Dedicated Server Downtime
 

How long do you think is time enough to get a REPLY from the hosting company with an ESTIMATED TIME to put your server BACK ONLINE after discovering that your server had some problems with the HDD?

I am waiting for 4 hour to get a reply after they have reported to me what the problem really was (but there was no solution yet as a simple reboot wouldn't fix the problem) - 3 hours after I reported that my server was extremely slow to them...

I know they said they would contact me once they knew more of what was really causing the issues... but 4 hours to do that is more then enough... CHANGE THE HDD and copy everything there... then recover the disk and put it back (or not)

my server is down for over 7 hours and no idea when it will come back online...

what should I do?!

7 hours with no communication? That seems like a little much, they should get back to you and let you know what's going on.

If the answer is not on the hosting link in your sig then the first thing I would do
is remove that link from my sig.


:2 cents:

Are they trying to make the old one work ? or installing the new one ?

Depends while it's down? Well they should contact you right away but some problems are internal from the server usage or the server is broke and requires to be fixed or you moved to anew servers.

For communication, a couple hours or less, for the fix 5 minutes to 24 hours.

Frankly, it depends on a lot of factors.

While I concede being down, and lack of communication is bad. I would think most host's need to trouble shoot the actual problem (hard drive only, server it's self, run tests, etc.). If you have a RAID set up, some may offer to pop your back up drive and throw into another machine for your pleasure. Others may not have that option.

A lot would depend on their processes to handle something like this.

just got a reply from them

"We are working on it and will update you when we have news for you."

Not much but at least now I know they are trying to solve (whatever the problem is)

not 7hours without communication... 4 hours without communication... 3 hours before that they gave me their last reply, saying they would update me once they had any news on my server - and I replied asking if they had any estimated time for it to be back - 4hours after I had no reply from them - even if it was just to tell me that they were working on it and still didn't have an estimated time for it...

all back online... GFY makes wonders...

15 minutes. Exactly 15 minutes, I had once HDD failure, any my hosting company replaced HDD within 15 minutes, though this probably doesn't happen very often since they are replacing old hardware with new one after some time.

always use hotswap disks with mirroring

Glad you're back online. :)

The real question is does the host actually own the hardware and have their own people that can put hands on it. Likely, no, they are relying on some 3rd party or are reselling the hardware so it's multiple steps up the food chain and a relay of tickets. Thats where you will usually see epic delays in terms of resolution to simple issues.

depends on what the problem is i have seen disk clones that have taken 20+ hours to complete.

if its just replacing the hd and installing a new OS on it that does not take long.

+1

I did this on the last server I ordered, and it's already paid off. One drive started misbehaving and disconnected from the RAID1 array, it was replaced without needing to reboot. :thumbsup Things were a bit slower while the array rebuilt, but it's better than downtime (and the array still needs to rebuild even without hotswap bays)

I'd been about to go with another company and had spent some time negotiating specs and prices when it came out at the last minute that my specific request for hotswap bays had been "overlooked" by their sales rep, and they couldn't do it. No worries he says, we can replace a failed HD for you quickly... but the problem is that to do that they need to: shut down the server, unplug it, derack it, open it up, swap the HDs, put everything back together, rerack it, plug it back in, power it up. That's exactly what I wanted to avoid! :helpme :error

Use Cyberwurx. I left my old host for similar issues. At Cyberwurx they would have told you that you were down before you even knew it yourself and switched out the HD.

I had a memory stick take a shit and they repaired it and sent me an Email about 2 minutes after it happened. With my old host it would have been fucked until I got back on. Scary because I often go on trips for days and am without a computer. Which is ultimately why I made the switch.

move to NakedHosting / CertifiedHosting :thumbsup
and forget the word downtime...

I was surprised before I worked for hosting how many of my past hosts where just resellers. Almost all.

Are you running any sort of RAID or have backups?
A hard drive failure can indeed put you down for a long time (many hours) if you have not purchased at least RAID1.
Even with RAID sometimes the array can get screwed up after a drive failure.

Having the knowledgeable techs to be able to get your machine back online though is what really matters. A lot of people just wouldn't be able to salvage a hard drive in bad condition and your data would be gone.

If you are not running RAID -AND- have backups off-server then take this as your wake up call to get them added.

Remember, its not RAID -or- Backups. Its RAID -AND- backups! You need BOTH, they are not the same.