FlynnFiles has been experiencing some technical difficulties over the past four days. This started on Saturday, when my URL redirected to a health care site. Two days after that, the company that acts as my server was able to direct the URL back to its proper location. Alas, the main page has been unable to post changes--new comments or posts--until now. This has been the longest FlynnFiles has been down since its inception almost four years ago. It's been stressful. It's been a nightmare. But it's over--almost.
The site was not hacked. Last year, my current server absorbed the company that I signed up with. From what I can gather, the lack of continuity between the old server and the new server resulted in the problem. Basically, the new company maintains the old company's server from which they currently host a number of carry-over websites, but the technical intricacies of the old server are a bit funky to them. Atop this, my current server is not primarily in the business of hosting sites. Thus, I was advised that it would be a good idea to make a new hosting arrangement within the next two months.
There will likely be, then, more technical difficulties. If it were radio, I'd alert you by playing a message from the Emergency Broadcast System. If it were television, I'd display those color bars on the screen. It is Internet, so there's not much I can do to alert you that the site is having problems other than to let the problems speak for themselves. Hopefully, problems won't happen often. But, if they do, thank you in advance for your patience and for sticking by FlynnFiles. Web surfers are creatures of habit, so a few days offline can be devastating to a site.
Dear readers, do you have any recommendations for server hosting? I am quite ignorant of technical matters. What should I be looking for? What price is appropriate? What problems might arise from switching servers? I look forward to reading your advice.
Hi Dan,
I'm too ignorant of the machinations of the Internet and computers to give you any solid technical advice, but I gladly recommend my friend PJ Doland as a potential host for your site. He hosts both my website and my blog, as well as some missionary friends we support. He also hosts the websites for huge clients like Cato and AEI. You can learn more - plus obtain his contact info - here: http://www.pjdoland.com
PJ has always been very generous in the rates he has given me, so I assume you will find him quite affordable and competitive with anything else out there.
Good luck,
--Eric
i run a blog myself and have been more than happy with Living Dot myself. i don't know how much server space you need but they have different types of plans to choose with prices i feel are more than reasonable. plus, their customer service is great.
hope this helps some.
I suppose it's possible that the new server is a Patriots fan, and after Sunday it just refused to go on.
Incidentally, Dan, your trackback feature is not working.
Incidentally, Dan, your trackback feature is not working.
Yes, there were a myriad of technical and psychological difficulties on Sunday.
The server simply choked and got out played.
For my part, I'm glad the server went down. I didn't want to hear for the rest of my life that it was best server ever. Now, all of it's many accomplishments are only reminders that it crashed in the end.
All the best server of all time garbage is just that. I'm sure Dan's server is a fine server, but at times others are as good or better. Some of those servers in the 1970s and 1980s were pretty good too. Last Sunday another server was better.
I use ANRhost.com. If you're only hosting one domain, the $4/month shared hosting plan is probably all you need.
Just moving all your files over might work, depending on your blog software. If it uses a SQL database, you'll have to know how to back that up as well and restore it on the new site.
