Hello Gang,

Very seldom visitor here, but hope you will allow me to post and provide some help to me at the same time.

I am having just awful problems getting support for my co-located server at Meida3 (Win2K with all the bells and whistles - and less than 4 months old).

And this has been going on now for almost two months. No matter how many support tickets I try to fill out, how many calls I make, or how many e-mails I send - I simply can get no support.

To best explain this - below I will past a copy of my last e-mail to them.

Please understand that I know doodly squat about hosting. I know SEO. But as I can get no answers from Media 3, I thought that perhaps someone here might be able to guide me to a solution.

Thanks for your time. And here is the post.

Oh - and by the way - this post was sent on Friday. As of this day - I have not heard a word back.

-----------------------

Hey Gang,

I think I posted all the appropriate stuff on your ticket support system. But I had to do so in
fragments because it could only accept a few characters of information at a time. As a result,
please accept this e-mail as a more logical way to explain this issue.

Below you'll find a copy of what I have written into the ticket this time. I am hoping that this can
finally clear up the confusion..

--------------

Hello TM... Sorry about that. Twas not me who kicked you off the server. In any
case, let me see if I can explain this as fully as possible. And on the chance that
this form cuts off some of the details again because I have provided too much info,
please refrain from responding until I provide a closing.

The problems began happening around May 15. Around that time, my fourms went down at
Spider-Food.net. http://spider-food.net/forum I contacted support and was told that the
permissions in my fourms had been changed and that was the problem. But that did
not make sense because the forums at DHTMLnirvana also went down - a web site
which I also host.
http://dhtmlnirvana.com/forum/

At at the time we were both using an SQL server at Media3. Support was contacted and the
esplaination provided was that there was something wrong with 'Registry Permissions."

--------- Will continue in another thread to prevent this from being chopped off again.

Part B

I am not sure what Registry Permissinos are, but Steve Royden was able to
change these and the forums began working again. The problem was that load
times were incredibly slow - and both DHTML Nirvana and Spider Food continued to
frequenstly receive "Server Error" messages in our forums - though this did not happen 100% of
the time.

When the situation could not be resolved, DHTML Nirvana decided to just scrap the SQL Server
at Media3 and convert to an Access Database. This dramatically increased speed, and it
continues to do so.

Compare http://spider-food.net/forum to http://dhtmlnirvana.com/forum/

Both are the exact same forum. Both forums are hosted on the exact same server. The only
difference is that dhtmlnirvana is being run on Access now and not using Media3 SQL server.

But herein lies another problem. Shouldn't an SQL database be dramatically faster than a simple
Access database? I'm not a server guru or even close to one. But this one example proves there
is still a problem somewhere with the forums. And it's been noticed by my visitors over and over
again. They even started a thread about it. So, this is

--------------------------

Well,
I see that it got cut off anyway......

So, this is problem #1 one. There is still something wrong with either the SQL server at M3,
there is something wrong the SQL connection, or the SQL server at M3 is simply loaded
beyond what it can handle!

It should be faster than an Access database.

Now - I will move on to problem #2.

-------------------------

PART C

Problem #2 - Forms - not forums - that had worked for months at Spider-Food.net will no longer
work - although the code has not been changed. And we can not get new forms to work either!

For an example of this, go to this page: http://spider-food.net/spider-food-award-b.html
and just try to submit the form.

Here is the error message that you will receive.

Failure
An error has occured while processing your request.
The World Wide Web server could not start up TCP/IP in order to process your request.
Please contact the webmaster and tell them what has happened or try again later. ......
----------------

This has been reported to support over and over and over again - yet support keeps trying to
close the ticket and place the status of this problem to "Resolved."

I then get another e-mail telling me that the problem is resolved. I keep logging into the support
forum and saying it is not resolved - calling on the telephone - or whatever - only to receive yet
another e-mail from support telling me that it has been resolved.

????????????

I am not sure what useful purpose this Media3 loop serves, but it has not resovlved anything.

Now, on to Problem #3.

-----------------------

PART D - Problem #3.

The server is spitting out mass quanties of ERROR and WARNING! messages. You can confirm
this in the Administration Panel. I believe this has also been going on since about May 15 too. I
finally received one e-mail from support telling me that they were tracking the problem and were
well aware of it - yet it has not been corrected. I was further told something to the effect that
Microsoft paid support Steve Royden would have to work on the problem. Who I know is
the head of your support crew.

????????????????

And again, I keep getting these e-mails from support telling me that everything
has been resolved and that I need to close the ticket.

????????????????

Then, I think, "Well, perhaps I need to open multiple tickets for each issue - but then when I
check the correspondence log - I am told that this is not what I am supposed to do either.

???????????

So, what exactly am I supposed to do?

That is why I finally called Bob yesterday - who I believe is the head of the company along with
Joe.

------------------------------

Now, on to problem #4.

Problem #4 - Someone installed applications on the server. I have no idea where these came
from. I will just list them for you here. I believe these were installed around May 15 which is what
makes them seem important to me.

Routing and Remote Access
Active Directory Domains and Trusts
Active Directory Sites and Services
Active Directory Users and Computers
Cluster Administrator
Connection Manager Administration Kit
DHCP
DNS
Internet Authentication Service
QoS Admission Control ........

Where this came from I have no idea. But it seems odd to me that they just all of a sudden
'showed up' about the same time we began having problems.

Anyway - it is something that should be looked into - and this is Problem #4 - Now on to
problem #5.

-----------------------

Problem #5. If we can not get mailto.exe to work on the server so that forms can be sent by the
web sites that are hosted there, I have been told by another host that there is another solution
that I was not familiar.

Aparently, Win2K (which is what I purchased) aparently comes with something called CDO mail
built in. Now, I do not know if this is true or not - but now that we are over one month out without
the abilty of our web sites to submit forms - if this was an option for me to use while we tried to
repair the server - I would think this would have been suggested to me by support and that I
would not have had to go to one of your competitors to find a solution.

Again, I am not sure if this CDO thing is accurate - but if it is - and Support failed to advise me of
this option, this is problem #5.

--------------------

Anyway, Gang. Those are the problems as I understand them - with literally no server
administration experience. But I hope we can at least all agree now that this Ticket is NOT
RESOLVED!

I have no idea what the answers are. That is what I pay you guys for. So, if you guys would
please just take ownership of this thing and quit sending me tickets telling me everything is fixed
- I would be the happiest guy in the world.

Thanks for your time. And I hope we can get to the bottom of this soon.

Oh.. and now I am finished.

J.K. Bowman
Editor, Spider-Food.net
================================
Search Engine Optimization Tutorials
http://spider-food.net

- Rated most popular on the web by Yahoo!
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http://spider-food.net/WebPosition.html
================================
601-783-2596

Oh.....

While I may be stupid when it comes to servers, this has been going on now for about two months.

This was sent to Support via their ticket system late Friday night , via e-mail, and also sent to the head of the company. And I also followed up with a telephone call - but had to leave a message on voice mail.

It is now Monday afternoon - and I have received no response of any kind.

There is a solution to your problem. Move your server! Media 3 was my last host before I got my own server and their service was abysmally slow. Something that took 45 seconds to accomplish would take them a week or more to get done, and you had to follow up to make sure it was done.

It seems they have not changed, which means you have to. There are other reasons to do so, like Media 3 being the biggest spam have on the Internet. Their whole netblock is blocked from many systems, which means you are too. See Spamhaus for details http://www.spamhaus.org

Hey Duster,

Thanks SO MUCH for the feeback.

As per moving the server, I believe I may have already found a provider. But the point to me is that I have already paid for support - and if I do move the server, I would much rather send it to them fixed than send them a box of junk.

The thing that kills me is that I am a long long time user of Media 3. When I first started using them it was a great company. I could call them on the telephone and get a real person for support. The person would take ownership of the issue, and follow it to conclusion.

I even promoted Media 3 in the Macromedia Forums, where I am a Macromedia Evangelist.

But my how things have changed.

Now, Media 3 is just a maze of endless support tickets that never get resolved. Reboots are their answer for every server problem. And no matter what you do they send you this e-mail telling you that they have resolved your problem and you need to close the ticket. Yet, nothing is fixed!!!!!!

I just don't understand the logic.

Anyway, that said even if I did move the server I would like to see it fixed first. And obviously, they do not have the technical know-how to do it.

They did suggest to me that Microsoft would have to be brought in and that the charges for that would be above and beyond my normal co-lo agreement. But they also told me that Steve Roden would be the paid Microsoft guy.

Steve Roden is the Head of Support at Media 3!!!!!!

I guess whoever sent me that e-mail did not realize that I knew that.

Anyway - onto the immediate concern - can you see anything in my post with might give them a clue as to how we need to fix this?

At this point - a complete reinstall and a day of downtime is okay with me. I can always just have all the sites re-upload everything again. We've been going through this loop with Media3 now for about twomonths.

I just need to get the server to work. Moving is a possiblity later - but for right now - I just need it to work.

Spider-Food.net is my full time business.

Oh.........

one more thing.....

I offered to sell the server back to them with me taking a financial loss in the process......

There were no takers.........

I guess they consider what they sold me a piece of junk as well.

You're welcome. Clearly you need someone who knows Windows 2000 and IIS and clearly that is no one at Media 3. One popular definition of insanity is to continue doing things the same way yet expecting different results. If you expect anyone at Media 3 to solve your problem. that definition would fit you. ;) Thus, there would seem to be little point in leaving your server there.

Perhaps one of the more technically inclined people here on the forum can help you, even if by recommending someone who can. Good luck.

If you don't know much about administration, why not go dedicated where you will get alot more support/

Just a thought

Media 3 just sucks plus is run by a bunch a SPAMERS fromw hat i have seen.. :angry:

Most recent correspondence posted below.

Thanks, Gang......

------------

To elaborate on JK's sql problem, when I first logged into the system, there
was an sa account (the defaul sql administrator account) set up in the
Server Registration properties. However, I couldn't connect using that
password. So I switched it to Windows NT authentication, and I still can't
connect to the local sql server. I've tried all the accounts that JK knows
the passwords for, to no avail. I'm assuming that a Media3 admin needs to
give the local user (EDITED) permissions for the SQL server, or we're just
out of luck...

Thanks,

Daniel Short
Chief Designer
Web Shorts Site Design
http://www.web-shorts.com

----- Original Message -----From: <jkbowman@spider-food.net>
To: Bob Hayes <rhayes@media3.net>
Cc: Dan Short <dan@web-shorts.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 3:00 PM
Subject: re: Re: SQL - Spider Food


> Hey Bob,
>
> Thanks so much for contacting me.
>
> The form is working now. Thank you so much!
>
> I also see the code on the submission form was changed to:
> <Input type="hidden" Name="server" value="127.0.0.1">
>
> Should I make a note of this for all future reference?
>
> ---------
>
> Per changing of the permissions, I am really at a loss. I don't even know
how to log into the server and change permissions. So, I really have no
idea how this happened or how it showed up as jkbowman being the one who
changed them. I've never touched anything like that. But just for safety
sake, I am going to change my password.
>
> Might this have been a hack?
>
> -------
>
> Per SQL, I would like to go ahead and transfer to the SQL on my server
even though the server itself does not have dual processors. I am only
going to run this one database from there so I don't think it will give us
too much of a drain on system resources.
>
> We are trying to work on that now. Dan Short is my ASP/database
programmer, and as you will note I copied him on this e-mail.
>
> Dan tells me that there is a default account set up for SQL on my server
that is not working, and my account does not have permission to log in. I
really don't understand all of this. Perhaps Dan could explain it better to
you since he is the one working on it. But if you have any ideas you
should share to help Dan out that would be great. Just feel free to respond
to this e-mail.
>
> --------
>
> And lastly, if you go to the Event Viewer you'll see that we are still
having a lot of Error and Warning messages. Most of the recent ones seem to
have to do with Bobtest - so I can understand that. But there are still a
lot of others which I just do not understand.
>
> You mentioned that Error and Warning messages were normal, but these do
concern me. Perhaps it is just my inexperience.
>
> Again, I have no server administration experience, but it would seem to me
that 'no error messages or warning' messages would be an indication of the
system functioning properly. And again, it was Media 3 support who brought
this problem up to me so that is why I am sill interested in it.
>
> When you get a chance, could you please let me know what you think about
the issues mentioned above?
>
> And again, thank you so much for your attention. I really appreciate
this.
>
> J.K. Bowman
> Editor, Spider-Food.net
> ================================
> Search Engine Optimization Tutorials
> http://spider-food.net
>
> - Rated most popular on the web by Yahoo!
> - About.com rated "Best of the Web"
> - Netscape "What's Cool - Site of the Day"
>
> Web Position Gold - FREE Trial
> http://spider-food.net/WebPosition.html
> ================================
> 601-783-2596
>
>
>

They do not sound very "Microsoft" savy. My suggestion would be to move the server to a Microsoft house.

I know, moving is always a pain but it looks like you have no choice :(

Thanks Rack...

Just posting my most recent correspondence here. I hope yall do not mind my taking up this space to put this here, but I think it will give you an idea of what getting support from Media 3 is like.

--------------

Hey Bob,

I sent an e-mail to you yesterday regarding the remining issues we have on the server (copy attached), and I've also left a message for you on telephone. But I have not heard anything back.

Should I open a new ticket or perhaps reopen the old one?

Thanks.