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  1. #1

    SoftLayer pissing me off - Need alternative

    SoftLayer is seriously pissing me off. My sites have gone down over 10 times in the past 24 hours. As I'm writing this, they're still down. I created a support ticket over an hour ago (as well as updated one from Yesterday) and they're non-responsive - all while my sites are still down. They've cost me more money than I've paid for hosting (which is $204/month)

    Their support is dismal. More importantly, the quality of what I'm paying for is as well.

    Who's known for being better than SoftLayer or being a close competitor? I heard LimeStoneNetworks is close but the same exact specs at LSN costs about $60 more than at SL.

    Any help would be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    NJ, USA
    Posts
    6,645
    What specs do you want and where do you want it
    AS395558

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    cd /root/Alaska
    Posts
    525
    I would go and call them.

    Superbservers.net check them out!

    Sorry your having such issues.
    Jason

  4. #4
    This is my current config - quickly copy/pasted from my hardware section...

    CentOS CentOS 5.5-64
    cPanel
    SuperMicro H8SMU AMD Opteron QuadCore SingleProc Sata [1Proc]
    AMD Opteron 1354 [2.2GHz]
    4 GB RAM - Hynix 1GB DDR2 [1GB], OEM 1GB DDR2 [1GB]x3
    Mainboard \ Onboard \ SATAII Controller
    Western Digital WD Caviar RE 16 WD2500YS
    1000 (Mbps) uplink speed

    Paying $204/month

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Posts
    3,338
    Limestone is a great choice, We've been using them for quite some time now and haven't been disappointed yet. Although you could probably get what your looking for cheaper if you email Clint @ Limestone directly as he his known for giving marvelous deals. ( c.muhlenberg[at]limestonenetworks.com )

    He's our rep at limestone and hasn't let us down so far so i wish you the best of luck if you contact him.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by 123Systems-Andrew View Post
    Limestone is a great choice, We've been using them for quite some time now and haven't been disappointed yet. Although you could probably get what your looking for cheaper if you email Clint @ Limestone directly as he his known for giving marvelous deals. ( c.muhlenberg[at]limestonenetworks.com )

    He's our rep at limestone and hasn't let us down so far so i wish you the best of luck if you contact him.
    I went ahead and emailed him my server specs to see if he can quote me something competitive... thanks.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Buffalo, NY
    Posts
    1,501
    Quote Originally Posted by mcmoney View Post
    SoftLayer is seriously pissing me off. My sites have gone down over 10 times in the past 24 hours. As I'm writing this, they're still down. I created a support ticket over an hour ago (as well as updated one from Yesterday) and they're non-responsive - all while my sites are still down. They've cost me more money than I've paid for hosting (which is $204/month)

    Their support is dismal. More importantly, the quality of what I'm paying for is as well.

    Who's known for being better than SoftLayer or being a close competitor? I heard LimeStoneNetworks is close but the same exact specs at LSN costs about $60 more than at SL.

    Any help would be appreciated.
    We have quite a bit of hardware with SoftLayer and really don't experience many issues beyond planned maintenance. Are you positive the issue lies on their end and isn't actually related to your setup / software?
    Cody R.
    Hawk Host Inc. Proudly Serving websites since 2004.
    Official Let's Encrypt Sponsor

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by CodyRo View Post
    We have quite a bit of hardware with SoftLayer and really don't experience many issues beyond planned maintenance. Are you positive the issue lies on their end and isn't actually related to your setup / software?
    Server stuff is foreign to me so I don't know exactly what the issue is. I'm getting emails like this:

    "The SoftLayer Automated Monitoring System has detected a service failure on Hardware Server server1.mydomain.net beginning at 2011-04-11 19:39:52 CDT"

    Each time this happens I've asked them to find out why it's happening, what they've done to fix it, if I need to do anything and if they can ensure it does not happen again. Every time they "ensure" me that the issue "should be resolved now" and not happen again. Then, like clockwork, it happens again.

    I told them I'd be happy to pay a server administration fee to fix the issue... Now it's been over 2 hours since my sites have gone down. I've gotten one update that they're working on it. If it's the same issue as before it shouldn't take 2 hours to fix.

    "nameserver on server1.mydomain.net failed

    nameserver failed @ Mon Apr 11 19:46:26 2011. A restart was attempted automagically.
    Service Check Method: [check command]

    Cmd Service Check Raw Output: named is not running
    "

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    78
    Quote Originally Posted by mcmoney View Post
    nameserver on server1.mydomain.net failed

    nameserver failed @ Mon Apr 11 19:46:26 2011. A restart was attempted automagically.
    Service Check Method: [check command]

    Cmd Service Check Raw Output: named is not running
    I've been getting those errors quite often on a cPanel server I run. Every time I go to look at it again the issue is gone.

    You may want to ask them to escalate the issue to cPanel directly. I figure they have a partnership with cPanel like we do, so they should have direct access to Tier 2 cPanel Support. They've always been very quick with the escalations we've sent through.
    Kris Anderson - Limestone Networks - Director of Business Development
    Dedicated, Enterprise & Cloud Hosting - Premium Network - Passionate Support
    DDoS Protection Available - Resell Dedicated Servers @LimestoneInc - 877.586.0555

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    7,325
    Quote Originally Posted by KrisFromLimestone View Post
    I've been getting those errors quite often on a cPanel server I run. Every time I go to look at it again the issue is gone.

    You may want to ask them to escalate the issue to cPanel directly. I figure they have a partnership with cPanel like we do, so they should have direct access to Tier 2 cPanel Support. They've always been very quick with the escalations we've sent through.
    I've also been seeing this on a few cPanel boxes. Not sure if it's related to a recent cPanel update / haven't had the time to investigate.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    8,535
    Quote Originally Posted by Orien View Post
    I've also been seeing this on a few cPanel boxes. Not sure if it's related to a recent cPanel update / haven't had the time to investigate.
    I actually saw the same problem one weekend. Running /scripts/upcp --force fixed the problem.

    It actually occurred out of no where so I'm not sure what prompted it.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    276
    Do you have RAID on the server at all, or just the single hard drive?
    Issue a Passmark Suite Test through their management portal; that will test your hardware.
    I hope you also have backups in case there is a hard drive error that is causing your server to crash. Bad sectors on the disk can cause the kernel to hang/crash.
    01 Networks / Hosting and Consulting Services
    Pay as you Go hosting -- the cheapest prices in town.
    Zimbra (Network Edition and Open Source) Hosting
    100% full uptime guarantee / 24x7x365 support

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Kauai, Hawaii
    Posts
    3,799
    As mentioned above, get your issue escalated to cPanel. Otherwise move to a managed hosting provider, or get managed services from your current provider. Expect to pay ~$100/month for decent management.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    California USA
    Posts
    13,681
    That error is related to centos 5.6 coming out and upcp updating to it. There was a bind update.
    Steven Ciaburri | Industry's Best Server Management - Rack911.com
    Software Auditing - 400+ Vulnerabilities Found - Quote @ https://www.RACK911Labs.com
    Fully Managed Dedicated Servers (Las Vegas, New York City, & Amsterdam) (AS62710)
    FreeBSD & Linux Server Management, Security Auditing, Server Optimization, PCI Compliance

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    5,662
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    That error is related to centos 5.6 coming out and upcp updating to it. There was a bind update.
    That is exactly correct.

    As noted, SoftLayer is an *unmanaged* provider, they do offer issue resolution for a fee $x per ticket, and they also have a list of certified management partners to help resolve these type of issues.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    44

    * Alternative for dedicated servers

    I had an issue with softlayer as well. I had alot of servers with them, and I tried HostMDS out about 6 months ago with a small server. It needed to be in Canada, so I went with them. It worked out well.. in fact.. I ended up moving all my servers slowly to them. I only have a few left with SL.

    If you need to stay in the USA, try *********** or Singlehop. They are both really good.

  17. #17
    For unmanaged, check out SecuredServers.
    HostXNow - Shared Web Hosting | Semi Dedicated Hosting | Enterprise Reseller Hosting | VPS Hosting

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
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    631
    for fully manged check out hostdime
    Web Hosting in Pakistan -> Fast Hosting,(25 minute initial ticket response time guarantee)
    Hosting in Pakistan -> Keep your site online with Cheap Price

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by gold2 View Post
    for fully manged check out hostdime
    ... and for semi-managed .. j/k. xD
    HostXNow - Shared Web Hosting | Semi Dedicated Hosting | Enterprise Reseller Hosting | VPS Hosting

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