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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Buffalo, NY
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    2,638

    Web Hosting Stuff - Uptime monitor: POINTLESS.

    Just figured I would share this with whoever uses or takes into consideration the uptime monitor on webhostingstuff.com.

    A few days ago, we were performing maintenance on our main website and there was a short outage. This outage was reported by the Web Hosting Stuff monitor as 16 minutes.
    ... has an overall uptime of 99.94%. They have been monitored for 22 days since 02 Sep 2006 by WebHostingStuff.com Uptime Monitor™.

    At 99.94%% overall uptime, ... uptime is considered excellent.
    As our main website is not hosted on servers that our clients are on, I figured it to be quite misleading if it was monitoring only our website. As I went to check and see if there was a way to change this (I don't believe there is), I saw the 'reset' button. At that point, I just wanted to remove the uptime monitor totally, as it does no good to people who are viewing it. So, I hit the 'reset' button.

    Here's the funny part:

    It actually didn't reset it to 0 days, it now says:
    ... has an overall uptime of 100.00%. They have been monitored for 22 days since 02 Sep 2006 by WebHostingStuff.com Uptime Monitor™.

    At 100.00% overall uptime, ... uptime is considered excellent.
    We've been monitored for 22 days and now have an uptime of 100% instead of 99.94%? Cool!

    Main point being: It's way too easy for hosts with horrible uptime to try and pass along that they have 100% (or even close) uptime, when it can be nowhere near that...

    </end rant>

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    New York City
    Posts
    7,406
    Hi Steve,

    I'll get in touch with WHS about this issue and forward him to take a look at this thread, thanks for pointing it out to the rest of us.

    Take care
    █• Taskade - To-Do List & Tasks All-in-One To-Do List & Mind Map App for Remote Teams
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    9,264
    Steve,

    Does it only show that because you've been monitored for 22 days though?
    http://www.webhostingstuff.com/uptim...ionEffect.html

    Someone who has been monitored for months will have to see if it still leaves the previous 'monitored months' in place (thus showing the downtime percentages)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Buffalo, NY
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    Quote Originally Posted by David
    Does it only show that because you've been monitored for 22 days though?
    It's a possibility.

    ... has an overall uptime of 100.00%. They have been monitored for 22 days since 02 Sep 2006 by WebHostingStuff.com Uptime Monitor™.

    You'd think that if the uptime was reset, the amount of days you've been monitored would be, too (it only makes sense).

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    Steve,

    Definitely makes sense to reset the number of days but at least if it 'retained' the previous history users can then see the list of previous downtime for the month.

    Technically though someone could reset theirs on the end of each month to retain the 100% uptime score.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Buffalo, NY
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    http://www.webhostingstuff.com/faq.html#53

    Guess that explains the issue. Poorly designed IMO, so much for showing honest information about hosts.

    EDIT: Figured I'd state it again, as they apparently want people to: It's way too easy for hosts with horrible uptime to try and pass along that they have 100% (or even close) uptime, when it can be nowhere near that...
    Last edited by sgarbus; 09-24-2006 at 01:12 AM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Internet / Colorado
    Posts
    1,660
    Plus monitoring a hosts site has no point anyway, they dont host clients on that server. Better to just read reviews.
    Like passive recurring revenue you can retire on?
    You focus on building your brand, we handle all support, billing, and more.
    Pressed.net - Start your own Managed WordPress Hosting Company

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Australia - NSW
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    1,053
    Meh. That's why I signed up with a different monitor, I'd rather not lie to my clients about my 100% uptime.

    Although I've never had to reset it.

    WHS is only good for reviews.
    Recommended: Stablehost, Hivelocity, Fused

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,590
    Quote Originally Posted by Swizi
    Meh. That's why I signed up with a different monitor, I'd rather not lie to my clients about my 100% uptime.

    Although I've never had to reset it.

    WHS is only good for reviews.
    Yes it is good for reviews, We use hyperspin.com the paid service is very good!
    The Hosting Heroes Ltd - over 20 years in the UK hosting industry.
    Website Hosting | Reseller Hosting | Cloud VPS Servers | Dedicated Servers | VPS Reseller for WHMCS
    www.thehostingheroes.com

  10. #10
    Even the free service is good at Hyperspin.
    Core-Fusion Technologies-With exclusive license to use theHCP

  11. #11
    How about host-tracker.com? Then again, nothing beats a paid service. (except if
    what you described happens quite often...)

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    667
    I just checked webhostingstuff.com's site and it reads as follows:

    We allow web hosts to reset their uptime percentage once every quarter.

    Just click on the "Reset" link at the Manage Uptime page and your uptime percentage will be reset to 100.0% and downtime events to 0.

    This reset does not upset your "number of days monitored" figure.

    For example, before reset:
    Uptime is 98.0% with 2 downtime events, tracked 115 days.
    After reset:
    Uptime becomes 100.0% with 0 downtime events, tracked 115 days.

    If we're persistently registering downtime events for your site and you feel that it is not correct, you can contact us to do a thorough check for any connectivity issues that our robot may be experiencing with your site.
    I believe many hosts know about this, how many actually use the reset funtion I couldn't say.
    Jim - 2Macs H-Sphere Web Hosting
    Since 2001 - H-Sphere Clustered Shared Linux & Windows Hosting
    Fully Managed Services| Custom Web Designs
    Unconditional, 30 Day Money back Guarantee!

  13. #13
    At least, many hosts know about it now.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Richmond, VA
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    The reputable hosts are going to be the ones that have been monitored for quite some time, and show small bits of downtime over that period of time. So, the tool is not completely worthless, as has been stated by some. You just have to use common sense when using it - obviously, a host that's been monitored for 2 years now and shows 100% uptime has reset their counter.
    Daniel B., CEO - Bezoka.com and Ungigs.com
    Hosting Solutions Optimized for: WordPress • Joomla • OpenCart • Moodle
    Data Centers in: Chicago (US), London (UK), Sydney (AU), Sofia (BG), Pori (FI)
    Email Daniel directly: ceo [at] bezoka.com

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by GlobalWebDan
    So, the tool is not completely worthless...
    Sure it is -- any uptime monitor that allows resetting of statistics and doesn't reset the amount of days monitored is surely not a good tool.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Richmond, VA
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    Please read the rest of my post. I do not appreciate you taking what I said out of context.
    Daniel B., CEO - Bezoka.com and Ungigs.com
    Hosting Solutions Optimized for: WordPress • Joomla • OpenCart • Moodle
    Data Centers in: Chicago (US), London (UK), Sydney (AU), Sofia (BG), Pori (FI)
    Email Daniel directly: ceo [at] bezoka.com

  17. #17
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by GlobalWebDan
    Please read the rest of my post. I do not appreciate you taking what I said out of context.
    I did read the rest of your post. A user shouldn't have to use "common sense" when looking at uptime statistics. The facts should be presentable correctly in the first place.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Richmond, VA
    Posts
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    My post contained more than that.
    Daniel B., CEO - Bezoka.com and Ungigs.com
    Hosting Solutions Optimized for: WordPress • Joomla • OpenCart • Moodle
    Data Centers in: Chicago (US), London (UK), Sydney (AU), Sofia (BG), Pori (FI)
    Email Daniel directly: ceo [at] bezoka.com

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    2,733
    You should definately contact them and tell them about that, people could easily exploit that.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Butler,TN
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    2,416
    Hi!
    This post really made my day..this is exactly what I was trying to get across a few days ago...this service is pointless and misleading. I mean...come on now..any good host is going to have downtime. Happily..Linux servers can be updated without rebooting (unlike some other extremely popular operating systems) but we do need to update kernels..at the very least...and that does require the good complete system restart.

    If there really was the demand for it...I have considered looking into fancy DNS configs. I've had one of these in the past..and it was nothing less than amazing.
    You had to do it manually..but using what used to ultradns...switching dns from one server to another server took mere minutes. Yes..I'm talking globally..complete global propagation..it was amazing. Alertra reported a total of ten minutes total downtime globally...they're calling themselves something else now...but I guess most really don't need something like this.

    I do think hosts might look into backing up at least *their* dns through zoneedit.com..it's not expensive at all...and really does work.


    Bryon
    Bryon L Harvey
    Soil Relocation Engineer

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