I've had my site hosting with www.hostmatters.com for the past couple of months. As i've developed my site, and spend more time testing/viewing live, I've noticed more and more I am unable to access the site. The site is slugish, or simply doesn't respond. When this happens, I'll use tools on the web to ping the site, from all corners of the US - So I know its not just with my ISP - the site just seems to be down for unknown reasons. Sometimes when I can't access it, i'll message my buddy from another state to check it, and he can't access it either. Is this just a coincident, and im hitting my site under the rare time its not accessible?
I did alot of research on this forum, and I thought I picked a good host.

Can anyone else share there experience, good or bad, with Hosting Matters? I'm beginning to wonder if I should move - And I was just about to launch our site.. :( -Server Name: Calliope

You could ask them to move your site to a different server and see if that helps the situation. Annette and the gang are very good people and will surely try their best to make sure things hum along.

Greg Moore

I think they use Cogent bandwidth. That may be part of the reason it's sluggish.

I'm with them and haven't had any problems. I'm on a different server than you are, but looking at the server stats it shows Calliope being up for 61+ days without a reboot:


calliope.hmdns.net 64.21.12.2 As of 1:55pm up 61 days, 23:35


As Akashik mentioned, there a great company, so you might want to contact support and ask them if you haven't done so already.

Originally posted by chrisb
I think they use Cogent bandwidth. That may be part of the reason it's sluggish.
:rolleyes: Ahh no, they don't use Cognet...

Originally posted by chrisb
I think they use Cogent bandwidth. That may be part of the reason it's sluggish.

Why would you even say a thing like that? Without at least running a traceroute first?

NAC has a cogent line...aw jeez, guess it's time for every host with servers in NAC to pack up their stuff and go home, eh?

Originally posted by genaldi
I'm with them and haven't had any problems. I'm on a different server than you are, but looking at the server stats it shows Calliope being up for 61+ days without a reboot:


calliope.hmdns.net 64.21.12.2 As of 1:55pm up 61 days, 23:35
Up 61 days, yes, but that doesn't mean the server has had no downtime. Apache could be out and those stats will still show it as "up" etc...

Sorry, I guess I was mistaken about the Cogent bandwidth. I thought I did a traceroute recently on them, and that's what it showed. I guess I got them mixed up with someone else. My apologies.

As Andrew indicates, our servers are at NAC, and while some traffic might pass over cogent on the way there for some people, it's certainly not the only feed available at the NOC.

To the original poster (and I think I know who you are, based on a ticket I answered a few minutes ago): if you're having issues reaching your site at any time, we need to know about it. There's no way for us to address issues unless they're brought to our attention in the appropriate forum (in our case, through the ticketing system as you have for other requests). Thanks.

Aussie Bob,

True, there could of been some brief little periods here or there, but I don't see anyone else having problems on the hostmatters.com boards who are on that server, so it couldn't be too bad. If there were numerous people having problems, there would be some mention of it.....

sabotage79 And the meaning of the user id you chose?

As Annette hosts at NAC and based on all I have heard about her, this just doesn't seem consistent with my knowledge.

Have you discussed this with her? If not, then sabotage would seem an appropriate description. Don't mean to be harsh. However, this forum is probably an appropriate one for continued problems. But, if you haven't given the host a chance to address them first, then it would not seem the appropriate way to go.

There was a period of about 30 minutes earlier this morning where Calliope was having some kind of snit. I checked the network status page, and saw that Calliope was redlighted for http traffic:

http://www.hostmatters.com/netstatus/

Just as I was about to post a question in the forum, the server came back online.

Whenever I've had server access troubles in the past, I always check three places, in roughly this order: main site's front or "general announcement" page; network status monitoring; client support forums. If I see nothing there about downtime and I can't access my site, I either submit a ticket or (if I can't access the host's main site) call the support number.

Originally posted by living_media
There was a period of about 30 minutes earlier this morning where Calliope was having some kind of snit. I checked the network status page, and saw that Calliope was redlighted for http traffic:

http://www.hostmatters.com/netstatus/

Just as I was about to post a question in the forum, the server came back online.

Whenever I've had server access troubles in the past, I always check three places, in roughly this order: main site's front or "general announcement" page; network status monitoring; client support forums. If I see nothing there about downtime and I can't access my site, I either submit a ticket or (if I can't access the host's main site) call the support number.

That's the way it should be done. It'd be nice if everyone did that; but some people would rather come here and criticize their host if they are down for 5 to 10 minutes. It's really unfair to the host that works so hard.

Oh, I don't think the username has anything to do with anything - he uses a variation of that username on our side for the account and the ticketing system (btw, sabotage, check your mail for the SSL response), so it's not that big a deal.

Calliope's issue a tad ago was likely due to a reseller continually adding/removing an account, over and over, which of course necessitates a restart of apache each time. This was addressed with that particular user.

Consistent issues, though, need to be presented to us, as otherwise we'll never know that someone is having a problem.

Originally posted by Annette
This was addressed with that particular user.

A smack on the nose with a rolled up newspaper maybe? :D

Greg Moore

I wouldn't read to much into a username - That's all it is- nothing more. I didn't come to be critical - I came to find out, as the topic stated, if anyone else has been having problems with the server, and if so what did they do. I thank the one who recommended asking that my site be moved - nice of you to post relative information. -As for the one implying I came to cause trouble, your wrong. Your right though, should have contacted them directly, but nothing wrong with finding other users experiences also.

Now I can see how a simple post turns into a needless flame war - :eek: Some really sensitive people around here...

Originally posted by chrisb


That's the way it should be done. It'd be nice if everyone did that; but some people would rather come here and criticize their host if they are down for 5 to 10 minutes. It's really unfair to the host that works so hard.

It is rampantly unfair; but for some people, I wonder if it isn't done because they have had bad experiences with other hosts and so have - unfortunately - been trained to seek restitution elsewhere? Host Matters is very, very good at customer support, answering all kinds of questions; but if someone had hosted with a string of "cheap" hosts who didn't pay attention to customer problems, and/or if the person simply didn't know how to use the Internet to help themself, they would be pre-conditioned to finding forums like WHT where there are plenty of legitimate complaints about hosts whose service has taken a turn for the worst - but just as many (ex-)clients with axes to grind and little or no justification for flamage. I'm finding that one of the most valuable services I can offer my clients is learning how to use the Internet to their best advantage: learn how to check if that latest email virus warning is a hoax; find information on domain hosting; protect themselves online; learn how to run and organise an online community; figure out what features they need and which ones they really don't (I advised a client to sign up for a lesser hosting package, as I don't think that they need the full amount of bandwidth and storage space just yet - I think I gave them a mini aneurysm); be aware of scams; answer all kinds of questions especially the newbie ones.

Someone else said, in another thread, that how web hosters act towards their clients determines the tenor of the entire industry. That certainly seems to be the case, as frustrated consumers are assuming that taking grievances to a place like WHT is their only recourse. Not a good thing...and we (hosters, resellers and otherwise) all get to deal with it.

Eh...well, it still beats telemarketing all hollow. :D

I think I owe HM an apology. It is important to understand, I simply came to see if anyone else was experiencing similar problems on my server - NOT TO BE CRITICAL OF THEM!
I have been very impressed with there service. Just some simple accessibility problems.

I'm used to posting problems to forums, and looking for solutions. Guess I used the wrong method in this case. :bawling:

Don't let my post stop you from looking into HM. Its important to note I spent a good 2 weeks researching hosts on this very forum, and I chose Hostmatters.

Ryan
aka SaBoTaGe ;)

I'm used to posting problems to forums, and looking for solutions. Guess I used the wrong method in this case.

Just one of the quirks you may run into, when there are so many ways to find information :D I wonder if that's not the curse of the Internet generation: there are so many ways to find information that we can think ourselves to a standstill, trying to figure out the best way to -=get=- information...?

Ryan, as I noted in our other conversation, don't worry about it. We only want to make sure that if clients are seeing issues that they let us see them as well - at least until we get that feed to the Psychic Network going. :D

A question about something like this could actually be posted to our forums, too, since there's a greater likelihood that you'd receive a yay/nay based on user experience there than here (simply because the vast majority of our clients don't visit/have never heard of WHT). General experiences are a different story, naturally, and there is certainly no dearth of opinion around this forum on issues of all sorts.

Greg: no smacking, although we were a little curious as to why one account, identical in every way, would require 14 adds/removes in the span of about half an hour.

Originally posted by Annette
at least until we get that feed to the Psychic Network going. :D


I thought that was what the CLEO server was for. Oh, it's clio. :-)

Originally posted by Annette
Greg: no smacking, although we were a little curious as to why one account, identical in every way, would require 14 adds/removes in the span of about half an hour.

Perhaps they are obsessive compulsive....the first 13 times just didn't feel right.:stickout:

-Lamar

Originally posted by pgrote


I thought that was what the CLEO server was for. Oh, it's clio. :-)

Caaall me now!

Originally posted by Perfecthost
Perhaps they are obsessive compulsive....the first 13 times just didn't feel right.:stickout:
hehe. I'd be disabling the "Delete domain" function in their CP. :D :stickout:

Originally posted by Aussie Bob

hehe. I'd be disabling the "Delete domain" function in their CP. :D :stickout:

...but Annette is nice, and kindness is a virtue. Always remember that AussieBob. :)

Originally posted by chrisb
...but Annette is nice, and kindness is a virtue. Always remember that AussieBob. :)
Apache has issues at times with accounts being deleted etc. It hangs every now and then etc. I'm not as nice as Annette. I'd disable that feature. :D

Originally posted by Aussie Bob

Apache has issues at times with accounts being deleted etc. It hangs every now and then etc. I'm not as nice as Annette. I'd disable that feature. :D

Since you use cpanel, tell your users to let the backend scripts execute before changing web pages.

If they don't listen, disable suexec on your machines. Even if there are left over entries in your httpd.conf file, apache will restart without bitching.