Network Attached Storage (NAS) & backups August 29, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : Backing up, Hosting, Internet, free hosting , add a comment
I’ve been looking at backup storage methods which I could use for my sites and specifically accounts which can be added to store backups via NAS to store full cPanel Backups and to be at the ready if files I’ve deleted or if someone has done something horrific to their free hosted account on Vlexo.com. At current I’ve been doing things like this via Rsync, which works well however NAS is something which my service provider offers which I would rather have and turns out it might be slightly cheaper; only slightly to what I’m currently paying.
However I’ve found a much cheaper solution, this solution is only by adding a secondary hard drive to the initial server and select any cPanel account to which end I’d want to backup accounts to. This is much cheaper, as I can purchase a 250GB hard drive disk for $20 per month and store all selected cPanel accounts to which end will be worth it. At current I’m paying for remote storage at a price of just $14 per month for 50 gigabytes of space and unmetered traffic. However this is simply not worth it as a secondry drive is as as reliable and is much cheaper as I can store 250GB of storage for just $20 per month, which is worth every cent.
With the free hosting I provide, I will be using this service as an addon which people can purchase, so for example, people will be able to pay a subscription per month to add their cPanel account to the list of accounts which get backed up. This is a unique service to which end not many if any provide such service of backing up accounts. These backups can of course be restored and they will be made on a nightly basis and perhaps a weekly one to save any ‘older’ backups. Costs would only go so far as $0.50 to $1 depending on how many gigabytes you would be using up and if anything WiredTree offers a variety of other larger diskpace drives:
Not to bad and a little revenue could be made if this is a success. I’ll aslo be saying that everyone who uses this service gets premium support, such as private support via our forums and ticketing support which will come along in the future - which will be a gateway to admins such as myself, Eli and the rest of the team.
To transfer 400+ accounts August 19, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : Hosting, Internet, My Sites, Other, Webmaster, free hosting , add a comment
So my job today…
Is to transfer over 400 accounts onto the new swerve dedicated server I recently purchased, currently it only has 2GB of RAM however I’m looking to upgrade it to either 4GB of RAM or 6GB’s however that is if the server needs it; though I don’t believe it will unless FlickCabin.com has sudden increases or digg effects. Though if this does happen, a simple RAM upgrade which is available whenever and is always a choice with the host I purchased a server with. It’s going to take time to transfer the accounts over and set the DNS records straight so no-one has to change name servers however it should be somewhat an easy job. I’ve been quite busy lately, with building development and today would be the only day this month; of which I can complete the whole transfer. - However I will administer the transfer of DNS propagation (If at-all any is going to happen, as the DNS records resolve) to the same data center that we have been with for over 8 months.
I would initially get WiredTree to do this, as they would typically do this for you however I need to learn more on troubleshooting issues rather than getting someone else to do something for me, as that would be the easy way out. 
Though this shouldn’t take too long as only a few accounts are using over a gigabyte of data. Hopefully this should go well, as I will be transferring accounts in batches to prevent any data loss if the connection between both servers is sustained too long. As always the transfer will take place as such:
- Transfer the smaller sites that are under 100MB in size
- Transfer sites in the medium range of 100-500MB and above
- Transfer sites in batches of over 1GB
- Transfer any outstanding or even existing websites
I’m going to be transferring accounts from Magnet first, then Variable.
Transfer begun
Currently, I’ve transferred most of the Magnet websites/users and it’s going well, I’m hoping to get this transfer all done by today so I can cancel the VPS’ they are currently on and plus I don’t have the time to do it any other day; but perhaps tomorrow afternoon. To finish it all today would be wonderful, hopefully everything will work without a hitch - I’d be happy indeed. Though one problem is occuring, there is a big website which have files stored securely and things have to be uploaded to the new server in batches. (Such as the data files and everything like that) It’s not much of a problem, hopefully we’ll get through this as it’s taking quite a long time and I need to get it done all by today.
The account owner of this user name: amazinaz, you are a big pain in the neck! - I know this account and the guy on the Vlexo forums however your account is taking me over an hour (Right now) to transfer over to the new server. 
No worries, seems to be going flawlessly right now. Hopefully this will all be over soon!
Magnet Data transferred complete
After 5 hours of transferring accounts over from Magnet, the work has been completed, and all sites/files are in working order and zero downtime occurred. I have transferred over 200 accounts onto this powerful dedicated server, now time to transfer another 100/200+ accounts over - which I will do tomorrow morning as at the moment, I’m very tired and knackered after waiting 5 hours. Things have gone without a hitch, apart from the timing which I though I’d be able to everything in around 2 hours. Things happen and it wasn’t too bad. 
Variable Data transferal complete
The data and accounts on Variable have now been succesfully transferred over to to new quad.vlexodns.com server. Issues are no longer a problem so far since we are on quite a powerful server with upgrades at the ready if they are needed. It took me around 8 hours to transfer all accounts over from Variable to Quad as cPanel accounts fared much larger and more complicated.
Done
I’ve succesfully transferred all accounts to quad.vlexodns.com and things are running quite smoothly, there were some processes which I killed as they was pushing the server load to extreme levels. Out of 2GB of RAM, websites are using only 40-50% and the server in terms of uptime is currently at 100% on all services that are currently running.
Vlexo.com March 4, 2007
Posted by Jonathan in : Chitika, Hosting, Internet, Me and my life, My Sites, Other, Webmaster, free hosting, opensource , 3 comments
Vlexo.com is a service which started in February 02-07, since then the service has grown in a ’seen to be’ state which is reliable and which is fighting to make it through the hosting market with the tight niche and actively competing market. However plans to grow and add additional services such as emailing, blogging and even forum making only services are in the making along with a lot of other additional services. At current Vlexo Services provide free web hosting, with cPanel with an ample amount of features to which end is a service which has since proven itself from when back in Feb 07; that one, it would be reliable, two, it would last and third… support would be there when needed.
I started this free service ‘venture’ as I was co-owner or a helper of many free and big hosts and even a small-time paid host; I had the experience and the cash to throw in so I said why not? There needs to be a change in the free hosting market that proves free hosting can be just as reliable and feature rich compared to paid hosting and that support answers could be dealt with faster via our support compared to other paid hosts out there, which ‘try’ to provide some sort of premium service. At current we lease dedicated servers from a provider named WiredTree which we have found to be the most reliable dedicated/vps service to-date. There is a major difference between us and other providers out there, which is that we provide daily, weekly and monthly backups. However this is soon to change as we are taking in a high-volume of users thus why we maybe charging or be doing something in order to have the privilege of having free backups for your website and everything else you host with Vlexo!
Staff acceptance
We accept everyone from anywhere as long as your English is good and that you have some field of experience in the free/paid hosting side of things and as long as you are able to use Web Hosting Manager and cPanel (WHM/cP) to which is a requirement.
Staff payback
With the staff working for a free service such as ours, you’ll get ad-free hosting on any premium servers we open up and of course we will make free online backups for you on the 250GB HDD we utilize. We will also work better with staff members if requests are made where normal members wouldn’t get such request accepted.
Support
Support is something which most reputable hosts provide however a select few or big minority of hosts do not as they simply only have time to support the server running the websites which are hosted. However we are dedicated to the free hosting provided, thus why we provide fast & quick resolution support to which we pride ourselves in and to-date we have answered thousands of help threads/tickets/emails in a timely manner. Support is something which new people as well as old need in case something sticky happens and we provide this and the server is always monitored in case things go haywire on the back-end. We also post regular Announcements on our forums and on our news blog; just to keep the end-user informed of things.
Support site that is not likely to fail
The thing we provide is a support website which is not likely to fail, as our main website and everything else is hosted on totally different and redundant service. So if the server ‘you’re’ hosted on takes some hits (DDoS) or generally problems then most likely our website will be available and readily available for updates that will be made on our news blog and forums. - Thus far making any support requests which need to be indited won’t be to serious if our support sites goes down or if your need help in getting things setup!
Flexibility
With Vlexo comes to the awesome amount of flexibility we have to offer, if you run out of bandwidth or space or simply anything, you’ll be able to work with us to get something sorted to enable you to have more resources in return for something small.
Kindness
As a free host we don’t employ ‘you ain’t paying, so you are a lesser being’ feeling, as it’s just not right, however we like to be treated with the same respect and we’ll do so if you are nice to us. We will help anyone from anywhere and we won’t go to harsh on you if you are wanting to ask simple questions or need help to solve simple problems. This is the kind of flexibility we have on offer and help is always around the corner when you need it.
Design
In February 2007, Vlexo started with a horribly designed template, to which it was a template and looked real old however it was one of those things I thought looked stylish then after a while it got boring and just ‘old’, you can see the design we used to have. (I will post an image later today) Here is the current design we have as of mid-2007-2008:
As you can see the design above isn’t to bad and it is a custom one that I bought for $250 if I can remember correctly and it was worth every cent/penny as the design works. However as of 2008, a new design is in order to keep in touch with the growth and the user base that we currently have and a new design will be done before 2009, with this new design will come more functionality and integration of the design into our forums.
Try us out! (VLEXO.COM)