Backups - Database and Files

[ftimes]

Are there any done by HostGator? It seems not. Oh dear.

[Stef]

We have RAID1 on our servers: in case a disk crashes we have an instant backup (mirror copy) available.
Also, we offer weekly off-site tape backups. This means, in the worst case, we'll have to restore a 7 days old backup version. In case you need a restore, you have to contact support@hostgator.com.
Additionally, you should always take backups yourself to avoid loss of data!

Stef.

[ftimes]

I've got reseller accounts with several web hosting companies. They all take daily backups and I admit I've become casual about taking backups myself. I've looked them over now and all of them take daily backups.

I (used to) use WHM-Autopilot. Somehow I had duplicate accounts for one domain. When I deleted one of the accounts, WHM-Autopilot deleted that account from WHM (despite there still being the othr duplicate account entry in WHM-Autopilot) and ALL the files and server backups were lost for that account.

support@hostgator.com claimed that did not have any backups at all whether they were 1, 7 or 30 days old. They had no backup of MySQL or data files.

EVERYTHING for my account WAS LOST.

[ftimes]

Originally Posted by Stef

We have RAID1 on our servers: in case a disk crashes we have an instant backup (mirror copy) available.
Also, we offer weekly off-site tape backups. This means, in the worst case, we'll have to restore a 7 days old backup version. In case you need a restore, you have to contact support@hostgator.com.
Additionally, you should always take backups yourself to avoid loss of data!

Stef.

I can only assume that you're referring to a whole server 7 day backup which would be used in the event of a catastrophic server crash but would not be any good to a user on the server whi just wanted their account files back?

[ftimes]

Originally Posted by Stef

We have RAID1 on our servers: in case a disk crashes we have an instant backup (mirror copy) available.
Also, we offer weekly off-site tape backups. This means, in the worst case, we'll have to restore a 7 days old backup version. In case you need a restore, you have to contact support@hostgator.com.
Additionally, you should always take backups yourself to avoid loss of data!

Stef.

But support@hostgator say:
"Hello,
The backup is not configured on this server.We have notified our senior system admin to configure the backup for this server. Please let us know if you have any further queries we will be glad to assist you. Warm Regards, Sandra, AIM : gatorsupport3 YIM : tech_hostgator MSN : tech@hostgator.com
"

Oh dear.

[Stef]

I'm sorry to hear there was a problem with the backup configuration on your server. In normal circumstances the weekly backups can be used to restore an account if needed (according to my latest info).
I will ask Justin to confirm this.

Stef.

[GPG]

If we want historical back-ups re-installed, can we ask for specific ones? In other words, do you keep an archive of our weekly back-ups just in case or is there some kind of cut-off point?

Another thing, as I'm still rather new to all of this - if I contact you to ask for a specific back-up, can you re-install it all where it was supposed to be?

I'm going to try to make some of my own back-ups from time to time, but it would put my mind at ease knowing that my back-ups are back-up back-ups.

Thanks.

[GatorJustin]

Our current backup policy is that we offer RAID (real-time disk mirroring) as well as weekly off-server data backups.

If you delete something, the only thing we would be able to do is revert your site the the latest off-serever backup, which may or may not be up to 7 days old.

We always recommend to our clients that they maintain a current backup of their site on their local machine as well - just as a contingency plan of sorts.

ftimes, I am not immediately aware of your situation, but I will look into it and see what I can find out.

-Justin

[VPC]

Originally Posted by GatorJustin

Our current backup policy is that we offer RAID (real-time disk mirroring) as well as weekly off-server data backups.

If you delete something, the only thing we would be able to do is revert your site the the latest off-serever backup, which may or may not be up to 7 days old.

We always recommend to our clients that they maintain a current backup of their site on their local machine as well - just as a contingency plan of sorts.

ftimes, I am not immediately aware of your situation, but I will look into it and see what I can find out.

-Justin

My question goes a bit deeper Justin. Lets say your website takes 700MB of space, and is constantly being used by customers running transactions through MySQL and uploading/deleting files from folder structures on a daily basis almost every hour of the day. A week is a substantial amount of time to go back into a backup. Isn't it? Not a reseller solution.

Now, the mirror is great (I guess, rather have raid5) until the controller takes a dump...then what do you have? A 1 week old backup? Not a reseller solution....more like a mom/pa family website server that supports lame websites that have no dynamic content to them.

So the policy says, hey....customers should do their own backup. Great idea, except correct me if I am wrong....700MB site manually getting backed up by customer daily....doesn't that count toward their bandwidth allocation? Hmmmm, not very reseller friendly.

Ahhh, so now the recommendation to move to a dedicated server comes up. Well then why sell such large reseller packages that include features that support the current website structure of 700MB drive space, 3GB traffic, unlimited MySQL DB's? Any ideas?

I would simply like to know why every other host does nightly backups and HG does not? A real answer by the way. If it is a cost thing, guess what, resellers over ma/pa websites would pay the extra money, I would.

You know why? Because to have the peace of mind of a daily backup will cost me a lot of allocated bandwidth in it's current setup because I have to do it over the net which makes my reseller plan almost worthless. Does it not?

Please clue me in if I am way off so I can feel better about being wrong. Thanks

[GPG]

I could be wrong on this, but I don't think a back-up counts towards your bandwidth. I did a back-up to my own hard-drive last night and judging by my bandwidth usage stats it wasn't included. I didn't do a before and after, but yesterday's bandwidth usage was virtually the same as the previous day's. The size of my files in zip format (used for back-ups) would have been in the region of 80% of my daily bandwidth usage.

My concern is what will happen when the size of my back-up files exceeds what I can burn onto a CD, but I have a long way to go before I reach that stage, so I'm hoping to learn how to do it in bits by then.

[VPC]

Originally Posted by GPG

I could be wrong on this, but I don't think a back-up counts towards your bandwidth. I did a back-up to my own hard-drive last night and judging by my bandwidth usage stats it wasn't included. I didn't do a before and after, but yesterday's bandwidth usage was virtually the same as the previous day's. The size of my files in zip format (used for back-ups) would have been in the region of 80% of my daily bandwidth usage.

My concern is what will happen when the size of my back-up files exceeds what I can burn onto a CD, but I have a long way to go before I reach that stage, so I'm hoping to learn how to do it in bits by then.

I am not sure, waiting on an answer that I am wrong so I can feel better. I cannot see how it is not a part of the allocation as it should be ftp traffic (if done that way (700MB) or HTTP traffic if done through CPANEL (200MB) or 1GB per 5 day week of backup. That would be 4GB per month of just backup traffic. Kind of important to find out the answer......

[VPC]

Sorry, cannot let this one die until some sort of appropriate response is given.

:bump:

[amartins]

Unfortunatly of late it seems like support has gone into non-response response mode whenever the question is a little tougher.... I have a ticket pending for going on a full week.

I'm hoping this is temporary otherwise bad times ahead for all of us and our customers I have run out of excuses.

[VPC]

Well, I know there are support staff here, they are answering other posts. Can one of you guys/gals please respond on my question above? It would really help. Thanks

[jlgreer1]

Backup data transfer has been included in bandwidth on other accounts I have had with other hosting companies. I would expect it is here as well.

If you use 4 GB of bandwidth per month for backup transfer, that would leave you 46 GB of bandwidth per month for normal use on the smallest reseller account. In my limited experience, that is a lot of bandwidth.

Jeff

[GatorJustin]

Originally Posted by amartins

Unfortunatly of late it seems like support has gone into non-response response mode whenever the question is a little tougher.... I have a ticket pending for going on a full week.

You could always send additional emails to remind the staff of your issue, and of course you could always try IM and/or phone support as well. Often times some issues get shuffled around the priority stack.

-Justin

[GatorJustin]

Originally Posted by VPC

I would simply like to know why every other host does nightly backups and HG does not? A real answer by the way.

Well, I'm not sure that "every" host other than HG offers daily data backups. I'm sure that some do, but I am also sure that there are others that do not. As for why we do not offer daily backups, I really cannot provide a solid answer as I am not the one who makes the policies. What I will do is speak with Brent and ask that he come to this thread and offer his comments.

-Justin

[VPC]

Originally Posted by GatorJustin

Well, I'm not sure that "every" host other than HG offers daily data backups. I'm sure that some do, but I am also sure that there are others that do not. As for why we do not offer daily backups, I really cannot provide a solid answer as I am not the one who makes the policies. What I will do is speak with Brent and ask that he come to this thread and offer his comments.

-Justin

What I mean is it is pretty industry standard from my experience with different hosting companies to run nightly backup. It is simply good business and I would love to hear why this is not a HG standard. Like I said, if it is pricing, bring it on, as the amount of time it takes me to backup on a daily basis is uncalled for.

[VPC]

Originally Posted by jlgreer1

Backup data transfer has been included in bandwidth on other accounts I have had with other hosting companies. I would expect it is here as well.

If you use 4 GB of bandwidth per month for backup transfer, that would leave you 46 GB of bandwidth per month for normal use on the smallest reseller account. In my limited experience, that is a lot of bandwidth.

Jeff

Sure 46 GB is a lot. Unfortunately, your numbers are based on 1 account. What about if you have 20-30 accounts as a reseller and the packages you have setup also allocate for other sites under your account...all of a sudden your numbers look a bit daunting don't they???