1and1 cgi problems - 500 internal error on all cgi calls

[Paul Bulpit]

As it is, 1and1 have offered compensation. I imagine this will be in the form of free hosting for a time. Not enough, but something.

Jules, they offered me one month hosting free without me trying very hard, I haven't replied yet, what did they offer you? PM me if you don't want to post.

Other comments noted - I think I've been with 1&1 about fifteen months, dedicated server, 3 e-commerce and two static sites, numerous domain names automatically renewed. Emails are answered fairly quickly when there's a question, telephone support is a little difficult with the accents, and the answers to either aren't always quite correct and take another go.

But if I put "1 and 1 down" into G there are rather a lot of negative comments to be seen! Yesterday was an annoyance but not too bad in the scheme of things - trying to upgrade to V10 at the same time, a lot more traumatic.
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Paul

[Paul Bulpit]

I realise that record is still good, uptime is still above 99.99%, my issue is with the scale of the problem, and the lack of feedback. An email from 1and1 support today saying that they checked the servers today and there is no problem leaves me feeling fobbed off, if they explained what they did to cause the problem I would feel a lot better about their support.

Maybe so - at the very least it would be very useful if they had some sort of Message Board giving notice of the fact there was a hiccup, and when it was going to be fixed.

My problem was that we were trying to upgrade to V10 and thought WE HAD broken something!! Especially as our static sites, and another Actinic site on 1&1, same datacentre (where we know the owner) were still operating normally.

[guccij]

I haven't heard back from 1and1 about compensation yet. I've told them our average order volume and take for a Thursday/same time frame as the downtime.

[malbro]

Maybe so - at the very least it would be very useful if they had some sort of Message Board giving notice of the fact there was a hiccup, and when it was going to be fixed.

My problem was that we were trying to upgrade to V10 and thought WE HAD broken something!! Especially as our static sites, and another Actinic site on 1&1, same datacentre (where we know the owner) were still operating normally.

I was doing the same at a clients, not a good advert, it took a little while to figure out it wasn't our problem but a hosting problem. So far the only explanation they have given me is 'Technical Glitch'

[Sean Williams]

No, no explanation but that's because I couldn't be bothered to ask. I do find that they respond quite quickly to emails sent to support at 1and1. co. uk so maybe it's worth another shot.

I have looked at alternatives over the years, the latest being UKFast. Got fed up with them after 15 minutes of sales pitch. I hate sales calls. Couldn't answer basic questions, very defensive, all I want is a fecking price. Couldn't give it to me.

Edit - well blow me down with a feather. UKFast just called again. On an ex-directory number. Which they didn't get from us. That's them firmly crossed off the list.

I'm with Chris on this.
All companies try to give sales pitches - I just stop them before they start, give them my spec, get a price. Done.
UKFast were no different - took me three minutes to get the price for the dedicated server, 1 minute to agree a lower price and another 5 to finish the deal.
IMHO £24.99 + vat is very cheap for hosting what is in effective your complete business.
We pay £200 p.m. for a dedicated server, which is a lot for us, but it's peanuts in the whole grand scheme of things and we pay it willingly because UKFast respond by being brilliant at support, efficient at sorting any issues and providing very fast server response.
And they call me Sir

Chris - you've had bad service from support - they ALWAYS answer within 4 rings for us!
Perhaps they value our custom more

[leehack]

Hosting should be compared to rates/rent on a bricks and mortar establishment. Cheap and cheerful in a crap area will work to some degree whereas great shop in a great area has better opportunities.

Cheapest hosting (the free stuff) = shop in the back of the video shop in the bronx, have to walk past 3 dead students to get to the counter and there's a strong aroma of funny fags at all times, always has music playing with a deep bass undertone

Good shared hosting (normal stuff) = shop in your general high street, generally clean, doesn't stink, occasionally a dog has crapped somewhere around the frontage

Dedicated hosting (expensive stuff) = boutique with an automatic entrance door that always smells of fresh flowers when you enter, can't park outside unless you have a private plate and do not wear trousers 2 sizes too small for you (if your name is Gulliver, you auto qualify)

[Sean Williams]

Spot On

[guccij]

Well it all depends on turnover I guess. We're not in the multi-million pound bracket.
And bully for you getting your "deal" so quickly. I'll stick with my dog-crapped front door for the time being.
Over and out.

[leehack]

A dedicated server is a step along that journey Heidi, circa £2000 for prime location is very cheap though, I'm surprised you're not on one tbh, kind of business that should be imo.

[Darren B]

Well it all depends on turnover I guess. We're not in the multi-million pound bracket.

you dont have to be, its how you value your sites uptime and response to any problems, spending x amount on hosting as a % of your turn over is not always the best way to decide IMHO.

Back to my earlier comment, are you all telling me that not one person here has a monitor on their website?

[Paul Bulpit]

A dedicated server is a step along that journey Heidi, circa £2000 for prime location is very cheap though, I'm surprised you're not on one tbh, kind of business that should be imo.

See my posts above, we're on a 1&1 Dedicated Server and it didn't do us any good, we got taken down with the rest of 'em!

dog-crapped front door

Our landlord has put a rat-poison bin (bolted to the ground) outside our front door - not good greeting for customers!

[guccij]

Back to my earlier comment, are you all telling me that not one person here has a monitor on their website?

Of course we have monitors on the website. Two paid for monitors. But it wouldn't have made a scrap of difference in this case because the sites themselves were not down.

[Darren B]

Of course we have monitors on the website. Two paid for monitors. But it wouldn't have made a scrap of difference in this case because the sites themselves were not down.

Jules my question was a general one, i understand it was a script problem. Although you can have monitoring of script execution, so you know if cgi scripts execute properly.

I just wondered if anyone did run anything, to be honest the issue everyone faced was highly unusual IMHO to effect everyone on a multitude of servers is extremely rare (if im honest this looks like an upgrade balls up, test, test and test again)

my questions and input are not directly related to this problem but more of a "if, what and when" Im sure everyone here knows something else will go wrong at sometime and its always worth learning from this and dont always assume the host will be on top of it.

[chris ashdown]

And they call me Sir

Chris - you've had bad service from support - they ALWAYS answer within 4 rings for us!
Perhaps they value our custom more

They call me Chris, charge me £1400 so don mind the extra rings, but when i first started they stated 3 rings butthat slowly increased a couple as others joined

Lee who told you about my trousers, if you only have a little one you can wear them tighter

I must admit I was a slow person to spend on my website for a number of years, now days a dedicated server and a few thousand a month on adwords seems good value. I guess it's when you change from small little shop mentality (in a nice way) to faster growth and more solid plans

[leehack]

Hey Sean, I'll call you sir for 2,000 a year! Hell I might even cook you an occasional meal.

Chris, seriously great to hear you talk like that, its great to see sites making the next leap, we get to see many underachievers in this industry, its wicked to see it go the other way too. 2 years ago I'd have said you was an old fuddy duddy stuck in his thoughts, you're a perfect example of what that a leap of faith can do for a business.

Its very hard to get over as a designer, the insight you get into what makes a great site as opposed to a good one. All the great sites have the almost exact ways of working. I am absolutely convinced that website underachievement is at least 90% because the site owner is holding it back.