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Vizaweb - Gone Dark with No Explanation

guardyourpants.blogspot.com — Vizaweb (the webhost once touted by Leo Laporte) has gone dark with no warning or explanation to their customers. It's been over 48 hours and domains are now failing to resolve. No one has access to their data, email, etc. Vizaweb support doesn't answer the phone, and they obviously don't have email. This is a blog about the problem.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 10, 2006

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  • timdorr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24(note: I'm the owner of ASO. No, seriously.)

    "ASOs prices are ridiculous..."

    Sorry that we don't oversell enough for you. I'm getting kind of sick of the pissing matches between hosts trying to offer TB's of transfer and GBs of space for a few bucks a month. That's not a sustainable business model, especially in the hosting world, as it easily leads to overloaded servers and tons of support problems. Look at Site5 as an example as to what can go wrong.

    Also, I'd steer clear of (mt) for now. They just released their new grid server product, and while it's got some potential, it's definitely had it's fair share of problems these past few weeks. I'd give them a month or two before considering things again. It's got the potential to be a great product, so I hope they work out the kinks.
  • evilpig, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14ASOs prices are ridiculous...
  • nicktripp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Everyone please digg that story, too. I only posted this one because that story wasn't showing up in digg searches for Vizaweb, which I see now is because someone buried that story and I wasn't including buried stories in my search. Anyway, this is not about who can get a story to the front page, but about bringing attention to a situation that desperately needs it. Digg both.
  • Lostcosmos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6For the sake of history, Vizaweb was down from approximately 12pm EST on 11/8 to 10am 11/10.
  • YupRules, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6It's back up it's back up!!!!!!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I had major problems with Verio, they nickel and dime you to death, switch to someone else man, you may be getting robbed, I'll take that 2 cents now
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I've been in the this biz forever, go with MediaTemple or Dreamhost, Media Temple is a little more expensive but you get what you pay for and they both have about the same features
  • MalDON, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I can't say anything bad about MT.
  • speedfoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i got an email back from support a few minutes ago:

    We are very sorry about the outage over the last 2 days. In the next 24 hours an email will be coming detailing a credit to your account for the issues.
    If you have any questions regarding this, please let us know.

    Thanks,

    Support Department
    VizaWeb Inc.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5let me recommend MediaTemple.net, especially those worried about the digg effect, their new grid server hosting is "digg effect proof".
  • Bob042, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Funny how this only hits frontpage after the issue is resolved.
  • Lostcosmos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Email From Vizaweb:
    Dear George,

    As you may have noticed, the VizaWeb network experienced a total outage on Wednesday at 1:00p until Friday Morning 9:15a CST. While none of your data for your account was compromised or lost, you would not have been able to access your site during this time. Please accept our sincerest apologies for this inconvenience. Because this outage breeched our Service Level Agreement (SLA) we will be offering reimbursement to you. I have decided to combine this credit with the SLA reimbursement from the September outage. There are 3 options for you to receive your credit:

    1. 2 months credit based on your plan and term issued directly to your account. For example, a pro plan paid annually with receive $5.95 x 2 months or $11.90. A corporate plan paid quarterly will receive $17.95 x 2 months or $35.90.

    2. Same as number 1., but the credit would be issued directly to your credit card or PayPal account. NOTE: This option is only available if your last invoice was paid within the last 60 days.

    3. Coupon code for 50% off your next order. This coupon code would be valid until the end of 2007.

    To claim your credit, please reply to this email with your domain name and option chosen. For multiple domain names, please list them individually with the option chosen for each.

    We are still investigating this outage and will have more details later. VizaWeb is committed to providing you with the best service and features for hosting your business and life with us.

    Rick Mueller
    President and CEO
    VizaWeb Inc.

    Generated by VizaWeb Inc
  • Scatropolis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My site's back, but I haven't gotten an email yet. I emailed them at around the 12 hour mark about the outage....I guess they're probably swamped with emails.
  • kgool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I am sure they really use those Sun servers shown in the pic.

  • chance1376, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did we ever get a credit for the last outage? I think that email is in the comments here as well.
  • george@CASE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I should have gotten out earlier. Stupid of me to buy hosting AND domain from the same company, too. I only keep a personal blog there so it is not of any particularly high value, but I would still like to get my 1) domain back, 2) and my SQL database.

    My latest backup was may 13 2006. This will teach me to back up more often.

    I've been googling around for a while and it looks like theplanet.com is where vizaweb buys the hosting space. For the domain names, I believe they resell from publicdomainregistry.com.

    How do we get about resolving this?
  • Lostcosmos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Earlier story here:
    http://digg.com/tech_news/What_do_I_do_when_my_hosting_vanishes_Please_Digg_Help_Vizaweb_Story#c3773141
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I host with Midphase. Their tech support is instant.
  • xst4t1kx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The hostgator billing department is completely incompetent. Having to deal with those morons has made for the worst hosting experience I have seen in over 6 years. I chose HG based on mostly positive reviews and everything was fine until I had to deal with the idiots in billing. If you aren't already stuck with them then look elsewhere or you -will- eventually get screwed.
  • peciv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I too used to use VizaWeb but the horrible support finally took its toll and I moved all of my clients to Host Gator on a reseller account. After some early problems with dns/network issues everything runs perfectly now.

  • JSchwage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1One word. Site5.
  • peciv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I use Host Gator...

    Stay far away from iPowerWeb... I had a dedicated server from them and their automatic billing system kept turning the server off even through I paid for a year and this was in the first month.
  • ryanlive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I use and am very happy with Blue Host and Linksky.
  • nicktripp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How did you get access to your dns records? I can't get to any of mine thanks to VW being down.
  • twitchster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Directnic all the way

    http://www.directnic.com/

    Katrina didn't even take them down

    http://www.directnic.com/katrina.php

    http://www.mgno.com/
  • BuddyDoQ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've been with them over a year now, awesome host all around. Good tech support, I've only used it once, and it was a near immediate response. Their staff even helped me iron out a few display bugs on my site when I pimped it on their forums.
  • george@CASE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My blog is back up, as well. Wasting no time to grab my SQL database and files.
  • timber_tract, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ditto. I just want to get the domain name back that I paid for. Access to the server to download stuff would be great too. They could have at least given us a week's warning.
  • Lostcosmos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I had moved my email over to Google email's hosting service but I can send but not receive email. Shouldn't I still be able to get email if the mx record was changed to google?
  • aliengoods, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Quick hosting question. I'm looking for a hosting provider that basically gives you a VMware virtual machine. The reason I want VMware is I use it throughout the company so its easy for me to push a new image up to a provider.

    Does anyone know of any such providers? I've found a few that cost > $500 per month. I don't want to go over $200, and preferably $100 being as my bandwidth and cpu needs aren't intensive.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3their quality and response time is the craziest I've ever seen
  • Liv2bWild, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was able to download a total backup and my e-mails.
    Which host is everybody switching to?
  • sonofa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I used Visaweb a year ago. I paid for a year in advance and then they continued to bill me monthly. They wouldn't answer any of my emails or phone calls so I canceled my card. Then they canceled my Visaweb account. I got screwed by Visaweb once. I'm glad I got out when I did.
  • 0KonTroL0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2http://www.lunarpages.com
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Vizaweb must be hosting your DNS info, and it sounds like that's down. Enjoy the time off from email...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I switched to them a few weeks ago, and so far so good. They have an amazing wiki, great plans, and the grid server product seems to be fantastic. The rails containers are great, and I get shell access. Some of the username naming conventions are funky, but its worthwhile.
  • Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well that's OK, nobody could desert them until they could get at their data/domains anyway. Now they'll go out of business and the scumbag that runs the company will start a "new" company priceritephoto.com-style.
  • Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I've been using Dreamhost for 5 years now my sites, and I've never experienced more than an hour or two of downtime. I recommend them wholeheartedly.
  • JEmerson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I should first mention that I run a small webhosting company, so there is some conflict of interest. But, that said, my advice is to stay as far away from godaddy as possible. They've entered into some business deals recently that, in my opinion, they weren't prepared to handle. The end result is that there's been a fairly large number of people coming away from them with pretty bad experiences.
  • george@CASE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1looks like it's down again. argh. I managed to get all my files. Now I just have to get my domain name.
  • aftk2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd agree about mediatemple. A couple years ago I worked with a client who had a site hosted through mediatemple.net, and I wasn't impressed. Didn't seem terribly full-featured, seemed a bit expensive for what you got, etc... They were hyped but didn't seem to deliver much. However they've done a complete 180 (at least, they seem to have for me): the grid server is still occasionally buggy, but they seem to be working on it around the clock; I really like their control panel, their offering of rails and PHP5, and their flexibility.

    It's also very, very affordable if you're going to be hosting a number of domains- no, it's not bargain basement hosting, but it's cheaper than liquidweb.com's shared stuff (once I started tacking domains on to liquidweb.)
  • nicktripp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Once again, my site is down. Good thing I got that last backup before they went. I'm transferring out of there TODAY.
  • xst4t1kx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Then you received special treatment that they do not extend to everyone.
  • noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@evilpig and anyone else who dugg me down earlier:
    you get what you pay for. i've been burned by a lot of different hosts, including ones people reccomended me to, and ASO is the first hosting service that i've had absolutely no problems on. they've even been incredibly prompt with responses on service requests (including the one i put in at 1AM, it was done in 5 minutes).

    when i'm trying to host a professional service, i don't want the database to go down. i don't want downtime. i'm willing to pay a few extra bucks a month to ensure customers are happy.


    @timdorr
    kudos to you, sir, and keep up the good work. wish people would've dugg up my earlier comment instead of dugg it down. :(
  • fac3less, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All I've seen are complaints on WHT recently regarding pair.
    It just proves that any provider can have issues: No matter the pricing structure.
  • zelaznog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here we go again with VizaWeb. I went to check my site today and was shocked to find that my site has been reverted to it's October 2006 state. All the development work (adding new functionaliy and content) has now disappeared. Has anyone else experiencing this problem.
  • mannoo2009, on 04/10/2009, -0/+1http://www.webhostingreviewz.com
  • smartnetadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Emaxhosting is the bsolutely worst web hosting company on the face of the planet. Whatever you do in this life, do not host your website with emaxhosting. Truly, the worst. The earlier posting was probably made by the owner. These people have no business administering / owning / managing anything remotely close to a computer nor a web hosting company. This is my true and honest opinion.
  • INeedAttention, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0GoDaddy does offer cPanel, at least on their virtual private server products, though I only have experience with Plesk since cPanel is garbage IMHO.
  • MikeD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Why on earth would you guys bury this guy for suggesting Verio. One they are good. Two, the other companies that have been around for years and are a reliable as the sun coming up in the east every morning is Netnation.com and Hostway.com.

    They are a little expensive. But, they also never go down. You need support? Call 24/7 and get a human that fixes the problem right now!

    I think between them they host like 150,000 sites.

    There might be a lot of really good smaller hosting services, but if you are looking for rock solid mission critical hosting services try any of the three.
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