Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : GNAX/Netdepot 4 Years of Experience

[Asiff]

I have had been having various Dedicated machines with GNAX/Netdepot since past 4 years. Finally today i thought i should share my experience with everyone about the Goods & Bads of the company.


Goods:
1. Bit Cheaper compared to other networks.
2. Remote Reboot & KVM (optional).
3. Network Uptime is good (98-99%)


Bad:

1. Extremely poor support, there are hardly 1-2 employees who are powerless (with limited authority), and can only perform reboots & minor fixes.
2. Bad response time... during the last 4 years it was my Good Luck that i hardly required any support, because i did managed my server myself. So hardly required any support.
3. The Authorized & Engineering staff works only for 8-12 hours. (they are not available 24x7, which is a MUST).
4. One of worst & strict abuse policies... they strictly SUSPEND/NULL ROOT the server if the Ticket is not updated within 24 hours (i know it should be responded, but sometimes when u are away & dont get Ticket Notice, u get null-rooted).
5. If your website gets DDOS(ed) by anyone, they will straightaway NULL ROOT your server. They DO NOT have any FIREWALL or Protection system for its clients. They care more for the ATTACKER than the defender. Instead of blocking the ATTACKER IP's OR putting the CLIENTS machine behind Firewall (temporarily) they will simply cut off your website & wont even let you backup your data.


My Experience:

I have had been running a machine with GNAX for 4 years, as i do self managment i guess i had about 5-7 experiences with SUPPORT team during this time. But in some cases related to DMCA, my machine was twice CUT off, but luckily got restored because i responded in their WORKING HOURS.

My website got DDOSed two days ago for a few minutes, and was NULL ROOTED, but later restored after 2 hours of downtime, upon my request that this could be a temporary issue & probably wont happen again.

However TODAY, my Website which contains STATIC (.htm) pages with NO DOWNLOADABLE DATA (no leechable data), was DOSed again by someone (unknown) & instantly after that my Server was NULL ROOTED, causing me over 16 Hours of downtime + Huge LOSS caused by Downtime, including SERPs. Since the server had 100Mbps port, it is easy for anyone to attack my server from a GBPS port.

So instead of PUTTING my server behind Firewall (temporarily), they straight away NULL ROOTED my server. I found out after 9 hours of downtime, that my Server was Not pinging.

I found a ticket, that told me that said:
GNAX STAFF:
"We have put this null route in place again due to a large flood of incoming traffic directed at this IP. Someone is attacking this IP for some reason, from a large spread of remote IPs which prevents blocking the attacker only. We will need you to try to determine the target of these attacks before we can remove this null route."

Now i am completely clueless How & WHO ATTACKED my server and using what mechanism. I DO NOT have any DOWNLOADABLE data such as (exe, mp3, zip, rar etc) and only & only htm pages (without any database).

I did told GNAX to allow me BACKUP my data so i could move away to another DATA CENTER on some other HOST that has good DDOS protection & Policy, but they REFUSED to restore access. It is SUNDAY today & at MID-NIGHT (Pacific Times) everyone in GNAX STAFF was SLEEPING (Engineering & NETWORKING STAFF) went off to their HOMES after NULL ROOTING my server. NO ONE RESPONDED for over 2 hours of sending MULTIPLE tickets...
Yet, after 2 hours one POWERLESS (with limited access) SUPPORT person responded to my ticket, stating:

"This issue will need to be reviewed by one of our network engineers; they will review your request and update you as soon as possible."


@ moment i have gone over 16 hours of downtime & 7 hours (after i updated the ticket) & still awaiting NETWORKING STAFF.

This is the QUALITY of SERVICE Gnax offers. This is what they care about their valued clients who were with them for almost 4 years & reffered 100's of friends.

I will truely recommend anyone having service with GNAX to better be ready for a RISK for LOSS of DATA, because GNAX never cares for VALUEABLE UPTIME, and wont even provide you with Backup on time, if you get DDOSed.

However, today i decided to move to 100TB (softlayer) who provide much better service, & comparitively responsible & careful Support, with much quicker Response time.

[sailor]

As we have told you we are happy to help you recover your data if you would like. You actually should have a backup already that is taken and stored offsite but that is a whole different thread on why people dont backup their servers. This is not really a review though - this is a typical wht punitive rant where as a parting shot a client will come on and try to trash a company on the way out. I would be shocked if I had not seen thousands of them over the past 10 years I have been on here.

The fact is that your server took a massive ddos ongoing and it had to be null routed. Proper ddos protection? I can give you that if you can pay for it. will you pay for 2 dedicated 10g pipes and filtering equipment to your server for this? I think I can do it for about 15 to 20k per month. I know you wont pay for that but you think I should pay it for your 200 per month server. ???? really - that is just not realistic.

I wish you the best of luck when this massive ddos follows you at softlayer and they shut you down - I guess you will join the others that complain about them shutting off abuse / ddos. Every provider on here gets slammed when they have to null route a ddos server.

I am sorry but I am not going to keep your server up and let it trash every other server on that segment of the network. Its just not realistic.

let us know if you would like us to take a backup of your server for you. You complained about it costing you 800 in lost business because of the ddos - I am sure you will be fine with us getting you the files off of it for a reasonable fee since you did not carry proper backups. just let me know. We are happy to assist you in any way we can.

JH

[sailor]

I also just received more info on this. you have been verbally abusing my staff - and threatening to include anyone that replies to your ticket in a lawsuit. you also keep opening multiple tickets and telling people you will keep doing this till someone un nulls you.

in fact on the 16th after you were initially attacked we un nulled you so you could login and fix things and take backups. you did not do it - instead you proceeded with business as usual. then the ddos came back again much worse so we had to null it again. Your above rant is dis-ingenuous and not reflective of the situation. we have replied courteously and professionally and the other null route was only placed 6 hours ago. your server has not been out like you say.

Please take this as a cancellation of your service for both servers. I don't want to do business with someone like you that will treat us this way and then misrepresent it in public.

[Asiff]

Thankyou for a detailed lecture.

I think i have no words to waste with GNAX's scammy support people.


You are acting like i did DDOSed on my own server or like i had done huge crime. All i own a website like anyone else here. My server is SHUT OFF, instead of HELPING me out with that & politely requesting to MOVE OUT with a BACKUP or Fix the issue.

Blackmailing the client to pay FEEs for Backup ? This is no Afghanistan where you can Blackmail anyone for Money.

All i asked was to allow me Backup, but got to see your True Attitude. All from top level PRESIDENT GNAX to Engineers (who were on Holiday) texting from their Handheld devices, truely got exposed that how GNAX handles the customer tickets who are put down for 20 Hours & yes costed me $1000+ for the downtime.

Note: i had 5 ip's and all of them are down (only 1 was Public - connected to website) remaning were also cut off and are no more pinging. Which clearly shows the intentions of GNAX's blackmailing policies.

Anyhow, best of luck, and i will recommend everyone to MUST TRY GNAX to see their true face. Coz if anyone does not believes me, he should & must try himself & will get to know himself.

GOOD LUCK GNAX Blackmailers. truely UN-Professional & Sarcastic support staff.

[Patrick]

If you're the subject of DDoS attacks than I think you're going to find that most providers will flat out null route the affected IP. You need to go with a provider who SPECIALIZES in DDoS protection. A lot of providers advertise network wide protection, however, if you have a 10GB DDoS or whatever directed at you for a sustained amount of time or a high PPS DDoS attack than expect to be shut down.

[WireNine]

Find a provider that offers ddos protection services because if you were hit with a large ddos attack, and it happens regularly, you will get null routed at SoftLayer too. Or contact a thirdparty DDoS mitigation company. Best of luck.

NetDepot/GNAX offer reasonably priced solutions, but they are 100% unmanaged, I remember they once charged me for a reboot a few years ago.

[Asiff]

I did not Abused anyone. It was the staff who did Ignored all my requests. Yes i did opened multiple tickets & even tried to forward emails to Sales & support to resolve this, but no one was ready to listen to me.

I was ready to work out a solution but unfortunately no one listened. Its your choice.

[Asiff]

I have found a solution, I.e. CLOUDFLARE to avoid DDOS... however i will want to move out of GNAX NoT DUE to NULL ROOT... this is because of POOR support who did not Gave me backup.. even on repeative emails.

[Asiff]

Originally Posted by sailor

I also just received more info on this. you have been verbally abusing my staff - and threatening to include anyone that replies to your ticket in a lawsuit. you also keep opening multiple tickets and telling people you will keep doing this till someone un nulls you.

in fact on the 16th after you were initially attacked we un nulled you so you could login and fix things and take backups. you did not do it - instead you proceeded with business as usual. then the ddos came back again much worse so we had to null it again. Your above rant is dis-ingenuous and not reflective of the situation. we have replied courteously and professionally and the other null route was only placed 6 hours ago. your server has not been out like you say.

Please take this as a cancellation of your service for both servers. I don't want to do business with someone like you that will treat us this way and then misrepresent it in public.

However, if you feel we can still workout a solution.
I am not mis-interpreting anything, & telling everything being honest to God. I was dealt in a very cheap way, no one did Responded to my tickets for over 2 hours.

If you can allow me Backup My Data, still, we can work out a solution & remove this thread.

[Eleven2 Hosting]

Originally Posted by Asiff

I have found a solution, I.e. CLOUDFLARE to avoid DDOS... however i will want to move out of GNAX NoT DUE to NULL ROOT... this is because of POOR support who did not Gave me backup.. even on repeative emails.

Cloudflare will NOT block all ddos, if they are of decent size they forward them back to the server.

[Asiff]

The issue has been resolved after a favourable response from GNAX (administration staff), who have probably took strict notice of Tech Support staff's negligience.

One mistake i made, was that i did not backup the data when my server got DDOS(ed) for the first time - that is 2 days ago.

However, finally it seems i will get my backup due to responsible administration.

[Asiff]

Everything else is good with GNAX, except the support management (which is the key for any hosting business).

However i feel from onwards looking at positive response, the loop holes & delays in Support response will be worked out and improved.

I have decided to keep working with GNAX still, and workout a proper DDOS solution.
Thanks to President GNAX for listening to my issues.

[Asiff]

Originally Posted by WireNine

Find a provider that offers ddos protection services because if you were hit with a large ddos attack, and it happens regularly, you will get null routed at SoftLayer too. Or contact a thirdparty DDoS mitigation company. Best of luck.

NetDepot/GNAX offer reasonably priced solutions, but they are 100% unmanaged, I remember they once charged me for a reboot a few years ago.

Yes GNAX like Softlayer too does not offer DDOS protection.

I am working out with a DDOS protection service provider, that will setup its own firewall infrastucture before my End Server to protect it. Thanks for the suggestion.

[AWalrus]

I'm don't know much about null rooting, but couldn't the ISP allow a white-list of IPs to get through to the server while null rooting all others?

Seems to me that a better policy is to null root everything initially on DDOS and allow the customer to follow-up with an IP source address to be used to access the null rooted server so they can access the server while null rooted. I've never had a server null rooted before, but I would certainly like to be able to access the server to see if I can figure out where the attacks are coming from and whether I can do anything to mitigate the attack (or just to move my data to another server on a different IP).