I'm hosting with Pair.com

I run one PHP script on their servers. That said, it's very important to me since I use it for link tracking/redirecting.

But, it's compiled and needs Zend optimizer to run (I think that's the correct thing).

They've just decided to turn off Zend optimizer.

No warning.

Nothing

My script has suddenly stopped working. All those links (in ebooks around the internet) have gone dead.

I get in touch with support, and they basically say:

"Do it yourself. Install PHP 4. Install Zend. Get it all working."

Er, if I could do all that I would run my own hosting company.

I heard good things about Pair, but this has REALLY pissed me off.

Can anyone help?

I'm looking for either getting this fixed very quickly, or moving VERY QUICKLY.

:angry:

Thank you

All righty, and the next question is.... are you backing up all your data regularly...

And then the next one is.. have you looked for a new host...

and then the next one is... are you a glutton for punishment..

Originally posted by Samuel
All righty, and the next question is.... are you backing up all your data regularly...

And then the next one is.. have you looked for a new host...

and then the next one is... are you a glutton for punishment..

How very helpful

Good luck! =)

You have no contact information, aren't really asking for anything, just ranting. Hope you "Get somewhere" with your current host.

I've known the guys at Pair.com since early 1997. Zend Optimizer is bad karma. There are hundreds of tracking/redirecting scripts in PHP, freely available, that don't require ZendOp. Instead of whining/complaining, start looking for alternatives. Pair made the right move. They've been in business since who knows when; so they're doing something right.

Originally posted by Samuel
Good luck! =)

You have no contact information, aren't really asking for anything, just ranting. Hope you "Get somewhere" with your current host.

Okay ... short of moving host (I've a couple lined up) ...

How difficult would it be to install PHP4 on a shared FreeBSD hosting account?

And how do you make it default to running PHP 4?

If this is extremely technical ... then basically my host has landed me in it, and have left me no choice but to move domains ...

Just find a host that suits those requirements

Everything you want to do requires experience and if you have none, this is no time to try to "Learn to fix their changes", just move to a new host.

Originally posted by Richard Ward
I've known the guys at Pair.com since early 1997. Zend Optimizer is bad karma. There are hundreds of tracking/redirecting scripts in PHP, freely available, that don't require ZendOp. Instead of whining/complaining, start looking for alternatives. Pair made the right move. They've been in business since who knows when; so they're doing something right.

We had only used Zend Accelerator/Optimizer (Zend keeps using both names for it) previously because it had caused no apparent problems. Although we had a couple of obscure misbehaving script errors, those were never tracked down.

However, running the newest Zend Accelerator/Optimizer, as required to use PHP 4.2.2, under FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE, we started seeing major problems. phpBB not working, phpNuke not working, MySQL access not working in PHP4 scripts, etc. When Zend Accelerator/Optimizer is disabled, everything works normally again.

Zend Accelerator/Optimizer is a closed-source product and we have no way of debugging it. Since it was installed only as a performance enhancement, we removed it, and don't intend to enable it again, for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, another product Zend sells, Zend Encoder, relies on the Zend Accelerator/Optimizer. We are currently trying to assist this customer, who has apparently purchased some Encoded PHP scripts, in making his own PHP4 build so he can use the Accelerator/Optimizer himself.

I think the Encoder is a product of very limited use. One of the points of a powerful scripting language is to be able to debug and modify scripts. If you buy a script from someone and it's only available Encoded, I think you're getting a very poor deal indeed.

But that is beside the point. We are still trying to help this customer regardless. Of course, turning on Accelerator/Optimizer might help him, but it will break many other scripts instead (and in fact, it might break his, too, given how buggy it's been).


Kevin

Move to a new host and let pair know why you're moving. If they didn't warn you about the changes, that's unprofessional.

Originally posted by jjenkins
They've just decided to turn off Zend optimizer.


I forgot to mention that Optimizer was disabled only after the scheduled upgrade to FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE, in which we have PHP 4.2.2 deployed. The new version of Optimizer which corresponds to PHP 4.2.2 is buggy; thus it was disabled.

Kevin

Originally posted by RichTek
Move to a new host and let pair know why you're moving. If they didn't warn you about the changes, that's unprofessional.

The change was made on an emergency basis and resulted from bugs that appeared after the upgrade to PHP 4.2.2. The alternative is to have other basic functionality such as MySQL access broken. We did not provide Optimizer as a path to enable Encoder; we do not support or recommend the Encoder product.

A System Notice has been posted outlining what happened with Zend Optimizer; the information about the problem was already on our FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE upgrade notice page.

Kevin

Originally posted by sigma


The change was made on an emergency basis and resulted from bugs that appeared after the upgrade to PHP 4.2.2. The alternative is to have other basic functionality such as MySQL access broken. We did not provide Optimizer as a path to enable Encoder; we do not support or recommend the Encoder product.

A System Notice has been posted outlining what happened with Zend Optimizer; the information about the problem was already on our FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE upgrade notice page.

Kevin

Sounds like good service just an unfortunate incident. Stuff happens.

BTW, I always do upgrades on a non production server first. Helps eliminate stuff ;)

Perhaps I'm in the minority using Zend ... but you don't expect a service you use to just be turned off overnight.

I'm really not qualified to install PHP and Zend and try to get it all working so I'm having to move that domain to a hosting provider that offer it.

I'm very disappointed this has happened, especially after the rave reviews I read that convinced me to host with Pair.

Originally posted by RichTek

Sounds like good service just an unfortunate incident. Stuff happens.

BTW, I always do upgrades on a non production server first. Helps eliminate stuff ;)

Well, of course, we do that too :) The 4.6-STABLE upgrade is the result of months of hard work on three development servers. But there's always something a customer is using that either changes, or doesn't work anymore, or can't work with other new software. Out of so many Web sites, it's unavoidable :(

Kevin

Are you a reseller? If you are, then I would be furious, if you are on a shared hosting account? welp... then maybe it's time to get a dedicated server.

Originally posted by Samuel
Are you a reseller? If you are, then I would be furious, if you are on a shared hosting account? welp... then maybe it's time to get a dedicated server.

As soon as my business gets big enough to justify it.

Until then ... I guess I have to make do. :(

Originally posted by sigma


Well, of course, we do that too :) The 4.6-STABLE upgrade is the result of months of hard work on three development servers. But there's always something a customer is using that either changes, or doesn't work anymore, or can't work with other new software. Out of so many Web sites, it's unavoidable :(

Kevin

Well yes and no

I didn't install Zend. It came with the set up. I specifically asked before signing up if you had Zend on your servers.

When something stops working overnight because of a change the hosting provider makes ... who's fault is that?

Zend isn't exactly an obscure bit of software is it?

Originally posted by jjenkins


Okay ... short of moving host (I've a couple lined up) ...

How difficult would it be to install PHP4 on a shared FreeBSD hosting account?

And how do you make it default to running PHP 4?

If this is extremely technical ... then basically my host has landed me in it, and have left me no choice but to move domains ...

They do have PHP 4. Depends on the plan you have...http://www.pair.com/pair/shared/

Originally posted by jjenkins
Perhaps I'm in the minority using Zend ... but you don't expect a service you use to just be turned off overnight.

I'm really not qualified to install PHP and Zend and try to get it all working so I'm having to move that domain to a hosting provider that offer it.

I'm very disappointed this has happened, especially after the rave reviews I read that convinced me to host with Pair.

JJenkins, I think the real message here is that Zend does not work well with FreeBSD 4.6 and PHP 4.2.2 period!! They have disabled Zend as the coding is closed and cannot be tweeked. You will find the same issues with anyother webhost running FreeBSD and the new secure version of PHP (4.2.2). Zend was the weakest link so it went poof. You may want to ask questions of the Zend developers as to why the coding is closed and why it is not upward compatible with OS upgrades, and is there an update patch being made available to the web hosting companies using FreeBSD 4.6. Sounds like they are in the same boat.

There are plenty of people out there offering cheap dedicated servers for low-demand customers. A PentiumPro 233 can serve ALOT of static and semi-static content up when running any non-windows operating system.

Or co-locate a box you already own. Dedicated hosting can be had for less than $100.00 a month on a low-end server but you have to know what you are doing, becuse there is no babysitting with those places. If you dont know, you can learn.

The internet is your friend, simply go online and search for whatever you need to know. Installing PHP on a webserver does not require a genious. Get out on the internet and read about how to do it, or do some searches.

I used to work tech support for a real estate software company (Polaroid Digital Soultions) (that is, until thier exeutive management spent all the money and gave themselves gigantic bonuses and then later decided it would be entertaining to file for bankruptcy and "cut costs" and get rid of me and others) and I used to describe tech support as follows:

Tech support inquires consist of the following:

20% - People who failed to heed all the warnings when installing thier software like "It is recommended that you close all programs before proceeding with the installation" and then cannot figure out why they keep getting locked file errors, borland and delphi errors and so on.
20% - People who are too lazy to read the manual.
20% - People who click now, ask questions later.
20% - People who have already read the manual, have already rebooted thier computer a hundred times and have already tried the suggestions we have but still have the problem. Mind you that the problem is explained under "Troubleshooting" in great detail.
10% - People who want a "quick walk through" despite the fact that the "quick walk through" pops up on thier screen in the form of a dialog box.
5% - People who dont know that the manual is or why we spend thousands of dollars to print and we-write it every year.
5% - People who actually have a legitimate need for tech support and are trying to report an issue with the software that really exists and is not covered in the manual but they have to wait for hours on hold while a rep fields all the calls before them from all the yahoos above.

Sorry jjenkins I have to agree with sigma in this case. Nobody gonna keep a proggie that was affecting other proggies on their PC or server and in his case other users. Best bet is to move on or bug zend for a patch.

Originally posted by jjenkins

I didn't install Zend. It came with the set up. I specifically asked before signing up if you had Zend on your servers.

When something stops working overnight because of a change the hosting provider makes ... who's fault is that?

Zend isn't exactly an obscure bit of software is it?

Actually, Zend is fairly obscure. You are in fact the first person I know who has ever relied on the Zend Encoder, for example.

We did indeed have the Zend Optimizer installed, so we would answer your pre-sales inquiry with "Yes". However, it was installed solely to *optimize*, not to interpret encoded scripts, a secondary function of which we were unaware, and did not intend to support.

When a piece of software which has no stated purpose other than to theoretically improve performance starts causing major problems with user scripts, it goes. It was never intended to be anything but a transparent performance booster.

Kevin