UW, get your server yet?

Alphawolf · 2004-12-04, 02:04 PM

How are you getting about on it?

Useless · 2004-12-04, 11:25 PM

DAMN IT! Did you have to ask? DAMN IT!

Ok, since you asked, here goes:
LAST friday morning (11/26) I ordered my server from Layered Tech. They promise a turn around time of 24-72 hours. So, four days later, on tuesday I get an email from them that the server is ready along with my root pass and Plesk panel login info. So I pointed one my truly useless domains at the server and create an account for it withhing Plesk. Being that I lowered my domain names TTL time down to 600 seconds days in advance, the domain resolves within hours, at least from where I'm sitting. I since it went so well, I pointed two more domains at the new server that night.

Wednesday morning I check and see how the sites are doing. I got a cgi error on one and so I ssh'd to root and edited the httpd.conf to allow cgi scripts. I rebooted Apache and Apache failed to restart. So I rebooted the server and Apache lay dead. I scurried around the net for answers and couldn't find any. So I repointed two of the domain names back to the old host. I sent out my first distress call/support ticket to Layered at 2:11 pm on Wednesday and made two seperate calls to the sales babe. They did absolutely nothing until Thursday evening. Here's the kicker. Apache came up for me thursday morning. eventhough no one acknowledges working on the server. But now, the DNS server shit itself, so the one remaining domain name on that server wouldn't work.

While waiting for Layered Tech to fix something, or at least communicte with me, I continue my search for a server management company that will take monthly accounts on a server running freebsd. I couldn't find one. DAMN IT!

Anyway, Thursday night, Layered emails me letting me know that they have tinkered with the server and, for whatever odd reason, changed my user password. But they didn't fix a fucking thing. I realize that is an unmanaged server, but shouldn't last for more than a single day? I get pissed. I shoot off another support ticket demanding assisstance. They request my root password. I send them the password. A few minutes later I get anothe request for the root password. I reply with it again. A few minutes later they ask me to attempt a login with that root password. So I try. AND I CAN'T GET TO ROOT WITH THAT MOTHERFUCKING PASSWORD! The tech who had tinkered with the server earlier in the evening changed both my user and root passwords. Unfortunately it appears that he failed to write down the root one. Now even they can't get into the server.

At this point I request that they re-image the server with Redhat 9 and Cpanel. Redhat, because there are plenty of server management firms that will work on that OS. Cpanel, because I am familiar with it. I also tell them that I will not pay for the reload. The head guy replies that he will waive the $50 reload fee, but admonishes me for swearing in the support ticket email. Ok, I did swear, but I didn't swear AT the tech. When they informed me that my root password was gone, I simply replied 'Well fuck me. You can uplug that piece of shit and throw it against the wall for all I care'. That seemed appropriate considering the situation.

So, the head dude asks me to fill out the the 'reload request' form and submit it and they will immediately reload the server. This is late Thursday night. Come Friday night and there is still no word from them. I hit my old Plesk url and Plesk is still in place. DAMN IT! I very calmly send in a new support ticket late Friday night (last night) with the request that they forward it to Jeremy, the head man. I kindly requested the a refund so that I will not be forced to do a chargeback. I explained my position and reminded him that Thursday night he promised to have my server ready within 24 hours.

This morning I get an email asking me what the confirmation number was of my reload request. I of course never received a confirmation of any sort, so I told him that. I also said that, eventhough I have horribly irritated, I am still willing to work this out. I asked if they would like me to fill out the request form again. Not a fucking word back all day from them. At five o'clock tonight I get an email informing me that my server is now reloaded. They were even kind enough to include my new root password. But they did forget to give my Cpanel url and login. Argh. So I replied to their email with a friendly thank you and a request for my Cpanel login and url. No reply. I started another support ticket at 9:28 and have just now received the reply.

Guess what, trying the url they gave me, thus far I am getting a connection denied response from the server. DAMN IT!

Thanks for asking.

Robato · 2004-12-04, 11:50 PM

sounds like time to change hosts.

Cleo · 2004-12-05, 12:04 AM

Sorry to hear about your server hell.

This is why I always go with managed servers.

Alphawolf · 2004-12-05, 12:59 AM

Aw, man. Sorry to read this shit.

So how does it stand now? I mean- do you lose that months hosting you paid or what?

Are you ditching them or you think after the reimage things will be smoothed out?

I'm leaning towards servermatrix with RHE version 3 with Cpanel/WHM with Fantisco pretty strongly now.

Useless · 2004-12-05, 12:59 AM

Another tech just sent me yet another url for my WHM and it failed too. You'd think that they would try the urls first before sending them.

All I want to do is get the correct info from them so I can get this damn thing turned over to Acunett. Maybe the correct urls and passwords cost extra...

Useless · 2004-12-05, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alphawolf
Aw, man. Sorry to read this shit.

So how does it stand now? I mean- do you lose that months hosting you paid or what?

Are you ditching them or you think after the reimage things will be smoothed out?

I'm leaning towards servermatrix with RHE version 3 with Cpanel/WHM with Fantisco pretty strongly now.

Thus far I have lost almost a week. They tried to make nice with me and have become more resonsive since I threatened to take my money back, so I was trying to let them fix things.

I've heard great things from people who do a Servermatrix/Acunett combo. All I can really say is, stay the hell away from Layered Tech if you want any sort of customer service. Everything I've read on hosting forums indicates that they are highly respected. In fact, a lot of dedicated resellers sell Layered's servers at the Saavis data center in Texas. They have their own 24/7 tech support at the data center, which is nice. They just don't play well with strangers. But then again, neither do I.

Alphawolf · 2004-12-05, 01:12 AM

You mean you'd have Acunett mange the server?

Hmm. This looks cool:

http://www.acunett.com/management/

I'd have to do some research, but that seems a good way to do- servematrix + accunet to tweak and manage.

Good forum and I see your post there.

That seems like a great way to go, UW.

$35/mo for peace of mind is well worth it.

Useless · 2004-12-05, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alphawolf
You mean you'd have Acunett mange the server?

Hmm. This looks cool:

http://www.acunett.com/management/

I'd have to do some research, but that seems a good way to do- servematrix + accunet to tweak and manage.

Good forum and I see your post there.

That seems like a great way to go, UW.

$35/mo for peace of mind is well worth it.

A friend uses the $35 Acunett plan for his unmetered Servermatrix server. He said he emailed Acunett twice last week for assisstance and they responded within 15 minutes each time. Hard to beat that with a stick. He is also very happy with Servermatrix.

And yes, I wanted Acunett to handle the server all along without noticing that they will do an intial setup on freebsd servers, but won't do the monthly thing. So then, when my brand new server shit itself, I had the tech monkies at Layered re-image it to Redhat so I could get a monthly accont with Acunett.

To all those considering an unmanaged server:
I cannot stress this enough. If one is not well versed in linux and its corresponding shell commands, do not attempt to handle an unmanged server yourself. You cannot do it. Newly setup servers are not ready for the real world, no matter what sort of spin a host tries to sell you. I'd sooner walk naked with a hard-on covered in gravy through a jungle infested with gay cannibal pigmies than attempt securing and managing a new server.

CelticTiger · 2004-12-05, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alphawolf
You mean you'd have Acunett mange the server?

Hmm. This looks cool:

http://www.acunett.com/management/

I'd have to do some research, but that seems a good way to do- servematrix + accunet to tweak and manage.

Good forum and I see your post there.

That seems like a great way to go, UW.

$35/mo for peace of mind is well worth it.

I used them awhile back. They're a good bunch over there and I never had to wait more than an hour after I'd submitted a ticket.

Alphawolf · 2004-12-05, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Useless Warrior

To all those considering an unmanaged server:
I cannot stress this enough. If one is not well versed in linux and its corresponding shell commands, do not attempt to handle an unmanged server yourself. You cannot do it. Newly setup servers are not ready for the real world, no matter what sort of spin a host tries to sell you. I'd sooner walk naked with a hard-on covered in gravy through a jungle infested with gay cannibal pigmies than attempt securing and managing a new server.

That's why I asked you about it. I was worried it could turn into a nightmare.

I may just wait until after January 1st though- let all the holidays wind down.

servermatrix will have some deals when they open the new datacenter late this month as well.

Useless · 2004-12-05, 07:24 PM

Update:
Layered Tech finally came through for me and the serving running smooth. Pheeew!

I'm sure this all would have been a much less painful process if I new more about the dedicated server biz and if they had an understanding of customer service. I spent a few days being very stressed about a situation that was out of my hands, but I'm getting an excellent deal on a very good server which is hosted by reputable company. Now lets see if I can get myself motivated enough to burn up some of that bandwidth.

Alphawolf · 2004-12-05, 11:16 PM

Great to read that, man. Now start burnin' up that CPU!

2004-12-04, 02:04 PM	#1
Alphawolf Don't come to Florida for vacation. We're closed. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Orlando, Florida Posts: 1,874	UW, get your server yet? How are you getting about on it? __________________ Regards, AW Weekly Pay. Sites That Convert. Start Pimpin' Today!

2004-12-04, 11:25 PM	#2
Useless Certified Nice Person Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Dirty Undies, NY Posts: 11,268	DAMN IT! Did you have to ask? DAMN IT! Ok, since you asked, here goes: LAST friday morning (11/26) I ordered my server from Layered Tech. They promise a turn around time of 24-72 hours. So, four days later, on tuesday I get an email from them that the server is ready along with my root pass and Plesk panel login info. So I pointed one my truly useless domains at the server and create an account for it withhing Plesk. Being that I lowered my domain names TTL time down to 600 seconds days in advance, the domain resolves within hours, at least from where I'm sitting. I since it went so well, I pointed two more domains at the new server that night. Wednesday morning I check and see how the sites are doing. I got a cgi error on one and so I ssh'd to root and edited the httpd.conf to allow cgi scripts. I rebooted Apache and Apache failed to restart. So I rebooted the server and Apache lay dead. I scurried around the net for answers and couldn't find any. So I repointed two of the domain names back to the old host. I sent out my first distress call/support ticket to Layered at 2:11 pm on Wednesday and made two seperate calls to the sales babe. They did absolutely nothing until Thursday evening. Here's the kicker. Apache came up for me thursday morning. eventhough no one acknowledges working on the server. But now, the DNS server shit itself, so the one remaining domain name on that server wouldn't work. While waiting for Layered Tech to fix something, or at least communicte with me, I continue my search for a server management company that will take monthly accounts on a server running freebsd. I couldn't find one. DAMN IT! Anyway, Thursday night, Layered emails me letting me know that they have tinkered with the server and, for whatever odd reason, changed my user password. But they didn't fix a fucking thing. I realize that is an unmanaged server, but shouldn't last for more than a single day? I get pissed. I shoot off another support ticket demanding assisstance. They request my root password. I send them the password. A few minutes later I get anothe request for the root password. I reply with it again. A few minutes later they ask me to attempt a login with that root password. So I try. AND I CAN'T GET TO ROOT WITH THAT MOTHERFUCKING PASSWORD! The tech who had tinkered with the server earlier in the evening changed both my user and root passwords. Unfortunately it appears that he failed to write down the root one. Now even they can't get into the server. At this point I request that they re-image the server with Redhat 9 and Cpanel. Redhat, because there are plenty of server management firms that will work on that OS. Cpanel, because I am familiar with it. I also tell them that I will not pay for the reload. The head guy replies that he will waive the $50 reload fee, but admonishes me for swearing in the support ticket email. Ok, I did swear, but I didn't swear AT the tech. When they informed me that my root password was gone, I simply replied 'Well fuck me. You can uplug that piece of shit and throw it against the wall for all I care'. That seemed appropriate considering the situation. So, the head dude asks me to fill out the the 'reload request' form and submit it and they will immediately reload the server. This is late Thursday night. Come Friday night and there is still no word from them. I hit my old Plesk url and Plesk is still in place. DAMN IT! I very calmly send in a new support ticket late Friday night (last night) with the request that they forward it to Jeremy, the head man. I kindly requested the a refund so that I will not be forced to do a chargeback. I explained my position and reminded him that Thursday night he promised to have my server ready within 24 hours. This morning I get an email asking me what the confirmation number was of my reload request. I of course never received a confirmation of any sort, so I told him that. I also said that, eventhough I have horribly irritated, I am still willing to work this out. I asked if they would like me to fill out the request form again. Not a fucking word back all day from them. At five o'clock tonight I get an email informing me that my server is now reloaded. They were even kind enough to include my new root password. But they did forget to give my Cpanel url and login. Argh. So I replied to their email with a friendly thank you and a request for my Cpanel login and url. No reply. I started another support ticket at 9:28 and have just now received the reply. Guess what, trying the url they gave me, thus far I am getting a connection denied response from the server. DAMN IT! Thanks for asking. __________________ Click here to purchase a bridge I'm selling.

2004-12-05, 12:04 AM	#4
Cleo Subversive filth of the hedonistic decadent West Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Southeast Florida Posts: 27,936	Sorry to hear about your server hell. This is why I always go with managed servers. __________________ Free Rides on Uber and Lyft Uber Car: uberTzTerri Lyft Car: TZ896289

2004-12-05, 12:59 AM	#5
Alphawolf Don't come to Florida for vacation. We're closed. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Orlando, Florida Posts: 1,874	Aw, man. Sorry to read this shit. So how does it stand now? I mean- do you lose that months hosting you paid or what? Are you ditching them or you think after the reimage things will be smoothed out? I'm leaning towards servermatrix with RHE version 3 with Cpanel/WHM with Fantisco pretty strongly now. __________________ Regards, AW Weekly Pay. Sites That Convert. Start Pimpin' Today!

2004-12-05, 12:59 AM	#6
Useless Certified Nice Person Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Dirty Undies, NY Posts: 11,268	Another tech just sent me yet another url for my WHM and it failed too. You'd think that they would try the urls first before sending them. All I want to do is get the correct info from them so I can get this damn thing turned over to Acunett. Maybe the correct urls and passwords cost extra... __________________ Click here to purchase a bridge I'm selling.

2004-12-04, 11:50 PM	#3
Robato Aw, Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: MD near DC Posts: 24	sounds like time to change hosts.

2004-12-05, 01:12 AM	#8
Alphawolf Don't come to Florida for vacation. We're closed. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Orlando, Florida Posts: 1,874	You mean you'd have Acunett mange the server? Hmm. This looks cool: http://www.acunett.com/management/ I'd have to do some research, but that seems a good way to do- servematrix + accunet to tweak and manage. Good forum and I see your post there. That seems like a great way to go, UW. $35/mo for peace of mind is well worth it. __________________ Regards, AW Weekly Pay. Sites That Convert. Start Pimpin' Today! Last edited by Alphawolf; 2004-12-05 at 01:24 AM..

2004-12-05, 07:24 PM	#12
Useless Certified Nice Person Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Dirty Undies, NY Posts: 11,268	Update: Layered Tech finally came through for me and the serving running smooth. Pheeew! I'm sure this all would have been a much less painful process if I new more about the dedicated server biz and if they had an understanding of customer service. I spent a few days being very stressed about a situation that was out of my hands, but I'm getting an excellent deal on a very good server which is hosted by reputable company. Now lets see if I can get myself motivated enough to burn up some of that bandwidth. __________________ Click here to purchase a bridge I'm selling.

2004-12-05, 11:16 PM	#13
Alphawolf Don't come to Florida for vacation. We're closed. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Orlando, Florida Posts: 1,874	Great to read that, man. Now start burnin' up that CPU! __________________ Regards, AW Weekly Pay. Sites That Convert. Start Pimpin' Today!