Hi,
I want to go through the previous posts and answer the questions/comments.
I'm starting to wonder if Support is expecting me to handle everything on my own from here on out...?No, we have to set up the dedicated server for you, we need to set it up, then hand over the password and login details to you.
I couldn't; I didn't yet know that they'd munged my site's MX records, preventing any mail from getting processed.The admin who moved the site didn't check that you had a custom MX record. I spotted this and corrected it, your e-mail should be working now. Your e-mail was temporarily going to the Quantz server directly, and can be accessed through
http://quantz.lunarpages.com/webmail , in case you missed any.
However, it is very important for all users to provide an alternative e-mail address that we can contact them on if there is a issue with their account. At
http://account.lunarpages.com , you can update your details. If there is an issue like your account being exploited, moved to another server, etc, we have to be able to contact you.
or would doing so just bump me back down to the bottom of the queue, adding at least another couple days to the process and resulting in my not being able to meet their deadline and thus being kicked off of Lunarpages permanently?No, you will be ok. If you didn't reply and went over 7 days, we would suspend, not delete. Even then, if you have been replying to our e-mails, you have nothing to worry about. We would only suspend the account if you had just been ignoring our e-mails and there was no other option.
I am not sure how this quere system works, does all tickets from all areas go into one pile ? I would think that they would go to separate places for separate techs to look at each areaThey do. For dedicated enquiries and support, you need to e-mail
dedicated@lunarpages.com to avoid delays. If you e-mail
support@lunarpages.com , they might not know you were writing about a dedicated hosting solution unless you had mentioned it. They would pass it on to
dedicated@lunarpages.com , but it means your message would have to queue up twice before being processed.
Guess its not worth the risk with your short timeline, that really bites, is there not anyone that can answer the phone there and maybe not answer your question about your problem but answer these other questions we have been discussing tonightIt's ok, because although we say there is a 7 day cutoff, if there is a delay on our part, we are not going to just suspend the site. It's only if the customer stops responding altogether that we warn and suspend.
For dedicated server questions, you can be transferred to our datacenter during office hours. There are people available working from the datacenter most of the time. If not at that particular moment, we can arrange a callback.
You can always visit the dedicated chat room too.
The managed hosting option would probably be the best choice for you....
That sounds nice, but wasn't the option they told me to use.I am fairly certain that I wrote in the ticket that to have the least disruption/hassle in your case, I suggested the Cpanel option and also managed hosting. Of course, on a dedicated server, you can select any control panel you like. I would have to check on the ticket to see if I hadn't mentioned it, but I am sure that I would definately not have
not recommended it, it's certainly the easiest option.
Why would cPanel cost an additional thirty-five dollars a month?Cpanel is not written by lunarpages, it is written by Cpanel, who are a company who provide software to make setting up and using servers easier. They have a licensing fee for each installation of Cpanel, just like Microsoft Windows.
I'm probably just misunderstanding the situation, but Lunarpages' prices seem kinda high, especially considering that I can't ask Support any questions about the detailsYou can, just e-mail
dedicated@lunarpages.comsupport@lunarpages.com would have to be redirected to
dedicated@lunarpages.com. Telephone calls are put through to the datacenter directly.
The bad news is that Dedicated I (the cheapest dedicated host) still couldn't handle the load of my forums (50 to 80 users at once) and I had to upgrade to Dedicated II ($185 a month with memory upgrade they said I needed).Depending on how your site is coded, it can use up a lot of resources. For the majority of websites, Dedicated I is big enough, but you can cluster servers together or upgrade if you need even more processor time. A common upgrade for people who don't wish to upgrade is a memory upgrade.
The further good news is that a similar plan elsewhere would cost over $300. So pick your poison, a popular site isn't cheap to host. Absolutely, you are 100% correct! Especially if lots of scripting is involved. This is what it all comes down to. We have many different priced plans, which cover most people's requirements, providing you are not the next google.com, in which case you would need cluster many of the dedicated servers together! (like they do)
The Dedicated Chat (which is up even if regular Live Chat isn't) works great if you log in during business hours, they'll jump right on it. I mean, within seconds. If you log in during off-hours, you can sit for a very long time if the techs happen to be busy elsewhere. They have much fewer staff at night so if you're sitting there losing money on your site, prepare for some tense hours.At night time, we do have fewer people working, it's true, but the dedicated chat room should always have someone available. We have been testing out new chat software that makes a noise when someone needs help, so that even if we are busy working on something, we can check in there. We have to multitask, watching servers, correcting issues, answering support tickets and manning the chat, but now that the software makes a sound, you shouldn't have to wait very long any more.
But, if you want a host with 24-hour instant phone support, you'll have to go elsewhere and pay more. That's the tradeoff. LP is a low-cost host, that's how it works.Well, kind-of, I guess. Our prices are low, compared to some of the competition. We don't have 24 hour instant phone support - yet. We can be contacted via e-mail 24/7 and also through the dedicated chat room (also 24/7). Many hosts which do have 24/7 phone support cost a lot more, and I guess you have to balance how important that is to you. If there is a problem with your server and you are on managed hosting, we will know about it even before you do, and will correct it anyway. The live chat support is open, so I would hope that's enough for most people, who don't want to have the extra cost of 24/7 phone support, which has to be paid for somehow.
I've noticed the Dedicated board on this forum is pretty dead.It's not very busy, that's true! The dedicated servers have been running for less than a year, at the time of writing, but most of our customers who have them don't bother posting! Quite a lot are businesses, who don't have time to visit forums.
what if you were to get a second (or more) shuttle plan(s) and distribute you pages across them? That'd be cheaper than going to a dedicated server.
But I don't know if that'd work as I think your issue is for single pages? Even if one plan acted as just storage for the images, the calls for them would still be against the first server's CPU resources?Splitting up the site into several Shuttle accounts would probably work, but you would need to redesign the website. If the images were on a different server, the calls for them would be on the 2nd server's resources, not the first. I think if it were my site, I would just go for dedicated. If you didn't get the site split up 50/50 exactly, in terms of popularity, one account might still be over it's resource limits and it would be a pain to move again.
So if I'm using up 32% of the shared server's dual-processor CPU power (which is what I'm told I did yesterday), does anybody know (or have an opinion regarding) whether this means that I'd be "too big" for the dedicated servers, too?Actually, the shared servers are Quad-processor! The 32% probably refers to the "top process", which is not the same as the average usage. The top processes are when the usage was at it's absolute highest. The averages give a better indication.
For a website that is just plain text and images, dedicated I should be enough. You can always upgrade in the future if you need to, we take care of that for you. Having said that, if you are using 100% of the processor, that's fine, as long as it's not due to badly written scripts, which is another story... As you are on dedicated, 100% processor usage is totally fine, there are no usage limits.
I hope that helps a little. Hosting isn't a simple subject, so there are lots of questions you might be wondering about. We are here and happy to help you.
