Can you count on your host ?

[sarettah]

Or should you be taking matters into your own hands ?

Apparently, according to a thread at the zoo ( http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=523802 ). The ArikaAmes site took a major hit when a harddrive failed and the owner found out that:

1. The host (looks like Webair) switched from free backups to backups being a paid option and the owner missed the email note somehow.

2. That the database that the owner thought was on a different server than the site was actually on the same server as the site.

The harddrive went to total shit on them and they have lost their affiliate database. They were able to put the site back up because they had copies of that. But they lost their database and a lot of design and programming stuff that was not live.

So, do you backup copies of your stuff ? Or do you depend on your host to take care of that ?

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by sarettah

So, do you backup copies of your stuff ? Or do you depend on your host to take care of that ?

When it comes to my own stuff, I wear a belt and suspenders.

My most important sites I backup completely at regular intervals.

My most important dBs I backup at intervals and so does my operations officer.

And I pay extra for daily backups at my host (who, unlike the one mentioned, isn't going to fuck around.)

[ReighlynnRaine]

I love my hosts. In the years of using it I haven't had a problem.

[Osiris]

I trust my host 100%, but I still back up all of my work..

[selena]

I'm not going to get into host bashing, though I would really love to. Though I am happy with my current host, I don't think mission critical things should get left up to hosts to do. If they do it, fine. But I would not be comfortable leaving something that vital as a responsiblity for someone not under my direct control.

[Rolo]

Our backup setup at our colo:

- servers are all raid 1 or 5
- onsite backup + spare parts in the datacenter
- remote backup in our office + another location

Also in worst case scenario we can be at the datacenter by plane within 1½ hour or 8-9 hours by car.

Only thing you should trust is that everything will fail, when you need it the most - keeps you from getting ass fucked.

[Cleo]

Since I run that flavor of *nix called Mac OS keeping a local copy of my servers on my laptop is simple and hassle free using Cron and Rsync. Each night around 4am a crontab is run syncing my servers to my laptop. Actually I have a few versions being kept in case of data corruption and not just a drive failure.

Not that I every worry about my host which is Colo-Cation having any issues since they also do nightly backups and have diesel generators in case of power failure.

Having a local backup is also very sweet if I want to change something on my servers. I just do a search and replace using my favorite editors on my laptop's local backup and then Rsync my local files back to my server which usually takes only a few minutes if even that.

[Nickatilynx]

The only time we have ever been "hacked" was when we were hosted by webair some 2 - 3 years ago.

If memory serves me right it was actually a flaw/backdoor in their copy of the operating system.

There was sometrhing weird about it for sure....

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by Nickatilynx

The only time we have ever been "hacked" was when we were hosted by webair some 2 - 3 years ago.

If memory serves me right it was actually a flaw/backdoor in their copy of the operating system.

There was sometrhing weird about it for sure....

Many of the more technical hosts will do proprietary tweeking of the kernel and operating system.

Those who only think they know what they're doing will open up a pandora's box. Those who actually know can make an even more secure platform.