How to import account from full backup

[badjuju]

Hi All,
Does anyone know how to import an account from a full backup? I just opened an account with HG yesterday and the 'free' site transfer is taking so long and I'm really fed up with the run-around and false updates. I have been able to take a back up of my sites on the old server and transfer them over to the HG server. A couple things were off - the transfer to the new server was not helpful because I still had to browse my local pc to upload the files. After uploading the files, it was not very clear how to restore all data - email, database, especially. If anyone knows how, please provide instructions because I'm not very confident in HG doing this.

At this point, I'm just glad there's a money-back guarantee because I'm not thrilled with the support. I've used live support over the past couple days and it's painfully slow. Today I waited about 10 minutes just to get someone to answer, and when they do, I have to wait at least 5-10 minutes before I get a response to my question. If you're so busy, don't answer the call. I'm getting a feeling it's all smoke and mirrors - giving the illusion that support is available even though no one is truly there. I spent over 30 minutes on the support chat and believe it or not, the tech only said 3 things. I even thought the connection died . At the end of the call, the analyst stated he had flagged the ticket and someone was working on it and it will be completed within the hour. Well, it's an hour and not one thing has changed.

Thanks for nothing! Time to waste another 45 minutes on live chat only to get another bogus completion time.

[GvilleRick]

The full cPanel backup requires root access to run so the only way to have it done is upload the file to your account and ask tech support to restore the account from that backup.

Depending on how large the site is it can take some time to copy it from the old server. Some hosts block access to the WHM copy feature so that can complicate things as well. The company I worked for would only attempt the copy at non-peak hours since it does run up server loads which will cause problems for other accounts on the server.

If your site is still active on the old server then you should just be patient and wait until things are copied over. It can take some time and is not always easy.

[badjuju]

I guess they've finally decided to start working on this. They are now taking backups. Just so you know, my host does not have any restrictions on WHM copy feature. I did this myself last night. I have a collection of small and large sites - mostly small. I was able to backup and transfer all my sites in less than an hour last night from a crappy hotel connection, so it was not the size of the sites.

If my sites were up, I would be more patient. But as I've mentioned, they're already down and I just want people to do what they're supposed to do and not waste my time with promises they are not going to fulfill. If it's going to take 6 hours, then say do. Don't say you're starting right now, and not do it.

[gwyneth]

It's probably simpler to change the nameservers last in the process (after HG moves the site and tests it). You can access your site at HG before changing it, leaving the site up at the old server:

http://youriphere/~yourusernamehere/ Your IP is located in your welcome email. Don't forget the ~ or the trailing /

Your impatience and doing part of the job may have been counterproductive. In your other thread, you said HG had replied to 4-5 tickets in the first eight hours after your account was set up.

IMO, it's better to either let HG do it all, or do it all yourself--mixing them may give you all the disadvantages of each method.

[badjuju]

I hear ya - like I said, patience is not my virtue. I'm just going to leave this as is and wait a couple days.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by badjuju

Thanks for nothing! Time to waste another 45 minutes on live chat only to get another bogus completion time.

I have a lot of experience with these types of transfers and I can tell you that it is often very difficult to get these to work properly. Even when they "say" they work, the tech will find out that it "really" didn't work.

Also, the person doing your transfer works for about $35-$50 an hour. Your hosting fee doesn't pay their salary and your hosting fee doesn't bring in enough money to pay for the transfer of the site in anything short of three or four months, so give them a break if it takes a bit. They can't dedicate a tech to transfer your site alone at these prices.

If you want it moved today, now in fact, please call me with your credit card in hand and I'll move your site RIGHT NOW and only charge you my standard hourly fee.

[badjuju]

Serra,
I'm not even sure why you offer an opinion in this and why anyone would pay you to do a job - the same job in which your skills are questionable - based on your earlier statement - is beyond me. $35-$50/hr is too low? - I bet there are a lot of people who would kill to make that. This statement is not directed towards the HG techs but if someone feels like they are not getting paid enough for a task, please stay home and let someone else do the job.

And I don't recall requesting that the tech drop everything and work on my transfers. If you read my posts, you will see that I've been asking how to do it on my own - I'd already completed the first part.

You've obviously been here for a while and understand the ins and outs of their operation. How about putting yourself in other people's shoes before you make a rhetorical statement that sheds no positive light on the issue at hand.

You

[striddy]

Originally Posted by badjuju

like I said, patience is not my virtue. I'm just going to leave this as is and wait a couple days.

This appears to be the relevant quote in this thread. Have a cup of cocoa, tea or some other soothing beverage. Have a snooze even. HG will get your site working but you need to chill out "dude".

Originally Posted by badjuju

Serra,
I'm not even sure why you offer an opinion in this and why anyone would pay you to do a job - the same job in which your skills are questionable - based on your earlier statement

Now, now, no need to start getting snappy.

Originally Posted by badjuju

And I don't recall requesting that the tech drop everything and work on my transfers. If you read my posts, you will see that I've been asking how to do it on my own - I'd already completed the first part.

Due to an event which has happened in the last week which you wouldn't be aware of, I believe the HG support team has had rather a large headache on their hands. So it rather likely they are running a bit behind. Give them some breathing space and all will work out.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by striddy

Due to an event which has happened in the last week which you wouldn't be aware of, I believe the HG support team has had rather a large headache on their hands. So it rather likely they are running a bit behind. Give them some breathing space and all will work out.

badjuju, whether or not you asked tech to drop everything, you're acting as if its people should

Whether or not support is behind, IMO, the time to start thinking of maybe getting anxious is about the 48th hour after providing the transfer details.

The OP posted last night that it had been eight hours and nothing had happened yet, then started doing part of it himself. It is possible that this has slowed, rather than hastened, the changeover.

That's like dropping your car off at the mechanic's for a tuneup and brake job, then strolling in a couple of hours later and pulling some spark plugs yourself.

[badjuju]

First off, nothing was slowed by my tasks. I simply did a full backup and copied all files to a custom folder. And you need to pick a better analogy - it does not even pertain to this scenario.
If HG is going through some rough times, just say so. But don't expect people to wait 48 or 72 hours for a 12-24 hour task. Maybe I'm a little too focused on customer service, but if I tell my client something will be completed within a given time frame and I can not deliver, I will make an effort to notify them. It's this little thing some of us like to call communication.

Striddy,
Thanks for letting me know about the recent events at HG. That helps explain some things.

[badjuju]

This gets worse. I got an email from the tech who was transferring my sites stating the transfer was completed. I checked out the site and what would you know - no content - just an index page. I know the DNS propagation might be the cause and I gave the benefit of the doubt and entered the IP address. Both sites are index sites, and what would you know, _private.
This just irritates me because I know 2 things for sure:

1. This tech never took the time out to test what they said they did.
2. My site was not transferred - a new account was created because I have never had frontpage extensions on my sites.

Now, I'm sick of replying to tickets that take 8 hours to get a response or deal with live support and called HG. After about 5 minutes of waiting (no biggie), I'm explaining the problem to a tech and I got disconnected, hung up on, who knows.

Is this the level of support I should expect from HG? I want to be fair with HG, but this is very frustrating. I'm just going to calm down and request that my ticket is reassigned to a different tech. Someone mentioned these guys are getting paid $35-50/hr - HG should expect a lot more from their employees if that was the hourly rate.

Let me just clarify that I don't think all HGs techs are bad - I think I may have been unlucky this time. The others I've worked with have been quite good - even Anthony with whom I was speaking was very helpful and competent.

[badjuju]

Couple more things - even loading my sites are painfully slow. Mind you, we're loading only index pages. Then I look at the bottom and see this - Apache/1.3.41 Server at dominicana.net.do Port 80.

Now, I go into WHM and I see an entry in the list of accounts for my main site - total site size is 0. I find this entry odd to begin with because with my other hosting company, my main site was never listed under my list of accounts. Maybe it's standard, I don't know.

[slapshotw]

Just to address your last point, WHM will show all the accounts, "main site" or not.

[badjuju]

Now my index page shows Apache/1.3.41 Server at webarts.com.cy Port 80. I wonder how many accounts are on this server.

Update:
When I spoke to Anthony at 1pm, he stated my ticket was being looked at by the rep and the problem will be done in 1 hour. He said that if it was not fixed, I should call and ask for him. About 5 hours later, I called back to let him know the problem was not fixed and nothing had changed since I spoke with him. I could not speak with him but he asked the tech who took my call to get my number and he'll call be right back. Well, 2 hours later, I have not heard from anyone.

As patient as I'm being, HG needs to get their act together. This support is nothing shy of embarrassing for their company.

[badjuju]

I spoke to a rep from the support line and he was very understanding and noted my concerns. He also stated he would contact the rep tomorrow. I decided to contact someone higher at HG and this matter has been resolved.

I would like to note that I am very happy in the manner in which my problems were resolved and also a number of reps at HG. I know no company is 100% on point, which is why I stuck with HG, but I'm especially pleased with the responses from several reps at HG.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by badjuju

2. My site was not transferred - a new account was created because I have never had frontpage extensions on my sites.

When an account is transfered, a new account is created and the account is placed into that account. Transferring will convert email and add Frontpage extensions if they don't exist. That is total normal.

[badjuju]

I understand that, but this account was created and left empty for over a day then I received a notice that the transfer was complete even when the account had 0 bytes of data. That account should have had over a gig.
I'm glad it was resolved - onwards...