One of the most reliable & dependable webhosts around: Aussie Bob's Dotable is now a part of the UK2Group.
Read announcement:
[url]
The new plans unfortunately resemble that of a typical overselling host.
I signed up with dotable about a year and a half ago. Initially, I used the simplest plan to put up a very small informational site for my son's one man business.
My primary reason for going with dotable in the first place was the excellent reputation enjoyed by the principal partner. I have followed his exploits in the world of web hosting for many years, and was always impressed with his product, knowledge, and attitude. Several months after I came onboard, he and his partner sold the company to the UK2 group.
Recently, both my wife and I retired. We want to play around with several online stores to see just what, if anything, works. With that in mind, I recently upgraded to the least expensive multi-domain plan. Dotable is the only host of which I'm aware that offers multiple dedicated IP addresses, free SSL, one free SSL certificate, and a cpanel for each domain along with reasonable space and transfer in a simple shared hosting package that is truly inexpensive(about $162 a year).
Now that I'm finally beginning to use this product in a somewhat aggressive manner, I've experienced a number of unusual things that in sum are somewhat disturbing.
As many of you know, dotable's web site is nothing more that a support forum. This is, I feel, a great idea. Unfortunately, it's of little benefit if it's unusable. I cannot search this forum. I'm always returned to the initial search page. Also, I am unable to register and log in. The site, therefore, is largely useless to me. I recently asked my residential broadband host if that company was in any way involved. I received a reply (copied in part below) indicating that the tech had the same issues using several different boxes and connections.
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Thank you for contacting EMBARQ High-Speed Internet Technical Support.
I am sorry for your recent troubles with the "dotable.com" website search feature. I can definitely give you some closure on this subject. I researched the website search page you are having trouble with and have tried it from several different computers using several different ISP connections, including Embarq and AT&T. In all instances there is the same results that you are having. The search page feature does not function but you simply remain on the same page with nothing having happened. This is not your computer at fault, and it is not the connection at fault either since these tests were done using different Internet backbones. The only possible cause of this issue is a problem with the actual website search feature itself. The website developers at "dotable.com" will need to fix their website functionality in order for you to have success with its search function.
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I did notify dotable of this problem (ticket #8256) a month or two ago. Dotable Billy's response was that he was unaware of the problem. He did request that I contact him using IM; however, I haven't done so, feeling that it was never really a problem with my box. Several days ago, I resubmitted the issue with the inclusion of embarq's comments as indicated above. So far, no feedback.
The support forum was a lively place when I first signed on. Peer support is a good thing; so, I was delighted to see such an active customer community. Over the last few months, forum activity has dwindled to almost nothing. This may be due to the forum issues I've discussed above and/or possibly to the generalized unhappiness that I've been seeing regarding customer support and product value.
I suppose that it's remotely possible that this non-functionality has been built in by the current owner. It is certainly one way of limiting angry posts with the possible benefit of being a reasonable excuse for eventually modifying the web site in the future. Having a support forum as your entire web site might be problematic for a typical owner. Appears ridiculous even as I type it; however, stranger things have happened.
When I switched plans back in early March, I discovered that I hadn't been billed for my second year on the original plan. I notified dotable of this discrepancy and was promptly billed. I seem to recall a post in some applicable forum indicating that this was not a one-off situation, apparently a number of customers hadn't been billed. Apparently, new ownership has had a very rocky start.
I'm still at a point where it would be relatively easy for me to transfer to a different host. Almost inevitably, I'll take a bit of a financial hit if I do so. As indicated above, dotable is unusual in what it currently offers for the price. Almost inevitably, I'll have to purchase additional dedicated IP addresses, SSL certificates, etc. if I make a move. With many hosts, my multiple domains will have to be installed as addons with no cpanel of their own.
Still, if this host is going to go through a prolonged period of adjustment and/or if it's going to evolve into a completely different animal over the next year or two, then I'd be well advised to go now. Moving three to five fully functioning shops months from now would probably be a major headache.
I've been meaning to post a review here cause I used this forum to choose my host over 2 years ago.
I had never paid for a host before and never ventured into doing much for a website but wanted a small personal low maintenance e-comm website. I wanted a low cost host most of all since I didn't think I'd get a big flood of customers, dotable worked pretty well for the first year or so.
My only complaints with them were,
their abrasive renewal letters, it was like as soon as you got a notice to renew, you had 24 hours to do it. I'm a noob so I felt it was rude but whatever.
I also found the staff didn't seem to understand what I wanted when I submitted a ticket (all of twice a year) consisting of asking them where the virus scanner had gone. I used to have one and then it disappeared. It took 3 tickets and 1 year for Aussie Bob to understand that, I found it very frustrating.
I over all was happy, little downtime, only problem popping up occasionally was expired ssl but now that the company has changed over to new people I was determined to not mind. I didn't want to deal with a change since my website is nice and settled but in the last week I have submitted my first and now 2nd 911 tickets which took a good 12 HOURS to get a reply! I am not the type to use 911 tickets anyhow, I suspect others do so it's a big deal when I click the 911 button. This week I have submitted more overall tickets then I have in the rest of the 2 years I have been with them D: My website has never been so high maintenance! It's not only frustrating but as many of you know it makes you look BAD and you do loose business over it.
The customer service is the type that offers no information, it's like talking to someone where you ask "so did you like this movie" and they answer "yep...." you have to keep prompting the information or you will not get it at all. It is extremely frustrating. They also tend to answer only 1 problem per email.
I really wanted to keep on with dotable but after a long strength I will be looking for another host very soon.
I didn't love Aussie Bob but now I sure do miss him too bad.
Now I am off to research for a reliable host with low cost service for a low maintenance gal and her tiny osc website.
One of our accounts has been suspended by Dotable.
It is under quota for diskspace and bandwidth and has been paid for in advance.
Dotable will not respond to the ticket asking why the account has been suspended and what we have to do to get it back up.
I have posted on the Dotable forum (in the 'Dotable Support Forum) about this but nobody has replied (I can't link to it because I don't have more than 5 posts).
Has anyone got any suggestions about what I can do to find out why the account has been suspended and how to get it back up if Dotable doesn't reply?
I have a website that can be seen in a part of the world but not on the other. How can I troubleshoot this issue. Is there a web utility that can help me figure out what is the problem?
View 1 Replies View RelatedIs security really that critical? If so, why are some of the largest software companies providing such a bad example for the rest of the industry? Why would someone want to target my website? Why is security often overlooked?
These are all common questions that arise on a daily basis within the online industry.
The rest of this article will provide some detailed answers, along with practical examples and true scenarios.
I've spoken with numerous hackers over the past short while. I can't count the number of times I've heard the line "Ignorant site owners deserve to be hacked". In my opinion, that's like claiming that cars without alarms deserve to be stolen, or homes without alarm systems deserve to be burglarized. It's not just wrong - it's illegal.
Security risks and vulnerabilities affect the entire online industry. When a single website is hacked, there are usually multiple other victims. This is most commonly seen with widely distributed software. A potential attacker has the ability to install the software on a test environment, locate the vulnerabilities, then attack random victims even before anyone else is aware of the potential exploits. Once a vulnerability is located, the attacker simply needs to search for other environments using the same software, and within minutes there are hundreds, often thousands of potential victims.
Typically, in the race to market, software providers are encouraged to release their products as soon as the applications are usable. Critical development procedures are often overlooked or intentionally bypassed. One such miss is an application vulnerability assessment. Although the product may be usable, the effects of a vulnerable application could be severe.
Sadly, nobody is "off limits" when it comes to hacking. Most hackers feel safe committing online crime, since the online industry has evolved much faster than the security industry. Many applications are not created with the intent to recognize hacking attempts. Some hackers view their actions as a competition - Who can attack the most valuable website? Who can exploit the most user databases? In many cases, these attacks are bragged about within the hacker's immediate network. The competitive nature of these hacking groups has become so severe, there have been reports of attacks between competing organizations.
You might ask, "If I use industry standards, won't my environment be secure?". The short answer: no, but it helps. Hackers are not restricted by industry standards. Most security companies only implement new standards once at least one victim is reported. This often gives hackers plenty of time to locate other vulnerable environments, and before long, the number of victims can increase rapidly. Hackers are some of the most innovative individuals within the online industry. The most logical way to combat them is to use similar methodology for security purposes.
I am having trouble finding a good sysadmin for my needs. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Does anyone have any advice on how to find somebody like this?
SITUATION:
I am having trouble finding a reliable RH sysadmin. I have a handful of clustered HA setups for customers (6+ servers & load-balancers) and a number of single-server dedicated hosting customers. I do a lot of the work myself. The additional sysadmin usually only has a small amount of actual worked hours per month, dependent on new installs. But, they need to be reliable, available, and familiar with the complexities of the setups.
From what I have seen, some sort of server management company wouldn't be able to be familiar with the setups well enough to not regularly make errors or modify setups correctly due to the amount of clients they have.
Should/home be its own partition when using r1soft, or can it be part of/?
View 7 Replies View RelatedI have a small dns cluster with 4 servers, the problem is that when i want to update a dns registry one of them doesnt sync, i have to try like 6 or 8 times to get that server to sync with all the others, and im concern because the one who gets trouble to sync is my secondary dns server
View 2 Replies View RelatedIs bandwidth going to be my most expensive cost if I open up a video hosting site? Is there a inexpensive alternative? Is there an inexpensive web host with low cost bandwidth allocation?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have similar problem that explained [url]
The detail of my problem is below:
Some people sent spoofing mails from our mail users sent to our user from Postfix/local that is listed in maillog like below:
Apr 29 16:57:02 ns1 postfix/local[3075]: EC2153565E3: to=<user-mydomain.com@ns1.mydns.com>, orig_to=<user@mydomain.com>, relay=local, delay=486, status=sent (delivered to command: /usr/bin/procmail-wrapper -o -a $DOMAIN -d $LOGNAME)
Bu i do not know how to prevent this people not to use my Postfix/local delivery part. How can i prevent this attack?
When i connect to my mail server to sent or receive my mail it look like
Apr 29 17:25:28 ns1 dovecot: pop3-login: Login: user=<user@mydomain.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=***.***.***.***, lip=***.***.***.***
....
Apr 29 17:25:55 ns1 dovecot: POP3(user@mydomain.com): Disconnected: Logged out top=0/0, retr=0/0, del=0/0, size=0....
But the attackers connect directly like below:
Apr 29 17:29:59 ns1 postfix/local[2456]: 3192E357FD9: to=<user-mydomain.com@ns1.mydns.com>, orig_to=<user@mydomain.com>, relay=local, delay=261, status=sent (delivered to command: /usr/bin/procmail-wrapper -o -a $DOMAIN -d $LOGNAME)
....
Apr 29 17:29:59 ns1 postfix/qmgr[2218]: 3192E357FD9: removed
How can the spammer connect to Postfix/local part? My mail server not open relay. i test it from internet.
A few people have asked me to give feedback on my experience with VolumeDrive so I decided I will be posting a 3 part review on them:
Part 1 - initial impressions
Part 2 - three month review
Part 3 - one year review (hopefully)
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When I first got in contact with VD, contact was slow: about an email a day. It was very annoying to say the least. However when VD realized that I was genuinely interested in purchasing a server, and not just a window shopper, contact was more frequent and acceptable.
After looking around and comparing, I ended up ordering the following server from VD for a whopping $105 per month:
Q6600
4 GB DDR2 800 RAM
500 GB HDD
10 Mbps dedicated unmetered
5 IP addresses
Plesk 30 domain
Full managed services
Well just at face value, I don't think anyone will argue with me when I say you cannot beat the price. Where else will you find that kind of server w/ full management for $105 a month?
In the ordering process there were a few forgivable annoyances:
1) VD does not have any sort of automated, order online system for their "good" deals. I had to order via email and manually pay from PayPal. I was, however, emailed an invoice confirming my purchase after I paid.
2) It took VD 2 hours to send me my order request after I said "I am ready to purchase". Now it was late at night, so they probably only had a skeleton staff on hand, so this is understandable; however this point is sort of related to the lack of an automated system point mentioned above.
So after I paid and all, I was told they were building me a new server and it would take 3 business days to arrive. I was bummed out upon hearing this but this was understandable and justifiable - if they don't have the parts on hand, they don't have the parts, no big deal. I did appreciate the fact that they were honest with me upfront instead of trying to con me into giving me a different server (like I have been hearing stories about with other hosts).
So I waited. I was told my server would be setup on Tuesday afternoon and it was. The actual time between order and setup was about 5 and a half days: 3 days for the parts to arrive + Saturday + Sunday + time to build the server.
On Tuesday I was informed that my server has a Q8200 instead of a Q6600. To me this was not a big deal so I didn't object but if you are going to order from VD and you want one specific CPU I would be very clear with them that you won't accept any alternative. What did make me chuckle, however, is the fact that I was told "I received a free upgrade" to Q8200. It made me chuckle because I don't consider it a "free upgrade" when I was offered a choice between the Q6600 and a Q8200 for the same price during the ordering process. However, as I already said, a Q6600 or Q8200 - it does not matter to me: both are very similar in performance anyway.
So since I got my server I have been busy setting it up so VD can secure it after I am finished migrating my website (which by the way they just did - I just got an email ).
During that time I have emailed VD a fair amount of times, sometimes asking for clarification and sometimes asking for assistance with a problem, and they have responded back in a more than acceptable time frame and manner.
The only one major problem I have had so far is that initially, and by initially I mean first ~12 hours, it seems the connection to my server was not all the best. Randomly pages would take a while to load; I was curious as to why this was happening so I did some pinging and saw packets were being lost sometimes. This problem seems to have been auto-corrected itself now and I am did email VD about it; hopefully if it happens again we can get it perma-fixed.
Final verdict: people say "you get what you pay for". I say "I got more than I paid for". Hope it continues this way.
Today I'm back to encourage you to stay away from Crissic: I know the prices are tempting, but know that you will have no one on your side when a problem comes up. I finally closed my account with them after numerous major issues with my VPS.
I've had a simultaneous account with Slicehost for the past few months, just to see if paying the extra buck is worth while. Now I know it absolutely is. I'm paying double the price for half the resources with Slicehost, but their service is amazing and reliable, their support is stellar, and peace of mind that the server will stay up and running without load issues, memory or drive failures is worth every penny. The point of this post is not Slicehost though, back to Crissic.
When I signed up for Crissic, I knew that it was a relatively new web hosting startup, but I had no idea it was a one-man show. Yes it's probably possible for a single guy to run a small web hosting company--the problem, particularly in the case of Skylar, is that when something is beyond him, it isn't getting fixed.
A recent support incident occurred where I was suddenly unable to access my VPS via SSH or the console. I contacted support, here are some of his responses to my status inquiries: ....
Are there any web designers/developers who offer hosting to their clients as part of their website creation package. I am toying with the idea of only creating websites for people who host with me. I currently have a colo server, but only use it for personal things. So I have no experience with the needs and demands of clients in regards to hosting. What are some of your experiences with hosting for clients? Is it worth it?
View 15 Replies View RelatedIs it possible to extract part rars using unrar (or other programs) on centos4?
If so, how and what command to use?