Shared accounts: when to alert support ASAP

[gwyneth]

There have been several threads lately posted by people who didn't want to "bother" support about problems that actually had server-wide implications.

Being tough and soldiering on is a good thing when something can affect your account alone, but it's important to realize when to notify support right away.

One of these threads involved an ongoing DOS attack; several others have been about very heavy server loads.

(Now the more knowledgable can add some specifics.)

[tparker]

In reality, anything that slows down one shared account is likely having similar effects on other shared accounts. You're sitting on the same physical computer with many other users, and you are using the same processors and memory.

Take into consideration the time of day (in the United States) and make note of whether or not that could be a peak time. From what I've noticed (not necessarily from HostGator), peak times are usually between 6PM and 12AM Eastern Time, with small spikes during lunchtime.

If it's something that you are doing and it's well under control (installing a large script, running a big database query), I would imagine it's okay. But if you're unaware of the cause (ambiguous high CPU load or slow connection), there is no good excuse not to at least ask support about it.

For all you know, some user may be sending out a bamillion e-mails based on records in a database. A task like that is probably not allowed under the ToS, plus it's doing two large tasks at once (pulling a lot of data from a database while simultaneously sending e-mails).

~ Trevor

[Sentinel]

I don't know about everyone else but I always like to post here first because it helps me to diagnose if the problem is just me or server wide. If I post here and give my server name and other users on the same server see that post then they can tell me if they are having the same problems that I am having. If they are then I know it is the most likely the server and I can submit a ticket to support.

If it is only me then the likely cause is my internet connection or somewhere in between me and the server and I can begin trying to track down where in the line the problem is.

It also could very well be the server but it could already be a known issue that other users are aware of and I am not. They would then tell me that and I would be patient and wait for it to be fixed since tech support is already aware of it. No need to flood support with a hundred emails about something that they are already aware of and are already working on.

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by Sentinel

I don't know about everyone else but I always like to post here first because it helps me to diagnose if the problem is just me or server wide.

If you're seeing a high server load number (if I remember correctly, you were), then that has nothing to do with your connection and is a server-wide measurement.

[Sentinel]

Yes, agreed for that particular issue in the other topic. My previous post in this topic was speaking in general.