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Thread: ServerWizards

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Syn City
    Posts
    147
    I got a nice story about ServerWizards.

    I sysadmin 2 of my own servers (freebsd) and one for a client (friend really). Well I became really busy and he needed more and more server work. Especially since his site is a top 10k Alexa site. I guided him for about 2-3 years on servers and pretty much every year we got a new server to handle the load. Well he got a macdaddy of a server dual opteron, 4GB ram,and .. raid blah blah and I helped him get it going. It's a monster of a server that imho needs a lot of optimizing. He rented this from Layeredtech so it's not managed at all. They even installed the BSD rather poorly with bad partitions and didn't even do a custom kernel to enable the dual (option SMP).

    So I became really busy and got behind on helping him. So after reading some positive things on WHT about serverwizards I turned him on to them. Well..he can comment more but they literally took WEEKS to get simple things done. They said they did a custom kernel and security work that he requested. They did install phpmyadmin eventually for him ( I was just too busy to do it) and some other work. Well after a few months I can tell he ain't all that happy. This monster server ain't cuttin it and it should be. He has a forums with about 1000 users online at a time but from others with similar sites felt his server should be doing well.


    Well this week I was checking his server and yeah..the past couple months he has had big problems with load being 10-20 and a minimal of 5-6. After taking a look...I realized they didn't rebuild the kernel with SMP support..if they even did it at all..I found no evidence of a kernel make. So I told him to get them to do it since they are "pros"...I don't consider myself expert...just proficient. Besides...he was paying them.

    So 2 days later...they tell him they did the custom kernel. He wants me to double check since the performance didn't improve. Sure enough ...they didn't do jack-sheet! history shows some ps aux command run and a netstat -na and that's about it. Literally they did NOTHING but look around for about 1 minute. This was the final straw..they straight up lied to him.

    Now there is a lot more to this story of serverwizards delays and incompetence but there is zero excuse to LIE.

    It took me less than 10 commands to rebuild his kernel with the SMP option and about 15-20 minutes (makes just run and you sit there waiting). I am appalled at serverwizards for the treatment of my friend and a paying client.

    I do NOT recommend them to anyone running a freebsd server. I can't say if they are more competent with Linux but they did straight up lie to a client. You should never say you did work that you didn't do. I wonder now about the months he paid and the work they supposedly did for him. On reboot...apache doesn't start. It took them weeks to get apache22 installed and it's not impressive the manner in which they did it. They were suppose to optimize mysql but imho...it doesn't look at that impressive. They were suppose to add security to the server...I don't even see IPFW or any firewall running. WTF.

    Beware of serverwizards and don't believe them if they tell you something. That's the bottom line here. I am hoping my friend will post more. And before you say that I am just the friend and not the client. I personally wrote many of the tickets for the work since I was more knowledgable than my friend. I of course have full root access to the server as well.

    I was seriously thinking of hiring these guys too...I guess forever I will have to do it myself since that's the only way to ensure something gets done.

    Enjoy serverwizards and PM me if you have questions for me. I do believe you should be able to figure out who the client is.
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Oneida, NY
    Posts
    2,849
    Quote Originally Posted by defender
    Enjoy serverwizards
    Have you bothered to contact them to resolve this issue yet?
    Big things coming soon
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  3. #3
    TouchSupport.com is absolutely amazing with their server administration. I always receive an answer usually within 15 minutes, and I can only say good things about them.

    It's really a no-brainer, I see no other option other than Touchsupport.com
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Syn City
    Posts
    147
    Contact them to say what?

    "Hi serverwizards...you lied to us can you please stop and get the work done we requested?"

    You don't lie to clients. My friend wasn't in a hurry...he would have understood a couple day wait. imho he is too nice and often times waited a couple weeks for them to get something done.

    Besides...I resolved the issue myself by rebuilding the kernel. He is paying them month after month and really they have done the most minimal of work. I am gonna take some time to point out every thing we asked them to do and then explain how poorly the job was done and in what time frames.

    IMHO anyone that cares about their server and being treated fairly as a client should pass on Serverwizards.
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  5. #5

    Server Wizards is GREAT!!!!

    ServerWizards has been managing my freebsd server for last 3 years now, and I've never, I repeat NEVER had problems.

    They are amazing! They are very responsive, and always fix whatever might be needed with my server, and so the bottom line is that I very much HIGHLY recommend ServerWizards to everyone! Cya.
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Syn City
    Posts
    147
    I am discussing the issue now with Kingadmin (sw rep). I will update this thread in a couple days with what has happened.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    San Jose
    Posts
    57
    Quote Originally Posted by ardesign
    ServerWizards has been managing my freebsd server for last 3 years now, and I've never, I repeat NEVER had problems.

    They are amazing! They are very responsive, and always fix whatever might be needed with my server, and so the bottom line is that I very much HIGHLY recommend ServerWizards to everyone! Cya.
    I second that, been with them almost 2 months and have been extremely satisfied. Not only are their responses prompt but they always go extra mile to help with problems that do not fall under their responsibilities.

    Huge thumbs up ServerWizards !!!
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Posts
    588
    Just something on nothing appearing on the history - quite a few companies that does management as a rule will delete the history of any work they did. So you can't really say for sure if they did any work without checking if they did indeed change things.
    BLUETRIDENT.NET - Reliable Shared, Reseller and Dedicated Hosting Solutions Provider
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    274
    From my past experience they were all really good, I just recently approached them to do some work on a new box I put online for testing this experience was less then good and not what I was use to seeing from SW. In fact I submitted tickets and waited for over a week not something I was accustomed to with SW in the past.

    In fact I paid them to do an update that was done and I needed to reload the box as it broke may things that the vendor said was best resolved with a reload.

    I then brought them on Month to Month (Trust in the good intentions of other) and paid again asking to have this issue resolved, I them waited and waited (I follow up everyday) for over a week, no reply at this point I change the password of the box and wait to hear from them still nothing at this point I cancel my paypal subscription and suggest to be fair "how about a refund all things considered" well I got no reply, I server it up a lesson learned.

    I can say SW knows his stuff and has done some really great work for me in the past he just seems to be a bit over extended.
    I always did like the clouds
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  10. #10
    I'm pretty sure that SW has absolutely no clue how to manage FreeBSD. Here's my story
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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    San Jose
    Posts
    57
    I am sure they know FreeBSD very well as they currently manage 3 of my freebsd boxes and I check up on them pretty often and they always do the job as requested. I know that my servers are in good hands.
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  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    California USA
    Posts
    13,681
    Quote Originally Posted by Voyeur
    I am sure they know FreeBSD very well as they currently manage 3 of my freebsd boxes and I check up on them pretty often and they always do the job as requested. I know that my servers are in good hands.

    Does your freebsd server have a control panel?
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  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    San Jose
    Posts
    57
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven
    Does your freebsd server have a control panel?
    Nope, I don't need control panel. I host several high-traffic sites on each server plus one server for mail gateway and one for databases.
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Victoria, Australia
    Posts
    36,941
    Quote Originally Posted by defender
    IMHO anyone that cares about their server and being treated fairly as a client should pass on Serverwizards.
    As you aren't a client, wouldn't it better for your client friend to speak on his own behalf?
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  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Oneida, NY
    Posts
    2,849
    Quote Originally Posted by defender
    Contact them to say what?
    Contact them to do the PROFESSIONAL and MATURE thing.

    You should never make a public forum post without first trying to resolve the issue with the company.
    Big things coming soon
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