Donhost outage

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Posted by Xmac, 02-26-2013, 03:06 AM
Donhost seem to be having major issues with 'server 50' and sites have been down for a full day - totally unacceptable.

As usual, information on the problem and how they're resolving it is not known - but at least they have acknowledged the problem, which is a very rare for them.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-26-2013, 07:16 AM
The Donhost server 50 has been down since around 9pm on Sunday 24th Feb and it's now 11am on Tuesday 26th Feb

So far there has been no real information, certainly nothing I can tell my two customers whose web sites are unavailable and whose email services no longer work.

To cap it all my reseller account is on server 50 so not only is my web site down as well but my work is badly affected too. Not having for so long when my business relies on it is unacceptable.

The person I spoke to at around 11am today had no idea when or even if this problem would be resolved.

I find it incredible and very worrying that a web hosting company can't get a server back online even in a 24 hour period, I feel that something is very wrong here.
Posted by webwizard88, 02-26-2013, 11:44 AM
Same level of frustration here. Got a jobsworth reply on helpline this morning who couldn't have been less helpful. All well and good having status updates but not much point saying final tests are being run, then still no service 15 hours later. We pass this info onto our clients giving us justified grief and then we look stupid
Posted by Xmac, 02-26-2013, 01:18 PM
Yes, the support staff are spectacularly dim and unhelpful. My support tickets with them over the years have got increasingly tetchy and frustrated. The best bit is the way any problems on a Friday night have to wait until Monday morning...

Mind you, I remember the glory days of Donhost when the former owner, Daniel Conlon, would decide on a whim you weren't obeying the rules and delete all your files without warning....

Donhost say they are restoring from an earlier backup, and that seems to be taking many, many hours, possibly an overnight job.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-26-2013, 01:23 PM
I spoke to Donhost support (again) at around 3pm today and was assured that the server would be back up around 6pm ish today. However I now see the following on the Donhost system status page:

****************************************

Server 50 connectivity issues
Created: 25 February 2013, 07:18  Last Updated: 26 February 2013, 16:18

UPDATE ::   Due to a full system failure our administrators have been unable to recover the server to deliver websites and associated services.   We have created a new server to host the sites and services on and our system administrators are currently restoring all sites from our fail safe backups.   The restoration is expected to complete over night and as of Wednesday morning all sites and services should be restored.   Any email sent during this period has been queued on our mail servers and will be delivered to the server as soon as the restoration is complete and the services turned back on.   We wish to apologise for the inconvenience caused by this issue and wish to reassure Customers that every effort has been made to resume service on this server as quickly as possible.

****************************************

Right, so assuming that I and my customers are back in business at 9am tomorrow morning that will be a truly incredible and unacceptable 60 hours (approx) of down time!

However, I remain unconvinced as I now have zero faith in Donhost and their ability to recover even a single server failure.

OK, help / advice needed I think please. After an admittedly quick look around for a UK based reseller solution what does anybody think of Clook as an alternative to my current Donhost (Webfusion) reseller account?
Posted by Punit2, 02-26-2013, 02:32 PM
This is killing my business. I'm out in India, and our line of work totally relies on email to do business (as most do nowadays I guess). We have 30 staff, all of which receive at least 100 emails a day. I cant begin to guess how much money we've lost because of this. But most critically, I dont think any of the mail sent in the last 60 hours will get through, because the senders are getting mailer daemon bounce-back reports. For clients who I've got a long standing relationship with, it's ok, they called me and told me that there seems to be some problem. But for first time client enquiries, God knows what they must be thinking... they'll never enquire twice. If those mails haven't been backed up or stored somewhere, this will be a total disaster. And they are saying wednesday morning UK time, which, as i'm 5 and a half hours ahead, means another spent business day tomorrow. Never felt so stressed in my whole professional life.
Posted by Xmac, 02-27-2013, 03:26 AM
Well, it's Wednesday morning in the UK, and no sign of any of the server 50 sites showing...

That really is a shocking amount of downtime for a major UK hosting service. Given the rate they stuff their servers with sites, that's a lot of affected businesses.

Donhost used to have a great reputation for uptime back in the early noughties, but I'm struggling to see any reason to stick with them now.

I have around 400 accounts with them and I just can't face transferring them, but this has forced me to think again...
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 04:38 AM
Here we are into the third day of down time. Wednesday morning @ 8:34am as I type this and still no sign of the infamous server 50 from Donthost.

I am going to call Donthost support again and will report back the inevitable nonsense that I am supposed to swallow. Bitter, who me?

As to moving accounts from Donthost . . . . I don't have 400 active accounts but those that I do have are a daunting prospect to move but this really has done it for me.

I am looking at Clook now, any thoughts?
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 04:53 AM
Spoke to Donthost support @ 8:45am today . . . . was told that server 50 "should have been back online around midnight" and is now "half way through restoring the backups" and that "server 50 should be back up today".

Support guy was in Uxbridge and he checked, while I was on the phone to him, with system admin in Leeds so it sounds to me as though there is no confidence in the outcome even from the admins.

Confidence inspiring this is not. If anybody else has any information then please post it up here.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 04:57 AM
Latest from the Donthost support page (my bold)

Server 50 connectivity issues
Created: 25 February 2013, 07:18  Last Updated: 27 February 2013, 08:46

UPDATE ::  Work is still on-going regards restoring the server with Data still being synced from our backup. We apologise for the delay this has caused.   

UPDATE ::   Due to a full system failure our administrators have been unable to recover the server to deliver websites and associated services.   We have created a new server to host the sites and services on and our system administrators are currently restoring all sites from our fail safe backups.   The restoration is expected to complete over night and as of Wednesday morning all sites and services should be restored.   Any email sent during this period has been queued on our mail servers and will be delivered to the server as soon as the restoration is complete and the services turned back on.   We wish to apologise for the inconvenience caused by this issue and wish to reassure Customers that every effort has been made to resume service on this server as quickly as possible. 
Posted by Gareth-HostRedDragon, 02-27-2013, 05:10 AM

Quote:

OK, help / advice needed I think please. After an admittedly quick look around for a UK based reseller solution what does anybody think of Clook as an alternative to my current Donhost (Webfusion) reseller account?

I have used Clook a couple of years ago they are excellent, I seriously doubt you would have this problem with them.

I can't believe it has taken donhost this long to sort it out, didn't they have any spare servers?

Anyway, hope you get it sorted soon
Posted by webwizard88, 02-27-2013, 07:39 AM
We may be getting close, just checked my sites and 1 site has come back to life, not getting too excited though.
What a nightmare, don't have 400 sites but still have a lot to consider and this is the big problem with moving providers, and I guess DH know this which is how they somehow get away with such a poor service.
My vision now of their HQ is a guy working on his own at the bottom of his garden in a rusty tin shed with a "Hosting for Dummies" book!! Unbelievable...
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 08:11 AM
Well, much as feared, the Wednesday morning resurrection of the Donhost server 50 has failed to materialise for me at least.

Latest update on the support page below:

************************************
Server 50 connectivity issues

Created: 25 February 2013, 07:18
Last Updated: 27 February 2013, 12:07

UPDATE ::

Our system engineers are continuing to work on Server 50 in order to fully resolve this issue for our customers.

We wish to thank those customers affected by this for their continued patience.
************************************

I for one have completely run out of patience and am heartily sick of the patronising and less than informative "updates".

Question. Will the Donhost server 50 be up today, any time today?
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 10:38 AM
Donhost server 50 debacle . . . . it's 2:36pm now, not many business hours left before another day passes.

My web site is back up but no FTP to my site . . . . . my clients sites are still down . . . . and I still have no email service.

Donhost, more like Donthost.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 12:27 PM
Donhost server 50 fiasco, see below (my bold).

So, maybe another day without my clients sites, without email and without being able to FTP up to any of my clients sites!

This just has to be a new industry low in service and credibility. Certainly lost any claim to professional hosting solutions.

This is now heading towards 72 hours of down time and could very possibly be heading towards 96 hours.

**********************************************************
Server 50 connectivity issues

Created: 25 February 2013, 07:18
Last Updated: 27 February 2013, 16:08

UPDATE ::

The restoration of server 50 is continuing, many sites are already restored and live. Work will continue on restoring the data for remaining sites and this will compete within 24 hours.

Delivery of email will be turned back on when all sites are restored. This will ensure that no emails sent during this period are lost.

We wish to apologise for the continued inconvenience this has caused.
**********************************************************
Posted by Punit2, 02-27-2013, 12:48 PM
Delivery of email will be turned back on when all sites are restored. This will ensure that no emails sent during this period are lost

How is this actually possible? The vast majority of people who have mailed me have had mailer daemon bounce back reports......
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punit2

Delivery of email will be turned back on when all sites are restored. This will ensure that no emails sent during this period are lost

How is this actually possible? The vast majority of people who have mailed me have had mailer daemon bounce back reports......

What I can say is if this is as accurate as any of their previous statements then it's pie in the sky.

I know that when I email myself the email is queued and then after a while the mailer daemon responds with "temporary failure. (#4.3.0) I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long".

So, we wait some more to see if our emails are lost and gone forever or by some miracle have been saved by the collective genius that is Donhost / Webfusion.

Anybody actually know if this is possible? (He says, clutching at straws)
Posted by Punit2, 02-27-2013, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vibrance

What I can say is if this is as accurate as any of their previous statements then it's pie in the sky.

I know that when I email myself the email is queued and then after a while the mailer daemon responds with "temporary failure. (#4.3.0) I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long".

So, we wait some more to see if our emails are lost and gone forever or by some miracle have been saved by the collective genius that is Donhost / Webfusion.

Anybody actually know if this is possible? (He says, clutching at straws)

Unfortunately when I asked, I got a reply that "The sending machines should try for 72hrs, looks like they have their queue settings too low, which we can not change..."

In an indirect way, I think this basically means 'no', I think our emails are gone for ever. The only few that might be salvaged are the ones that are sent in the last 24 hours before emails go live again, as they're still queued. The rest, I'm devastated to say, seem like they're gone. Literally thousands of pounds of lost business.... :-(
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 02:38 PM
I am just so fed up with the useless / patronising / wrong statements that I have been given both over the phone and that I have read on the so called support page.

This ludicrous shambles should serve as a massive wake up call to Donhost / Webfusion as it has conclusively proved that they currently have neither the management nor technical skills available to run a hosting business.

Here we are with three complete business days down the tubes and with the possibility of another 24 hours to go . . . or is that also wishful thinking? Who knows?
Posted by Avonpalmer, 02-27-2013, 05:23 PM
Hi, I joined just to join this thread.
I have very few sites but the poor sods on server 50 includes an accountants. 3 days of no email is insane, I'll probably end up refunding their yearly fee.
Any other recommendations other than clook?
I don't need cheap I need reliable. i was looking at Heart but they're joining Donhost.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 07:49 PM
Donhost server 50 still down (or at least only partially restored) after a truly staggering 75 hours or so.

Within 30 mins it will be into day four . . . I still have no email and my clients sites are not up and of course they don't have email either.

Avonpalmer - I looked at Heart Internet but their reputation is not great to say the least and it's another "unlimited" scheme which I think is a big part of the problem. For my part I am now looking at a "limited" bandwidth solution with either Clook or United Hosting.

As Donhost are now actively sending new resellers to Heart I'm wondering if that may go some way to explaining the shambles in that they certainly appear to have lost the expertise required to manage the reseller shared servers.

Frankly I have no idea how I am going to extricate myself from the crap that Donhost has caused. Possibility of having to do refunds is pretty bad, that coupled with the fact that deadline related work (on two separate jobs) is not possible as I have no access to my reseller accounts, no FTP etc. is a show stopper.

Any new business that may have come my way during this fiasco from my web site and / or via email will be gone for good and I have no way (yet) of knowing how many of my clients are aware of the situation.

All in all this is the worst disaster I have ever experienced and I have been in this business for over 10 years. Not even when the entire Donhost data centre went down in 2011 was it this bad.
Posted by Catweasel, 02-27-2013, 08:26 PM
I have also joined this forum out of pure frustration.

It's now 12.30am Thursday and server 50 is slowly making a comeback, they haven't plumbed in the email yet, but fingers crossed it will be resolved by the weekend.

I share everyone's frustration here as I have a few sites on this server, and in the years I've been with them I can't remember such a bad outage, and with it, a total lack of respect shown to ME, the long suffering customer.

I personally feel that their ticket update responses have been bordering contempt because I'm only flying economy class. Their contingency planning = flog him a dedicated server. They have made me feel like I'm a thorn in their side. The Donhost experience I have received relating to customer care would not be acceptable in any other business environment, especially now in these tough times of austerity.

I personally feel the Don brand is dying, if they still believed in the brand why does their own website push all new hosting enquiries to either Webfusion or Heart Internet.

I've lost count over the years how many times Donhost have been acquired by other companies, and each time the service level in my experience has got worse. Like others have said, it is hard for us all to move sites away, if DNS configs are complex clients might also end up having to take an unwelcome financial hit, especially if they have to call in their own IT.

Also if you do move, move where? Moving to another shared platform surely will be the same, everytime I check my IP neighbours it scares me how many sites they pile high on each server.

This outage has really got me thinking about leaving, I fear it's not if but when this will happen again, all suggestions welcome.

Catweasel

P.S Vibrance - Not even when the entire Donhost data centre went down in 2011 was it this bad. (I remember that, I'm sure is was something to do with testing the data centre fire alarm system, and you are right it wasn't as bad)
Posted by Vibrance, 02-27-2013, 09:14 PM
@ the Cat

I think Donhost is all but gone in reality, it's Webfusion in all but name. Can't really see any reason for Donhost to continue to exist in fact as I talk to Webfusion, pay Webfusion etc.

As to moving my reseller business, it won't be going to Heart Internet for sure. Highly automated pile it high and sell it cheap unlimited this and unlimited that is a recipe for disaster as far as business continuity is concerned.

A fixed bandwidth reseller solution from Clook or United Hosting looks like a real possibility to me.

Your point about this happening again is what worries me. I fear that Webfusion have dispensed with all the knowledge and expertise that there was in the Donhost shared server reseller set up and this I think is borne out by the fact that a single server failure now takes them four or more days to sort out.
Posted by astutiumRob, 02-27-2013, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punit2

think this basically means 'no', I think our emails are gone

If you have a lower priority MX that queues your mail, then *maybe* you'll still get them - depends if the current MX has been up/down/accepting email or not.

You can mitigate the loss of email by having a 2ndary mail fail over system, which will queue up your mail while the primary mail system is down
Posted by Catweasel, 02-28-2013, 02:40 AM
Welcome all, to another day in paradise.

6.30am Update:

Websites
Some sites have returned now HOORAY, Hmm but I had to check that my 18 mbps broadband connection hadn't been replaced overnight with my trusted USRobotics 14,400 dial up fax modem from the mid 90's, as that's how slow my pages are downloading.

Email:
Hire a pigeon

Status Page:
I'd rather play with my navel fluff

Thanks Vibrance, Clook and United Hosting look interesting I will give them a call.

Cat
Posted by Vibrance, 02-28-2013, 04:30 AM
Donhost Server 50

Thursday 28th February 2013

After being down from around 9:30pm on the 24th my clients sites are now back up. That's somewhere around 84 hours of down time from a single server failure.

But that was the good news. The bad news is that I and my clients on server 50 still don't have an email service. I wonder how long that will take to come back online.

Donhost (Webfusion) have issued a statement, more than once, that no emails will be lost as a result of this major outage. The jury is out on that one.

I will shortly be calling Donhost support for another dose of bull.
Posted by Punit2, 02-28-2013, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vibrance

Donhost Server 50

Thursday 28th February 2013

After being down from around 9:30pm on the 24th my clients sites are now back up. That's somewhere around 84 hours of down time from a single server failure.

But that was the good news. The bad news is that I and my clients on server 50 still don't have an email service. I wonder how long that will take to come back online.

Donhost (Webfusion) have issued a statement, more than once, that no emails will be lost as a result of this major outage. The jury is out on that one.

I will shortly be calling Donhost support for another dose of bull.

Thanks Vibrance, do keep us posted! Regarding the emails, it's a bit of selective wordplay I think. Fair enough, backlog of mails before the outage may not be lost, for anyone who relies on webmail or whatever, but most people wont care - because of Outlook clients etc storing files on to their on servers or systems. What I dont believe for a second is that the vast majority of mails sent in the last 4 days will not be lost. That's the real killer for me....
Posted by Vibrance, 02-28-2013, 06:15 AM
Donhost Server 50

Update from the Donhost support page

*****************************************************
Server 50 connectivity issues

Created: 25 February 2013, 07:18
Last Updated: 28 February 2013, 09:50

UPDATE ::

Our administrators are nearing completion of restoring this Server with many sites now visible. Delivery of mail will begin once all sites are restored.

We wish to thank Customers for their continued patience.
*****************************************************

"many sites now visible" - visible, not actually working if they rely on running a mail script I happen to know

Delivery of mail will begin once all sites are restored. - not even a vague hint as to whether this will be 5 minutes, 5 hours or 5 days. I wonder how long it will take to sort out the email backlog? Here's hoping there actually IS a backlog to sort out!

We wish to thank Customers for their continued patience. - I would think that everybody affected by this has had their patience stretched far beyond breaking point by now. Not only a patronising comment but totally unrealistic.

So, the big question is WHY HAS IT TAKEN FOUR DAYS TO GET ONE WEB SERVER BACK ONLINE?
Posted by Xmac, 02-28-2013, 08:02 AM
Well, Donhost have now lost my business, but the movement of 400 accounts will take some doing.

But the satisfaction of saying sayonara to that bunch of bozos will be immense!

If anyone's got recommendations for a better reseller package then let us know.

Ironically, I asked a fellow reseller (not with Donhost) who he would recommend, and he was very happy with Heart! Said their UK support was snappy, and it's certainly a much better control panel than antiquated Donhost.

The cp and uptime record were the only reasons for choosing Donhost back when Daniel Conlon was in charge. Now there is no reason at all to choose them - their two unique selling points are an unreliable service and crap support...
Posted by Gareth-HostRedDragon, 02-28-2013, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xmac

Well, Donhost have now lost my business, but the movement of 400 accounts will take some doing.

But the satisfaction of saying sayonara to that bunch of bozos will be immense!

If anyone's got recommendations for a better reseller package then let us know.

Ironically, I asked a fellow reseller (not with Donhost) who he would recommend, and he was very happy with Heart! Said their UK support was snappy, and it's certainly a much better control panel than antiquated Donhost.

The cp and uptime record were the only reasons for choosing Donhost back when Daniel Conlon was in charge. Now there is no reason at all to choose them - their two unique selling points are an unreliable service and crap support...

Heart have their own custom control panel don't they?

The only reason that is a problem is if you ever wanted to move away from them in the future then it is going to be a tedious operation, having to create each account individually, then move all the files over individually. Just like you are going to have to do with your Donhost account.

If you go with a supplier that uses a standard control panel, like cPanel, or Plesk, then if you need to move again, just find a host that uses the same control panel, backup your site(s), using the backup facility in the control panel, upload them to your new account, and ask the new supplier to create the new accounts from the backups, then change the dns/nameservers and your site(s) transferred, and if done properly, without any downtime. Most suppliers will even do the transfers for you.

Makes it easier if you need to get out of a similar situation in the future.

Some good providers that I know are:

UK
http://www.clook.net/
http://ukwebsolutionsdirect.co.uk/
http://www.unitedhosting.co.uk/
http://ezpzhosting.co.uk/ - will provide enduser support for your clients as well
http://innohosting.com/ - will provide enduser support for your clients as well

US
http://www.mddhosting.com/
http://speedysparrow.com/

Hope these help
Posted by Vibrance, 02-28-2013, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xmac

Well, Donhost have now lost my business, but the movement of 400 accounts will take some doing.

But the satisfaction of saying sayonara to that bunch of bozos will be immense!

If anyone's got recommendations for a better reseller package then let us know.

Ironically, I asked a fellow reseller (not with Donhost) who he would recommend, and he was very happy with Heart! Said their UK support was snappy, and it's certainly a much better control panel than antiquated Donhost.

The cp and uptime record were the only reasons for choosing Donhost back when Daniel Conlon was in charge. Now there is no reason at all to choose them - their two unique selling points are an unreliable service and crap support...

Donhost and Webfusion now only provide reseller hosting through their "sister" company Heart Internet. Personally I would tread carefully as there may well be a frying pan and fire issue here.

Have you looked at Clook or United Hosting? I am nothing to do with either of those companies and don't (yet) host with them but it's highly likely I will be moving to one of them.

Heart Internet worries me because of it's highly automated nature and "unlimited" offerings will only ever disappoint or worse.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-28-2013, 08:35 AM
@ Gareth

You were posting as I was writing mine.

Much more focused than my post and much more useful too.

Business continuity and planning for it is something I just have not done, at least in regard to my hosting requirements.

Your comments are spot on and I shall be adopting this approach for my future hosting solution so as to mitigate at least some of the overhead work I am now faced with in moving my clients.
Posted by Xmac, 02-28-2013, 08:38 AM
Some very helpful comments here, thanks everybody.

Just looking at Clook right now.

I do actually have a large United Hosting reseller account, which I use for commerce sites. They're amongst the very best hosting companies in my experience, but it would cost too much to migrate all my Donhost accounts to them.

Good points about choosing cPanel or WHM as it's a breeze to transfer accounts - lesson learnt.
Posted by Vibrance, 02-28-2013, 01:40 PM
Donhost server 50 outage

Remember this from the Donhost support page:

Delivery of email will be turned back on when all sites are restored. This will ensure that no emails sent during this period are lost.

Absolute rubbish as it turns out.

I have no emails from the period between 20:27 on 24/2/13 and 07:26 on 27/2/13

Nobody at Donhost seems to know what they are doing. These emails are "lost". Thank you very much Donhost.

Right, I'm guessing that I'm not the only one in this boat. Just how much business, business confidence and goodwill do you think we have lost collectively?

After having promoted responsive web design to my existing clients and to a targeted group of prospects I could reasonably have expected enquiries which will now never materialise, again thank you Donhost.
Posted by Xmac, 02-28-2013, 03:15 PM
I have decided to go with Clook internet for now. They have a month-free promotion at present, so although it's no indicator of long-term reliability, it will be enough to see how I go - although I may end up eventually going for another account with United Hosting, and cutting back on the budget accounts.
Posted by Gareth-HostRedDragon, 02-28-2013, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xmac

I have decided to go with Clook internet for now. They have a month-free promotion at present, so although it's no indicator of long-term reliability, it will be enough to see how I go - although I may end up eventually going for another account with United Hosting, and cutting back on the budget accounts.

Both Clook, and United Hosting are good providers. I am sure you will be happy with both/either.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-01-2013, 05:17 AM
I see that theregister.co.uk has picked up on this and may have used this discussion as a source.

The full link would be posted here if I could, apparently because I have not made 5 or more posts then I cannot do so . . . . . strange as last time I checked 18 was greater than 5.

Never mind.

(Search for donhost @ theregister.co.uk)

Try this >>>> theregister.co.uk/2013/03/01/one_server_takes_down/
Posted by webwizard88, 03-10-2013, 10:42 AM
Server 56 Down now sound familiar?

"Due to a full system failure on Server 56, our administrators have been unable to recover the server to deliver websites and associated services.
Our system administrators are currently restoring all sites from our fail safe backups.
The restoration is expected to complete later this evening.
We wish to apologise for the inconvenience."

This is a joke, I'm getting out ASAP
Posted by Xmac, 03-10-2013, 01:36 PM
Indeed, Donhost are getting a reputation for very consistent service - of the unreliable, bungling kind...

Server 56 has a large concentration of my sites, including some busy ecommerce ones, so this really is rubbing salt into things. I have set up another account at Clook Internet, but it will take me several weeks to switch sites over as, due to Donhost's poxy cp interface, there's no easy way to transfer sites.

Thanks Donhost!

P.S. Just to be clear if anyone's thinking of using Donhost and comes across this thread - never under any circumstances sign up for Donhost/Webfusion/Host Europe, they have become one of the worst hosts in all my 18 years of web hosting experience!!
Posted by Vibrance, 03-10-2013, 04:56 PM
Donhost server 56 down now.

Server 56 failed some time in the morning on 10th March (Donhost support page announcement timed at 11:45am).

Currently stating "restoration is expected to complete later this evening", it's now 8:30pm as I type this so the server has already been down for around 10 hours now.

This server has two of my sites on it, both belonging to the same customer, one is an online shop for their products. Furthermore I am currently working on a new project for this customer and tomorrow morning am due to update them on work done yesterday. Yes , working on a Saturday, playing catch up from the previous server 50 failure which was down for four days.

This just gets worse. I am dreading getting to 9am tomorrow morning and finding out that their two sites are still down and that there is no email service for them.

I am of the opinion that Donhost shared hosting is no longer viable as part of my business. There are clear signs that the Donhost commitment to shared hosting is a thing of the past.

Having spoken to Donhost support this evening (and many times during the server 50 shambles) I have been told / advised, more than once, that VPS or dedicated would "be better" for me. However, I am of the opinion that I pay Donhost what they ask for providing shared hosting and for that I am entitled to reasonable standards of service. Suffice it to say that nowhere else in the hosting industry is it reasonable to take four working days to restore one web server.

It remains to be seen how long it takes Donhost to bring server 56 back to life but all bets are off as far as I am concerned, confidence in Donhost ability to recover even one failed server is nil right now.
Posted by Avonpalmer, 03-10-2013, 06:52 PM
I give up. After days of apologising to clients on 50 they've now killed my server. Great.
A question to the pros here.
I'm thinking of moving to Clook but Heart offer their reseller exchange email hosting including a free copy of Outlook not just OWA. How do they do that and does anyone else?
Posted by webwizard88, 03-10-2013, 08:11 PM
Signed up with Clook today. Spoke to them last week and they couldn't be more helpful... the complete opposite to this waste of space we call Donhost. Took Xmac's earlier advice and got first month free when you like their Facebook page (get the promo code there). Now starts the long process of migrating my sites And what a good start, my account is on Server 56!!
Posted by Vibrance, 03-10-2013, 08:22 PM
Donhost server 56 failure

Here we go . . . . . . . Donhost support page now saying the server will have all sites restored by mid day Monday 11th March.

For nearly 12 hours today, since the server failed, the story was that the server would be up "this evening" i.e. before midnight on the 10th but that was apparently slightly out by about 12 hours or so!

Unbelievable clowns.

If server 56 does come back online as predicted then that will be about 26 hours of down time this time around.

Really can't wait to get my clients reaction when they find they don't have their sites and email up tomorrow morning.
Posted by Xmac, 03-11-2013, 03:05 AM
And it gets better...

This morning (7am) I'm getting nothing showing from accounts on server 51 - anyone else confirm the same for them?

Could be a temporary blip, but who knows...
Posted by webwizard88, 03-11-2013, 03:43 AM
Only one site on server 51, but yes it's down! Just "web page not available" this time, but nothing official about this one yet.

Back to server 56, emails did come back to life for a short time late last night but soon went down again. Just had first dose of grief of the day from No1 angry client... can this really be happening again so soon?

Thanks again Donhost.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-11-2013, 04:05 AM
Donhost server 51 down

Yes, it appears that Donhost server 51 is down. I don't have any client web sites on that server but I do have some development "bits and pieces" and my wife's email account too!

This is turning into a real disaster, sorry for those with commercial sites on this server as I know how you feel.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-11-2013, 04:10 AM
Donhost server 56 failure

Here we go, my sites on Donhost server 56 are still down, no email service either. My angry calls will start to come in between now and 9am ish.

This really is run for the hills time as far as I am concerned, Donhost servers seem to be toast en mass now.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-11-2013, 04:28 AM
Donhost server 56 failure and server 51 failure

Spoke to Donhost support at 8:20am, confirmed both server 56 and server 51 are currently down. Got put through to head of shared server support and suggested that Donhost not trouble me with a bill this month . . . . . . and while I was on the 'phone I received their invoice! Timing is everything in comedy.

Mild amusement over, angry clients to deal with now.

Update from Donhost support: The support status page should be updated at 8:30am . . . . . .
Posted by Catweasel, 03-11-2013, 04:59 AM
We have sites on 51 and 56, life really is too short to be dealing with this stress, their service is becoming not fit for purpose. I note the only thing delivered quickly from them is their monthly invoice.
Posted by webwizard88, 03-11-2013, 05:32 AM
Last Updated: 11 March 2013, 09:16
"... Mail is back online and flowing to customers' mailboxes and no undelivered mail has been lost."

No it's not! More Donhost bull.

Gotta go, another angry client now ringing in.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-11-2013, 05:45 AM
Donhost server 56 failure

1st status update said server 56 would be restored "in the evening" of Sunday 10th

2nd status message said server 56 would be fully restored by mid day on Monday 11th

3rd status message (at 9:16am today) now says "We are working to restore the websites as quickly as possible."

Will this server be down for four days like the previous server 50 failure?

Confidence level at zero and sinking fast.

From Donhost:

Server 56 issue

Created: 10 March 2013, 11:45
Last Updated: 11 March 2013, 09:16

Due to a full system failure on Server 56, our administrators have been unable to recover the server to deliver websites and associated services.

Our system administrators have rebuilt another machine and are currently restoring all sites from our fail safe backups.

Mail is back online and flowing to customers' mailboxes and no undelivered mail has been lost

Website and database files are being copied across from backup and sites will come back online when the data copy completes.

We are working to restore the websites as quickly as possible.

We wish to apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue and wish to reassure Customers that every effort has been made to resume service on this server as quickly as possible.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-11-2013, 07:08 AM
Donhost server 56 failure

I have just been told that this server won't be back up before mid afternoon today, and so it goes on. That will take it to something around 30 hours down time!
Posted by Vibrance, 03-11-2013, 12:06 PM
Donhost server 56 failure

Statement on the Donhost support status page at 14:51pm says "all mail services have resumed".

NO THEY HAVE NOT.

My client still has no email service as from Sunday morning, something around 26 hours now . . . . and still it goes on.
Posted by Xmac, 03-11-2013, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vibrance

Got put through to head of shared server support and suggested that Donhost not trouble me with a bill this month . . . . . . and while I was on the 'phone I received their invoice!

I'm thinking of ringing them up/submitting a support question to argue for a month's free hosting whilst I extract myself from the mess that's entirely of their own making - anyone else out there arguing for the same?

I'm already anticipating that their response (late no doubt) will be a complete brush-off and denial things are that bad.

Place your bets...

P.S. Some clients are stating that their websites hosted on server 56 are back but completely blank. I had a site from the last server failure that when they restored it just showed an email address on a blank page - anyone else had that?
Posted by Vibrance, 03-12-2013, 09:07 AM
Donhost server 62 went down around 1300hrs today!

Anybody got sites on this server?

I have one client site (here we go again) and one site in development (not a problem, I can do this anywhere).

How long this time?
Posted by Catweasel, 03-12-2013, 09:19 AM
62 down, screaming clients on phone already
Posted by Vibrance, 03-12-2013, 09:39 AM
Donhost server 62 down

from the support page:

Server 62 Connectivity issues

Created: 12 March 2013, 13:17
Last Updated: 12 March 2013, 13:18

Some customers on Server 62 may be experiencing connectivity issues to their websites and email.

Our engineers are currently investigating and should have this resolved shortly.

We wish to thank you for your patience.
Posted by Catweasel, 03-12-2013, 09:45 AM
All back up now, but talk about make you edgy
Posted by Vibrance, 03-12-2013, 09:55 AM
"Edgy", you can say that again!

So far the Donhost fiasco has put 2 clients / 4 sites (two of them online shops) in jeopardy for me plus a whole heap of time wasting grief that is having knock on effects in terms of delivery of two sites under development with pretty uneasy conversations as a result.

This has for sure been an eye opener for me as to how easily it can all unravel if server uptime turns into server down time. Time for me to address what appears to be reliability issues and get some of my eggs out of the (currently) one basket.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-14-2013, 04:32 AM
Donhost server 63 has now gone to the great data centre in the sky . . . .

Server 63 Connectivity Issues

Created: 13 March 2013, 18:10
Last Updated: 14 March 2013, 08:26

UPDATE :: Some Customers may still experience intermittent visibility issues to their sites. Our system engineers are continuing to look into this.

We apologise for any inconvenience this is causing at this time.

..........................

Some Customers on Server 63 may currently experience connectivity and visibility issues to their Websites and Data Bases.

Our system engineers are aware of this and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.

We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused at this time.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-14-2013, 07:47 AM
Donhost server 63 is still down . . . . . . that's about 18 hours now . . . . .

Anybody still with Donhost?

Server 63 Connectivity Issues

Created: 13 March 2013, 18:10
Last Updated: 14 March 2013, 10:46

UPDATE :: Some Customers may still experience intermittent visibility issues to their sites. Our system engineers are continuing to look into this.

We apologise for any inconvenience this is causing at this time..

..........................

Some Customers on Server 63 may currently experience connectivity and visibility issues to their Websites and Data Bases.

Our system engineers are aware of this and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.

We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused at this time.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-14-2013, 03:18 PM
Server 63 Connectivity Issues

Created: 13 March 2013, 18:10
Last Updated: 14 March 2013, 16:47

UPDATE :: Some Customers may still experience intermittent visibility issues to their sites. Our system engineers are continuing to look into this.

We apologise for any inconvenience this is causing at this time..

..........................

Some Customers on Server 63 may currently experience connectivity and visibility issues to their Websites and Data Bases.

Our system engineers are aware of this and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible.

We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused at this time.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-15-2013, 09:25 AM
Donhost server 63 down again.

After taking out two of my clients sites for around 18hrs plus its now taken them out again. Dohost support page message below:

Server 63 Database Connectivity Issues

Created: 15 March 2013, 10:29
Last Updated: 15 March 2013, 12:25

Some Customers on Server 63 may currently experience intermittent connectivity and visibility issues to their Websites and Databases.

Our system engineers are currently isolating the cause of these connection issues and are looking to resolve this as quickly as possible today.

We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused at this time.
Posted by Vibrance, 03-18-2013, 12:28 PM
Donhost server 63 again

Server 63 Database Connectivity Issues

Created: 18 March 2013, 15:30
Last Updated: --

Some Customers on Server 63 may currently experience connectivity and visibility issues to their Websites and Data Bases. Our system engineers are aware of this and are currently rebooting the server with additional resources. We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused at this time.

This is a new one >>>"Our system engineers are aware of this and are currently rebooting the server with additional resources."

I haven't got through a single day without significant problems for what seems like weeks now. I have customers sites down again!
Posted by g7design, 03-22-2013, 11:04 AM
I lost services for almost 4 days while server 62 failed and had to get rebuilt.

What planet does Donhost find the technical people that takes 4 days to rebuild a server?
Posted by PersonalJ, 03-22-2013, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g7design

I lost services for almost 4 days while server 62 failed and had to get rebuilt.

What planet does Donhost find the technical people that takes 4 days to rebuild a server?

The RAID array probably took a few days to rebuild.