It is with great sorrow and a heavy heart that I must let you know that Avail has gone out of business. Because of the recent failure of our server, the loss of data, and the lack of help from the datacenter's on-site staff, we have been forced to end our services.

All users have been refunded their money directly to their credit card account. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at jeremy@availhosting.com.

Thank you for choosing Avail, and good luck with your future hosting endeavors.

Warm regards,

Jeremy
CEO/Founder, Avail Hosting
http://www.availhosting.com

Originally posted by Avail
It is with great sorrow and a heavy heart that I must let you know that Avail has gone out of business. Because of the recent failure of our server, the loss of data, and the lack of help from the datacenter's on-site staff, we have been forced to end our services.

All users have been refunded their money directly to their credit card account. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at jeremy@availhosting.com.

Thank you for choosing Avail, and good luck with your future hosting endeavors.

Warm regards,

Jeremy
CEO/Founder, Avail Hosting
http://www.availhosting.com

Sorry to hear that, good luck in the future.

Sorry to hear your tragic end, but is terminating your business the only solution to your problem? Good luck in your next ventures.

cheers,
:beer:

I did get my refund promptly, so no users should be worried.

Its a shame, I had just gotten things up and rolling too.

Jeremy,

Sorry to hear about the problems you have been facing. All the best in your next venture.

I just like to thank you for your past support and assistance.

Edwin

Originally posted by dektong
Sorry to hear your tragic end, but is terminating your business the only solution to your problem? Good luck in your next ventures.

cheers,
:beer:

I've gone over all of the possible solutions in my head, such as selling the company, etc, but this seemed like the right thing to do.

who was your provider.

Originally posted by jayglate
who was your provider.

$10 on rackshack

I am betting VO. the traceroutes dont' go to rackshack.

Originally posted by jayglate
I am betting VO. the traceroutes dont' go to rackshack.

Just noticed that ;)

Originally posted by Myacen


$10 on rackshack That was uncalled for. Kinda shouts the sincerity of your first post now; doesn't it?


Good luck, Jeremy.

Yup, it was VO.

Jeremy,

I am so sorry to hear that. My heart really goes out to you. I hope you can get back onto your feet again. Best wishes. :)

Looks like VO...

traceroute to availhosting.com (209.151.89.208), 64 hops max,
...
12 unknown.Level3.net (63.211.250.18) 78.822 ms 79.725 ms 79.424 ms
13 66.54.149.66 (66.54.149.66) 80.231 ms 80.303 ms 79.452 ms
14 209.151.89.208 (209.151.89.208) 79.924 ms 79.952 ms 79.983 ms


bsd# traceroute venturesonline.com
traceroute to venturesonline.com (209.151.79.223), 64 hops ...
12 unknown.Level3.net (63.211.250.18) 79.357 ms 79.453 ms 78.940 ms
13 66.54.149.66 (66.54.149.66) 79.382 ms 80.328 ms 79.810 ms
14 venturesonline.com (209.151.79.223) 80.510 ms 79.887 ms 80.361 ms

Would love to hear more about this story.

I believe he's talking about eServers.biz.

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
That was uncalled for. Kinda shouts the sincerity of your first post now; doesn't it?


Good luck, Jeremy.

No just the experiences we have had with RS regarding hardware problems, I thought it must have been them. But VO :eek:

Originally posted by Myacen
But VO :eek:

Yeah, it comes as a bit of a shocker to me being a previous customer of VO.

Just because his site was at Ventures Online doesn't mean his servers were. He said before that he had a server at eServers.biz.

are you sure there are no other options?

Is there anything we can do to help? I have some spare space we might be able to work something out with if you need it.

Monte

Sorry to here about your failed business mate... :(

Dont take to long to come back into the game!

And i am happy that this has not become a horror story for your customers on WHT!

At least you went out the proper way.

Good luck in your new ventures for the future...

I wish you all the best for next time

Kind regards

to be blaming ebizservers, rackshack or anyone until we know for sure what the problem was and who his servers were with.

Geeez guys why not wait till he says who it was and what his problems were.

Monte

sorry to hear that. Wish you are the best next time.

Good Luck in the future. Sorry to see you go.

oh no...
i need to look for another server..:-(

thx avail anywayz! and good luck to you in the future!!

Originally posted by conma2cang
oh no...
i need to look for another server..:-(

thx avail anywayz! and good luck to you in the future!!

Me too, barely on the server for 1 month....

if anybody can find a good deal like the may special deal at aVail plz let me know!! appreciate it!

thx

still can't believe that avail is actually gone!

I am very sorry to hear that and I wish you luck in the future!! ;)

Condolences from us too. It's always sad to hear someone going out of business, but even moreso when it's due to cirumstances they've tried to prevent.

Greg Moore

I am glad that everyone is sorry for Avail and that he gets back up and his feet, but what about us unfortunate ones that had data, mysql DB's, programs, etc, on his server?

We are all screwed out of alot of money and time that we put into getting our sites up and running.

I don't care about the little $9 or whatever refund, I want my data back, or money so I can pay my programmer to recreate everything again.

OK..... Does anyone know of any reliable web hosting or a good dedicated server??? I am tired of every host I choose going belly up. I guess the small monthly fees of $10-$20 should of told me to stay away from them in the first place.

Any help would be appreciated.

I am glad that everyone is sorry for Avail and that he gets back up and his feet, but what about us unfortunate ones that had data, mysql DB's, programs, etc, on his server?

This is a point worth making. After all, its clients that should matter most, is it not?

Still, EYO, you have the ultimate responsibility for backing up your work. I find it hard to imagine anyone trusting a remote computer to a) stay up all the time and b) always have backups that can be restored. I guess I've seen backups fail, data centers flood, companies go belly up - so I would never consider placing all my trust in another organization.

Especially not when its easy to keep local (on your own PC) backups of your site, databases, etc. A little script running via cron, or manually if you must, will dump your db, gzip it up, and mail or ftp it somewhere even if you like. Content and images likewise.

If your site is important to you, then take steps to be sure that you can recover even if the worst happens. Because one day it will. Happen.

ps, reliable larger orgs that I have had personal experience with for shared hosting are www.site5.com and www.pair.com - I would not hesitate to host a site on either. Neither are the cheapest around but compared to the value I get they are a steal. Site5 is certainly not the same size as Pair but they a stable, reliable company. And I find Pair to be an excellent organization. They host over 100,000 sites and you never hear much in the way of complaints about them and for good reason. Any company that shows all their server downtime on a public web page is worth considering IMO ( http://www.pair.com/pair/support/notices/ )

Pay a little more IMO and reap the benefits.

For example, one of my sites has tens of thousands of users and it costs $60 a quarter in hosting fees to run it. That is insanely cheap yet many on WHT would say its a rip off! Another costs me 50$ a month and its still a bargain for the value delivered. Why people insist on paying 6 or 10 dollars a month and expect for that pittance superlative service I'll never understand.

One site I have on shared hosting I'm moving to a co-located server in the next few weeks. This is a quantum leap in cost, but its all relative to the revenue coming in...

trust me, I will back up my stuff from now on, as I see there are alot of fly by night hosts out there, that promise they do nightly backups, etc...

Have to learn the hard way I suppose...

As long as we learn, mistakes are good teachers. Sadly or fortunately, I've learned a lot. Must be making mistakes left and right!

So that site5 and pair are reliable hosts?
I don't care what the price is, I just need a host that stays up!!!

Originally posted by EYO
<snip>
We are all screwed out of alot of money and time that we put into getting our sites up and running.

You answered your own headache

OK..... Does anyone know of any reliable web hosting or a good dedicated server??? I am tired of every host I choose going belly up. I guess the small monthly fees of $10-$20 should of told me to stay away from them in the first place.



First - You did not pay a lot of money. Second - Sorry you took a chance with a small start up and lost. If you were unwilling to accept the risk, don't do it then. You sound like a gambler who just lost $1000 and looks for sympathy. How can you complain about about your failure to plan or forecast?

That is too bad about Avail. Everyone at some stage is a start up. Even a company like Host Rocket for example might not be here if they had this rash of bad luck on their first server.

Both are. We have had a significant site hosted on Site5 for over a year now. The usual sorts of issues creep up from time to time - nothing Site5 specific but in shared hosting you will see problems sometimes caused by other users on the box. Site5 have always been responsive to issues and professional in the way they conduct their business.

Pair is a whole different class of hoster and perhaps not for everyone. Imagine this - they have *restrictions* on accounts where other hosters would be giving away the farm. Do not just switch to Pair.com without realizing what the terms of service are.

If you run a big mailing list on your own software, for example, you need to think carefully about using Pair. If you run your own code or can modify your own, then you can easily live within Pair's terms of use.

It may seem counter productive for a vendor to place limitations on how you use the hosting service, and to charge more for the access, but what Pair does is ensure their success by preventing users from running ill behaved software on shared services.

A large number of problems at various shared hosting providers are caused by these 'unlimited' offers. Anyone that offers unlimited databases, unlimited bandwidth is IMO setting themselves up for failure or at least pain. The reality is that a single box has limits.

Imagine performing a mailing to a large list - is the box and its software designed to handle the unique needs of large scale mailing on a daily (or hourly!) basis? Most won't be. Pair doesn't even try to be. Pair also doesn't run MySQL on the same box as the HTTP servers, since the activities are not compatible.

I have respect for both companies even though both are on opposite ends of the organization size scale.

No doubt there are plenty of good quality hosting providers that can help you out - I'm just pointing out two that I have had good experience with that I am not personally connected to other than as a user of services.

I had a backup from Saturday morning, so I'm not entirely screwed, but a friend of mine is.

What I want to know is what happened to the "nightly backups" that were advertised ? Did they use the same tape ?

Originally posted by UmBillyCord


First - You did not pay a lot of money. Second - Sorry you took a chance with a small start up and lost. If you were unwilling to accept the risk, don't do it then. You sound like a gambler who just lost $1000 and looks for sympathy. How can you complain about about your failure to plan or forecast?



This is a bit disconcerting to hear, and I hope this isn't the general attitude of all the web hosting companies out there. Granted, more redundant backups never hurt anyone. However, as customers, we're paying for advertised services. And in this case, the company in question claimed to be making regular backups, and hasn't produced them (nor has he responded to such inquiries).

Whether you're a start-up or an established web host, you should be held responsible for the services that you advertise. If you can't, or choose not to stand behind those services, you shouldn't be doing business.

Originally posted by UmBillyCord


First - You did not pay a lot of money. Second - Sorry you took a chance with a small start up and lost. If you were unwilling to accept the risk, don't do it then. You sound like a gambler who just lost $1000 and looks for sympathy. How can you complain about about your failure to plan or forecast?



Hmmm.. I guess you visited my website, and saw that I am a gambler, but I will not cry over money that I lost when I was the one at fault for losing it. I am just trying to say that if a business opens up a business and takes on customers, then they should do their part, and we should be able to trust them.

How can you open a business, take people's money, and then just let these kinds of things happen? Nevermind.... its over, its done.

Originally posted by manja


This is a bit disconcerting to hear, and I hope this isn't the general attitude of all the web hosting companies out there. Granted, more redundant backups never hurt anyone. However, as customers, we're paying for advertised services. And in this case, the company in question claimed to be making regular backups, and hasn't produced them (nor has he responded to such inquiries).

Whether you're a start-up or an established web host, you should be held responsible for the services that you advertise. If you can't, or choose not to stand behind those services, you shouldn't be doing business.

I agreed, even how little money we paid, its still money paid to the advertised offer.

Saying that paying little or none is not an excuse if anything happened.

Sorry to hear about your business Avail, especially under these circumstances where you did all you could to prevent it. The best of luck for the future :)

g'day guys,

well what's happened to avail certainly is a bit of a piss off, and unfortunate to say the least.

everyones brought up some valid points here - but it's sad when people put all of their trust in a company which hasn't had a chance to prove itself.

i've got backups of my site locally and everything which was on it - i think the biggest thing is just the inconvenience of having to relocate and all the problems caused with getting refunds and all the rest.

just a question to jeremy - if he's still looking around this thread - i was a customer of yours, located in AU and i'm yet to see the refund appear in my account. paid for a year and only signed up less than 2 weeks ago - just wondering if it's something to do with my bank, and if the refund has been granted, or if somehow it was overlooked.

look forward to your reply,

cheers,

lynton

eservers.biz say they have backups and have sent them to the owner of avail. Here is the cause of the crash

The failure was due to one of Avail1.net admins running an upgrade which reformated the /usr partition to linux native...

Gotta love it!!!!

Sorry to see another hosting company disappear for reasons not entirely their own. Creating and running any new business pits the odds against you, especially in a field where so much relies on other people when you first start out.

What really gets me is the lack of care shown by the colocation and dedicated server providers. Nobody in that tier seems to realize the importance of uptime and coming through on your promises is to their customers where even small mistakes in the beginning can lead to a failed business.

Best of luck with your future endeavours Avail, if you get a chance please take a look at the email I'd sent you.

Sincerely,

-Matt

I am just trying to say that if a business opens up a business and takes on customers, then they should do their part, and we should be able to trust them.

EYO,

I agree 100% with you. I feel bad for you. I am just pointing out that you take a chance with everything you do. However you can sure lessen this chance by doing your research and also by going with a company that has been around with a proven track record.

Also, it sounds like you think they had the intent of starting a biz, folding and taking money. I can tell you this is not the case (as they have even given refunds instead of running off). I have seen this happen numerous times on these boards where host fold and run with the money. Avail did not do this. By looking at the last post, they just did some bad server maangement. :eek:

Whether you're a start-up or an established web host, you should be held responsible for the services that you advertise. If you can't, or choose not to stand behind those services, you shouldn't be doing business.

Agreed. But if you buy a used Yugo and it breaks down within a few weeks - whos fault is it? They advertised it will run... it did.... but quality isn't there... so it failed. You get what you pay for. That saying didn't just happen because it sounds good. It is used because it is true. If you can not afford downtime, then you cannot afford hosting on a $5.00 (or whatever it was) account. Period.

I agreed, even how little money we paid, its still money paid to the advertised offer.

Caveat emptor! Smart consumers know their rights and act on them. Information is the best defense against purchasing defective products/services or falling vicitim to fraudulent practices. Ask questions. Do research.

Good luck to you all on your new host.

After running a Arin whois there main site traces back to Ventures Online.

Originally posted by TimPD
After running a Arin whois there main site traces back to Ventures Online. What's your point?
That was mentioned on the first page of this thread.

Originally posted by TimPD
After running a Arin whois there main site traces back to Ventures Online.

Already been mentioned. They could have quite easily opened a shared account with them to display the "we are closed" page and keep their email live.

Actually its all rather murky. One of their nameservers appears to have been hosted by pwebtech (or in the same centre as them) - and someone from there was pointing out to Ventures Online.

traceroute to ns4.availhosting.com (216.118.67.99), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
...
12 a9-0-0-8.msfc1.oct.nac.net (209.123.11.85) 91.288 ms 91.626 ms 90.571 ms
13 fa0-0.core1.pwebtech.com (207.99.8.198) 90.757 ms 91.311 ms 91.364 ms
14 216.118.67.99 (216.118.67.99) 92.483 ms 92.011 ms 91.074 ms

The other appears to be at VO's location:
traceroute to ns3.availhosting.com (64.119.174.223), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
...
11 core-02-ge-1-1-0.dnvr.twtelecom.net (168.215.54.197) 55.520 ms 55.472 ms 55.419 ms
12 66.192.245.94 (66.192.245.94) 55.792 ms 56.047 ms 55.322 ms
13 66.162.99.2 (66.162.99.2) 73.729 ms 72.883 ms 73.494 ms
14 64.119.174.223 (64.119.174.223) 73.163 ms 73.780 ms 73.557 ms

traceroute to venturesonline.com (209.151.79.223), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
...
11 core-02-ge-1-1-0.dnvr.twtelecom.net (168.215.54.197) 55.781 ms 54.175 ms 55.137 ms
12 66.192.245.94 (66.192.245.94) 56.196 ms 55.448 ms 55.667 ms
13 66.162.99.2 (66.162.99.2) 73.470 ms 73.404 ms 72.719 ms
14 venturesonline.com (209.151.79.223) 73.676 ms 74.728 ms 73.508 ms


Perhaps Jeremy will fill us in on the issues - this crowd has a big appetite for learning from others.

It is a shame to see Avail go out like this.

Jeremy, could you please post who the server was with as I am considering a few of the mentioned companies for a dedicated server and I want to know who to avoid.

Regards

- Omar

Originally posted by rochen


Already been mentioned. They could have quite easily opened a shared account with them to display the "we are closed" page and keep their email live.
Actually, it hasn't. It is still unclear as to where Avail leased their servers. I'm sure alot of hosts are interested in hearing more on what happened. Jeremy started off blaming the data center and then someone posted that it was VO and that VO had given them an explanation placing fault at the hands of Avail.

Whatever happened, it's a shame. If it was VO then it's a bit of a shocker as they are apparently top class outfit.

The main website wasnt on the server that had the difficulty. The server that died was with eServers.biz. Let me say that eServers is a great company -- they helped me late into the night trying to fix things. But in the end, CPanel decided to overwrite the recent backup -- since most of the customers on the box were very recent, the latest backup available, from a month ago, didnt have most of the sites.

This has been an awful couple of days, for me, but especially for my customers... I don't really know what to say.

And I thought the SAT at the end of the week was going to be my biggest worry...

luckily i backed up my sql data files just the day before!

I would talk to Nick about it over writing.

That's sad Jeremy, hope you the best in your coming ventures.

Originally posted by Avail
And I thought the SAT at the end of the week was going to be my biggest worry...
What's "SAT" ?

Originally posted by Aussie Bob

What's "SAT" ? Read more here, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm . It is a college entrance exam.

If you think the SAT is tough... wait until you decide to go through graduate school or medical school... GMAT, MCAT, baby!

Sorry to hear about Avail... it kind of gives you a shock when something happens that suddenly. Kind of like WHT being bought by the headcheese dude... although, I haven't been around long enough to know all the reasons for people getting that sick gut feeling when that happened... kind of like right before you say "I Do" at your wedding... oh well, I digress!

Good luck Jeremy!

Jeremy,

All the best in your upcoming SAT exams.

Take care!

Edwin

Originally posted by iamdave
Read more here, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm . It is a college entrance exam.
Oh. I keep forgetting that younger folks run hosting businesses etc. If only I could be around 17 to 20 and setting up a hosting business. The only thing I was really focussed on when I was 17 was my ute and my girlfriend. ;) :D

Bob,

What's an 'ute' ? :D :D

Edwin

Its basically like a mini pickup truck, made out of a car. They look really wierd :P

Originally posted by eddy2099
Bob,

What's an 'ute' ? :D :D

Edwin
hehe. A "ute" is the Aussie word for "pick up". So it's a 2 door with a tray in the back for things like motor bikes, tools and girlfriends. :D ;)

http://www.ford.com.au/showroom/lightcomm/ute/Image_Gallery.asp

*sigh*

If only I could justify it... :)

Gary

An UTE reminds me of an El Camino, in the US.... I think it was an El Camino :eek:

<<MOD NOTE: I really didn't want to post another post (as it would have been 7 posts after this one-ish), however yes, it does *egads* look like the rebirth of the El Camino :eek: >>

Originally posted by EYO
eservers.biz say they have backups and have sent them to the owner of avail. Here is the cause of the crash

The failure was due to one of Avail1.net admins running an upgrade which reformated the /usr partition to linux native...

Gotta love it!!!!

You know, with good backups and a boot disk, that is easily fixable. News to the newbies, get yourself a qualified tech near the data center you use, because data centers dont hire anyone but button pushers. If a reboot doesnt fix it, they're lost. Seriously, you could go to the ghettos and find people more qualified to work on your machines than the people who actually work at the data centers. Just like in this case, if they had anyone with half a brain there, it could have been easily fixed. Sheesh, even if you DONT know how to fix something, it's not hard to search Gooooooooogle groups to get the answer :rolleyes:

I do feel bad that a host was forced out of business due to lack of knowledgable personel at a data center.. I would think everyone here should be very forewarned of this particular center..

it become the data centers problem if the admin that worked for Avail reformated the drive on an unmanaged server?

So why should we steer clear of the data center when they shot themselves in the foot?

Monte Roberts

good question, i was wondering that myself, however, the typical WHT disease tends to take over in order for people to start bashing the data center.

if this WERE the case, i see no reason why eservers.biz should be held accountable for one of avail's techs corrupting the partitions on an unmanaged dedicated box.

i'd love to hear eserver's response, or perhaps avail's response to the above post.


Originally posted by Monte
it become the data centers problem if the admin that worked for Avail reformated the drive on an unmanaged server?

So why should we steer clear of the data center when they shot themselves in the foot?

Monte Roberts

Originally posted by EYO
I am glad that everyone is sorry for Avail and that he gets back up and his feet, but what about us unfortunate ones that had data, mysql DB's, programs, etc, on his server?

We are all screwed out of alot of money and time that we put into getting our sites up and running.

I don't care about the little $9 or whatever refund, I want my data back, or money so I can pay my programmer to recreate everything again.

OK..... Does anyone know of any reliable web hosting or a good dedicated server??? I am tired of every host I choose going belly up. I guess the small monthly fees of $10-$20 should of told me to stay away from them in the first place.

Any help would be appreciated.

Paying more guarantees nothing.

There are several "cheap" hosts that are reliable.

Originally posted by jayglate
Yup, it was VO.


Well Jay shows how much you know as you can see VO had nothing to do with this.

Avail I am sorry to hear about your problems this is very sad please let us know if there is anything we can do.

You base a business on a single server? You base a business on a single server with NO backups?

You DONT have a business!!!!!!

Recent should be yesterday, not last month. Backups should be daily, not whenever I remember

Originally posted by Avail
to fix things. But in the end, CPanel decided to overwrite the recent backup -- since most of the customers on the box were very recent, the latest backup available, from a month ago, didnt have most of the sites.

T

Are you selling your clients? How much? :cool:

Interesting Situation

Wow. Small world.

eServers dot biz was one of my clients.
Who would have though they're this well-known? :D

did you design their site? weren't they having some trouble with their designer using copywritten images in their design? or was that dv2?

there was a huge thread on that a few days ago.

skylab - I think it was about eServers "borrowing" RackMy content or something along those lines.

yeah, something about eserver's design using a copyrighted rackmy image or something.....


ah hell, i should shut up and go read the post..... :)

lol NO! Wasn't my company.
We just created a banner ad for them. It's amazing how quickly people say potentially defamatory things about you before they know all the facts :)

No harm done, I hope :D

i made no statements defamatory to you or your company, i simply asked a series of questions regarding a statement which you initially made (their being clients of yours).

you've answered my questions and have clarified that it was in fact NOT you or your company that designed their website and i thank you for the clarification.

i apologize if my questions offended you.

Yes, I know. I wasn't offended in any way. On the internet it's often hard to convey feelings.

I don't hold anything against you. I just stated that things like that happen all the time. Just made the facts straight, that's all. Where's that thread?

here you go: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51676