RandomStringOfWords

dead to me

I have used 1and1.com as my web service provider for a good long time now..  They have treated me well  enough and I am pretty happy with them with regards to their hardware.. Their servers are rock solid, you get exactly what you pay for and they don’t price gouge you..  I have had one of their linux root boxes now for going on 3 years and have always been fairly happy with it..

Recently I have wanted to do some stuff that required a windows server, and now what with the closure of the Fan Films Forum I no longer have to worry about 100% up time.. So I’m decided to go ahead and take this opportunity to convert my server over from the fedoracore 6 linux box to a windows 2008 server box..  Yay..  Good times..

The other nice thing is that by making this change I’ll be reducing my monthly cost by about $40.. Yay for money saving..

I’ll let you know how this goes.. There may be some down time but likely not very much..

Update #1:

Okay I have the windows server up and running..  I’m using IIS instead of Apache (cause its windows) and it’s a little slower, BUT I think its likely due to the machines network infrastructure and not the difference between IIS and Apache.  This website loads in 1.5 seconds under my new server as opposed to 0.8 seconds under the old one.    Pings to this server hit at 50ms were as pings to the old one hit at 30ms.   Frankly, it’s a minor difference and I’m not worried about it..  If it becomes an issue I’ll complain to my host..

I’m still in the process of moving things over.. so for the time being everything lives in two places..

With this change I think I’m going to be focusing on “randomstringofwords.com” again.. Meaning, that will be the primary URL not “rsow.com”.. Both will work of course, but no one but me knows what RSOW stands for so it sorta loses something..

I’m also going to ditch the INFO part.. Previously I had planned to have all manner of different URLS.

Update #2:

So I have to admit I’m extremely disappointed with 1and1..  I have had some questions about the windows server package they sold me that they basically told me they wouldn’t answer.. “It’s not our job” was the response I got more often than not..

This sort of thing exemplified the issues I have always had with 1and1.. if you had a support issue you were boned..  Their hardware was good but I can get iron anywhere.. its the support of that iron that should be what they are selling..

It took me a long time to sort out my issues and get everything working, only to find out the machine they gave me only had 1 gig of memory..  (not enough for what ANYONE would need)..   I asked for another stick of memory to be put in the box and the answer was “No.” ..  Not “We’re sorry but.. “,  Not “So sorry for the inconvenience but.. “.. but NO..

I asked them to help me open SSH to the box and they were boggled.  They couldn’t understand why I would want SSH open to a windows box, but once I explained it and got htem to realize i twas worth doing they explained that it wasn’t their place to help me administer my box.   Wow..  really?   He also told me that SSH was insecure and that’s the reason it wasn’t open by default after I pointed out that FTP and Telnet by default was open..

Wait.. what?!  SSH isn’t secure?  It stands for “Secure Shell”..  Hell passwords are sent in the clear in FTP and Telnet..  Unreal..

I also pointed out that the windows box was twice as slow as my linux box and that the subnet really seemed flooded as my ping to the box was twice as high as it was to my linux box..  No comment from them on that.. in fact he kind of ignored that comment..

Ultimately I had to just cancel the new windows box.  It just couldn’t perform anywhere near where I would have needed it or where i tshould have considering the price..

Here’s the best part;

I was trying to cancel my account while heading to lunch with some coworkers..  I called them up and had a conversation with the billing department that amazed everyone in the car, and caused them to burst out laughing at a couple points.

I gave them my user ID, and then my contract ID after which he asked for my admin password.  Uh.. you want the password I type in?  That’s an automatically generated password that yall gave me.. I can’t change it.. You should know it..  But fine.. I gave it to him 3 or 4 times and it just wasnt going through..   He said well I can send it to you again..  wait. .what?  You are going to email me the password and then I’m to read it back to you?  What the fuck is the point of that?

I told him that hey why don’t we just go by the credit card you have on file.. since that’s in my pocket and all..  He said, no no that’s not secure..  That could be phished for.. What the fuck dude.. I have given you my customer ID a unique 10 digit number, my contract ID a unique 12 digit number, my name and what not.. etc.. and you’re going to email me the password I have to give you to continue..

It stands to reason that if I have the two ID’s I got them from the email account in the first damn place.. how is that more secure?!   unreal..

So yeah.. I eventually go that one closed and started looking for a new host..

My co-worker chad suggested hostgator.com as a replacement host..  So far I’m extremely impressed.. I got the reseller account so I could have control over giving friends and family accounts and websites too..  So far everything is great..  The best part is the speed.. it’s easily more than double the speed of my linux box..

At the very bottom of this page you should see something that says ## of queries in ### seconds.   Well on my old linux box it was usually 0.8 seconds, on my windows box it was 1.6 seconds..   That’s just the time it took to generate the data.. The actual load time from my linux box could be as much as 7 seconds..

Look at it now.. what is it?   That’s how much faster it is..  For me it says 0.38 seconds which translates to roughly 2.3 seconds of load time..  For the exact same page..

That’s nice.. speed is good.. I dunno what their hardware or pipe is but hostgator has good stuff..  Far better than 1and1..   Also hostgator uses Cpanel which in my mind beats the hell out of Plesk..

Either way.. Gonna keep working with it and will let you know how much better it is as I figure it out..  Right now I’m happier and will be moving all my old stuff off 1and1 completely in short order..