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Anyone else seen a change in httpme recently?
Posted by rwilki, 10-14-2013, 01:35 PM httpme was the BEST provider I've worked with in my 14+ years in the website industry. Unfortunately, I'm using the word "was". Their support is still top notch but something has changed in the past few months and I'm seeing huge load spikes and some short outages on a frequent basis. I don't want to consider leaving them because their support is so amazing but can't handle the performance issues. Thanks, Bob
Posted by Scout141, 10-16-2013, 11:42 PM I agree on almost all points. Unfortunately, I find support, though polite, has not been very effective in the last few months. My server is barely useable with spikes in load and regular outages that they claim have been resolved but have obviously not been. I've been with them for ten years, and sadly, am saying goodbye to them.
Posted by iexo, 10-17-2013, 12:25 AM 10 years! They certainly must have been doing something right! How long have they been "off"?
Posted by Scout141, 10-17-2013, 01:04 AM They were fantastic for many years. I tried a few hosts before them and they were all lacking. Finally bit the bullet and paid a bit more to get a shared reseller account from a top-tier company. They were great the whole way through. An occasional outage, but minimal downtime and never a repeat issue. For me, I'd say things have tanked in the last 2 or 3 months. Load spikes started happening regularly (Load Averages of 15-20 on 24 cpus), and I was getting emails everyday from clients (and pingdom) that the server was down/slow. Support is still responsive and polite, they just seemed to be unable to fix the issue, even though they swore the problem was taken care of. Chances are it's just my server that was having problems, or I'm sure we'd be hearing a lot more complaints, but my clients were getting very upset and couldn't afford any more downtime. Hopefully this is a small blip and I certainly wish them well in the future. They were a great host for me for many years, but I felt this was a sign for me to get off shared hosting and take the next step to a VPS . [Edit] I exaggerated . It has only been 8 years. AussieBob transferred my sites into my new account. Ahh memories! Last edited by Scout141; 10-17-2013 at 01:16 AM.
Posted by rwilki, 10-17-2013, 08:42 AM Scout141 great post. To a shorter degree, that's exactly what I've experienced. I have no idea how their servers performance can tank so suddenly and so drastically. My customers are patient but it's wearing thin with them and me. Wonder if all their servers are experiencing this?
Posted by Aussie Bob, 10-18-2013, 07:27 AM Guys, I can't speak for Steven obviously, but just ask for your sites to be moved to a newer server. I've seen Steven's operation from the inside out, and it's top notch, no expense spared, if you get the drift.
Posted by rwilki, 10-18-2013, 09:51 AM sure will...thanks.
Posted by SkyNetHosting, 10-20-2013, 03:40 AM You have been happy with them for 10 years! then I would really think twice before moving out. It may be worth giving them some time to sort out their problems and see.
Posted by IHZach, 10-20-2013, 06:03 AM We are investigating the issues here to make sure they have been fully resolved. Please contact us via the helpdesk for any issues that need immediate updates.
Posted by Scout141, 10-22-2013, 11:52 AM Unfortunately, I did give them time. Problems were ongoing for well over a month, and progressively worsening. The time between my first ticket and my request to close my account was over 3 weeks. I kept informing them that there were problems and they weren't being fixed, and I kept getting informed that the problems were solved and that I should move to a vps or dedicated account if I wasn't satisfied with the shared hosting. Why it was even on my shoulders to inform them that their server was struggling is beyond me. As you note, I was satisfied for 8 years (not ten. Apologies. That was a typo from earlier ) on shared, and my account's requirements/usage hadn't changed, so telling me to move to a vps or dedicated account when the problem was obviously on their end was a bit irritating. I wasn't paying a mint by any means, but in my eyes, $35/month for 8GB of space and 120GB of transfer on a shared hosting reseller plan, in this day and age, qualifies as a fairly premium package. When I open 4 tickets over 3 weeks informing them that their server is having serious issues, and the problem is not solved and I'm told to move to a vps or dedicated server, you can understand my unhappiness. In previous years, whenever there was a problem, I opened a ticket and that problem was dealt with immediately. This is the kind of support I expect when I am paying top dollar (In comparison to most other shared reseller plans out there) for a package. I was perfectly happy paying that as well, knowing that any problem I had would be rectified immediately and without fuss. Once that premium level of support disappeared, so did my confidence in the company. I've checked my old hosting account with them because it is still active, and it *does* appear that server loads are back to normal, but I have already moved on. I'm an extremely loyal customer, but it works on a two-way street. I gave them multiple opportunities to rectify the situation, and they did not. As I have clients counting on *me* to provide them with trouble free hosting (especially since their businesses rely heavily on their sites), I took steps to rectify the situation and moved to a new hosting company with a good name who hopefully is not resting on their laurels (and so far has fulfilled all my expectations ). Now, that said, HttpMe has been, and hopefully still is, a good company. The fact that Aussie Bob posted in this thread earlier (He's the previous owner from *long* ago, and extremely well-respected in this forum) to give his support shows you that they are not a fly-by-night company. I know I'm only small potatoes to most hosting companies, but perhaps if httpme's support team (and all the rest of the hosts out there) takes this situation as a learning opportunity, this little saga won't be entirely wasted time . Here's my take-away: In the future, if a long-term client who has posted 1 or 2 tickets a year repeatedly tells you that the server is having *serious* problems, perhaps you should pay more attention to what he is saying. 2. When that same customer who is barely using half of the allocated resources he currently has, is telling you about these problems, don't advise him to move from an already expensive package (for what he is getting), to one that is exponentially more expensive. Whew. Guess that's it. Sorry about the wall of text! PS: Rwilki (OP): Any update on the situation? Has stability returned? Also, sorry about hijacking your thread to have a little vent . I wasn't going to bother posting anything, but when I saw your post, I felt I had to say something. Cheers, Scout141 TL;DR: I gave them multiple opportunities to fix the problem over more than 3 weeks. Problem did not go away. So I did.
Posted by rwilki, 10-22-2013, 12:06 PM Well, sad to say that things haven't progressed the way I had hoped. They have moved my account to a new server. I've had a support ticket that has several questions regarding the move that have gone unanswered for almost 24 hours. I figured out a few things myself during this time. So the move to a new server was intended to speed things up. The server load is markedly improved but my sites are loading slower. The SWAP is over 99% which I informed them of. No change on that front either. I also think the value/quality of their support has dropped. The tickets take longer to get resolved when they are and sometimes I feel that they just don't know the answer. I really like these guys but I don't know... Thanks, Bob
Posted by JixHost, 10-22-2013, 02:15 PM Given the high costs in my opinion, the loads should be very low. You may want to contact them to see whats going on and update us.
Posted by rwilki, 10-22-2013, 02:17 PM the loads are low on the new server. it's the SWAP that is through the roof. before I was moved to the new server, there were huge spikes quite often.
Posted by JixHost, 10-22-2013, 03:39 PM Its likely out of physical memory. Ask them to audit the server for any user that consuming excessive memory.
Posted by SkyNetHosting, 10-22-2013, 09:11 PM JixHost is right. in a good system there should be no SWAP or it should be very low. When a server runs on SWAP its takes more disk IO and further slow down the system.
Posted by rwilki, 10-22-2013, 09:25 PM they said that cpanel cache's memory or something like that and not to worry about it. I've never seen this before though...
Posted by insiderhosting, 10-24-2013, 06:09 AM Hi Bob, I'm sorry to hear about any issue you had with respect to load issues or any possible service affecting issue. I've tried to dig into your issue with the server in question, but I think you're looking not at swap, but at memory used. Linux uses memory differently than windows does. The loads on the server are very low, and always are. I've posted the results below. We spare no expense with hardware raid, tons of RAM, raid10, multiple backups both onsite and offsite. I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but in the past year we have upgraded every shared server to have the latest and greatest hardware possible. top - 02:59:43 up 37 days, 2:42, 2 users, load average: 1.60, 1.56, 1.36 Tasks: 104 total, 1 running, 102 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie Cpu(s): 1.2%us, 0.4%sy, 0.0%ni, 94.4%id, Mem: 20971520k total, 13004348k used, 7967172k free, 0k buffers Swap: 524288k total, 522436k used, 1852k free, 3342424k cached Here you can see the CPU is 95% IDLE. It's not oeverloaded, or being taxed in any way. 10/24/2013 _x86_64(24 CPU) 12:00:01 AM runq-sz plist-sz ldavg-1 ldavg-5 ldavg-15 12:10:01 AM 9 196 0.43 0.45 0.45 12:20:01 AM 12 188 0.95 0.63 0.53 12:30:01 AM 10 183 0.63 0.65 0.58 12:40:01 AM 7 187 0.51 0.56 0.56 12:50:01 AM 6 185 0.48 0.60 0.57 01:00:01 AM 17 208 1.04 0.82 0.65 01:10:01 AM 6 189 1.41 1.45 1.09 01:20:01 AM 8 187 1.41 1.39 1.21 01:30:01 AM 2 187 1.31 1.35 1.26 01:40:01 AM 4 178 1.28 1.33 1.28 01:50:01 AM 7 217 2.53 2.20 1.71 02:00:01 AM 5 203 2.04 2.08 1.86 02:10:01 AM 8 193 2.07 1.96 1.90 02:20:01 AM 10 188 2.03 2.02 1.95 02:30:01 AM 7 208 1.69 1.69 1.80 02:40:02 AM 1 192 0.88 1.13 1.47 02:50:01 AM 7 203 1.65 1.11 1.19 03:00:01 AM 9 212 1.50 1.54 1.36 Average: 8 195 1.32 1.28 1.19 These are the load issues every 10 minute on average. It doesn't go above 2, which on a 24 CPU system is nothing. I checked your tickets and since the move, I don't see any issues, and the guys have been always replying within 4-20 minutes or so 24/7, before and after your tickets/move. You thanked them multiple times, so if there are any issues, please do me a favor and update the ticket or let us know, as we want to make sure you are truly satisfied with our level of service. I'm traveling overseas on business, but anything I can possibly do to make your experience hosting with us as perfect and flawless as possible, I will do. Scout, please PM me who you are so I can look into things for you. -Steven Last edited by insiderhosting; 10-24-2013 at 06:13 AM.
Posted by rwilki, 10-24-2013, 07:03 AM Steven, thanks for your follow up. I didn't want to write the negative thread on this forum but I had been a little frustrated of late and wanted to know if others were experiencing similar trends. Your (tech) support has been great. Not sure what was going on with the server I moved from but the loads on the new server do seem incredibly low. That's how we started out on the first server. I'm hoping that everything will continue like this because I value your company's service and professionalism. Thanks again, Bob
Posted by ric, 11-05-2013, 03:24 PM I've been with them for ten years, yes, support is still responsive and polite, but they just seemed to be unable to fix the issue, ex: my ticket open for 7+ days (just because RVSKIN licence is expired ...) 7 days? yes , and RVSKIN licence still expired now...
Posted by insiderhosting, 11-05-2013, 03:37 PM Hi Ric, Sorry for the issues with RVskin, unfortunately there is little we can do. They migrated their whole licensing system/billing system, and it's been a complete disaster and mess. From licensing IPs in different places, to other issues with their system, IPs not porting over properly, that's why my team suggested you go with the x3 theme until Rvskin can sort out their issues.. This shouldn't be any reflection on our service as our services and other themes are completely online and fully functional. I know our guys just put in another ticket with them... -Steven
Posted by ric, 11-05-2013, 03:47 PM long time no see Steven, thanks for your follow up.
Posted by xlilx, 11-06-2013, 04:58 PM They were fantastic for many years. I tried a few hosts before them and they were all lacking. Finally bit the bullet and paid a bit more to get a shared reseller account from a top-tier company. They were great the whole way through. An occasional outage, but minimal downtime and never a repeat issue. For me, I'd say things have tanked in the last 2 or 3 months. Load spikes started happening regularly (Load Averages of 15-20 on 24 cpus), and I was getting emails everyday from clients (and pingdom) that the server was down/slow. Support is still responsive and polite, they just seemed to be unable to fix the issue, even though they swore the problem was taken care of. Chances are it's just my server that was having problems, or I'm sure we'd be hearing a lot more complaints, but my clients were getting very upset and couldn't afford any more downtime. Hopefully this is a small blip and I certainly wish them well in the future. They were a great host for me for many years, but I felt this was a sign for me to get off shared hosting and take the next step to a VPS.
Posted by babarami, 01-13-2014, 04:08 AM DEAR Guys I was reading this wile I am facing an issue also with HTTPME, so how I can reach Steven to explain my Problem with Httpme ? I have started since since November 2002 with Aussie Bob till now but recently all what I get fast response is we are checking into your issue and I prefer not talk into my issue and the technical answer I get after 2 hours from last reply that the domain is not resolving to the machine and post for me intodns.com report which show exactly where www record is pointing hope I can reach Steven to discuss with him my problems I am facing with httpme
Posted by IHZach, 01-13-2014, 09:59 AM Hi Rami, You can escalate any ticket in the helpdesk by asking for it to be escalated to Steven. It will be sent directly to him for review.
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