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**RuralWeb** · 27-Aug-2007, 01:47 PM

So my real question is - is 50+ hours along time - or is it the norm? and do you think the poor reponse is due to the bank holiday!

IMO 50+ hours is totally unacceptable. A decent host has 24hr service 365 days of the year.

Check thier terms and conditions and see what level of service they advertise. If that fails move host - there are hundreds available and most have already been discussed on the forum.

**Adrian Higgins** · 27-Aug-2007, 02:06 PM

Thanks for your advice Malcom.

**RuralWeb** · 27-Aug-2007, 02:09 PM

If you have Actinic cover part of that includes emergency hosting - not much use if you cannot contact them though

**Adrian Higgins** · 27-Aug-2007, 02:12 PM

I have got Actinic Cover, however the dedicated server is not with actinic.

**RuralWeb** · 27-Aug-2007, 02:16 PM

I have got Actinic Cover

In that case they can activate emergency hosting for you - try contacting them asp.

I read your post as meaning that your dedicated server was with actinic.

**Adrian Higgins** · 27-Aug-2007, 02:20 PM

How long would it take though with redirecting the DNS - doesn't it take 24 hours?

**RuralWeb** · 27-Aug-2007, 02:24 PM

It can be done in minutes - there is a long thread on the whole subject if you search.

**dalydesign** · 27-Aug-2007, 06:34 PM

I'm not sure if this will help...

Last year, we had similar problems, where our server had major down-time and we couldn't get it back online. I tried contacting our ISP (Core-ISP), but they wouldn't reply. (initially they said they'd look into it)

we had some severe regular downtime over 2 weeks and I couldn't get any response. So I contacted Nominet and pulled our domain name from the ISP (they were managing it).

the bottom line was that the Administrators were being called in and I'm glad I switched server immediately.

Now we've a dedicated server with Fasthosts and it's for more reliable (but expensive tech support). In fact we would have about 5-10 days downtime with our old ISP a year, whereas with fasthosts we've only had 4 hours (that was when gloucester was flooded) in 18 months.

it took me only a few hours to pull the DNS, switch server and upload all my clients sites - took about 24hrs before all clients could see their sites again (some clients saw their sites in about an hour). ....it was worthwhile switching when you get really bad tech support.

Good Luck.

**RuralWeb** · 27-Aug-2007, 06:39 PM

If you are moving server then the delay will be an hour at the most. Its onlt when you move domains that you get a delay - with .co.uk it can be seconds but with .coms it will almost certainly be more than 24hrs.

If your site is vital to your business you should ALWAYS have a disaster plan so you know what to do when it goes down. You can even have a second server (with another host) setup ready to switch if disaster strikes. Get some monitoring software to watch it and SMS your mobile when the server goes down so you know.

**Adrian Higgins** · 27-Aug-2007, 08:06 PM

Thanks all for you advice. Since posting the provider telephoned me up and appolgised for the down time and lack of communication. The reason for the down time was that the network card in the server had stopped working. They tried getting a new replacement however being the bank holiday they said they could not get new parts (they did at this point offer me a temporary address). However so as to reolve the issue they took parts from another server and 30 mins later - hey presto - the site is up and working again. Thank goodness for that the orders have started again!!!

I think you are right though a back plan is a must!

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