My Bluehost hosted website site has been down again for over an hour today. Had downtimes last week and the week before. Just talked to them on the phone and only heard apologies but no real solution. Said the server is ok but the network is down.
Anybody else with constant hosting issues at Bluehost?

That's odd. I've been up with them for a few months and I've had 2 downtimes, but only for a couple of minutes. I know little about hosting but maybe they could move you to a different server? Maybe you're sharing space with a bandwidth hog or something.....

My site is up but i am disappointed because something has happpened to their backup server and i have been unable to backup thru bluehost for 2 weeks now. I called support two nights ago and they had no idea it was down ( right) and no idea when it would be back up. I am wondering if they disabled that service for regular folks since they are pushing their pro (costs money) service.


They do have dedicated IPs available, i think it was $8 a month and dedicated servers as well, much more costly. I guess you get what you pay for. 


I dont know that my site has ever been down but it is slow sometimes.

Been there a few months, and yes I have experienced numerous outages.

This is the first time I have my site down.

I emailed support

There is a bigger issue going on today, affecting HostMonster and HostGator as well. This is not a normal outage, it is very widespread.

My SYS site on Bluehost is down this morning too. But I run another one on HostGator, and it's fine at the moment. My personal site is on Dreamhost, which has had a terrible history of outages, but finally they got their act together and haven't had problems lately. It's fine today too.

The Internet in general must be overloaded. Too many of us are creating our own SYS websites!

Same here. Way way way too often. Worst host ever. Not even bluehost.com is reachable .

I am having problems at Shutterstock as well

Proxy Error

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request GET /forum.mhtml.

Reason: Could not connect to remote machine: Connection timed out

When I was choosing a web hosting service, I had BlueHost on my short list, but decided against them because of the many threads that I read about them being down.

So far, I'm very happy that I went with GoDaddy.  They haven't been down once that I know of (and I have been constantly working on the website in some form or fashion for a few weeks).

I'm wondering if anybody has ever "moved" a complete Symbiostock site to a different host.
Just thinking out loud right now but any advice would be appreciated.
I've had these outages at Bluehost every week since I've signed up with them in June. I'm tired of getting my search engine ranking and business reputation damaged by people who don't care about stable foundations.

That message from bluehost bears little or no resemblance to the problem - ALL their host sites going down - do they really only use ONE server for everyone - bluehost, justhost, hostgator,  ?

At least Hostgator are trying to keep people at bit informed
http://forums.hostgator.com/emergency-network-maintenance-provo-t278588.html?s=55a3ba298b6cc91d19da880cc72a61d0&

Ugh... I signed up with them about 6 weeks ago. I will see how goes, and then decide if I need to move. Not sure if they will reimburse me.

So I don't think that you can just copy over the MySQL database. 

Why not? That's what I was hoping, importing the tables into the new MySQL and then changing the access information in the wp-config.php. Well, and of course copying all files and folders to the new host.

Did you run into any problems with the installation routine of WP and SYS at GoDaddy?

Quote from: ShazamImages on August 02, 2013, 09:10

So I don't think that you can just copy over the MySQL database. 

Why not? That's what I was hoping, importing the tables into the new MySQL and then changing the access information in the wp-config.php. Well, and of course copying all files and folders to the new host.

OK, I thought about this a little more.  My initial thoughts are as follows:

When you install a theme or plugin, entries get stored in the MySQL database with unique IDs.  Those IDs are most likely going to be different between the old server (that you are moving away from) and the new server (that you are moving to).

So what I would think is that you would need to install all of the themes, plugins, etc., then wipe out certain tables (such as WP_POSTS, WP_POSTMETA, WP_OPTIONS, WP_LINKS, WP_COMMENTS, WP_COMMENTMETA, WP_TERMS, WP_TERM_RELATIONSHIPS, and WP_TERM_TAXONOMY), and then import those same tables from the old server to the new server.

I'm not sure what to do with WP_USERS and WP_USERMETA at this time, because if you wipe that one out, then you might not be able to log in!  You probably would need to make sure that the administrator was setup the exact same way between the two instances.

Then you would need to copy all of the image files over (thumbnails, watermarked version, and full size), in addition to the media files.

Anyway, that is my first draft.  I'm sure that it would need some modifications.

Its down again

Appears as though it has been down for the better part of the last several hours. Unfortunately I signed a 3 year agreement with them when I started. I totally regret it right now, and I am sure they won't offer a refund. Oh well, it's not like I was going to get a sale today or anything. I honestly did much better with Warmpicture, even without the SEO advantages of SY. 

Quote from: ShazamImages on August 02, 2013, 09:10

So I don't think that you can just copy over the MySQL database. 

Why not? That's what I was hoping, importing the tables into the new MySQL and then changing the access information in the wp-config.php. Well, and of course copying all files and folders to the new host.

Did you run into any problems with the installation routine of WP and SYS at GoDaddy?

This is the simplest way to move from one host to another with the least amount of work.  I've done this many times and can help out with any questions or issues.

Thank you for reporting your experience, I was leaning heavily toward bluehost that and a little more digging has put me off.

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/bluehost-has-the-worst-wordpress-service-do-not-use-bluehost

Quote from: gbalex on August 02, 2013, 10:42

Thank you for reporting your experience, I was leaning heavily toward bluehost that and a little more digging has put me off.

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/bluehost-has-the-worst-wordpress-service-do-not-use-bluehost

Oh boy, I just took a look at godaddy and it seems to be no better than BH: http://www.whoishostingthis.com/hosting-reviews/go-daddy/

Bluehost still seems to be down and thanks for the info, this is one reason I have been holding off, I do not have time to deal with the kinks right now and I do appreciate the feedback from those here willing to share their experience.   

http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/bluehost.com.html

Response from BH support:

Quote

Hello,

We certainly apologize for the inconvenience, there is currently an issue with the server itself. Our administrators are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. This may be a server issue, or it may be an issue caused by another user hosted on the server. Because you are in a shared hosting environment, this means that any user on any server can potentially cause issues with the server itself. These issues can effect performance for other users on the same server. If this is indeed the cause, we work to find these users that are causing the problems and deactivate them. Our administrators work to resolve these issues as they are brought to our attention, please bear with us, we appreciate your patience.


How did we do? Please help us improve the support that we offer you
by filling out this online survey:
...

Thank you,
Susan

That is total B.S. I have multiple sites on HostMonster and I know they're not all on the same servers, and yet they're all still down. If it was an issue related to just one server and it affected just the sites on that server, this would be a far more limited outage.

The one thing I hate more than downtime is straight-up lies about what is causing the downtime.

hostmonster is down right now

http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/hostmonster.com.html

? could be associated with the FB bug

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/08/facebook-like-button-bug-_n_2644245.html

So far, I'm very happy that I went with GoDaddy.  They haven't been down once that I know of (and I have been constantly working on the website in some form or fashion for a few weeks).

I've had websites consistently on Godaddy for over ten years and other than my current issue with getting imagick enabled I've never had any serious problems (downtime, slow, etc.).  I had considered moving to bluehost but there is probably no way that I would even consider that now.

Quote from: Redneck on August 02, 2013, 09:24

Quote from: ShazamImages on August 02, 2013, 09:10

So I don't think that you can just copy over the MySQL database. 

Why not? That's what I was hoping, importing the tables into the new MySQL and then changing the access information in the wp-config.php. Well, and of course copying all files and folders to the new host.

Did you run into any problems with the installation routine of WP and SYS at GoDaddy?

I copied my Wordpress site and used a plugin called WordPress Importer to install the exported file. I think you still need to copy over all the images and some other things. If you have a local host MAMP or LAMP, you can probably experiment.

Which file are you talking about, the MySQL database file?
And how exactly did you do the move? Did your move include only WP or SYS as well?

OK, I've done some more thinking about how to move a Symbiostock store from one host to another and it does seem pretty easy.

It seems that you basically need to:

• shutdown your website (so you don't get any registrations or sales while your moving)
• copy your entire MySQL database from the old host to the new host
• zip and copy the entire webroot from your old host to the new host (this will include all of the theme code, plugin code, images, etc)
• change the wp-config.php in the webroot of your new host, and that should do it.

Thanks to everyone for their help in this.  I'm sure that it will come in handy at some point.

My website is up but neither the Bluehost control panel nor the FTP server can be accessed so far.

Mine is down.

HostMonster is saying that they are 50% restored. Which I find funny since I have 5 sites hosted with them, all on different servers, and none of my sites are back up yet.

And they're blaming this all on a bad router. Bad routers knock out my home ISP every few years. How can a bad router take down an entire hosting operation? And how is there no backup in place for a bad router?

Quote from: jsfoto on August 02, 2013, 13:33

Quote from: Redneck on August 02, 2013, 13:11

My website is up but neither the Bluehost control panel nor the FTP server can be accessed so far.

Same here ... I really hope this situation is an exception ...

Unfortunately I had downtimes EVERY week since I signed up with them. Not as long and as sever but still not reliable at all. I think I'll drop BH as soon as I have set up an alternative location. It's hurting me personally.

You could ask to be switched to a different server. It seems like some people are sitting pretty, some have more bumps.

Quote from: Redneck on August 02, 2013, 13:40

Quote from: jsfoto on August 02, 2013, 13:33

Quote from: Redneck on August 02, 2013, 13:11

My website is up but neither the Bluehost control panel nor the FTP server can be accessed so far.

Same here ... I really hope this situation is an exception ...

Unfortunately I had downtimes EVERY week since I signed up with them. Not as long and as sever but still not reliable at all. I think I'll drop BH as soon as I have set up an alternative location. It's hurting me personally.

You could ask to be switched to a different server. It seems like some people are sitting pretty, some have more bumps.

I know but I've lost faith in Bluehost. I don't want to gamble anymore. I have the feeling they don't take business as serious as I do and switching to a different BH server won't change that.

I'll keep y'all posted.

If you need to backup and move servers, why not try blogvault. I use them for years now for all my websites to backup and move/clone within minutes from one hoster to another. Sure, it's another 9/Month but think about a hack or any database issue with your Symbiostock WordPress Website.

• http://blogvault.net?src=amosnet *(affiliate link)
  

How do you do backup your website? How do you move your data from bluehost or any other "down" host to a new server? You can't if you haven't backup it to a third party service.

Anyhow - feel free to give blogvault a try, it's free for 7 days (even their backup and move service to another host). Their service and support is outstanding and very helpful.

And yes, i'm affiliated with them and yes i so proud of their service that i even run their german business.

Here is my affiliate link: http://blogvault.net?src=amosnet

For backups, there are lots of plugins that will do automatic nightly backups of your entire site and database. I'm running one that generates a nighty backup. Unfortunately I never configured it to send the backup off-site, so I can't access my backups until the site comes back online.

But for situations like today's mess, if you were ever inclined to quickly move your site to a new host in the event of a catastrophic outage, having off-site backups is crucial.

Restoring a site from a backup or moving a WordPress site to a new host from a backup file is pretty easy to do. I moved a site recently and it took far longer to wait for the nameservers to update than it did to do the actual work of loading the site files and database on the new host.

Just got off the line with BlueHost tech support.  The backup and restore functions are still off line at this point.  Can not even download a zip of the web site.  No eta, but I will try again later today and tomorrow.

Appears as though it has been down for the better part of the last several hours. Unfortunately I signed a 3 year agreement with them when I started. I totally regret it right now, and I am sure they won't offer a refund. Oh well, it's not like I was going to get a sale today or anything. I honestly did much better with Warmpicture, even without the SEO advantages of SY. 

They do offer a pro-rated refund as soon as you want to cancel. That's what my friend has been told on the phone with their activation representative.

It's their "Anytime Money Back Guarantee" as you can also see on their web site.

If you are not happy give them a call and you should see the $$$ back on your credit card.

Surprise surprise, BlueHost and HostMonster are down again, just one week after an all-day outage.

I'm calling it right here and how, this is the end of BlueHost and HostMonster. Two major outages in one week is going to start a mass exodus from these companies, starting with the 5 websites I host with HostMonster.

Mike, I've been working on my Bluehost-hosted site all day, and I haven't been down at all. Maybe it's a different server?

It might be worth paying attention to. Bluehost is a very old company. Its odd they have any problems at this point.

I have contacted support at Blue Host several times.  Always the same answer.  My backup server is down for maintenance.  It has been down since friday August 2nd.  I had to FTP my files to my local system just to get a backup copy.  Not very impressive.

I really don't want to move as I have already paid for 3 years of service.  So far my actual site has not experienced any down time.

Yep, i just did this last night. What a pain. So much easier doing it from their backup software. Or i should say it WAS easier,  before all their server problems. I cant believe it is taking them WEEKS to get the issue resolved.