Some Quick Questions

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty close to making a decision on a reseller package and I like what I see here. I'm currently running a dedicated server at Rackspace with about 20 clients. Kind of a pain managing that sucker by myself, considering I know next to nothing about server administration.

That said, I'm looking for a company I can rely on for quick and accurate support and no need to ever use it.

Some quick questions:

1) Will Gator assist me with any changes I need to make to my hosting set-up where the web interface is insufficient, including adding email accounts, sub domains, PHP/MySQL, new hosting set ups, etc. Basically, assuming I'm dense, and there's something quick and stupid (or not so quick) that needs to be done, can I count on a Gator tech to help me get it done?

2) Are the any services performed in the line of support that carry a surcharge?

3) Am I correct in assuming that the whmautopilot billing system, aside from being horribly named, will allow me to automate the billing, sign up and account creation process for my web hosting empire? I can add the modules or scripts or whatever into my company site, and watch as millions of happy web hosting clients around the world stampede my offerings, leaving me with virtually nothing to do manually?

4) Does Gator maintain a regular back-up of all client sites, and at what intervals? I've read some conflicting stuff about this. I know you can't guarantee backups, but in the event one is required, what's the process and expected turn-around for a restoration?

5) Does the "download to local" feature of the web interface include MySQL database content, and if so in what format? When activated, how long does it take to complete for a typical site? Does it affect the accessibility of the site on the web while the download is underway?

6) Does Gator monitor client sites and call me if there are any outages or other noted problems with my resold sites?

7) Does OLM allow me to install a traffic monitoring package other than your traditional offerings - Urchin, for example?

8) My Aunt is thinking of moving to Boca. How do you like it down there?

Thanks for your time. I appreciate the effort you put into answering the same questions over and over again for us lazy researchers.

I'd also like to say I appreciate the honesty in some of your replies. Even when it might be in your best interest to spin or evade an unpopular answer, you seem to be honest. That's very cool, and very unusual.

Thanks!

Jeff Wright
twentycent.com

[Anonymous]

I have one other question.

Is it possible, permissable, or tolerable for my clients to contact HostGator directly, via any means, if they're unable to get ahold of me in a problem situation? If so, do you have any anonymous means for them to do so?

Thanks again.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Sure does take a while to get a response around here, doesn't it?

[GatorJustin]

JWright, I apologize for the delay and am grateful for your continued patience. If you would take a moment to browse the forums, you'll find some of your answers. Additionally, please know that these forums are not designed as a means to provide "instant answers". If you require an immediate response, feel free to call the toll-free phone number, utilize our Instant Message system, or if you can wait a bit longer, submit an email to sales@hostgator.com

I will compile some answers for you shortly in case you choose not to phone or email.

[GatorJustin]

Originally Posted by JWright

I'm pretty close to making a decision on a reseller package and I like what I see here. I'm currently running a dedicated server at Rackspace with about 20 clients. Kind of a pain managing that sucker by myself, considering I know next to nothing about server administration.

Ok, just to clarify, are you seeking information on a reseller package, or a managed dedicated package? I will assume you will be downgrading to a reseller package since that is what you mentioned.

Originally Posted by JWright

1) Will Gator assist me with any changes I need to make to my hosting set-up where the web interface is insufficient, including adding email accounts, sub domains, PHP/MySQL, new hosting set ups, etc. Basically, assuming I'm dense, and there's something quick and stupid (or not so quick) that needs to be done, can I count on a Gator tech to help me get it done?

We offer fairly comprehensive documentation for resellers, as well as Flash tutorials for most of the common Cpanel features. We will also be glad to answer any of your questions when possible, but hope you understand that we cannot offer 1-on-1 training without charging an additional hourly rate.

Originally Posted by JWright

2) Are the any services performed in the line of support that carry a surcharge?

The simplest way to put this is to say that if something "breaks" due to negligence on our part or the part of our data center, there would be no charge. If theres a problem with software that comes pre-installed, again, we handle that. The only time you would incur a service fee is if you ask for help with something that you may have "broken".

Originally Posted by JWright

3) Am I correct in assuming that the whmautopilot billing system, aside from being horribly named, will allow me to automate the billing, sign up and account creation process for my web hosting empire? I can add the modules or scripts or whatever into my company site, and watch as millions of happy web hosting clients around the world stampede my offerings, leaving me with virtually nothing to do manually?

That's basically it, yes. WHMAutoPilot works hand--in-hand with WHM to provide automated account creation and can also help with billing.

Originally Posted by JWright

4) Does Gator maintain a regular back-up of all client sites, and at what intervals? I've read some conflicting stuff about this. I know you can't guarantee backups, but in the event one is required, what's the process and expected turn-around for a restoration?

We offer 2 types of backups. First is the real-time RAID which is constantly mirroring your data to another location on the same server. This means that if you accidentally delete something, we can get it back for you fairly quickly. Just send us an email with the details. The drawback to RAID is that it is basically useless in the event that you delete a file, since the mirror disk would also have the file deleted. The second backup method is that we offer weekly off-site tape backups. If the primary disk fails, your backups are safe since they are located elsewhere. The downside here is that you may need to revert back to the content of 7 days prior.

Originally Posted by JWright

5) Does the "download to local" feature of the web interface include MySQL database content, and if so in what format? When activated, how long does it take to complete for a typical site? Does it affect the accessibility of the site on the web while the download is underway?

There are several ways for you to backup your site date. You can backup the wntire site in one shot (email accounts, settings, files, databases), or you can choose to just backup certain portions (files, databases, etc). These backups are compressed and saved as .gz (gzip)
Additionally, you are given access to phpMyAdmin and you may choose to backup your database from within that software.

Originally Posted by JWright

6) Does Gator monitor client sites and call me if there are any outages or other noted problems with my resold sites?

We monitor our servers 24/7. If we happen to be away from the desk (bathroom break, coffee break, ping pong break) we are instantly alerted via cell phone and/or pager of a server failer so we can fix it quickly. We do not call our customers in the event of an outage (that would be thousands of calls to make, and our time is better used fixing the problem), but we do post about any outages in the Network Status section of these forums. In certain rare instances, we may need to contact a customer regarding his or her account, however.

Originally Posted by JWright

7) Does OLM allow me to install a traffic monitoring package other than your traditional offerings - Urchin, for example?

I don't know. You'll have to ask them. Seriously... as long as your software does not require root-level access, sure. Install away! If you require root access, then dedicated would be your only option.

Originally Posted by JWright

8) My Aunt is thinking of moving to Boca. How do you like it down there?

I'll have to ask Brent about that. I'm in Atlanta. I hear it is beautiful, though.

I hope some of this has been helpful!

-Justin

[GatorJustin]

Originally Posted by JWright

I have one other question.

Is it possible, permissable, or tolerable for my clients to contact HostGator directly, via any means, if they're unable to get ahold of me in a problem situation? If so, do you have any anonymous means for them to do so?

Thanks again.

Jeff

Oops. I missed this one. Sorry.

As a reseller, you would be responsible for supporting your own clients, since it would be next to impossible for us to offer anonymous or co-branded phone, IM, or email support.

-Justin

[haggis]

Originally Posted by Gator_Justin

We offer 2 types of backups. First is the real-time RAID which is constantly mirroring your data to another location on the same server. This means that if you accidentally delete something, we can get it back for you fairly quickly. Just send us an email with the details. The drawback to RAID is that it is basically useless in the event of a disk failure, since your data as well as your backups would be lost. This is an extremely rare occurrance,, however. The second backup method is that we offer weekly off-site tape backups. If the primary disk fails, your backups are safe since they are located elsewhere. The downside here is that you may need to revert back to the content of 7 days prior.

I may be wrong, but I thought that a RAID mirror setup would mean that if you accidently delete a file it's gone forever because the "mirror" would have immediately deleted it too (otherwise it wouldn't be a mirror).
Mirrors though, do protect you against the catastrophe of a disk crash because if main disk dies then the mirror is an up-to-date copy. this is designed to protect against a disk crash which, though very rare, would be catastrophic.

On the other hand, if a file or two are accidently deleted then getting them back from a 7-day old backup is not a disaster.

I guess that if a site has dynamic content, such as MySQL then it's up to the site owner to organise backups through CRON jobs.

[GatorJustin]

Yes, haggis, you have it right. I don't know why I wrote what I did, but I have made the correction.

[haggis]

Originally Posted by Gator_Justin

Yes, haggis, you have it right. I don't know why I wrote what I did, but I have made the correction.

Just wanted to make sure I understood it correctly.