to have a server go down *every* day for about 5 minutes or so? Am I being ridiculous to expect this? Before I rant, I'd like to hear from webhosts what you guys really mean when you claim "reliability" and "99.whatever%" percent up time.

Please respond to this post. Again, I'll reserve my hasty actions until I'm clear on what "reliability" means.

brimming...
ochiba

take a look at this thread.. explains uptime guarantee pretty well. there are also numerous other threads about the subject.. just do a search.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=27484

personally i never liked the uptime % guarantees.. i'd expect from any host that i use.. if i am unhappy with the downtime that's going on.. to be refunded. if i am not refunded.. i'd simply leave to another host who has better uptime and that meets my standards.

as for going down everyday for 5 minutes, could be the server is having trouble, undergoing maintenance, needs a reboot or something else along those lines... your host is just probably trying to keep the server in well condition.. 5 minutes a day is alot better than 5 hours one time in the week due to server maintenance negligence... :rolleyes: 5 minutes each day is about 2.5 hours of downtime for the entire month.. and i think that is still in the 99% uptime zone *bad at math*.. someone correct me if i'm wrong. :)

Well, there are 24x60 minutes = 1440 minutes in a day.
If a server is down for 5 minutes each day then that is an uptime of 99.65% which isn't bad.

think of it this way: would you rather have the server reboot every day, or have junk pile up on the server for an entire month, which towards the end would be going very slowly, and then you might end up with a lot more downtime. I'd say 5 minutes a day, if its not at peak hours, is fine.

5 minutes a day isn't bad. I just wanted to make sure my expectations weren't so high that no host would be able to accomodate me. But I also want to know when to worry too. Afterall, why pay a host that is down when you can pay the same for another who is up?

Again, thanks. It's easier to hear from other webhosts what factors cause downtime, because from my own host whenever I complain they just say... "what downtime" or when I send them a tracert they say, "fixed" and that's it.

I won't rant to my other webhost now; they have been a lot a better since the middle of this month, but I still can't wait to move my site though!

ochiba

If it is Windows server, I can somewhat understand. However, a windows machine should be able to handle at least 30 days without a reboot. It is possible the server you are on is being overloaded and therefore is being rebooted daily to clear up some RAM, etc. However, if this is a Linux or *nix based system, it really should not be rebooting that often. We have had linux boxes running for months at a time without needing a reboot, but even then it was just for certain upgrades.

Well I'll put my head in the lions mouth here..

Example: we have one of our servers which is having a problem, only one, but it is causing what *could be determined as downtime* for short periods because of the nature of the problem...

to explain.. since mid December this cpanel server has been restarting apache more than it should and the result can be that it appears to be 'down' for the *few* minutes that cached pages take to update.. as a host this is unacceptable to us and obviously more so from our customers points of view.. in a case like this we have the following choices..

1. fix the problem.. we have engaged the services of several experts to locate and fix this, but so far it remains a mystery.. please believe me when I say that we have paid more attention to this server than all others combined in an effort to find the problem.. we have done and are doing everything technically possible. The problem however still exists and we are now possibly faced with the next alternative...

2. move everybody to another server and wipe the HD's.. this of course is a pain for both customer and host alike, but in a case like this we may have no choice.. hopefully not..


I see many complaints levelled at hosts here for downtime of varying degrees etc and in some cases it is certainly a result of a careless, hopeless host BUT it may not always be that way, so my advice is to enquire about any downtime you may experience, and IF it's actually the web host you use and not your ISP or other cause, then they should explain what is happening to you, so you have a choice of waiting for a fix or moving your site..

Some things just happen and no amount of promising will change that, but you should be able to expect accurate information about causes, remedies and options. If it is severe, then maybe you should be offered some credit as compensation..

Anyone who reboots their server on a daily basis is an idiot. And if a server fails on a daily basis for more than three days, the administrator doesn't know what they're doing.

Either way, you should find a new host: A few minutes of downtime might not matter, but the general incompetance will manifest itself in other less obvious ways as well.

(mods: please don't edit this... I'm not trying to flame... I just don't know how to call someone an idiot politely ;) )

Originally posted by cperciva
I just don't know how to call someone an idiot politely ;) )

Just say they have their MCSE :D

Originally posted by cperciva
Anyone who reboots their server on a daily basis is an idiot. And if a server fails on a daily basis for more than three days, the administrator doesn't know what they're doing.

Either way, you should find a new host: A few minutes of downtime might not matter, but the general incompetance will manifest itself in other less obvious ways as well.

(mods: please don't edit this... I'm not trying to flame... I just don't know how to call someone an idiot politely ;) )

Not sure if you're referring to me.. but if you are, we don't reboot a server every day, and if the people who have tried to fix our problem are idiots, then they are in fact well known idiots and respected members here who I suspect are considering their options as I type.. :) [ooh la la] If you are referring to the possibility that the owner of the thread has a host who is rebooting a server everyday, then you are of course correct..

Originally posted by felix220
Not sure if you're referring to me..

1. I was referring to anyone who reboots a server on a daily basis.
2. You don't reboot any server on a daily basis.
3. Ergo, I was not referring to you. ;)

That said, I don't have much sympathy for people who decide to use CPanel and then complain about the problems it causes... but that's a different thread.

I'm hearing that 99.6% is a *good* thing and that it's normal to have this downtime (I only say 5 minutes because I'm not online every second) but when I'm working on my sites for a few hours at random times that's when I'll notice this burp in my services.

Now I'm hearing that my server shouldn't be rebooted everyday. I don't even know what it is that causes this; it may not be a server reboot. Does this mean that there are hosts who don't go down every day? My first web host went down 2 or 3 times during the entire time I hosted with them, after I outgrew their service I've had nothing but nightmares with hosting. I was wondering if they were just the exception and if that is because they only hosted small sites with not a lot of options. I don't have a problem with my ADDR.com account either, which is weird because everyone here complains about them and I've had them now for almost a year with no problems at all, but again they are small too. Was I spoiled with these two companies into thinking that if I paid more, I'd get even better service? Because it seems to be the reverse.

It's pointless to try to contact my host about this because they won't acknowledge these burps. And it takes me more time to write them complaining than to just wait it out. But after reading the initial threads I figured that a complaint would be just over-reacting.

About Cpanel... is this Cpanel 4.x? Because my new host has that panel and I love the features on it (like Mailman and the easy to config counter scripts). Are you saying that this panel causes server problems? I had a panel similar to this with LiquidWeb and they were *always* down. I'll do a search to see if there is any info on this, but I'd like to know why you made that comment. As an end user, I think it's really easy to use.

ochiba

One thing you should do is make certain that it is indeed the server 'having burps', and not either the network the server is on, or the route from the server to you, or your ISP (connection). Any of these could be the cause, and for example, there are periods where my DSL provider makes it extremely fustrating to get anything done.

Second, servers either do go down, or need to be rebooted for various reasons, though it should be so common that it is giving you problems. I'm not exactly sure what you'd consider acceptable, but that is up to you for the most part.