U
Unregistered
Guest
Hi,
after one more massive outage by my current host without any news as to the state of things provided I am thinking of moving to you. You were recommended on various sites and I'm interested in the basic reseller account with the option of eventually maybe upgrading either to Pro+ or managed VPS.
I do have - of course ;-) - a couple of questions:
1. Shell/Root
I'm used to working a reseller account via cpanel/WHM, the majority of sites I host are webmastered by me and do not need anything special in any way. However I webmaster also 2 own sites on which I would prefer to be able to install scripts which need shell/root access, e.g. ones like Campsite (campware.org). On my current host I could assign shell/root access to certain users and had it as a rule for my own main account already turned on. How is that with you guys? Or - if root/shell access is impossible, is there a means to get such scripts installed?
2. Support and Reliability
One main bone of contention with my current host is that people can't be sure of uptime and are not immediately told what is happening when things are happening. Now, there's nothing worse for a reseller than having to tell his clients "I don't have the slightest". An absolute must for me is therefore, that if sites/accounts/servers go offline or down, I want to know pretty much within the half hour or so exactly what is happening, how long it will cause downtime and whether to expect prolonged trouble.
Sorry, but being told simply in a forum isn't by now really enough for me, I need a support phone number where I can reach a real (and knowledgable) person for major disasters just about 24/7.
A mailing list totally independent of the host setup and host's domains onto which clients can register. This would be a real boon, if it is used by support to notify customers at disaster times.
This, as actually it isn't such a problem telling a client sth like "DDOS attack (server crashed/CPU overload/whatever else), will be online again in X hours" and have him happy knowing things are being corrected, rather than having to lie to him or worse being caught in that lie as I don't myself know what's happening.
Also, while I am quite understanding of occasional burps and quirks and short disconnections, I'm getting allergic to longer downtimes, longer being anything above half an hour. Is there a means to check your common, usual uptimes?
3. Security measures
I do like tight servers, but not so tight that the security measures actually mistake my clients or me for attackers. It's another bone of contention with my current host, that his measures (including some cpanel stuff) are so rigid, that one and the same IP hitting a server 5 times within a short while without getting a proper response blocks that IP which then has to be manually unblocked.
Such stuff is EXTREMELY tiresome, as clients will mostly not realize what's happened and tell me they can't download email or that sites are offline. I then check and re-check and as the IP block is only one of several possibilities it will take time until I can tell the host to unblock such and such an IP. I've lost clients over this, so while it sounds funny, it isn't really.
So - what kind of security measures do you use and if you have the above rule set up, how is it set up - as rigidly?
4. Content
I read your TOS/AUP, much of that is pretty straightforward, some is not. E.g. I have clients who are gay and maintain discussion groups, others offer handcrafted leather items to be used behind bedroom doors. Nothing I'd consider obscene or pornographic and nothing my old (USA) host considered so either.
But sorry to be so direct, I often feel a mighty culture clash between the USA and Europe regarding these things, especially when e.g. I currently listen to news about US politicians or when I notice that nipples need to be bandaided to not be considered porn in some areas. Basically I need a concrete pointer as to what your definition of pornographic or obscene is. I don't really want to lose those clients, they don't cause high bandwidths, they are paying punctually and are as nice as please.
5. Payment methods
I saw that you take CCs and Paypal, I own/have neither and used to pay via 2checkout's European e-banking offer. If I were hard put I could ask a friend to pay for me using a VISA CC, but I actually would very much prefer to do that myself. So do you use a CC-company like 2checkout which also offers European online banking transfers?
And BTW I usually direct quite a few clients of webdesign only, who do not set up a hosting account with me, to the same host I am hosting with. As many of them are European most of them will have the same problem.
Greetings
a potential new client ;-)
after one more massive outage by my current host without any news as to the state of things provided I am thinking of moving to you. You were recommended on various sites and I'm interested in the basic reseller account with the option of eventually maybe upgrading either to Pro+ or managed VPS.
I do have - of course ;-) - a couple of questions:
1. Shell/Root
I'm used to working a reseller account via cpanel/WHM, the majority of sites I host are webmastered by me and do not need anything special in any way. However I webmaster also 2 own sites on which I would prefer to be able to install scripts which need shell/root access, e.g. ones like Campsite (campware.org). On my current host I could assign shell/root access to certain users and had it as a rule for my own main account already turned on. How is that with you guys? Or - if root/shell access is impossible, is there a means to get such scripts installed?
2. Support and Reliability
One main bone of contention with my current host is that people can't be sure of uptime and are not immediately told what is happening when things are happening. Now, there's nothing worse for a reseller than having to tell his clients "I don't have the slightest". An absolute must for me is therefore, that if sites/accounts/servers go offline or down, I want to know pretty much within the half hour or so exactly what is happening, how long it will cause downtime and whether to expect prolonged trouble.
Sorry, but being told simply in a forum isn't by now really enough for me, I need a support phone number where I can reach a real (and knowledgable) person for major disasters just about 24/7.
A mailing list totally independent of the host setup and host's domains onto which clients can register. This would be a real boon, if it is used by support to notify customers at disaster times.
This, as actually it isn't such a problem telling a client sth like "DDOS attack (server crashed/CPU overload/whatever else), will be online again in X hours" and have him happy knowing things are being corrected, rather than having to lie to him or worse being caught in that lie as I don't myself know what's happening.
Also, while I am quite understanding of occasional burps and quirks and short disconnections, I'm getting allergic to longer downtimes, longer being anything above half an hour. Is there a means to check your common, usual uptimes?
3. Security measures
I do like tight servers, but not so tight that the security measures actually mistake my clients or me for attackers. It's another bone of contention with my current host, that his measures (including some cpanel stuff) are so rigid, that one and the same IP hitting a server 5 times within a short while without getting a proper response blocks that IP which then has to be manually unblocked.
Such stuff is EXTREMELY tiresome, as clients will mostly not realize what's happened and tell me they can't download email or that sites are offline. I then check and re-check and as the IP block is only one of several possibilities it will take time until I can tell the host to unblock such and such an IP. I've lost clients over this, so while it sounds funny, it isn't really.
So - what kind of security measures do you use and if you have the above rule set up, how is it set up - as rigidly?
4. Content
I read your TOS/AUP, much of that is pretty straightforward, some is not. E.g. I have clients who are gay and maintain discussion groups, others offer handcrafted leather items to be used behind bedroom doors. Nothing I'd consider obscene or pornographic and nothing my old (USA) host considered so either.
But sorry to be so direct, I often feel a mighty culture clash between the USA and Europe regarding these things, especially when e.g. I currently listen to news about US politicians or when I notice that nipples need to be bandaided to not be considered porn in some areas. Basically I need a concrete pointer as to what your definition of pornographic or obscene is. I don't really want to lose those clients, they don't cause high bandwidths, they are paying punctually and are as nice as please.
5. Payment methods
I saw that you take CCs and Paypal, I own/have neither and used to pay via 2checkout's European e-banking offer. If I were hard put I could ask a friend to pay for me using a VISA CC, but I actually would very much prefer to do that myself. So do you use a CC-company like 2checkout which also offers European online banking transfers?
And BTW I usually direct quite a few clients of webdesign only, who do not set up a hosting account with me, to the same host I am hosting with. As many of them are European most of them will have the same problem.
Greetings
a potential new client ;-)