We’re Out of the Woods

…or at least I think we are. There may be some minor things to address, but the bulk of it is behind me.

After the nightmare that was my upgrade to a VPS server, I’m happy to announce that HuntsmansLodge is back up and fully operational. 🙂

Those of you that follow the blog may recall me having mentioned some weeks back that upgrading to a VPS was in my imminent future. I had been warned a few times over the past few months that my site was violating my hosting company’s Terms of Service by using up too much of the server resources. I tried optimizing the site further, but to no avail. Not only was I no longer welcome on a shared server, but I had my neighbors calling the cops on me when there was a party and the site saw a traffic spike.

WoW.com delivered the final blow when they linked my PvP macros. It was at this point that my hosting company was forced to move my site to an isolated environment to avoid further disruption to the rest of their customers. Although I’d pleaded to them saying that my recent spike wasn’t the norm, they responded by saying that even prior to the surge I was still topping out at 85%-90% of the server resources. I was a bad neighbor indeed.

At that time, my web host did not have any VPS nodes at the ready, so I was told to wait a few weeks until they’d have plans available to order. Unfortunately, about the time my VPS node was ready, my host was also getting ready to pull the plug on my site. I’m assuming that my temporary home was on a low population shared server, which was becoming increasingly more populated with other clients who were getting upset with me chewing up the lion’s share of the resources.

Needless to say, just prior to me placing the formal order for the VPS, they shut me down. Worst of all, this came moments prior to MNF kickoff. 🙁

After the game I spent the better part of the night and wee morning hours trying to get all of this sorted out. I was unaware of what was required of me to get the VPS up and running. I had mistakenly thought that all I needed to do was hand over my CC info and all would be fine once I changed over the nameservers. Wrong.

Being a complete noob when it comes to anything beyond shared hosting, I was unaware that I needed to specify which server software I wanted installed. Since my needs aren’t too great, that was relatively easy. After a few support tickets my new digs were ready for me.

Next, I had to initiate a site migration which delayed things even further, as there were two versions of my site. I had erroneously submitted a request for a transfer of the original HuntsmansLodge, and not the one that was transferred to the isolated environment at the beginning of August. When they moved my site to the temporary server they hadn’t sent me an ip address for that server, so the only thing I had on file was for my original plan.

Eventually they were able to restore the most recent version of the site, but the troubles didn’t end there. My estimated requirements were undershot and the site didn’t have enough available memory to fuel its needs. This was discovered at an inopportune time, since it took nearly nine hours for a tech to respond to this latest issue.

My dilemma caught the eye of one of the higher ups who graciously boosted my VPS memory at no additional charge. I’ve endured some rough seas in the past with my current hosting company, but in the end they always come through with flying colors. During my eleven years of delqing with various web hosts, I can honestly say that I’ve never been happier. I’d been with at least six different web hosting companies over the years prior to InnoHosting, and none of them even compare in my book.

I know this looks like a shameless plug, and although it is in a way, I do mean it. They’re customer and tech support is first rate, plus they even have toll-free phone support! That is quite rare these days. I fully endorse InnoHosting‘s services and give them the HuntsmansLodge.com stamp of approval.

Alright… enough of my Billy Mays routine… 😉

The roughly 72 hour crisis of getting the site back on its feet caused some disruption in my day to day, which in turn was the reason for my absence from the blog. I had to shift focus away from HuntsmansLodge to get some other things buttoned up, but the good news is…

I’M BACK!