Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Cloud Hosting : Initial StormonDemand review :(

[ishan]

Hello,
We signed up with Stormondemand to host our corporate websites yesterday.

The Positives -

Setup is immediate.
$75 coupon means first month is free.
They have an awesome dashboard.

The Negatives -

The OS template used for CentOS 5.5 64bit + cPanel is really old.

It isn't properly made, as cPanel/WHM starts throwing up errors as soon as you login.

cPanel force update does not complete, neither does a yum update. (tested twice)

Support from Liquidweb su*** , We asked them to setup the same Apache/PHP configuration on the Storm server as on our Liquidweb server. 3 hours later when they said it was complete, there was nothing setup on our Storm server. Apache/PHP were the same old versions.

Lastly, the Storm dashboard does not allow reinstalling a server, we have to destroy it and create a new server.

I have created a new one and hoping for a better experience this time.

[LiquidWebBenny]

Thank you for your review. I'm sorry that you have not seen the best our support can offer. Would you mind giving me your ticket or account number so I can adress the problem you had with geting Apache and PHP rebuilt?

[ishan]

I am PMing you the details. After the OP , I started creating a new storm server and went about my work. After I came home 10 hours later I see this at the top of the screen -

Critical Error

Create Storm Server FailedDismiss
You can view the details of this error in your account history.
If this problem persists, please create a support ticket.

I am seriously considering cancellation and returning to my old liquidweb server now.

I also forgot to mention that the ticket has not been responded to in the last 10-11 hours.

[LiquidWebBenny]

Originally Posted by ishan

I am PMing you the details. After the OP , I started creating a new storm server and went about my work. After I came home 10 hours later I see this at the top of the screen -

I am seriously considering cancellation and returning to my old liquidweb server now.

I also forgot to mention that the ticket has not been responded to in the last 10-11 hours.

I am asking our supervisors to look at this right now. They should be getting ahold of you shortly, and will be helping to answer all of your questions.

[IGobyTerry]

What were the cPanel errors that you were getting? It's possible that there was an error in the original OS install, which really threw everything off. It's unfortunate, but can happen, especially with automated script installs.

[ishan]

Originally Posted by inogenius

What were the cPanel errors that you were getting? It's possible that there was an error in the original OS install, which really threw everything off. It's unfortunate, but can happen, especially with automated script installs.

They were theme related errors, and fatal errors and the cPanel interface was messed up. Generally everything you would expect to resolve with a force upgrade, but that wasn't working either.

Anyway, I can see someone working on my cloud server now, and I hope they do it right this time round.

[IGobyTerry]

Originally Posted by ishan

They were theme related errors, and fatal errors and the cPanel interface was messed up. Generally everything you would expect to resolve with a force upgrade, but that wasn't working either.

Anyway, I can see someone working on my cloud server now, and I hope they do it right this time round.

LiquidWeb typically isn't a company that messes up twice (actually, just them messing up once is a surprise!) so I'd be surprised if they don't deliver something that's not absolutely perfect with a few sprinkles on top. Not to mention, I don't think any of those techs. want an angry Benny on their hands!

[LiquidWebBenny]

Originally Posted by inogenius

LiquidWeb typically isn't a company that messes up twice (actually, just them messing up once is a surprise!) so I'd be surprised if they don't deliver something that's not absolutely perfect with a few sprinkles on top. Not to mention, I don't think any of those techs. want an angry Benny on their hands!

Thanks Terry.

@ishan you should receive a call from us shortly, if you haven't already.

[ishan]

Originally Posted by LiquidWebBenny

Thanks Terry.

@ishan you should receive a call from us shortly, if you haven't already.

The account is in my partner's name, so he might have received the call.

I have been with LW for 2 1/2 years now, and I have been very happy for the first 1 1/2 years. This year however there have been 4-5 unexplained downtimes, which is the main reason I am moving to a storm server.