my experience with dathorn.com

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Posted by ergo, 08-04-2006, 01:49 PM
Hi, ive wanted to share with you my experiece with Andrew Thorton's services. Ive been at sonataweb when it started to die, when everything seemed lost i went for dathorn. Ive read a lot on there forums, about suspensions, andrew being rude, etc. but on the other hand i read about very stable servers. so i gave a try. At first we had a move from my own host, since my site was smaller than now it went without trouble. Dathorn servers ( for me cpanel38), were rock solid, never had any problems with them and my darknation.pl operated really good. ive been there 4 months i think and NEVER had any problems, if there were issues ( like my ip was banned ), andrew was very quick to solve the problems for me and work with me so everything goes smooth. ive done some very bad things to those servers ;-) and recently ive put first gallery in my country for a biggest alternative event in middle europe ( Castle Party ), the server was hit by MAJOR traffic, creating big loads, and i was notified that if this perists my account will be suspended. So ive notified dathorn that i will be working on a problem and it will be solved, soon i was able to lessen the stress on the server ( but still big ) , and i was not suspended at all. So it is true that if you work with host and you are honest everything can be solved. And it is very true with dathorn, its is hosting maybe for a bit more technically oriented people like me, who can take care of their own scripts, updates etc. It worked very well for me , and probably it will work for you too. and here are two reasons for me to move away from andrews services : - i need postgresql - my site grew bigger so i need a bigger server and bigger account. Great Job Andrew , for now it was my best hosting experience so far ( been in 5 hosting companies ) PS. andrew is not rude, he just gets straight to the point, i dont want to chitchat, i wants my problem solved, and he did dhat. ALWAYS.
Posted by Shaw Networks, 08-04-2006, 02:57 PM
Good to read about a host that doesn't jump on the gun to suspend their clients. How long have you been hosted by them for?
Posted by ergo, 08-04-2006, 03:00 PM
from february i think, well if they had suspended my account i wouldnt blame andew. he had a LOT of patience for me. i did about 2 gb transfer only with gallery in 2 days ;-)
Posted by rouho, 08-25-2006, 09:18 AM
It seems that you are soooo happy that you also thought it would be a good idea to link this thread to dathorn's community forum! It is quite strange though that, as you said Andrew has had a lot of patience with you, at the moment that he did not have any problems permanently suspending one of my domains on the reason one script I had installed from the CPanel had been exploited. (related thread)Why don't you tell us your secret? Before, closing the latest addition to my "superb" experience with dathorn, that shows his.... patience, is his reply to my request to reactivate the suspended domain, according to which should I create an account for the suspended domain he would permanenlty suspend my master account! THANKS ANDREW
Posted by minsight, 08-25-2006, 09:43 AM
Apparently all Andrew's patience was used up by ergo.
Posted by ergo, 08-25-2006, 12:43 PM
easy, i never got hacked, i just created increased load on the server, and work hard to find a solution quickly, and found it :] there was no need for suspension IMHO. but if you will look more closly to dathorn forum you can find my question about suspending hacked accounts, and it was crearly stated that if its a matter of simple deface etc. it doesnt concern them. If its an exploit that can do harm to server then you have a problem. of there was spam sent form the server or it stopped responding etc. i dunno maybe they reacted as they should i think. but my advice dont use that crap fantastico. ive installed and maintained every script by myself, it it was my own or third party like phpbb. there is nothing better and more secure than relying on yourself. that is my secret . btw. when my account got hit by visitors i started hacking my site live altering sql queries etc. i cant say to you anything more than that ther is no simple solution to have eaceful time on internet. every good host will suspend you if you get hacked, if they dont this seems that they dont know what they're doing and that is really a problem . cheers
Posted by bhills, 08-25-2006, 06:04 PM
As one of those people on the dathorn servers, I certainly want them to continue suspending accounts that get hacked and slow down the server for everyone else. If people do things things that lower the quality and speed of the product, I fully expect the host to suspend them first, and then after they can work with the party involved for a solution. I do not expect the server I am on the be slowed down by other people's hacked scripts. In fact, I wouldn't tolerate it for long. So, yes, as a customer I want the administrators to be be ruthless...
Posted by rouho, 08-27-2006, 06:55 AM
It is very surprising that some people find it difficult to understand some very easy principles. I have repeatedly made my point extremely clear : when hosting companies let customers install and keep up to date a script at a touch of a button, then HOW should the end user know that CPSkin or Fantastiko or ....... is NOT up to date? It is very easy to fall into the trap! bhills are you particular that all your customers are using the latest versions of the scripts they have installed using the automated system or will you find out only after they have been suspended?
Posted by ergo, 08-27-2006, 12:59 PM
rouho i can understand you , that it may be fifficult for you to maintain your script my yourself, and that youve pust your trust to company's software. but the only solution to avid this kind of troubles would be to disallow the use of it...there is no simple answer to this kind of problem. i didnt read whole thread about you being shut off, maybe you could work something out. recently oneof dathorn servers was compromised and all the customers were moved to a new one , and the compromised box was formatted. it was due script exploit, that is the kind of problem that would arise is scripts are not up to date. now imagine how would you feel if that would happened becaue of you. now if i would be another customer and knew it was your fault should i lawsuit you for data and money loss etc? thats the way that shared hosting is,things happen and some of them are caused by clients having insecure scripts. i dont really know if there is other solution than shutting down those accounts
Posted by HostTitan, 08-27-2006, 08:57 PM
Sorry to hear the permenant suspension of a domain given that it was hacked. If you're frustrated or find this happening a lot, then consider talking to your host (and others for that matter) about greater proactive management. As that should encourage them to take some responsibility in these matters.
Posted by Dathorn-Andrew, 08-27-2006, 09:11 PM
As rouho himself pointed out, he has brought up this same issue many times, and in more threads than I care to count. Many of our servers now use Fantastico instead of the CPSkins auto-installers. Fantastico is much more reliable and updated far more often to include script upgrades/patches. All servers will be converted to this as time goes by. His domain was suspended twice within a couple days for running a script that was not updated. We do understand that this will happen from time to time and we do allow users to correct the problem after the first incident. But clearly this should not happen twice within a few days if the appropriate measures are taken to update the script after the first occurrence. We have to draw the line somewhere.
Posted by rouho, 08-28-2006, 12:39 AM
As per your emails there were TWO different scripts that had not been updated: 1. phpbb, upon your first notification it was uninstalled 2. 4images, account suspended! Good luck to users on the those servers still using CPSkin. When a host fails to keep his systems updated (by using "less reliable" auto-installers) and expects the novice users to find their way to update some complex scripts they have installed at a touch of a button, then this has to be pointed out several times. After talking to dathorn with respect to the re-activation of my domain on the new server that now uses the more reliable fantastiko his proactive management was : "If you create an account for that domain your entire reseller account will be suspended".
Posted by Dathorn-Andrew, 08-28-2006, 01:50 PM
As of this morning, all of our servers are now using Fantastico. Yes, your domain was suspended for two different scripts. That's exactly the problem. Prior to the first unsuspension I also made it very clear that a more permanent suspension would occur if this happened again. Having said that, please submit a ticket to our helpdesk and I would like to discuss the reactivation of the domain in question if you are still interested. Hopefully you now understand the importance of keeping ALL of your scripts updated, in which case I will give you one more chance with the domain.
Posted by Acroplex, 09-07-2006, 12:15 AM
Hey Andrew, good to see you around