Hostvector down 26 hours/Acquisition by Millennium Data Systems?

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Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 02:02 AM
About 26 hours ago my email client stopped pulling email from my Hostvector account, where I host multiple websites. This morning I got a call from a client that their website (that I host through Hostvector) was down - their ebay listing pictures, oscommerce site etc are all unavailable - and still are. I called into HV's tech support and got a frontend voicemail message announcing a DNS change and that all should be well soon - or at least by midnight tonight. There was no way to reach a live person. To offer them patience/benefit of doubt, I wait until midnite - no services. On hold again with them, the message mentions a 'Millennium Data Systems' service they are offering - I go their website and find a press release annoucing this company acquired hostvector.com: http://www.millenniumdata.com/show_press.asp?ID=180 The last line in the PR states "Management expects HostVector assets to be fully integrated by August 2008, with no disruptions to HostVectors 1000+ clients." All calls to their tech lines are fruitless. I have nothing to offer my clients - no explanation for what is going on with all my email, data, websites. There was absolutely no communication about this acquisition, any DNS changes, planned outages etc. I have no idea where I stand at this point, and I'm losing sales and money by the hour. Is this an acceptable practice? Anyone else out there in the same boat?
Posted by N|Kitmitto, 07-24-2008, 02:07 AM
Currently, I am on the same boat with Servebydesign.net, no way to get ahold of them, their AIM address isn't on, can't get ahold of them by EMail, and their ticket system, because their site is down. Been around 24 hours now... No explanation or anything.. No idea what to do. Although your situation is worst, you have clients, I just host a game server with mine. I hope all your problems get resolved!
Posted by deregular, 07-24-2008, 08:06 AM
@reesehershey Same here mate, multiple sites on a reseller account with Hostvector. Like you i noticed yesterday as my email client failed to retrieve messages. All sites down. Hostvector.com down. Seem their billing is working as I just got a notification saying that my card was charged for this month. Ive emailed back, with a please explain too. Will keep you posted if I get a response. Cheers d
Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 09:16 AM
@Deregular- Thanks for the reply - good to know I'm not the only one. Spoke with some live people a Tech support person (Gupreet) at Millennium and a Receptionist/Operator (Lucy). Tech Support thought everything was A-OK, even though I left VM messages to Tech support last night. Waiting on a follow-up call from him and also have a request for an executive @ Millennium to call me back - as of 8:50am they are still on their way into work. Would appreciate any other folks chiming in who have been effected. For troubleshooting purposes, maybe share what server name your email/sites were on @ Hostvector. * From my email headers I show athena.myboxnetplace.com Also for documentation purposes, please share whether you received any communications from tech support, hostvector or millennium on this DNS change or any other activities. * I received no 'proactive' notifications, information - only found out about Millennium through google and listening to the 'hold time messages' on their phone systems. Hostvectors website/phone lines relay no information on this acquisition or DNS change. Maybe also please post here what impact this is having. * I have multiple sites hosted - some for clients, one for ecommerce (OSCommerce), other for paying clients. Some host pictures for online auctions. Presently have been down for around 35 hours.
Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 09:37 AM
is presently being forwarded to Millennium. I called the 1-888-851-3583# on their website, pressed 4 and ended up speaking with Lucy. As of this writing no response from an executive or a follow-up from Tech Support. Websites are still down.
Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 10:09 AM
Called Hostvector Tech Support line (1 hour after initial call) since I noticed _some_ of the domains I host were now available. A front end message was added in the last hour stating that a DNS propogation issue discovered and that it would be resolved by noon - not to bother tech support if this is the issue unless it isn't resolved by noon. They have my phone # - no response from tech support or an executive at this point.
Posted by CharlesG, 07-24-2008, 12:35 PM
It's now past noon. I spoke to the man who recorded the latest announcement and he told me his idea of "mid day" is around 3PM. He really had no answer why this was done is such haste and so unsuccessfully. I would expect that a proper DNS switch over would be a little redundant to allow the old DNS to continue working while the new one was rolled out. I'm a reseller qith ove 30 clients. (I can't check the exact number)(
Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 12:56 PM
Left message for Tony this morning. Spoke with Lucy who said Paul was unavailabe at 9am because he was in a meeting - he's now unavailable being at lunch. Whatever technical issues may just require patience - if they'd give the courtesy of offering some feedback/communication on this problem, so I can pass it along to my clients, it'd would show some professionalism. Gupreet called around 11am to inform me that the DNS propogation would be done by noon. That has come and gone; A few small websites on my account are presently visible, but not the major ones that have the oscommerce and ebay picture hosting for 1000's of auction items. Gupreet stated this problem has nothing to do with the acquisition or any recently planned changes.
Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 03:57 PM
Spoke with tech support apparently all the websites are visible on their side, but from mine only the minor, static, less critical ones can be view. Cleared DNS cache in XP, powered off local router, still can't see the critical websites or see email. Hung up w/ Tech Support 2 hours ago, with expectation they were going to call back - no call back yet, any calls to tech support are long hold times, a front end message saying services would be up by noon (4 hrs.) ago - eventually you're prompted for a priority code to be directed to tech support or you have to leave a voice mail. Left a voicemail asking to get follow-up by end of day, since it is now near 4pm and I no assurance This is going to roll into a 3rd day of downtime. A transferred call from hostvector 888 # got me to Lucy - she transferred me back into the same tech support queue/voicemail cycle. Anyone out there technically proficient in DNS issues can speculate on what was done here to bollocks this up so bad? Any earlier posters able to report they are back up 100%?
Posted by reesehershey, 07-24-2008, 04:45 PM
Reached a tech about 30 minutes ago and was given instructions to reconfigure local DNS services to query their servers to get the current lookup. As of now clients are back up and visible. Received in inbox (now that mail server is reachable) a reply from Paul DeBenedetto from this morning. Replied to him with the following: ********************* Hi Paul- Thanks for your response. I didn't not receive this reply until now, since my email and domain were unreachable today. I'm presently up after getting instructions to bypass my default DNS settings in my client while these changes are propogated. I had been with Hostvector for over 4 years and this is the first experience I've had with so much downtime. Will there be any further communications to these acquired Hostvector accounts on what happened and how communication could be improved so we're better informed of changes that could have this kind of serious impact? The first day of this outage (Wed) I was still unaware that hostvector's calls were being forwarded to a new company. The front end message told everyone to wait until midnight - when it got to that point last night, there was no way to get further information or reach a live person when the servers were still unreachable. I started logging efforts to gather more information at www.webhostingtalk.com on this thread: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=710311 There were a couple people who posted, identifying themselves as also being locked out. I'd appreciate if you or a management representative could post some kind of communication addressing this incident - maybe also introduce the hostvector users to Millennium and let us know what else is in store. -----Original Message----- From: Paul Di Benedetto [mailto:pdibenedetto@millenniumdata.com] Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 8:13 AM Subject: Re: [BULK] When you were offline (via LivePerson) Pls call the hostvector cistomer care number.. Or email at support@hostvector.com -----Original Message----- To: Paul Di Benedetto Sent: Thu Jul 24 01:08:26 2008 Subject: [BULK] When you were offline (via LivePerson) Need help with Hostvector.com services - have been down for over 24 hours - apparently your company has acquired hostvector. Need support!!!
Posted by brunod, 07-24-2008, 04:47 PM
Another victim of this complete shambles by Hostvector here. I have a reseller account on which I host 6 sites and an individual account for one separate site. The individual site is not responding at all (404, ftp, mail, ...). From the reseller account I have one major site displaying, but unfortunately it appears to be a backup from October 2007. No cpanel, FTP or email for that site either. Tow other smaller sites are working perfectly, another one is responding but no backend and yet another site will only load the main page. But what really really really annoys me is the complete lack of any information from Hostvector. I hope they will offer a real solution very quick AND a decent compensation for all of this.
Posted by AJ Milne, 07-24-2008, 04:48 PM
Had the same. No notice, no nothing. It's been down at least a day and a half. Sent a few emails, nothing came back. Checked server status on their site, and for a while it looked like everything was dead; a lot of *their own* pages were just coming back 4040, then the server status board came back... showed all read for a while, then started going green again, sometime around noon today (ET). But I can now confirm my site is up, at least, on their side. I got the address of the server I recalled my site was on (sabre.hostvector.com) directly and stuck it into /etc/hosts, and all's good... 'Course, I guess, no one else in the world can see it right now.
Posted by deregular, 07-24-2008, 10:12 PM
Yep, no notice, nothing. I have all sites down in my reseller account.. There are about 6. With one being an important ecommerce store for a client. I believe, I am with athena server too. Server PHP Info Server Load Uptime Apollo Not Available Not Available Ares Not Available Not Available Artemis Not Available Not Available Athena Not Available Not Available Atlas Not Available Not Available Sabre Not Available Not Available Scout Not Available Not Available Seafire Not Available Not Available Spitfire 0.01 1 Days 17:48:05 Looks like from my machine the only one working is Spitfire. The above is a direct copy paste from their server status page. So yes, hostvector.com is now showing for me too. All sites still down however.
Posted by prodigyone, 07-25-2008, 09:57 AM
Friday morning and my client sites are still down! I had static IPs attached to some of my client sites, those changed and i cant seem to get support to get me a dang static IP address! Every time i call and spend 20-30 minutes on hold, i get the old "We will resolve in 30 minutes and will call you back"....ridiculous!
Posted by AJ Milne, 07-25-2008, 10:33 AM
Yep. They're still bolluxed up. Site still there, DB all sound (and oh yeah, I made a backup and pulled it local for safety), but the DNS entry hasn't propagated to my ISP's nameservers. That's... erm... kinda nuts.
Posted by reesehershey, 07-26-2008, 12:20 AM
My websites have been reachable since Thurs Afternoon. I haven't reverted the temp DNS settings yet, but I now have customers back online ordering stuff - so my loss was about a day and a half. Hope others have regained their services. I haven't received any reply or contact from the owner or any sales/management employees, despite the email I posted above. This is very disappointing. Anyone else out there effected by this outage hear from someone in management?
Posted by rafavalles, 07-26-2008, 04:33 PM
Im really madabout hostvector, no answer, no updates on their website. i used google apss to manage all my clients mails, but the mx registry are not viewable i work for small hospitals, and small business almost 60 acconts, fortunelly i was migrating all my bussines to site5.com amd left only 12 clients with out migration,but from those 12 i have just get 2 calls cancelling... is hostvctor gonna pay me those lost services.. is not just hosting.. is mails, programming and design... i just ask for fair service, keep your mesages updated, so i can deliver real answer to my customers.. i have to days telling them "all will be fine by noon"...and is not true.
Posted by deregular, 07-27-2008, 02:09 AM
my account is still down.. Cannot even open a trouble ticket as I cannot login to the client area... The requested URL /customer/clientarea.php was not found on this server. Looks like Im staying up late tonight to make an int phone call. Any one else still down?
Posted by reesehershey, 07-27-2008, 02:48 AM
I'd suggest calling their 888 number or calling millenium data's # directly and trying to reach tech support or leaving messages, make sure to document your efforts on this thread. My websites became reach-able by Thursday afternoon. Whatever the mistakes/problems were, I'm assuming they were overwhelmed at the time trying to get things fixed. Beyond that, I haven't seen any communication, apology or acknowledgment of the impact this had on numerous customers. I think if you google hostvector or millennium data, this thread comes in pretty high. Would be nice to hear some kind of explanation and some assurance they'll get any remaining customers fixed up.
Posted by UNIXy, 07-27-2008, 03:08 AM
What a mess! This is horrible... The least they can do is notify their customers a few weeks prior to the cut off. Sadly, it's happened too many times and there seems to be no end in sight. I hope the irresponsible partie(s) get a taste of their own medicine.
Posted by brunod, 07-27-2008, 10:41 AM
That's it. Although this will be painful, I'm moving every site to a different host.
Posted by AJ Milne, 07-27-2008, 01:05 PM
Re mgmt responses: for the record, my site was still not resolving via my ISP's nameservers as of Saturday morning. So I dropped a message into Millenium's livehelp system (can't URL it; don't have enough posts here yet) and their CTO (Paul Di Benedetto) responded w/i 30 minutes or so, fixed it. It rippled over to my ISP's servers w/i another 30 minutes; looks like we're all good again.
Posted by rafavalles, 07-27-2008, 07:02 PM
I can only wait... clients are furious about their mails, websites, sales and most of all about my uptime times... I have no idea what to respond now... i just hope to get an explination... at least. Run far away as we can from hostvector.. i have been with them for 5 years, most of the time they were really responsable, and gave me great technical support, but I cannot work with a company that doesnt have the courage to admit whatis wrong and deliver real aswer, to control damages. My websites are all down, no mx records at all... 6 pm Mexico city time... this is fustrating, please if someone is at normal services notify it here.
Posted by Winstyn, 07-27-2008, 10:58 PM
Man this is terrible. Especially for a seasoned company.
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-27-2008, 11:56 PM
Hello everyone, I just found out about this thread, and would like to bring everyone 100% up to speed with what occured with our aquisition of hostvector. #1) We need to sincerly apologize to all of our clients, for the outages that where experienced. If ANYONE contineus to have issues, please speak with the customer care team at our 1-888-851-3583 And press Option 2 for support, or dial locally in Ontario at 905-532-3804. #2) What happened.. Upon our aquisition of HostVector, we began our internal audits of all the systems, and determine that there where MAJOR vulnerabilities to DNS Cache Posioning. With this new information at hand, we had no time to chance but to migrate all of the accounts immediately to our Millennium Data Systems datacentre facility, and upgrade all the servers. Though an outages was something that was not indended to happen, but within a short period of time, we had been infiltrated by a DNS Cache attack on 1 server, and feared more would happen and cause a total collapse of the server infrastructure. With the information we had at hand, we had to do an emergency upgrade and this caused this outage to occur. Our internal support staff worked around the clock (literally) and did everything possible to rectify all the issues as expeditiously as possible. Once all services where fully restored, minor isolated issues where still present with clients whom had Static IP Mappings at Registrar's outside HostVector's control. In Summary, all services are fully restored, and the new Customer Care initiatives that are being implemented over the next few weeks will demonstrate Millennium's continued mission to improve the level of support to HostVector long standing cutomers. The changes to come will include; Live 24/7 Telephone Support, Live 24/7 Chat Support, 1 Hour Response Committment on Email Tickets, Improved Customer Care Portal, and much more. With deepest apologize, Paul Di Benedetto Chief Technology Officer Millennium Data Systems, Host Vector, MDS Wireless
Posted by rafavalles, 07-28-2008, 01:00 AM
Im always aware on any notice, but really i havent read any news about the changes. Paul Di Benedetto send me the new ip adress to change my reseller dns. I have all my sites back.. and some mails are getting in to my inbox. if it wasn't for this forum i will never solved this, thanks all !! Thanks Paul
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-28-2008, 01:05 AM
You're welcome for the help. As I mentioned, anyone who needs help, please get ahold of our customer care department. Support@HostVector.com
Posted by deregular, 07-29-2008, 04:56 AM
email sent. Thanks Paul.
Posted by tuesday, 07-29-2008, 01:07 PM
After sending several emails to both hostvector and millennium support I still have not heard back. We also opened two support tickets with no response. I also talked to tech support twice were they promised me to call me back. That also did not happen. Don't know what else to say. We are selling our wares over the internet since more than ten years. Not sold a thing since last thursday. Our issue is with the secure directory/ssl certificate not matching the new address. I offered to just buy and install a new certificate to speed up things. The person on the other end of the line did not seem to understand that and said I had to wait for the administrator to deal with that. The new "millennium" Hostvector might just not be for commercial websites anymore?
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-29-2008, 02:07 PM
Tuesday, Can you please contact me directly. If you don't have my number, 905-532-3801 I can't really help you with the info provided, i need a domain name, or something. Thx.. i'm sure we can fix your issue ASAP. SSL's have been resolved for a few days now.
Posted by tuesday, 07-29-2008, 02:45 PM
Paul Thank you for the quick response. However, it seems a bit cosmetic, since the mailbox at that number is full. The site is secure.printystamp.com and it's on Athena. We still have had no response to our phone calls, emails or support tickets. Sincerely, Peter (tuesday)
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-29-2008, 03:11 PM
Hi Peter, Thanks for the domain name. The techs are looking at it now. Not sure which mailbox is full, as there is Live Support. But, regardless, the techs are working on it. Once I have an update, i will get you an update.
Posted by deregular, 07-30-2008, 04:29 AM
Cool. I now have all of my domains sorted out. After sending a nice email through to support@hostvector.com I had a response within the hour last night, and although the other domains on the account were not resolving, a second email brought it to attention and that too was sorted within a couple of hours. I am presuming through all of the troubles over the weekend, nobody was checking the support email (or just simply wading through from A to B, as I can presume there would have been quite a few) All sorted.
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-30-2008, 11:01 AM
DeRegular, we did have quite a few calls, and have extra staff working on any of the tickets. Glad to hear we where able to assist you. I would say that 99.5% of all sites are back up.
Posted by mx3design, 07-31-2008, 11:52 AM
I am absolutely furious, I have been a Hostvector reseller customer since 2005. I still have sites I am unable to access and I am unable to manage ANY domains registered through Domainvector. That means I can't alter any DNS records. For any business to treat customers with such contempt is disgusting, there are peoples livelihoods dependant upon the sites I manage. I've written 10 emails asking for resolution, not one has been answered.
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-31-2008, 11:57 AM
Dear Mx3Design, can you please email me directly at pdibenedetto [at] milenniumdata.com and inform me of what your domain names are. This seems odd that you are not get a resolution on this. we can get this fixed ASAP for you.
Posted by reesehershey, 07-31-2008, 02:02 PM
I imagine the terms of service protect HV from any liability etc on this loss of service, but is there any offer of compensation, service credit etc forcoming for these extended outages? I took extraordinary efforts to try to reach a live person in management and mostly got responses re: 'On the way into work', 'In a meeting, can't be interrupted', 'out to lunch' - the absence of any communication, other than cryptic messages on the support line, caused a lot of stress and upset customers for multiple days. As documented in this above thread, I stood on call for nearly 48 hours, cancelling travel plans and meetings, so I could be waiting near a phone & laptop for a response or follow-up. I appreciate the prompt responses the past few days on this thread, but the initial 48 hours was extremely disappointing and doesn't instill confidence this kind of experience might be repeated 3-6-9 months down the road.
Posted by tuesday, 07-31-2008, 02:38 PM
The issue with our SSL certificate and the secure directory not working has been resolved. Thank you Paul DiBenedetto! However I had no reply to any of the emails or phone calls we sent over the last 5 days. If it were not for this forum and Paul DiBenedetto we would still be screwed.
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 07-31-2008, 11:46 PM
Everyone. I apprechiate your thanks, but i do need to send this also to my team. I'm the front line person here at this forum, and for the organization. My role as the CTO is to ensure that these types of technical issues never arise, but in the event that they due, as they have, it is my duty to my customers to roll up my sleeves and assist. It seems that the confidence level at some of our clients had, has been tarnished, but time will demonstrate to them that a much better service will be delivered to them. As the vision at Millennium continues to execute, you will notice new products, and services. As well, the continue growth of our network, data centre coverage and improved network resilliancy will be evident. In the past HostVector had a single network carrier. Today, the network is now BGP'd with Shaw Business, Bell Canada. Within the next few months, 2 new peers, including TORIX will be added. This will decrease latency to many of our clients, and ensure that your web content is delivered efficiently. I apprechiate everyone's patience, and continued support. Paul.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-01-2008, 08:18 PM
About an hour ago I lost access to my websites & email. Am presently on hold on the hostvector 888#, listening to 'Hey There Delilah' - I don't have a priority service agreement, so I just left a voicemail. Did a check on downforeveryoneorjustme(dot)com and received a '502 error'. I'm not an expert on IP/HTML errors, but google reveals it is a comm error between gateways etc - may not necessarily be a server down. I can reach cnn.com, ebay google and this site (obviously), so the problem has to be upstream, localized towards the Hostvector connections. Anyone else out there can report their status? Again, I don't have a priority service agreement or code to get through to someone live, so I don't know if the voicemail I left will be picked up. I checked 'printystamp(dot)com' as someone above mentioned they have hosted here and that is also unreachable. Will send an email direct to Paul via Gmail and wait to see an update/response from anyone on this forum.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-01-2008, 08:51 PM
I received a prompt email response from Paul, and the issue is being escalated, in the event anyone else out there is also affected and looking for information. I'll be offline for a few hours and won't be able to post any updates.
Posted by squint, 08-01-2008, 10:23 PM
Our site was down for an hour this morning. It was down 3 days when the initial acquisition took place. I submitted a support ticket this morning with no response after 1/2 hour. Thomas at hostvector support nearly always responded within 15 minutes. Apparently Thomas didn't make the move to MDS? I called in and got Gupreet who tried to blame the problem on me because we manage our DNS through Network Solutions and not hostvector. He said he would call me back. In the meantime I decide to humor myself and called Network Solutions. Everything was set correctly on our end just as I had suspected. After an hour our site finally came back online. I'm still waiting on a call from gupreet for an explanation, but I'm not holding my breath. Transition from Hostvector to MDS has been horrible. Our site was down initially for 3 days because of the server change. I'm sure that I'm not the only customer who manages their own DNS. Needless to say, I was a loyal customer of Hostvector for over 5 years. I've found a new host for my 3 sites and am in the process of transferring them from MDS. What a headache it's been.
Posted by NJMAN, 08-02-2008, 03:12 AM
I have going through this with Hostvector for now about 2 weeks now and it is very Horrible experience ever. I have owned a dedicated server with them since 2002 when this company was called Evenhost. Then Hostvector was sold to Millennium Data Systems. So I've been doing business with this company for over 6 years and I even once was in Toronto to visit the data center. The old Hostvector people were always very nice and helpful. Millennium Data Systems this is worst experience I've ever seen in my 15 years of doing business with hundreds of internet companies. Millennium Data Systems has destroyed my hosting business and they have destroyed my online reputation with my customers. I been on the phone with their customer support people over 25times the past 2 weeks trying to correct this problem. I have over 230 accounts on MDS server and over 150 are down or I get error messages on the home pages. The tech guys Gupreet and Steven try to be helpful but saying sorry doesn't help me. I see no changes everything is still not working. Sometimes a some accounts are up for a few hours and then down. Numerious errors across TONS of accounts. Everyday it's the same story and Gupreet and Steven ask me the same questions they asked yesterday. Today I pleaded with them to please get someone or (outsource) someone that can help. I am losing money and I am absolutely furious about this. Today 8/1 they told me I will get priority service and Paul is looking into this. Priority service that doesn't call you back when they promise that they will. Priority service that doesn't answer emails. I called 4 times late today asking for an update because I didn't want to go into the weekend with all my accounts and websites down but again no calls or emails with no further updates or information. Now it is 2:33am NY/NJ time and I am on the computer sending this post. I just checked all my accounts one at a time and guess what NOW it looks like the files in about 60 accounts are not even on the server ? 40 or so wordpress sites are not to be found. Errors, Errors Errors on over the place on three quarters of my accounts. No installed scripts seem to be working or even exist anymore. Paul you and your company should compensate your loyal customers because this is unbelievable what has happened. Paul beg of you please hire a professional to fix the problem. What am I going to do now with over 150 accounts are now working. I am out of business I think right now. I suffer from Migraine headaches and these last 2 weeks have made me sick. I can't believe my 6 years of hosting business gone. Paul please please HELP ME
Posted by NJMAN, 08-02-2008, 03:23 AM
I'm sorry for all the Grammar and spelling errors in my last post but right now I am very exhausted and I really need to get so sleep.. Paul DiBenedetto (MDS) you really need to listen to all your customers and do something about it.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-02-2008, 09:52 AM
Received follow-up from Paul last night and my sites were reachable about midnite last night. As of this morning we're back to a 502 error - all my sites are down; Sent an email back to Paul & will put a call into the HV 800#, FWIW.
Posted by jordavis, 08-02-2008, 09:53 PM
I've had a complete outage on one of my domains for two weeks and no help from Hostvector, except to ask for my registrar login.
Posted by deregular, 08-03-2008, 04:08 AM
Initially, my problem was solved, however having been working all weekend on a pet project of mine, with my email client running in the background, I am noticing that its failing to connect to the domains in the account that was affected by this moveover. So while initially, my problems were fixed, I now have a recurring "drop out" approximately 4 times a day for the domains in question. No email/no site for about an hour, then its up, then its down, then its up... you get the picture. Am sending another support mail through now, however figured Id update this thread as a few posts back NJMAN seems to have the same problem.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-03-2008, 11:36 AM
Third time we've been down (that I'm aware of) since Friday with a 502 network error. Have another VM into Hostvector's # and a email to Paul.
Posted by NJMAN, 08-03-2008, 03:26 PM
What is Pail email address ? This one does not work. pdibenedetto@milenniumdata.com Please someone let me know
Posted by reesehershey, 08-03-2008, 03:58 PM
The domain was mispelled - millennium with two LL's, two NN's I was down again for multiple hours because of a 'memory leak', presumably on Athena. Was told it'd be operation by end of day - at present things are reachable, but I don't know what to expect anymore. 4 years of decent uptime, and now two apparent unrelated incidents with a week?
Posted by reesehershey, 08-04-2008, 02:23 PM
Down again - 502 error. Listening to that damn Delilah song again. Paul has stopped responding to emails or this forum, I haven't had any explanation of what is going on. The hold message on the phone system says all systems are functionaling normally.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-04-2008, 02:26 PM
From the Hostvector website, when you click on 99.9% uptime guarantee: Monitoring The HostVector staff is working around the clock to ensure that the network is operating at optimum state. We continually review collected statistics to watch for traffic trends so that we can react with the proper routing adjustments and bandwidth addition. Honesty We are honest with our customers, and keep them informed of all problems we're having (and, just as importantly, how to solve them). We continually update our Outages and Upgrades forum and newsletter broadcasts so that users and customers are fully aware of all network situations.
Posted by squint, 08-04-2008, 02:32 PM
If we were still dealing with Hostvector I would agree with this, however I don't think MDS considers that their guarantee - it doesn't seem like they do.
Posted by jordavis, 08-04-2008, 03:33 PM
Any recommendations for other isps? I am 24 hours from taking my business elsewhere.
Posted by squint, 08-04-2008, 03:40 PM
I've moved one site over to Webstrike Solutions as a trial run. So far, I've been impressed. 24/7 tech support that has responded to my questions within 5-10 minutes whether it's Noon, 7 pm or 2 am - I've tried them at various times. Live chat has been seemless as well. That said, if there is a telephone number for support I haven't found it yet. $30 setup fee and the first 12 months hosting fees are free for the basic package. They don't have all the bells & whistles hostvector offered me (i.e. $10 fee for each additional MySQL database you need), but I'll take a site that works with tech support to back it up any day over a site that might go down without notice and a poor excuse for tech support.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-04-2008, 03:42 PM
I'm researching some other threads on this forum to see what my options are. There is absolutely no way to get through to anyone live on their phone system.
Posted by NJMAN, 08-04-2008, 03:48 PM
Yes Paul seems that he stopped responding to emails. I emailed him this morning atating that 45 accounts are still down and don't work. HostVector/Millennium Date Systems is going to lose a lot of business. It's terrible because this web host was great for many years.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-04-2008, 03:56 PM
They announced a second acquisition of a hosting provider on the 31st - Vistapages - is that around the time the last series of errors started? MILLENNIUM DATA SYSTEMS Millennium Data Systems Acquires VistaPages Inc. Vaughan, Ontario Canada July 31, 2008 Millennium Data Systems, an emerging Canadian managed services company announced it has acquired the assets of VistaPages Inc. (www(dot)vistapages(dot)com), a Toronto based managed hosting provider. VistaPages operations team and their 5,000+ SMB customers will now have access to a greater breadth of services and product offerings via Millenniums suite of hosted and managed services, commented Paul Di Benedetto, Chief Technology Officer at Millennium. The acquisition of VistaPages reinforces our business mandate to aggressively grow our managed services practice via accretive acquisitions, added Tony Di Benedetto CEO of Millennium Data Systems. VistaPages is the second acquisition for Millennium in 2008, the first being HostVector and we will continue on the path of acquiring additional managed service providers, added Di Benedetto. Management expects to have VistaPages completely migrated onto Millennium's national IP Network by end of August 2008. The national network allows clients to deliver content in a more efficient manner to its targeted audience by reducing latency and network hops. For more information please visit; www(dot)millenniumdata(dot)com or contact; Millennium Data Systems 905-669-4700
Posted by reesehershey, 08-04-2008, 04:05 PM
Mail just started coming in. Site content is not visible.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-04-2008, 11:54 PM
Went back down pretty quickly this afternoon. Repeated messages to their phone 'system', emails directly to Paul, the CTO of this company; Submitted tickets online. No way to reach a live person in this whole company. NO RESPONSE!! HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING FROM ANYONE AT THIS COMPANY in the last 24 HOURS. Within that time I could have driven to Vaughan, Ontario and made sure I could speak with someone responsible face-to-face. COME OUT OF HIDING, MILLENNIUM DATA SYSTEMS. This whole mess has been well documented and archived in this thread. It does not make any business sense to risk your whole company's reputation by ignoring everyone's inquiries and appeals for information. COMMUNICATION! CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Posted by David, 08-05-2008, 09:43 AM
The errors and the new acquisition are unrelated from what I can see, I haven't seen any vistapages clients begin to get migrated yet. I suspect they'll be enduring the same sort of ordeal though.
Posted by David, 08-05-2008, 09:49 AM
Something to note (and not that I'm vouching for them in any shape or form) is that yesterday was a 'civic holiday' in Canada, where Millenium Data is located. Not that it's an excuse of any sort but that probably explains why Paul wasn't responding to his e-mails. Some types of employees take their required holidays seriously.
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 08-05-2008, 12:07 PM
Hi Everyone. There was a Memory Leak occuring on one of the shared hosting server that was causing issues for a small isolated number of clients. The issue was resolved and service has been fully restored. I want to make sure that all of our clients understand, that we are doing everything possible to resolve these issues, as the transition has discovered some issues with the setup and technology that was deployed. We feel confident that we have isolated the major issues and resolved them. Thx, Paul.
Posted by reesehershey, 08-05-2008, 05:24 PM
Paul- If a customer repeatedly has their server go down for four days, and between 3pm Sunday and 9am Tuesday they don't hear any acknowledgment from their hosting provider: Despite multiple emails, voicemails, forum postings trying to reach a support person. While their phone system reports 'All systems are operating normally' .............. What opinion should I form of this company's reputation and their commitment to their customers? What should I honestly expect from them in the future concerning communications and response time? Please take the time to directly answer the above questions.
Posted by NJMAN, 08-05-2008, 06:07 PM
Paul nothing has been restored ? Can you please answer my email I sent you that would be very professional of you or just post your reply here. I sent you a list of 45 accounts/websites that still don't work, have errors, don't load etc etc. I also will resend it to you. None of these 45 websites work as of now 6:07 pm. Please respond
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 08-05-2008, 08:28 PM
NJMAN, are you J B ?
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 08-05-2008, 10:14 PM
ReeseHersey, In response to the questions you posted, this is what is being implemented. 24/7 Live Support is currently being phased in. The staff is currently on day training and will be expected to go live within 2 weeks from today. During that period, on-call staff will be handling the tickets during after hours. With your specific issues that you had no response from any person, I am going to send you a personal email with all the appropriate contact info for your services that you subscribe to. The one thing that i must ensure so that everyone is aware, is that our support staff DOES NOT look at this forum to provide support on a daily basis. This is not part of our infrastructure. Myself, i monitor and utilize this tool as most of you reading this do for help and for web host related news and updates. But, our support staff does not. So, please do not post issues that relate to your services here, and expect our customer care team to read them. It is not a form that is checked regularly. In terms of what you should expect... this is something that the Millennium Data System's name holds proudly. We have been in business since 1994 and have numerous clients for many different services that we deliver. We focus on deliverying solutions to the Small Medium Business sector, and ensure that our customers receive the support that their services have within their SLA. During the aquisition of HostVector, there have been numerous stumbling blocks that have made this a rough 2 weeks, but we are now certain that these issues are all behind us. We have had to rebuild the entire DNS system for HostVector, and have had to deal with other hardware and software challenges that where not taken care of in the past, and have come to haunt us during the upgrades and the migration. Now, that we can say that the servers are fully under our control, monitored properly, on our MDS network, we can provide proper support and provide proactive updates and upgrades. We are in the business of retaining customers, not loosing them. Our focus is to provide customers with quick resolutions to their issues, but we have had our hands tied until now. The response time that is expected for your resolutions, is totally dependent on the SLA for your service. If you are not aware on what it is, please email me directly and I will help clarify it for you. Communication is key to the sucess of any business, and I wish to emphasize that we are here to provide you the best hosting solution with 24/7 support. As always, feel free to contact me. Paul.
Posted by mx3design, 08-19-2008, 11:48 AM
Has anyone also registered domains through DomainVector? Are you able to make any DNS alterations? My account is active but all access to domain name management has been disabled since Millennium Data Systems acquired DomainVector and HostVector. I have asked for all domains to be unlocked and EPP codes provided many times but they are not actioning this. They have also blocked access to my reseller WHM panel. Be Warned!
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 08-19-2008, 11:57 AM
MX3, You must are experiencing an isolated issue. The Support team will address your concerns and do as instructed by your requests. Paul.
Posted by mx3design, 08-19-2008, 12:09 PM
Paul I have sent you 9 personal emails regarding this 'isolated' issue. I have filed countless support requests, all of my requests have been ignored. I have an obligation and a responsibility to look after my clients interests. At this time I am being prevented from: 1. Altering ANY DNS information 2. Unlocking ANY domains 3. Transferring ANY domains 4. Accessing WHM In effect I am being held hostage. Last edited by mx3design; 08-19-2008 at 12:13 PM.
Posted by mx3design, 08-19-2008, 12:13 PM
Please give me access to the services I have diligently paid for since 2005
Posted by NJMAN, 08-25-2008, 10:23 AM
I just wanted to say since the downtime period when the new company MDS (Millennium Data Systems) acquired the Web Hosting company Hostvector the company has done a complete 180 degrees turn around. They are now back providing great support that their customers have been use to over the years. MDS support team has answered all my questions and fixed all my server hosting problems. Paul Di Benedetto the Chief Technology Officer of Hostvector has bent over backwards to help me and also update me via email on his support team’s progress…. every step of the way. I must have gotten about over 20 emails from Paul and his support staff on the server migration and my hosting server issues. I applaud MDS to finally putting the complete Hostvector migration past them and now they can move forward to becoming once again one of the top Web Hosting companies on the net today. Kind Regards Jon
Posted by PaulDiBenedetto, 08-26-2008, 10:38 PM
Jon, Thanks! It is nice to see that our hard work is paying off. MX3. if your issues are still outstanding, please let me know. Obivously something must be falling thru .. there must be a disconnect of sorts. Everyone - We have been working hard on fixing the GHOSTS from the past that have come out to haunt us. The HostVector servers are going to be going thru some major transitions to increase performance, increase security, availability, and much more. We have also aquired HostingPlex and VistaPages. With the added knowledge from the two senior folks from both organizations aboard, we can now turn our efforts to bring new technologies, solutions and the best service to all of our customers - and new customers. I apprechiate everyone's patience and loyalty, and, as always. If you have an issue or concern, please contact me directly! pdibenedetto [at] millenniumdata.com Thx!
Posted by reesehershey, 09-19-2008, 12:38 PM
Paul- I have experienced another email outage this week and presently can't reach my servers because I was not notified you switched 'ns3.hostvector.com' to 'ns2'. I've sent you a couple emails directly concerning the SLA you mention below and also to learn how you will compensate for the 99.9 uptime guarantee not being met. I've received No Response. I've left a voicemail for you w/ my phone # this week asking for a response. No Response. Sorry to use this forum and air this disatisfaction, but it seems to be the only place to get any kind of reaction or response. I've constantly tried to go through proper channels with your company but seem to be forced to address things publicly to get a response. "With your specific issues that you had no response from any person, I am going to send you a personal email with all the appropriate contact info for your services that you subscribe to." Never received this personal email. reesehershey