Email about Vortech closing !!!

Portal Home > Knowledgebase > Industry Announcements > Web Hosting Main Forums > Providers and Network Outages and Updates > Email about Vortech closing !!!

Posted by macadmia, 04-26-2010, 05:37 AM
I got an email with the following content:

Re: Vortech Concerns Email 4/25/2010

In response to the email sent out today from Dan we feel it would be the responsible thing to do by clarifying a few things, most of which are public record and can be verified online at flmb.uscourts.gov
Vortech, Inc. has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since July of 2009. Our potentially last Bankruptcy Court Date is 5/6/10 with Judge Briskman.

Regarding Dan's email, we really are not sure what is going to happen with Vortech. There is a motion to dismiss/convert which means the trustee/judge could dismiss us and we would be unprotected from our creditors, most notably the IRS. To the best of my understanding of things, some very likely scenarios are as follows:

-Judge Briskman could convert Vortech, Inc. into a chapter 7.
-Vortech could also be run by the trustee or other court appointed party.
-Vortech in Chapter 7 could also be sold to a 3rd party.
-Vortech could be dismissed and allowed to make payments to creditors over time.
-Vortech's existing creditors which include the IRS, Colo Solutions, Hanging Moss LLC, Cogent etc, al. and several employees could attempt to collect the debt or take other action against Vortech, Inc.
-Former Vortech President and CEO Brad Pugh may file a plan to continue in Chapter 11 and try to run the company on his own.
-Not wishing to work with Mr. Pugh, current management may resign and/or turn Vortech over to Mr. Pugh prior to the May 6th Hearing.
-Current Vortech employees will be laid off sometime between now and May 6th, at which time Brad Pugh will take over with new employees.

The fact is, the remaining staff here at Vortech do not really know what is going to happen on May 6th. All we have been trying to do is keep everything going and run the company the best we can with what limited resources we have right now. To be fair, we have not been given any information from the Court, our Attorneys, Mr. Pugh or any other party that would indicate your service would be terminated without proper notice or warning.

Sincerely,
Vortech, Inc. Staff
Posted by Lakpura, 04-26-2010, 09:56 AM
recevied the same -
Posted by bear, 04-26-2010, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macadmia

public record and can be verified online at flmb.uscourts.gov

That URL doesn't work. How sure are you that this isn't some elaborate hoax?
Posted by macadmia, 04-26-2010, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bear

That URL doesn't work. How sure are you that this isn't some elaborate hoax?

The correct URL is: www[.]flmb.uscourts.gov

I couldn't send post with URL!
Posted by bear, 04-26-2010, 10:40 AM
Though the site doesn't find anything on this, Google did. What I found didn't offer the details about May, but confirms they filed last summer.
Posted by cartikadave, 04-26-2010, 10:45 AM
Looks to be confirmed legit in their forums by an admin http://forum.vortechhosting.com/showthread.php?p=112480
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 12:20 PM
I just posted this on another forum. I just copied it here so there is no miss understanding.

First let me start of by saying this is Brad Pugh the original owner of Vortech. Some of you may or may not be aware what has transpired within the last year or two. Good thing is thats all settled now and nothing really ever came of it. I tried to post this on Vortech's forum but just have not gotten my account upgraded there yet by Craig.

I have been watching over this company all along and trying to get things going in the right way. Craig Smith and Drew Amend have decided to resign from the company for their own personal reasons, which surprised me greatly but I wish them the best in their future endeavors.

All that aside, I know customers have paid for a year, 6 months, 3 months or even a month. I am going to be here to back that up with my new plan to drive some much needed life into this company with a large investment on my part, money and time wise.

Here is my plan and it's already been in the works for a few weeks now and is coming together very nicely

We have 50 servers ready and waiting with CPanel, Plesk for unix, and Plesk for windows. We no longer want to deal with the security holes and headaches with H-Sphere and want to offer our customers the best and most secure hosting we can after all the hacking issues that have occured in the past year.

For customers that will bear with me just a little to get this if they are a H-Sphere reseller depending on there plan etc.

1. One/maybe two months free for the switch.
2. Windows Plesk and Unix Plesk as well as Cpanel for the price you pay now with the space split how ever you want it 40% 60%, 10% 90% between any 2 control panels. It's up to you the customer the most important thing.
3. If you paid for 6 months and have 5 months left you will now get 6 or 7 months depending on what I can work. I am limited here but will do my best. For you.

This will be in an all new data center, all brand new hardware, a great back up solution and more. Like I said I have had about a year and half to plan this out, it sucks the judge has given me until the 6th to make some major changes and my neck on the line again. If I can show the judge on the 6th we are moving in the right direction I may be able to get more time at our current colo provider. So don't set may 6th on your calendar just yet but it would be best to move ASAP and I hope you will stick with us.

Vortech most likely will not be able to do refunds if you did just pay for 6 months or what ever, but I am here to try and offer you the very best solution I can and thats a huge upgrade, great pricing and this time support like we use to have back in the day.

The new cluster should be ready to accept new customers with in the next 24 to 48 hours. There is no moving out H-Sphere cluster it's just way to custom, way to big, and now that SW-soft owns it out of our price range.

I hope you did not believe everything you heard over the past year as some of it may or may not of been true. Good thing is I am here to try and save this great company and make it even better.

I honestly can't say how sorry I am about all of this and I hope you give me a shot to prove that to you. I have a lot of great changes coming and coming fast.

Thanks you..

If you have any questions please fill free to email me vortech@gmail.com
Posted by cartikadave, 04-26-2010, 12:33 PM

Quote:

security holes and headaches with H-Sphere

Maybe if you updated your control panel/servers in the past 5 years you wouldn't have these headaches?

I mean it is all good and well you want to offer something different, but it's completely wrong to blame the companies problems on a control panel they haven't updated in "years".

There is no other commercially available control panel that can manage clustering like H-Sphere "period". To blame company/server mismanagement and neglect on a control panel is not the smartest way to show you've learned from mistakes of putting a company into bankruptcy. It doesn't instill a lot of confidence to a user that watched this happen to sign up with a new company when you put the blame on a control panel/servers that haven't been updated in many years.
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 12:42 PM
I am not blaming H-Sphere not at all. I actual like it.. We just can't upgrade our cluster it's to custom to be done from what I was told by Craig smith that spoke with parallels. So it's kind of stuck because we were growing SO fast 5 to years ago.. We also needed new hardware heck some of our servers are still dual P3.. LoL It's an over all upgrade but I just don't see another option then at this time.

I also did not "put" the company in bankruptcy Craig Smith did, i tried to fight that. But thats besides the point here and if it stays in chapter 11 and I think it can if this works the company will 100x better for it and even more debt free then it was.

I am not blaming any one, not here for a blame game, I am here to try and save this company and make it better. Thats it.

If someone has ideas I am more then open to them, this got dropped in my lap on the 14th of this month by Craig and Drew, I had an idea it was coming but when I had no idea.
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 12:47 PM
Oh BTW this is cutting out cost by more then 50% of our cost per month and getting all new hardware. This will also allow me to have more support staff. So thats a bright side, new control panels that are always up to date.

If I could offer H-Sphere again or if it fit the plan I would, but it's just out of reach at the price level for us and I really like cpanel and plesk ( that is still a parallels product )
Posted by cartika-andrew, 04-26-2010, 01:39 PM
Vortech,

I am pleased you back peddled a bit on your hsphere comments. It is true that your version of hsphere is seriously outdated, which is what caused all of your problems. I am certain that anyone, running any software that old (not only the control panel, but, also the really old server side software that your version of your control panel supports), is going to have serious security holes.

You are correct though, there is no way you can upgrade your version of hsphere. However, you still do own your licenses. You should consider paying your annual SUS fee to parallels (or negotiate a lower sus fee for a lower license number maybe?), installing a new, smaller and more efficient cluster, and then migrating your users. You can utilize an XML export and import to move all of your clients accounts, plans, settings, email addresses, all databases and usernames and associated passwords and settings, etc, etc, etc.. You could then help customers move the actual data. If you did this right, it would be very little impact for your clients and you would be on the newest technology, all secure, etc..

This of course is just friendly advise. You are not obligated to follow it obviously. We work with several control panels as well, so, I can see the logic in moving to different solution(s). Just do so if you feel they are for the right reasons. But, yes, I think its important people do not think that hsphere let you down. love it or hate it, its a very very good solution. However, not upgrading it for years will, well, cause these sorts of issues (as with everything else)

Best of luck through all of this. I imagine its a stressful time for you and your team right now and I sincerely wish you all the best during this time.
Posted by cartikadave, 04-26-2010, 02:06 PM
Yet you continue to post the same blaming H-Sphere for your problems at the forums at Vortech http://forum.vortechhosting.com/show...494#post112494

Quote:

We no longer want to deal with the security holes and headaches with H-Sphere and want to offer our customers the best and most secure hosting we can after all the hacking issues that have occured in the past year.

Again, you don't instill a lot of confidence by blaming a piece of outdated software for the lack of management/neglect. You are intentionally misleading the current customers of Vortech in my opinion instead of owning up to the mistakes
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 02:33 PM
Thats just a copy of what I posted here. I did not edit it. I also posted in the other thread in our customer section same thing I did here along with added stuff after my big post.

Again I am not here to talk about outdated software. It's out dated, we can't update it. That's really it. Plus we need the new hardware. Honestly end of the story.

I am not hating on H-Sphere it will just not work for our new plan, thats all and ours does have security issues because we just can't upgrade. It would no longer be a H-Sphere Cluster it would be a cluster F. We do still have a 40k license and may offer H-Sphere again in the very near future, hows that. But we much first move these customers. Thats number one on my list.

I was one of the first to use H-Sphere back when Igor owned psoft, heck I remember when it was used to just do free hosting. LoL I think I have put my time in on H-Sphere. I just think something new is needed and a totally new direction.

No need to argue about it. Just being honest with you, everyone here and our customers.
Posted by FHDave, 04-26-2010, 02:47 PM
If you need to migrate all customers to CPanel/Plesk (or whatever other control panel), why not take the time to migrate all customers to the newest HSphere version? You would take this time to upgrade your cluster as well. Why would HSphere - Cpanel migration be any easier/better for you than HSphere - HSphere migrations?
Posted by M Bacon, 04-26-2010, 02:47 PM
The email is not indicating that the company is closing but I would not leave just because of this. You may make the situation worse and make them actually close. You need to take weekly backups. I do not care if you are with host gator! Take backups!
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FHDave

If you need to migrate all customers to CPanel/Plesk (or whatever other control panel), why not take the time to migrate all customers to the newest HSphere version? You would take this time to upgrade your cluster as well. Why would HSphere - Cpanel migration be any easier/better for you than HSphere - HSphere migrations?

We need all new hardware, and to get out of our colocation it cost as most just for our colo then it would for 250 brand spanking new servers some where else. LoL This was ordered by the judge. So thats what I am doing. I don't have much of a choice and going to make the best of it I can really.

I don't know if I could just setup a new H-Sphere cluster with our license because we have had it for SO long, it's one of the paid for license not the monthly ones like they have now.. I have not gotten that far yet in the 12 hours I have been working on this.

A lot of this has JUST gotten dropped in my lap in the past 24 hours. I had an idea I would be going back in charge soon but not this soon.
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Bacon

The email is not indicating that the company is closing but I would not leave just because of this. You may make the situation worse and make them actually close. You need to take weekly backups. I do not care if you are with host gator! Take backups!

I agree, we will very likely pull right though this, and only be better for it. Thats why I am back and trying to fix things now, I just wish I had been allowed to do it sooner. But the past is the past and the future is bright once again with these new plans for us and the customers. It can only get better.
Posted by cartika-andrew, 04-26-2010, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

We need all new hardware, and to get out of our colocation it cost as most just for our colo then it would for 250 brand spanking new servers some where else. LoL This was ordered by the judge. So thats what I am doing. I don't have much of a choice and going to make the best of it I can really.

I don't know if I could just setup a new H-Sphere cluster with our license because we have had it for SO long, it's one of the paid for license not the monthly ones like they have now.. I have not gotten that far yet in the 12 hours I have been working on this.

A lot of this has JUST gotten dropped in my lap in the past 24 hours. I had an idea I would be going back in charge soon but not this soon.

As an FYI, you own your previous licenses (we are on the same license type as you are for example)

The ONLY thing you need to do is pay SUS fees once per year and you can upgrade your license key to the new version, install hsphere on the new hardware and migrate your users.

The SUS fee is actually the legacy maintenance and support fee that hsphere owned licenses had back when Igor ran the show. Igor never charged this fee. Parallels simply started enforcing this clause in the legacy owned licenses.

Probably will cost you less then all new monthly licenses like you are trying to buy now

anyway, hope this helps and best of luck eitherway
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartika-andrew

As an FYI, you own your previous licenses (we are on the same license type as you are for example)

The ONLY thing you need to do is pay SUS fees once per year and you can upgrade your license key to the new version, install hsphere on the new hardware and migrate your users.

The SUS fee is actually the legacy maintenance and support fee that hsphere owned licenses had back when Igor ran the show. Igor never charged this fee. Parallels simply started enforcing this clause in the legacy owned licenses.

Probably will cost you less then all new monthly licenses like you are trying to buy now

anyway, hope this helps and best of luck eitherway

Thanks for the tip. I will try that as well and see where it goes or if I can make that happen in time would be great. I am like a chicken with it's head cut off right now trying to get all the done and done right and the best for the customers.
Posted by cartika-andrew, 04-26-2010, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

Thanks for the tip. I will try that as well and see where it goes or if I can make that happen in time would be great. I am like a chicken with it's head cut off right now trying to get all the done and done right and the best for the customers.

I understand completely. I "think" you will have an easier time keeping your customers if you migrate them to a new install of what they are using. Migrating them will be easier and more seamless going hsphere to hsphere and they will not lose the capabilities they have become accustomed to.

Anyway, this is honestly just my advise on how to help you get through this more easily and painlessly for all.

Your customers have been with you a long time, through thick and thin - you obviously have done a lot of things right to earn their loyalty. Hopefully you can salvage a good chunk of them here as well

cheers...
Posted by FHDave, 04-26-2010, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

We need all new hardware, and to get out of our colocation it cost as most just for our colo then it would for 250 brand spanking new servers some where else. LoL This was ordered by the judge. So thats what I am doing. I don't have much of a choice and going to make the best of it I can really.

I dont' know how relevant that is to my question? Or are you saying you can only setup HSphere cluster on the old colocation space? Certainly not. I am just saying, your customers are well accustomed to HSphere (that's why you still have them in the first place). Asking them to move to a completely different control panel is too much. You may end up loosing customers if you force them to move from HSphere to Cpanel/Plesk. If I were you, I would take the time to prepare a new HSphere cluster and move them to this cluster. Your license should work on the new cluster (just make sure you work with Parallels).
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FHDave

I dont' know how relevant that is to my question? Or are you saying you can only setup HSphere cluster on the old colocation space? Certainly not. I am just saying, your customers are well accustomed to HSphere (that's why you still have them in the first place). Asking them to move to a completely different control panel is too much. You may end up loosing customers if you force them to move from HSphere to Cpanel/Plesk. If I were you, I would take the time to prepare a new HSphere cluster and move them to this cluster. Your license should work on the new cluster (just make sure you work with Parallels).

All I have to say is thank you.

I just got off the phone with Parallels we can go right to 3.1 P1 a HUGE upgrade for us in our new cluster and no cost to us and actual saves us more money. I will have to pay the SUS but thats is in the company weeks. That is a LOT better then what we have no 2.4 or 2.5 I can't remember off hand.

But that is looking very good and may be going that route. Should have them all up by tomorrow I hope and just have to get a clean H-Sphere install and should be set.

If anyone has moved a cluster of our size, H-Sphere and has some ideas I am very open to them. Just want to keep the customer happy thats number one!

Thank you again.
Posted by (Stephen), 04-26-2010, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

If anyone has moved a cluster of our size, H-Sphere and has some ideas I am very open to them. Just want to keep the customer happy thats number one!

Thank you again.

I don't think anyone has moved a cluster your size in full, but the export scripts do work pretty well.

Be ready for some headaches, but it should be better than any other solution I will agree fully with that.

you don't want to get into the Plesk game, I am not going to go badmouthing it here, but I dislike it greatly.

I guess it should go without saying, take some backups and keep them handy for a while, sometimes files end up missing for some reason or another, and always good to have a reliable backup.
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 05:31 PM
Oh yea we plan to back everything up and hold on to the servers for at least 60 days that are coming out of the old cluster..

The export scripts is just for the CP right? Everything else we just move by hand correct and have the CP recreate the sites on the server(s). It's been about a year since I had to do it. So just trying to get all back in the head. If I could stay off the phone for more then 5 min I could readup on it again.. Grrr...

No fun..
Posted by (Stephen), 04-26-2010, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

Oh yea we plan to back everything up and hold on to the servers for at least 60 days that are coming out of the old cluster..

The export scripts is just for the CP right? Everything else we just move by hand correct and have the CP recreate the sites on the server(s). It's been about a year since I had to do it. So just trying to get all back in the head. If I could stay off the phone for more then 5 min I could readup on it again.. Grrr...

No fun..

You are correct, it will recreate settings but not data, you will have to manage the data side. I find rsync works well (not the hsphere bundles rsync).
Posted by marksy, 04-26-2010, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

All I have to say is thank you.

I just got off the phone with Parallels we can go right to 3.1 P1 a HUGE upgrade for us in our new cluster and no cost to us and actual saves us more money. I will have to pay the SUS but thats is in the company weeks. That is a LOT better then what we have no 2.4 or 2.5 I can't remember off hand.

But that is looking very good and may be going that route. Should have them all up by tomorrow I hope and just have to get a clean H-Sphere install and should be set.

If anyone has moved a cluster of our size, H-Sphere and has some ideas I am very open to them. Just want to keep the customer happy thats number one!

Thank you again.

You don't have to pay SUS to go to 3.1..your licenses will work. We upgraded our 5K cluster to 3.1P1 and aren't on the new scheme.
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marksy

You don't have to pay SUS to go to 3.1..your licenses will work. We upgraded our 5K cluster to 3.1P1 and aren't on the new scheme.

Yea thats out plan we had the wrong lic as well we had a 40k but paid for 50k no idea how that happened.

But yea we are going to 3.1 and then 3.3 3 or 4 months down the road. That a big big step up for us already and we are almost sure it will fix the security issue we have been having.

So something that could have been really bad is actual turning out to be very positive for us and the customers. At least thats how I look at.

New Servers, New H-Sphere install, new provider(s) that are way better. If I can get it done I think vortech will be just fine and no reason we can't complete our chapter 11 and move on.

Some people act as bankruptcy is bad but it can also be good for a company in many ways such as what I am doing as bankruptcy allows us to do this and free up some debt we don't have much debt though to really be honest after 10 year, I am sure its less then a lot of company's the judge sees. LoL
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by (Stephen)

You are correct, it will recreate settings but not data, you will have to manage the data side. I find rsync works well (not the hsphere bundles rsync).

Yea thats what I was thinking as well we use rsync a lot so that should be super simple.
Posted by WII-Aaron, 04-26-2010, 07:11 PM
Does anyone have a link that works to the filing? Google does not seem to like me today.
Posted by Vortech, 04-26-2010, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WII-Aaron

Does anyone have a link that works to the filing? Google does not seem to like me today.

I have never been able to find it on line but I can answer any questions you have. I have been to EVERY court date for the company over the past year.

Just ask I don't mind answering them or PM me or email me.
Posted by Atul-JodoHost, 04-27-2010, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marksy

You don't have to pay SUS to go to 3.1..your licenses will work. We upgraded our 5K cluster to 3.1P1 and aren't on the new scheme.

According to Parallels "SUS that is reinstated AFTER the SUS expiration date will cost 65% of the retail price of the equivalent new license." So the upgrade cost could be significant.
Posted by marksy, 04-27-2010, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atul-JodoHost

According to Parallels "SUS that is reinstated AFTER the SUS expiration date will cost 65% of the retail price of the equivalent new license." So the upgrade cost could be significant.

If you aren't planning on upgrading it then it doesn't matter. It's a product they won't be supporting long term so why pay?
Posted by Vortech, 04-27-2010, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marksy

If you aren't planning on upgrading it then it doesn't matter. It's a product they won't be supporting long term so why pay?

We plan to upgrade and keep current. Now if there not going to come out with a newer version then 3.3 I don't know about spending $26,000 to $33,000 a year for just sus. They said August a new version is coming out so it sounds like they are still working on H-Sphere to me.
Posted by Vortech, 04-27-2010, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atul-JodoHost

According to Parallels "SUS that is reinstated AFTER the SUS expiration date will cost 65% of the retail price of the equivalent new license." So the upgrade cost could be significant.

It is, you are correct they are trying to get us under renew rather then reinstated I told them I would just not do that as it is just to costly for us right now.
Posted by cartika-andrew, 04-27-2010, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

We plan to upgrade and keep current. Now if there not going to come out with a newer version then 3.3 I don't know about spending $26,000 to $33,000 a year for just sus. They said August a new version is coming out so it sounds like they are still working on H-Sphere to me.

They are going to be releasing several new versions. They need a transition path from hsphere to their own clustered control panel system.
Posted by Vortech, 04-27-2010, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartika-andrew

They are going to be releasing several new versions. They need a transition path from hsphere to their own clustered control panel system.

Hmm have not heard that yet. I just hope it's as good or better then H-Sphere who know.. LoL
Posted by cartika-andrew, 04-27-2010, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

Hmm have not heard that yet. I just hope it's as good or better then H-Sphere who know.. LoL

If I were to guess based on the conversations I have had with them, you will either eventually upgrade hsphere to their new product, or you will install a new control panel server that will manage your existing cluster and new servers will be deployed with their new panel or there will be a migration tool or something similar.

Parallels does not have a clustering solution that is viable except PBA enterprise - which no small to mid sized company is going to buy (heck, even larger companies like us and some of the other larger hsphere providers would not buy).

Expect to see a pretty good marketing push on their end for hsphere again. Its the only product in this space and they know it. I would hazard a pretty good guess that DotNetPanel going open source is linked to a lot of this as well.

cheers for now and again, best of luck. You are doing the right thing here and I hope it works out for you.
Posted by marksy, 04-27-2010, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

We plan to upgrade and keep current. Now if there not going to come out with a newer version then 3.3 I don't know about spending $26,000 to $33,000 a year for just sus. They said August a new version is coming out so it sounds like they are still working on H-Sphere to me.

They have said a lot of things...the hit rate has been pretty low. They have said they are doing win2k8, but given the inability to provide even basic updates and security fixes, I'd think twice before dropping $25k on it. You could even get a new set of licenses and put those wanting W2K8 on it. Even with SUS, you're still on the hook $75 per support incident as well.
Posted by Vortech, 04-27-2010, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marksy

They have said a lot of things...the hit rate has been pretty low. They have said they are doing win2k8, but given the inability to provide even basic updates and security fixes, I'd think twice before dropping $25k on it. You could even get a new set of licenses and put those wanting W2K8 on it. Even with SUS, you're still on the hook $75 per support incident as well.

So does anyone pay them.. LoL Thats just NUTS I don't know how else to say it.. Has anyone actual upgraded to 3.3 and what happens if you don't renew your cluster stops working F that..
Posted by (Stephen), 04-27-2010, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

So does anyone pay them.. LoL Thats just NUTS I don't know how else to say it.. Has anyone actual upgraded to 3.3 and what happens if you don't renew your cluster stops working F that..

Even if you have paid it stops working when their KA server doesn't reply correctly. (it prevents login except for admin user)

This is now going off a bit into parallels bashing....oh well.

Upgrading to 3.1 will still be a good move for you, highly recommended!
Posted by Vortech, 04-27-2010, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by (Stephen)

Even if you have paid it stops working when their KA server doesn't reply correctly. (it prevents login except for admin user)

This is now going off a bit into parallels bashing....oh well.

Upgrading to 3.1 will still be a good move for you, highly recommended!

Yea I am not trying to bash them at all like some people thought at first. LoL

But that sucks about there server going off line.. I think 3.1 will be just fine for us and it's a HUGE upgrade for us..
Posted by cartika-andrew, 04-27-2010, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vortech

So does anyone pay them.. LoL Thats just NUTS I don't know how else to say it.. Has anyone actual upgraded to 3.3 and what happens if you don't renew your cluster stops working F that..

we are running the latest version and no, the cluster does not stop working if you do not re-up SUS. You are not obligated to pay SUS, but, if you do not pay, then you do not get further upgrades, etc
Posted by (Stephen), 04-27-2010, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartika-andrew

we are running the latest version and no, the cluster does not stop working if you do not re-up SUS. You are not obligated to pay SUS, but, if you do not pay, then you do not get further upgrades, etc

This is correct, it doesn't stop if you don't pay SUS, but a couple times it has stopped for us when paying SUS if it checked when KA was not replying, forcing us to manually request license reloads multiple times until it came back properly.

Same happens for clients on Plesk, which will then go to grace period, and then 'expire' which a force renew will still typically work. I am not sure if it is a whole lot of machines checking at the same time or that makes this happen.
Posted by FHDave, 04-27-2010, 03:31 PM
I recall at least twice last year when the KA server was unresponding.
Posted by jasontd101, 04-30-2010, 12:34 AM
We have been in close contact with Parallels and about 12 of us H-Sphere providers had a long conference call with the developers of Plesk about 2 weeks ago also we have been in talks at the Parallels' summit with Marc Serrat who basically has taken over H-Sphere for the past 2 years. They have promised to have HS 3.4 and 3.5 and will continue to support H-Sphere till they come out with a new or improved version of H-Sphere. Heck they even are consulting with Igor on the new multi cluster panel they are going to be developing. Parallels has fallen a little short this year on their release dates for 3.4 but after our conference call the wheels are in motion and we should have a full road map for 3.4 and also Parallels is taking H-Sphere seriously again after seeing the huge interest in a clustered solution at this year's summit. We have been paying our SUS fees for 2 years now and have few issues since we run the latest patches. Also with 3.3.1 we also have starting offering Virtuozzo with Plesk it has opened an entirely new costumer base and allowed us to offer Plesk without moving away from H-Sphere. In my eyes things are going in the right direction and looking forward to hearing back from Parallels this week with many new updates about H-Sphere.

Vortech I am glad to see you are going to also be paying your SUS fees as a very large H-Sphere provider it puts more momentum behind H-Sphere and Parallels developing the new clustered panel in the future.
Posted by b4ndeng, 06-29-2010, 06:28 AM
I have used to be a customer of Vortech Hosting Reseller long time ago. And one of customers that being forced to go away when the server got trouble.

I'm not complain now but this problem can be done to everybody. Now, when vortech still initiate and trying hard to continue on the same business... from businessman side, it is WOW...

They are already suffered financialy and the important on mentaly facing bulk of angry customer. But they did facing through until this point, for me these guy is really very STRONG. Not many people can bear like them.

Hope vortech have glory and rise again like before.. all the best for vortech.
Posted by NexDog, 07-08-2010, 05:57 AM
It seems things went well in May:

http://forum.vortechhosting.com/showthread.php?t=12986

Interested to see how things pan out for Vortech over the next few years.

Also would love to hear some inside scoop. How did Vortech get into this situation (as they were quite large), what happened to the original owner, who took over etc...