How can i have a backup of websites on another hosting company???????

[knigh7]

i have a few websites in a shared hosting account, the domain names for those websites are using the names servers of my domain name registrar.

the question is, is it possible to open an account with a cheap hosting company as means of backup. That is i upload a copy of my webpages on the cheap hosting as means of backup (mirroring???) in which if my primary hosting is down, then it will fall back to my backup server. This includes duplicating emails as well if possible???

How does it usually work, is ther other ways of having backups?????

[MikeParent]

Erm, copy all the files there? :-)

The big issue is you need control over the DNS entries... thats why I have come to realize that registering your own names first and tehn going to a hosting provider is ultimately a better scenario...

[knigh7]

How does it work???

i'm doing this incase my current server goes down, then is it possble to have an entry in the dns or somewhere where if one fails then it goes to the other?????

Is this possible with emails as well????

I have a Vague idea of what to do... but nothing solid....

Regards,
Ahmad

[MikeParent]

Scratch what I said... I dont know if what you're trying to do is even possible or feasible if you dont control the DNS itself. In order for failover to happen. The long and short of it is, two hosting services cannot be authoritative for your domain name.

Even if you had one hosting fail, if you repointed the DNS servers for your domain to be the other hosts DNS servers, its DNS servers (not being authoritative for your domain) would actually contact your original hosts (the failed one) DNS servers and it still direct users to the failed site.

The only thing you might be able to do is go with one of those dynamic DNS providers (e.g. dyndns.org) that allow you to manage your own DNS entries.

If downtime is a significant issue, then you may want to choose another primary hosting provider.

[knigh7]

so i can not have my website in two places, and if someone types www.mydomain.com be redirected to my secondary hosting if my primary hosting fails???

[tmmoose]

Web Site Copy Tool (http://www.httrack.com)
You can use this software to copy any site....to your puter

[MikeParent]

While that tool will copy a website, it will not do anything for failing over domains that go belly up.

[azlatin2000]

And that tool will not give you the source code of the php/asp scripts.

[knigh7]

i have a copy of my site, what i want is a mechanism in which i can have copies of my website on two servers and if one server fails the other automatically picks up

[tmmoose]

Found this (http://www.intranetjournal.com/ix/msg/13274.html)

[MikeParent]

Unless you can control your own DNS entries, you cannot do this.

[Terminator1138]

I agree with the above statements, you cannot redirect your site if it goes down. The chances of you site going down needs to be resolved quickly by your host. You can set up redirects there, but if its down, they will not work. I would talk to your Host provider and ask them about redudancy and if they have plans for server failures, etc.

[knigh7]

this happend to me on monday...
the mysql server was down and 2 of my clients were not able to access their site...

anyways.... i am thinking of getting a server and putting it in a
server farm anyone has any ideas>??????
which server to buy...
i mainly want linux (i have lettle knowledge of)
apache, php and mysql... with a control panel (cpanel or ensim)
also is cobalt any good???

regards...
ahmad

[Terminator1138]

If you have your own server, just make sure it is backed by a good T1 at least, depending on how many accounts you set up on it.

With your clients down, did it hurt them much or was it just a pain in the butt for the day?

For server choices, (since its your clients you are concerned about) I would go with Dell servers or IBM. Dell had a great buy on a server last month. It was fully loaded for most tasks at about 900 bucks or so.

[MikeParent]

If a database is involved things get trickier (potentially). If the data changes often you also have to worry about synchronizing it between db servers...

On the failover side though it is a little easier since if the website is functioning but the database is not, you could repoint your manually change your database connection at a different database that lives elsewhere. Hosting your own server farm would get costly...

I think if you believe you will have more problems with this host, you should just find another more reliable one. How long was the outage?

If you have created the expectation for your clients of high availability, you need to facilitate that and bill accordingly.

[MikeParent]

Who is this provider incidentally?

[knigh7]

Mike its vi.net

my db was down for 2 days...

it was hell... you know the saying when it rains it pours...
that is what happend this week,,, i didnt have time to check my posts.... for the past week that is how hecktic it got...
but what doesnt kill you makes you stronger... .:)

thanks guys..... i am still reviewing it and i am more inclined on getting a server, this is good because i want to get into servers

[MikeParent]

Hosting your own can get *very* expensive...

[azlatin2000]

The pc, electricity, air conditioner, t1 connection, that would cost a ton if you want it to be reliable.
But if you still want to do it you should atleast sell some hosting to defray the cost.

[knigh7]

how about if i got a server in a server farm?????

[Terminator1138]

So you are saying just to buy one server out of many in an area correct?

So you are basically looking into a dedicated server from a hosting company. This option is available to many and you need to talk to support of that company. It will be cheaper than running your own, but there is add on cost of dedicated server, you could still see downtime unless you are there right away to fix the problem.

[knigh7]

i think i will go for a reliable hosting company now...
that is better and more cost effective.....

any one know of any good ones.//

[Terminator1138]

What features do you need or would like, it might help to know and not to suggest one that will not fit if you need a particular feature.

Forum thread search will help you decide and give you some user feedback. I use imhosted.com even though some call it imhosed.com etc , but I have been very pleased so far with the service regardless of who is partnered with it or not. It also depends on the cost you are willing to spend. Hope this helps.

[knigh7]

i want a reseller account, unlimited email, PHP/MySQL, webmail, control panel.. and perferably uk based and OH yes 99.9 at least... costing around 600 pounds... ,,, that is less than a thousand us per year

[Terminator1138]

I don't think the problem will be the cost so much, It just depends mainly on the bandwidth you want and the storage. Some of the best hosting services might only charge about 60 US dollars a month for what you are looking at. I think the hardest will be finding one in the UK... Let me get back to you for a list on some places for you the check out.

[knigh7]

that would be a life saver,
thank you so much

[Terminator1138]

Sorry it taken so long to reply back. I have been at meetings for the last two days and still trying to get caught up. I did a simple websearch of "hosting reviews" and Lunarpages http://www.lunarpages.com came up many times and Host rocket at http//www.hostrocket.com

This is just a few and some others that might suite your needs might be www.imhosted.com or www.lypha.com even though therer might be ties or reseller accounts. I also run webspace that is similar to www.imhosted.com but I'm still working on the price range for those who do not what all the features that some businesses might need.

Overall just do a search and find any that look appealing and then come back and ask the forum opinions of each that you like from the reviews.

Hope this helps

[knigh7]

Thanks a lot,

[Terminator1138]

Glad to help. Let me know what you found out. I always like to hear about good companies that others have had good success with.

[knigh7]

my friend recommended this http://www.hotchilli.com/
and this company webfusion.com has been advertising on most IT magazines in the UK....

[knigh7]

my friend recommended this http://www.hotchilli.com/
and this company webfusion.com has been advertising on most IT magazines in the UK....

[Terminator1138]

hummm....it looks like the cost is quit a bit for what they offer. 2GB bandwidth for resellers is not very much and the costs afterwards for using more might be very expensive. Just read the fine print to make sure.