acura server & what goes?

[webdev]

Last night (Australian time) acura server went down along with all my customer sites & email. Used "live chat" & they said that the server was being rebooted.

Today, (now) acura is once more MIA (missing in action).

What is going on. I have a reseller account (5gig) but use less than 500meg storage (with only 7 sites), run no databases & very, very little of my allowable bandwidth - yet I am being forced to put up with an inferior service at the moment.

I have always given HostGator a good rap on Whirlpool (Australia's biggest Broadband forum) but after last night & today that may change.

When will these acura problems be fixed & stay fixed - I want a definitive answer for my customers or I may have to start looking elsewhere.

I sent an email to support (still no ticket# or response back), went on "live chat" to be told it will be up in a few minutes - but it still isn't.

Please HostGator take care of your loyal customers!!

[webdev]

Just an update. Been 1/2hr since I sent my first email to support and still not even an automated reply - no ticket# nothing.

[webdev]

Just recieved an email saying all is good & not to open multiple tickets. I sent three emails: the original one, a second with the exact FTP error message, & the third when I still had not received any reply.

Don't want three emails, simple, reply to the first one in a timely manner.

The upside is that apparently:
"One of the server update scripts on the server somehow caused a loop and took the load average on the server to almost 600+ . We had to reboot the server to fix it and repair the script. It should be fine now."

Is this the same problem as last night?

Do you expect any more problems with acura now?

It is good to have my customers sites back online anyway - so cheers fellows for getting it sorted.

[MachineDog]

=o Good that you got it fixed.

[webdev]

So what is wrong with 'acura' server today.

HostGator is fast becoming completely unreliable as a hosting provider.

All site are down, cpanel for site is not working - this is a shocking way to treat your resellers.

Anyone have any recommendations for "reliable" hosting?

It wouldn't be so bad if HostGator sent out an 'email alert' telling us when they had problems or were doing maintenance but they never have (at least not to me), they leave it for your customers to ring up complaining first.

I am particularly upset as this is happening far to often now & altough I have 5gig space I in fact run only 7 accounts (totalling 7oomeg of space used) & none of them have databases or use much of the allocated bandwidth.

This is just not acceptable!!!!

[MachineDog]

Impossible to get reliable reseller hosting with cPanel. See, you'll have atleast 40 other resellers on that box. Each of them having between 5-50 users. Also, don't complain here. Talk with chat support, they'll figure things out. BTW, I can see your site.

[webdev]

Thanks for that MachineDog.

I had actually emailed support & they said all was well. In fact I even emailed Brent but he has not responded to the info that I sent him.

I lost a customer this morning because he said his site was down.

It seems very strange that one minute I can connect to several of these sites but when I try later I get no connection yet can connect to another of the sites.

I even upped my Broadband provider in case it was them:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...s.cfm?t=406838

The fact that today I have had faulty connections, time outs, ftp connections refused:

Finding Host ftp.ejilly.net ...
Address lookup of "ftp.ejilly.net" failed. It may be misspelled, or your computer may not be connected to the network or Internet.
Also check that your DNS and local name servers are properly configured and responding.

Finding Host ftp.inaroma.com.au ...
Address lookup of "ftp.inaroma.com.au" failed. It may be misspelled, or your computer may not be connected to the network or Internet.
Also check that your DNS and local name servers are properly configured and responding.

Finding Host ftp.nikkita.net ...
Address lookup of "ftp.nikkita.net" failed. It may be misspelled, or your computer may not be connected to the network or Internet.
Also check that your DNS and local name servers are properly configured and responding.

Finding Host ftp.splashesofjoy.com.au ...
Address lookup of "ftp.splashesofjoy.com.au" failed. It may be misspelled, or your computer may not be connected to the network or Internet.
Also check that your DNS and local name servers are properly configured and responding.

ftp.stopmarks.com.au connected

Finding Host ftp.thesower.net ...
Address lookup of "ftp.thesower.net" failed. It may be misspelled, or your computer may not be connected to the network or Internet.
Also check that your DNS and local name servers are properly configured and responding.

ftp.think-edesign.com connected

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.thesower.net
Unable to resolve target system name www.thesower.net.

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.ejilly.net
Unable to resolve target system name www.ejilly.net.

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.nikkita.net
Unable to resolve target system name www.nikkita.net.

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.inaroma.com.au
Unable to resolve target system name www.inaroma.com.au.

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.splashesofjoy.com.au
Unable to resolve target system name www.splashesofjoy.com.au.

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.stopmarks.com.au

Tracing route to stopmarks.com.au [70.84.234.226]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms home.gateway [192.168.1.254]
2 12 ms 11 ms 12 ms lo0.bri-lns2.qld.westnet.com.au [202.173.144.34]

3 13 ms 11 ms 13 ms gi0-3.bri-core.qld.westnet.com.au [202.173.144.9
7]
4 12 ms 13 ms 12 ms GigabitEthernet2-5.woo2.Brisbane.telstra.net [16
5.228.101.25]
5 12 ms 13 ms 13 ms GigabitEthernet6-0.woo-core1.Brisbane.telstra.ne
t [203.50.51.129]
6 22 ms 23 ms 25 ms Pos5-0.ken-core4.Sydney.telstra.net [203.50.6.22
1]
7 24 ms 23 ms 23 ms 10GigabitEthernet3-0.pad-core4.Sydney.telstra.ne
t [203.50.6.86]
8 23 ms 23 ms 24 ms 10GigabitEthernet2-2.syd-core01.Sydney.net.reach
.com [203.50.13.38]
9 24 ms 22 ms 22 ms i-7-0.syd-core02.net.reach.com [202.84.221.90]
10 169 ms 169 ms 169 ms i-0-0.wil-core02.net.reach.com [202.84.144.101]

11 170 ms 171 ms 168 ms i-3-2.wil03.net.reach.com [202.84.251.170]
12 170 ms 170 ms 168 ms ge-6-21.car3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.68.111.13
7]
13 * 170 ms 169 ms ae-1-54.bbr2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.68.102.97
]
14 200 ms 200 ms 200 ms as-1-0.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [64.159.0.245]
15 199 ms 199 ms 200 ms ge-1-1-55.car3.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.68.122.134]

16 211 ms 212 ms 213 ms 4.78.220.10
17 213 ms 212 ms 213 ms vl32.dsr02.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.85.127.62]

18 212 ms 213 ms 213 ms dist-vlan41.dsr2-1.dllstx4.theplanet.com [70.85.
127.83]
19 214 ms 214 ms 214 ms gig1-0-2.sm-car6-8.dllstx4.theplanet.com [67.19.
255.158]
20 214 ms 215 ms 213 ms acura.websitewelcome.com [70.84.234.226]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\PETER>tracert www.think-edesign.com

Tracing route to think-edesign.com [70.84.234.226]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms home.gateway [192.168.1.254]
2 10 ms 11 ms 11 ms lo0.bri-lns2.qld.westnet.com.au [202.173.144.34]

3 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms gi0-3.bri-core.qld.westnet.com.au [202.173.144.9
7]
4 12 ms 12 ms 11 ms GigabitEthernet2-5.woo2.Brisbane.telstra.net [16
5.228.101.25]
5 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms GigabitEthernet6-0.woo-core1.Brisbane.telstra.ne
t [203.50.51.129]
6 24 ms 24 ms 23 ms Pos5-0.ken-core4.Sydney.telstra.net [203.50.6.22
1]
7 23 ms 24 ms 23 ms 10GigabitEthernet3-0.pad-core4.Sydney.telstra.ne
t [203.50.6.86]
8 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms 10GigabitEthernet2-2.syd-core01.Sydney.net.reach
.com [203.50.13.38]
9 25 ms 24 ms 24 ms i-7-0.syd-core02.net.reach.com [202.84.221.90]
10 168 ms 168 ms 170 ms i-0-0.wil-core02.net.reach.com [202.84.144.101]

11 169 ms 170 ms 169 ms i-3-2.wil03.net.reach.com [202.84.251.170]
12 170 ms 169 ms 169 ms ge-6-21.car3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.68.111.13
7]
13 170 ms 169 ms 170 ms ae-1-54.bbr2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.68.102.97
]
14 200 ms 220 ms 200 ms as-1-0.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [64.159.0.245]
15 200 ms 201 ms 201 ms ge-1-1-55.car3.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.68.122.134]

16 211 ms 211 ms 212 ms 4.78.220.10
17 214 ms 210 ms 213 ms vl31.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.85.127.29]

18 213 ms 213 ms 215 ms dist-vlan41.dsr2-1.dllstx4.theplanet.com [70.85.
127.83]
19 215 ms 214 ms 213 ms gig1-0-1.sm-car6-8.dllstx4.theplanet.com [67.19.
255.30]
20 214 ms 213 ms 215 ms acura.websitewelcome.com [70.84.234.226]

Trace complete.

Yet all these sites are on the 'acura' server.

Bottom line is that the domain name suppliers have assured me all domains names are paid up. I am having no trouble with other places on the web. As some of these connect at times & not at others & as they are all on the same server it is pretty obvious it is a HostGator problem.

However their support says no problem - well I got news for you there is a problem HostGator!!!

[webdev]

I've been doing some digging (pardon the pun) and found that there are some funky NS records for a few of my domains.

Domain Authoritive NS records
thesower.net - 70.84.234.226 and .227
ejilly.net - 70.84.234.226 and .227
nikkita.net - 70.84.234.226 and .227
think-edesign.com - 70.84.234.226 and .227

The two NS records 70.84.234.226 and 70.84.234.227 appear to be up and answering.

inaroma.com.au - ns1.think-edesign.com and ns2.think-edesign.com
splashesofjoy.com.au - ns1.think-edesign.com and ns2.think-edesign.com

However ns1 and ns2.think-edesign.com do not resolve when querying the domain's authoritive name server. Instead it answer points to "ns53.websitewelcome.com".

This is called a "lame" nameserver, and can cause all sorts of issues.

When I lookup the NS records for think-edesign.com on the Brisbane caching DNS I get:
[dean@bri-nfc2 dean]$ dig @203.21.20.20 think-edesign.com ns

; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> @203.21.20.20 think-edesign.com ns
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4
;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUERY SECTION:
;; think-edesign.com, type = NS, class = IN

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
think-edesign.com. 1d21h23m45s IN NS ns2.think-edesign.com.
think-edesign.com. 1d21h23m45s IN NS ns1.think-edesign.com.

;; Total query time: 1 msec
;; FROM: bri-nfc2 to SERVER: 203.21.20.20 203.21.20.20
;; WHEN: Mon Oct 3 18:31:31 2005
;; MSG SIZE sent: 35 rcvd: 71

So I ask ns1.think-edesign.com to resolve itself for me:
[dean@bri-nfc2 dean]$ dig @ns1.think-edesign.com ns1.think-edesign.com

; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> @ns1.think-edesign.com ns1.think-edesign.com
; Bad server: ns1.think-edesign.com -- using default server and timer opts
; (2 servers found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 4
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUERY SECTION:
;; ns1.think-edesign.com, type = A, class = IN

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
think-edesign.com. 23m34s IN SOA ns53.websitewelcome.com. root.acura.websitewelcome.com. (
2004112802 ; serial
4H ; refresh
2H ; retry
5w6d16h ; expiry
1D ) ; minimum

;; Total query time: 0 msec
;; FROM: bri-nfc2 to SERVER: default -- 127.0.0.1
;; WHEN: Mon Oct 3 18:31:42 2005
;; MSG SIZE sent: 39 rcvd: 106

The NXDOMAIN response is the server telling me that record does not exist - in effect the authoritative name server doesn't know where to find itself!

If you add the correct DNS records for ns1 and ns2 to the think-edesign.com zone then you should find the sites will start working.

This looks to be an issue with the nameservers for think-edesign.com, whoever administers these should be able to resolve the issue.

Running an IPWHOIS on the domain and the domains nameservers seems to show them assigned to ThePlanet.com Internet Services, if this is who HostGator use then the nameservers are hosted with them.

So all along this has been an issue with HostGator's nameservers housed at "The Planet" - yet all along HostGator have fobbed me off with blaming my ISP here in Australia.

Shame, HostGator, shame.

Now please fix the problem - I pay to have sites hosted & available to people not to get lame excuses when it is your fault like blaming my ISP.