. Although many people complain about Hostony's service and support, I still feel that they provide good product and support for the money. (Some say you get what you pay for) But I have not been able to find another provider that can offer me the same amount of features for less. That's why I'm still here, and rather than complaining about it, I say let's try to help each other and make the best of it.
That being said, here are a few tips that may come in handy after you have experience a problem with the Hostony servers.
Note - This specifically pertains to Windows based reseller accounts using the Helm control panel. The same problems may or may not be present on other platforms.
LOSS OF SERVICE
Whenever Hostony chooses to upgrade their hardware or is forced to move your website(s) to another server/location, they never seem to let you know about it (they really should send you an automated email, but that's another issue). For that reason, it is a really good idea to check your website(s) on a regular basis. If service is not restored within a few hours, contact support, and often, service is restored before or without getting a non-automated response.
Support is usually really good about restoring BASIC service, but it can be really frustrating and time consuming when you need to get certain problems resolved. You explain everything to one support person and they suggest a fix, and if it doesn't work, you get someone else, and have to start all over again, which can take days or even weeks, especially if there is a language barrier preventing clear communication with support. They can't tell you how to fix something if they don't know what you're talking about. Do yourself a favor, try a few of the following things before you contact support and you could save yourself a whole lot of time and trouble.
PROBLEMS AFTER SERVICE IS RESTORED
Support never seems to clearly explain to me exactly what they did to restore service, but I can only assume that in some cases, the entire site(s) were either moved or recreated from backup files. (Yes, Hostony does keep backups!)
- Make sure the most recent version of your pages are online
After a recent server problem, I noticed that a site that I frequently update did not have the most recent version online after a server recovery. It was only a day or two old, but if you update frequently, you should pay close attention to this.
- Make sure you can access your control panel system
Sometimes the actual IP address is changed, the website will still come up from being redirected by your DNS records, but the control panel is often in a new location. Support will supply you with the new IP by request. Don't wait until you have a problem, and can't fix it until support gets back to you. After a server problem, check access to your control panel.
- Make sure you reset your web stats (statistics)
If your IP was changed for your control panel, you can bet that your stats won't work until you disable and re-enable them. If you have stats enabled, you should be able to go to stats.yourdomain.com to view them. This is easily forgotten. One time it was several months before I realized that no stats had been collected since the server issue. Id stats are important to you and/or your clients, you should check and/or reset them for each of your domains.
- Make sure your custom error pages are working
Custom error pages are used to present the user with a special page that you create, containing links back to your home page and/or other sections of your site instead of getting a typical "404 page not found" error message. When your IP is changed, the custom error pages quit working. I'm not sure why, the original record is still in the control panel, but it won't work unless you delete and recreate the link to the custom error page(s).
I hope you find these tips helpful.
Hurricane Bob
Hurricane Graphics - Custom Website Design and Search Engine Optimization