Started a new thread since this seems to be kindof a different subject and hope that the tone ends up being less of bashing ANz and more helpful to those who are just freaking out about now.

I'm one of what is probably the majority of ANz customers who hasn't had any problems but is just freaking out by the horror stories of what's going on. I guess the quick way of putting it is "hoping for the best, want to plan for the worst."

I'm not at this point wanting to abandon ship but if the server goes down, I want things set up so I could get back up and running within a few hours and am just looking for advice on things I should do (and I'm sure other ANz customers would be appreciative.)

Obviously the first thing I've done is get offsite backups which I'm doing nightly (as well as MySQL backups every 6 hours).

The next thing I'm looking at is backup DNS service. Are there any good low cost ways of just getting backup CPanel DNS services? (that way if I have to move servers, I can quickly?)

Once that's done, what other steps would be prudent? As I'm guessing are a lot of ANz's customers, I'm not really in the webhosting business, it's just a whole bunch of friends sites and fun sites that we're hosting so we have to keep the costs somewhat down.)

You've made the right decision with getting your data backed up. For the DNS you could probably pick up a cheap C-Panel reseller account and use DNS their so you get basic control. If you move over the IP's to the reseller you will still have full control.

When things are calmed down and you've got a new dedicated you can move things over. Doing this way you have to make changes manually but it gives your flexibility.

Other things you could do technically is just keep backup up to date and run them manually with /scripts/cpbackup from the command line. Beyond that it will be your call.

Rus

I like the way you think here MagiCat, its been to much "hot air" lately that is not helping anyone, so lets keep close watch on this thread and make sure its not getting out of hand (readies the report finger).

I would also like to hear what options you have for keeping your server online, should something go wrong. I know very little about server issues, so please be gentle though :)

I would also like to hear how you set up your backups MagiCat if you dont mind sharing?

nice to see that there are also ANz customers on WHT who dont start harrassing around.

actually an offside backup should be done independent of where you are hosted.
i have seen several posts of peoples whos server got unplugged or accidently deleted also at other providers too.

but you can make the backup on your homecomputer too, to save money.
if something goes wrong there are some VPS-providers which have almost instant setup. so in case of emergency you can just pick up an VPS (or if a VPS is not enougth power, rent a 15minutesserver.com server for a month) and upload the backup there. this should be possible to be done in less than 1 hour. and that should be ok.

Thanks for the information alexmue, I'll look into what options I have for offsite backups. :)

It's kindof funny now that I look back, I had actually posted on ANz's forums that I'd like to trade server space with someone there. I thought that it would be better because speeds would be faster. My thinking was that I wasn't worried about a fire or anything like that, but I wasn't thinking about this current situation.

The offsite backup I'm getting is at http://www.tranxactglobal.com/ (link is on the right). There was a coupon on here for 10% off somewhere so I'm getting 10GB for $4.50 (the welcome e-mail said 30GB but I'm not sure whether that was a misprint or whether the plan changed or they're just being nice to me.)

I'm using Cron with mysql_backup.cgi which is at http://worldcommunity.com/opensource/utilities/mysql_backup.html to back up the databases offsite at 3am, noon, and 6pm (it gzips them so the databases are only 25MB.)

Finally, I'm just using the standard CPanel backup like jvds said to backup the entire site on a daily basis (that's about 2 GB for me.)

For right now I'm less freaked out, I've been reading that the people who have servers down have had them come back up which suggests that things are being fixed. But I'm still looking for cheap CPanel resellers as was mentioned :)

Hi MagiCat
I guess I could offer You a cheap reseller, but since I am a client of AN, I guess You don't want it. :D

Originally posted by MagiCat
For right now I'm less freaked out, I've been reading that the people who have servers down have had them come back up which suggests that things are being fixed. But I'm still looking for cheap CPanel resellers as was mentioned :)

Consider recent events as a reminder that off-site backup is not just a good idea, it is one of the essential tasks that you must do for your business.

I'd appreciate someone passing along the 10% off code to me.

Originally posted by MagiCat
I'm one of what is probably the majority of ANz customers who hasn't had any problems but is just freaking out by the horror stories of what's going on.

Is that still you? Because as of about 2 hours ago, the majority of AN customers *are* now having problems. :(

Yep, I'm now officially one of the "am having problems" people.