A word on the demise of my hosting service

[daj]

Hi All

I've been offline for a few weeks while I moved house and unpacked.

As many of you will be aware my hosting service for Cumulus websites died during that period. When I first offered the hosting I was doing this on my own server but as it became more popular I moved it to a paid hosting service (from Dreamhost). I basically paid them a fee to host all the sites for me. Completely out of the blue I received an email from them to say they were terminating my account as usage was too high / I had breached their terms of service! I got no warning and no further explanation (despite asking for one).

As soon as I had a my internet connection up and running in the new house I emailed all my users (110 sites)

Everyone has been exceptionally good about the problem and I have since helped many of the users get up and running with new providers. A few users had paid me a small fee to host their own domain name and I have issued full refunds to them.

Thanks to everyone for their support -- I think the service was a victim of it's own success.

[steve]

I think the service was a victim of it's own success.

110 users!

This is one of the reasons I stopped offering virtually free hosting. Weather sites by their very nature consume a lot of resources and web providers will soon forget their 'unlimited' promise and drag out their 'we can terminate your service for any reason' clause. I think the only solution is for everyone to have their own individual paid-for accounts.

[robynfali]

I think you did your best mate for keeping it running as long as you did, the bandwidth mine takes alone from visitors and useage is mental so if you times that by 110, yeah its quite a lot I guess.

Might have been nice for them to ASK you to tone it down a bit first before just shutting it of

[RayProudfoot]

Hi David,

Despite my site being hosted by Dreamhost (oh the irony!!) I was not affected by their shutdown.

Whilst I'm very thankful I am a bit mystified why I wasn't affected. If you can throw some light on my situation I'd be very grateful. Am I living on borrowed time?

[steve]

Despite my site being hosted by Dreamhost

I don't think it is:

Domain name:
cheadlehulmeweather.co.uk

Registrant:
Private user

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Registrar:
Webfusion Ltd t/a 123-reg [Tag = 123-REG]
URL: http://www.123-reg.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 02-Feb-2010
Renewal date: 02-Feb-2012
Last updated: 02-Feb-2010

Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.

Name servers:
ns1.gloware.co.uk 212.113.135.144
ns2.gloware.co.uk 212.113.135.145

WHOIS lookup made at 15:57:05 07-May-2011

[RayProudfoot]

I'm even more confused now Steve. I bought my domain name from 123 as you correctly show but David is definitely hosting my site. Now I don't know who he's using - presumably not Dreamhost. Is it gloware.co.uk?

When I was looking at setting up my station I read you shouldn't buy your domain name and web hosting from the same company because if you wish to move to another host it could mean you losing your domain name.

[mcrossley]

Gyron Internet?

http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/212.113.135.143

[RayProudfoot]

Thanks Mark. I think I'm going to have to wait until David lifts the fog. When I last 'spoke' to him he was definitely using a company in London. But things may have changed since February.

[gemini06720]

When I was looking at setting up my station I read you shouldn't buy your domain name and web hosting from the same company because if you wish to move to another host it could mean you losing your domain name.

Ray, when you purchase a domain name is it yours and yours only, no matter where you host that domain name - when you register a domain name, it is not registered with any domain name registrars or any hosting companies, it is only registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

If you want to move your domain name to another hosting company, just ask the new host to register your domain name as being hosted on their servers - you do not even need to communicate with your present hosting company as they will receive a message stating that your domain name is being transfered to another host...

[RayProudfoot]

Ray,

What you say makes sense but when I was first looking at setting up my site I read somewhere that you shouldn't buy your domain name and web hosting from the same company. I can't find the link now. Your advice may be useful to others.

[gemini06720]

What you say makes sense but when I was first looking at setting up my site I read somewhere that you shouldn't buy your domain name and web hosting from the same company. I can't find the link now. Your advice may be useful to others.

Ray, my 'external' sites are all hosted with 1&1 (I have been with them for almost 10 years). Most of the domains names I own were purchased through 1&1. A few others domains names were purchased from other registrars. Once the purchases were completed and the domain names had been registered under my name, I would simply contact 1&1 and ask them to host those new domain names (ie: to transfer the domain names from the other registrars to their servers). I would only need to complete an online form giving 1&1 the permission to make transfer of the new domain names to their servers - the transfer process would take about 48 hours at the most.

I have never read anything negative (or seen any warning) about using the services of a host to register domain names...

[RayProudfoot]

Ray, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm simply pointing out what I read a couple of years ago. I think you've made your point.

[serowe]

Whether you register your domain name and host it through the same company is purely a personal choice - there is nothing sinister about doing this PROVIDED you read the fine print.

There are some companies that will sell you very cheap domain registrations and hosting and it is only when you decide to move the hosting elsewhere that you get around to reading the fine print that states that the registration company/hoster actually own the domain name and not you.

[Sunfish]

It's a jungle out there.

[serowe]

Bit of an Underbelly then?