Host Gator... what hurricane?

by dmderoeck

Posted: 16 years ago 14 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

This is just a quick post to give credit where credit is due.

I use Host Gator for my hosting and have not experienced so much as a blip in my hosting service. Wow!

Not sure if everyone experienced the same level of service I have during the "Ike". But I wanted to give both the HG planners of Ike and the technical support who have actually answered my questions during the hurricane. Great job guys!

#gator #host #hurricane

ahuddy 16 years ago

Are their servers located in Texas?
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Elmer Hurlstone 16 years ago

Since they've "gone green" and are now running on "wind power" they're probably operating at turbo speed.

On a more serious note, not knowing what impact, if any, Ike may have had on their operations, this is just more reason to make sure you have an emergency operations and recovery plan in effect--regardless of the size of your business.

Elmer
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- dmderoeck 16 years ago
  
  Yes. Sorry, forgot to mention. They have their support (I believe) in Houston and their data centers are in Dallas. Some of their tech support were answering my questions in the middle of a hurricane from their home!
  
  Good point. You definitely need redundancy, especially in our business!
  
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  summer07 16 years ago
  
  I've been thinking about them in Houston...glad to hear they're ok.
  
  I've been impressed with Hostgator since I first started with them, about a year ago. Best customer service and tech support I've had in any industry in the US in the last 10 years.
  
  Audre
  
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  Jesus Perez 16 years ago
  
  I believe Hostgator is located in the same datacenter as The Planet. If that is the case, you don't need to worry about hurricanes. That place is so well prepared that the employees will crash there during hurricanes because it'll be the only place with power.
  
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  Sean Donahoe 16 years ago
  
  Just to reassure you guys, Hostgator has its servers with a company that was called EV1 Servers (I have around 20 dedicated servers there for my clients) and were recently bought out by "The Planet". The datacenters are located in Houston and Dallas as well as other locations across the country. Although Hostgators base of operations is in Houston their servers are in Dallas (no threat from Ike) but their local officials suggested getting the hell out just in case. I actually spoke to one of my contacts there to double check something for a client before the telephone support crew evacuated.
  
  When Hurricane Rita hit in 2005 (and it was still EV1 servers and my boxes were in the Houston datacenter) Those guys were on a Skelton crew and had webcams from the coast all the way to the data center and we watched each cam get knocked out sequentially as the Hurricane ripped through Houston. Our servers never even twitched and their were no reported glitches in their network.
  
  On other occasions there was a fire and they were on generators for a week with 0% downtime. The only time I have had a problem was with a relativly recent power generator explosion that took out wall and a ton of routers but they handled that very efficiently and we were up through out the whole deal, albeit limping on limited connectivity due to nameserver issues.
  
  This is why I recommend Hostgator to a lot of my clients who do not need dedicated servers as I know the datacenter is solid, good tech staff backing up hostgators tech staff and the servers and setup "The Planet" uses is very solid.
  
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  strive4impact 16 years ago
  
  THis is probably one of the most difficult things the newbies to Internet Marketing to understand... that who you choose as a host does matter... that uptime does matter... and that weather can affect whether or not your web site is up.
  
  Glad to hear that HostGator is rockin and rollin through the storm. Nice to hear and read people saying nice things about a hosting company - usually the other way around - mysef included - with my web host of 7 years.
  
  Great job giving credit where credit is due.
  
  Anyone have any suggestions for helping newbies understand this concept? I think it's an important thing that the veterans don't talk about that much.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Sean Donahoe 16 years ago
  
  Well, when choosing a host you need to call them and ask them:
  
  1. What is their backup policy?
  2. How often are the sites backed up?
  3. How quickly are restores initiated?
  4. Are these archives kept offsite (the answer better be yes)
  5. What emergency procedures are in place to protect clients data? (multiple redundancy equipment, generators, spare routers, etc)
  6. Do they carry any insurance for clients (rare but some do and its a definite plus)
  7. Ask if your user control panel allows user configurable complete backups
  
  And once you have chosen a host:
  
  1. Back up your databases daily (there are automatic scripts that can do this easily)
  2. Back up your sites weekly (Automate this where possible using crons jobs if possible)
  3. Make dual copies of the backups, burn them to disk or flash drive. Keep 1 in a safe or remote secure location and one in your home in a safe if possible.
  
  This may sound like overkill but imagine that you have a website that is pulling in $50k a week or a membership site that is puling in $300k a month and you lost your website or data because you had a failed backup policy.
  
  This is another reason I like HostGator, they backup sites weekly to secure servers offsite and because they use CPanel hosting, each user account has the ability to create a complete re-deployable archive of their site which they can take to any cpanel host and almost be back online instantly.
  
  Again, one size never fits all but these guidelines will put you on the right track. Hope that helps someone stay in business that bit longer....
  
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Johnny 16 years ago

Hi Chikira

Thanks for your information.
Just another question, do Hostgator has redundancy data centers? I mean if for some reason the whole place is not functioning, will there be a backup centers somewhere on the earth to continue the operation.

Not just Hostgator, what about other hosting companies?
Is there any of such hosting exist ?
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Thomas Wilkinson 16 years ago

I am Hostgators biggest cheerleader. The only
small thing I have run into lately is that 4 or 5
of my sites do NOT show up in mainland China.
This is NOT Hostgator's fault. The Chinese gov't
blocks different hosts from time to time for their
own reasons. I just move the ones affected over
to 1&1 and move on.

T.W.
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When you hear someone telling you what YOU can't do, they are usually talking about what THEY can't do.
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hostgator.com 16 years ago

Hi guys,

Thanks for the kind words!

The hurricane is gone, but many of employees do not have power as of yet and neither does our office. We do have people working from a temporary office and the homes of other employees with Internet access. Tickets are being replied to, but the replies are coming slower than usual since we have fewer people working.

All of HostGator's servers are located in The Planet. Most of them are in Dallas, though we do have some in Houston (mostly backup servers and a couple of dedicated servers).

We're based in Houston, but we do have some remote employees around the country. They're especially helpful when situations like these come along.

If you have any questions or concerns, just let us know. My email address is in my signature.
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- KarlWarren 16 years ago
  
  How's THAT for customer service...
  
  coming to the WF to thank clients... Impressive.
  
  I have to say that despite my disappointment that I couldn't get something resolved using live-chat (for the reasons above) - my subsequent help desk ticket was resolved very fast.
  
  Kindest regards,
  Karl
  
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hostgator.com 16 years ago

Karl,

Thanks for the compliment.

We actually have a couple employees that are members here. Our marketing director follows the forum for mentions of our affiliate program and I keep up with mentions of HostGator around the Internet in general (I am the Customer Service Manager).

Customer feedback is extremely important to us. It is one of the reasons we keep an eye out on forums just like these. If you ever have any issues whatsoever with HostGator, don't hesitate to send me an email.
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- femchie2 16 years ago
  
  I have been an hostgator customer for 4 years now. It was my second hosting service since I started internet marketing and marketing online after I left host4profit. It's been a great experience and despite several other offers and recommendations (shhh...I have even been persuaded to leave hostgator and sign up with a free hosting company) I haven't left these guys and probably never will. Just like summer07 said, their customer service is uncomparable. And I'm glad things are picking up after the hurricane.
  
  Hey if you ever need another employee outside of TX to help out, let me know and I'll send you my qualifications.
  
  I'll be proud to be a member of the team. God bless.
  
  - Femi
  
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