How to Migrate a GoDaddy Shared Hosting to A2hosting.com VPS server

White Lion · September 16, 2013

Dear Forum members.

Now I'm using GoDaddy Shared Hosting Ultimate Plan for my Shopping cart.
(http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?ci=76393)

But now it is giving Error 500 in image re generation and site map creation.

Then i want to migrate a new server space with more facilities.

I'd like to migrate a2hosting VPS plan.
(http://www.a2hosting.com/managed-vps-hosting)

I have contact a2hosting.com support. They said they can do server migrate, If current hosting has a cpanel.

But GoDaddy do not offer cPanel. they have their own control panel.

Please tell me, How i can do this.

If you have suggestions about other perfect hosting for Prestashop, Please tell me.

I'm waiting for your help and sorry for my bad English.

NemoPS · September 16, 2013

Hi,

Can you try turning on error as described in my signature? It should give you insights about that 500 error

White Lion · September 16, 2013

Dear Nemo1. Thank you for your reply.

I've change my theme to new one. then i want to regenerate image using Preferences > Images > Regenerate thumbnails.

I've do it step by step. I did not try to Select image "All" and regenerate all images in one time.

Server take long time to do this. Then i have try to regenerate large image size 600x600px, then server take long time and browser showing Error 500.

I have contact GoDaddy. They said i want to move a new server with advanced facilities.
Then i asked to move Godaddy server with advanced facilities. But GoDaddy said "We can migrate the data for you, however, you will be responsible for reconfiguring the site to work on the VPS".

PascalVG · September 16, 2013

Hi white Lion,

Die you turn on the debug mode already, as nemo suggested? You should get some more info about the 500 error, making it easier to solve. Maybe timeout, maybe permissions problem, file not found etc, etc.

Do that first and see if you can tell us more.

Pascal

P.S. I wouldn't stay with goDaddy. Hear only bad/sad stories...

White Lion · September 16, 2013

Dear PascalVG. What do you think about http://www.a2hosting.com
After download a new PS version, Prestashop display a message, Prestashop recommend a2hosting.com.

In this time, I want to find a perfect hosting provider.

PrestaHeroes USA · September 16, 2013

hello, please turn on error reporting. If you do now know how try this:

http://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/224525-how-to-turn-on-error-reporting-for-debug-information-500-error-or-blank-page/

without this information there is no way to determine what the underlying 500 errors are

Dh42 · September 16, 2013

How long does it take to get the error message?

White Lion · September 16, 2013

Dear EI Patron

Thank you for your reply and tutorial.

I have attached the browser window screen shot to this post.

but do not allow to attached to error log file to this post.

then I've copy and paste it to this post.

[Mon Sep 16 07:25:32 2013] [9800181] [fcgid:warn] (32)Broken pipe: [client 50.16.129.154:37402] mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function
[Mon Sep 16 07:30:37 2013] [9800181] [fcgid:warn] (32)Broken pipe: [client 54.228.175.121:54248] mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function
[Mon Sep 16 07:30:47 2013] [9800181] [fcgid:warn] (32)Broken pipe: [client 54.254.118.29:56400] mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function
[Mon Sep 16 07:35:32 2013] [9800181] [fcgid:warn] (104)Connection reset by peer: [client 50.16.129.154:53427] mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function

a2hosting-andy · September 16, 2013

I'd like to migrate a2hosting VPS plan.

(http://www.a2hosting.com/managed-vps-hosting)

I have contact a2hosting.com support. They said they can do server migrate, If current hosting has a cpanel.

But GoDaddy do not offer cPanel. they have their own control panel.

Please tell me, How i can do this.

If you have suggestions about other perfect hosting for Prestashop, Please tell me.

Hi there, White Lion,

According to your error reports, it looks like you're running out of memory on your GoDaddy shared hosting account. You had mentioned moving over to one of our managed VPS's - you'll have more control and resources by doing so.

If you do decide to move, I can assist you in the process of moving everything over to A2 Hosting. As our techs mentioned, our migration system does not support an automated migration from GoDaddy, they have a proprietary control panel we cannot automatically migrate sites from.

Moving your site to A2 Hosting is a fairly simple process if you are familiar with some common website systems and tools.

The first step is to download your site from your current host. I use FileZilla personally, you can use any FTP client you are comfortable with.

You'll need to download the entire PrestaShop directory. Here are instructions for connecting to GoDaddy with FTP: http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/96/uploading-files-to-your-website-ftp

Once you have your site downloaded, you'll need to also download a copy of your PrestaShop MySQL database. Instructions for exporting a database from GoDaddy can be found here: http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/1487/exporting-a-mysql-database-from-your-hosting-account

Next, you'll reverse the process. You'll need to upload your files and your database to your A2 Hosting server. Here are instructions for connecting to your A2 Hosting server with FTP: http://www.a2hosting.com/kb/getting-started-guide/accessing-your-account/using-ftp-file-transfer-protocol

Then you'll need to import your MySQL database to your server. Instructions for created the database, assigning a user, and importing the database file can be found here: http://www.a2hosting.com/kb/developer-corner/mysql/import-and-export-a-mysql-database

The last thing you'll need to do is edit a few configuration files and database entries, and finally test.

If you have already edited your DNS to point your domain name to A2 Hosting, at this point you should be able to test your site. If you have not moved your site over and wish to test on your testing URL (which you'll find in your A2 Hosting welcome email) - you'll need to log into your admin control panel (for examle, mytesturl.ss1.a2hosting.com/admin123) - when you log in, PrestaShop will prompt you that you are not using the same domain name as what is configured, and will give you and option to change it. Click the link, and change the site URL to your testing domain name.

When you're finished and have migrated your DNS, go back into the same setting screen and set the URL back to your live site.

If you have further questions, please post them and I'll do what I can to help you out.

Thanks,

Andy

A2 Hosting Community Manager

White Lion · September 16, 2013

Dear Dh42.

After I hit a "Regenerate thumbnails" button it take 2 min and give error 500

White Lion · September 16, 2013

Dear a2hosting-andy

Thank you for your reply.

I can download PrestaShop MySQL database from current Godaddy.

Also i can download dthe entire PrestaShop directory by FTP. But it take a long time to download and upload. because my internet connection is not so speed. today morning i've download "img" directory. it take 4 hour and 10 minutes.

After buy a A2Hosting VPS, I can give you a current FTP Logging data. then can you transfer data to Godaddy to New A2Hosting server?

And i'm not familiar with mysql-database. then i'm afraid to do that. If you can help me to do this then i can test the store and migrated my DNS.

Dh42 · September 16, 2013

Just my 2cents. Since A2 doesn't offer root access on managed accounts, you should ask them to wget your whole site from godaddy. It would only take like 5-10 minutes to transfer the whole thing.

benjamin utterback · September 16, 2013

Dear Dh42.

After I hit a "Regenerate thumbnails" button it take 2 min and give error 500

Hello White Lion,

As Andy stated, it seems that this is a memory issue. Have you optimized your php.ini file? Specifically the values for

max_input_time = Maximum amount of time each script can wait for requested data, in seconds

max_execution_time = Maximum allowed execution time of each script, in seconds.

For more information, take a look at this blog post- http://www.prestashop.com/blog/en/utilize-the-php-ini-file-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-store/

PrestaHeroes USA · September 16, 2013

well, at the end of the day if one can not get the 'true error' from the 500 error, we are left to guess.

if the enabling of errors was done correctly then the 500 page you posted should have read with true error, i.e. fatal error on something located somewhere....

does your front office work ok?

a2hosting-andy · September 16, 2013

Dear a2hosting-andy

Thank you for your reply.

I can download PrestaShop MySQL database from current Godaddy.

Also i can download dthe entire PrestaShop directory by FTP. But it take a long time to download and upload. because my internet connection is not so speed. today morning i've download "img" directory. it take 4 hour and 10 minutes.

After buy a A2Hosting VPS, I can give you a current FTP Logging data. then can you transfer data to Godaddy to New A2Hosting server?

And i'm not familiar with mysql-database. then i'm afraid to do that. If you can help me to do this then i can test the store and migrated my DNS.

We would be able to help you get the site copied over. PM me if you decide to set up an account and I'll open a migration ticket for you.

White Lion · September 17, 2013

Dear Benjamin

Thank you for your reply.

Few days ago I've tried to edit English translation of my theme. Then i followed

http://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/191913-php-configuration-limits-the-maximum-number/page-3

http://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/235573-max-input-vars-1000-solved/

and edit php.ini to php5.ini

here are the values.

[PHP]

engine = On

max_input_vars = 10000

memory_limit = 256M

max_execution_time=300;

max_input_time=-1

register_globals = Off

magic_quotes_gpc = Off

magic_quotes_runtime = Off

magic_quotes_sybase = Off

allow_url_fopen = On

allow_url_include = Off

Then i found answer to translation problem. But i can not image regenerate for new theme.

I've contacted theme developer. he checked and told me your server memory is low for run your store.

White Lion · September 17, 2013

Dear El Patron

I can't say Front office is 100% working correctly.

I have manually edited and replace tome images in /img/p/ to resolve this. but it is very difficult and waste my time.

After enable a error reporting, Bellow errors messages are showing on top of my webpage.

Warning: Function addCSS() is deprecated in /home/content/81/9800181/html/modules/blockuserinfo/blockuserinfo.php on line 77
in /home/content/81/9800181/html/classes/Tools.php on line 1777

Warning: Function isLogged() is deprecated in /home/content/81/9800181/html/modules/blockuserinfo/blockuserinfo.php on line 66
in /home/content/81/9800181/html/classes/Tools.php on line 1777

White Lion · September 17, 2013

Dear a2hosting-andy.

I'd like to buy a manage vps from you. I have checked it, What "Dh42" said in this topic.

Without "root access", How i can run Prestashop 1 click upgrade?

Do you have any solution to do that?

a2hosting-andy · September 17, 2013

Dear a2hosting-andy.

I'd like to buy a manage vps from you. I have checked it, What "Dh42" said in this topic.

Without "root access", How i can run Prestashop 1 click upgrade?

Do you have any solution to do that?

"root access" is not the same as having write permission to your "root" directory.

root access is the ability to log into the server via the command line. We do not allow this on our managed VPSs, only on our unmanaged VPS.

Write permission to the "root" of your PrestaShop install just means you need to be able to write files to the top level of your PrestaShop installation. We do not restrict you from having that, so you should be able to use 1-click upgrade without trouble.

Thanks!

Andy

Dh42 · September 17, 2013

@Andy, What I was saying is that if you cannot ssh, you cannot wget your own site and they *should* be able to open a support ticket and get that done.

As a couple of words of warning, you can only host one store on their vps accounts if you use a SSL certificate. It is not like the rest of the industry where a vps account means you get total control. Also, the ssd drives are slower for database queries than a properly setup spinning disk array.

@Andy, I do have a question though. One of my clients recently signed up and is using you guys for hosting. From my understanding you guys either use a raid0 or a raid1 config with your ssd drives. Is there any chance the data is mirrored on a spinning disk with either a software or hardware controller for backup. Or is it backed up to a ssd drive to? The reason I ask is that I leased another dedicated box for the sites I host this weekend basically to download the sql databases. I was wondering how the backups are handled if I need to connect their account in on the mysql back up server.

Valérie Assetskaya · September 17, 2013

Hi White Lion,

1) it is necessary to copy the whole site
2) it is necessary to copy data base
3) transfer files into new hosting
4) unpack data base
4.1) test the site on temp url with error display enabled
5) set the old site into maintenance
6) rewrite DNS

Best regards.

White Lion · September 17, 2013

Dear A2Hosting Andy

Thank you for your reply.

Today morning I've visit www.a2hosting.com/managed-vps-hosting and select Prestige+ and hit Order Now Button.

then showing "1 Month Price - $90.99 USD / month" and 34% One Time Discount price is $60.05 USD.

I think i need to pay $90.99 USD from next month.

Webpage showing Prestige+ Plan comes with 3072 MB RAM. Is this Dedicated RAM or Burst RAM Memory?

And what is the port speed of Prestige+ Plan?

White Lion · September 17, 2013

Dear Valérie

Thank you for your reply.

After transferring data and database to new server i can use server dedicated ip as test url.

in #6 Do you mean remove temporary domain and put real domain from PS Admin panel. Then change real domain DNS to new server.

Am I correct?

Edited September 17, 2013 by White Lion (see edit history)

a2hosting-andy · September 17, 2013

Dear A2Hosting Andy

Thank you for your reply.

Today morning I've visit www.a2hosting.com/managed-vps-hosting and select Prestige+ and hit Order Now Button.

then showing "1 Month Price - $90.99 USD / month" and 34% One Time Discount price is $60.05 USD.

I think i need to pay $90.99 USD from next month.

Webpage showing Prestige+ Plan comes with 3072 MB RAM. Is this Dedicated RAM or Burst RAM Memory?

And what is the port speed of Prestige+ Plan?

Hi White Lion,

Yes, our current discount is for a single payment term. If you pay for 3, 6, 12 or more months in advance, the discount will apply to that entire terms. If you pay month-to-month, you'll only get the discount on the first month.

In regard to your question about the RAM - with VPS's, the RAM listed is fully allocated to your VPS and is not throttled or limited to bursts in any way.

And for the net connectivity, all of our VPS servers have 100Mbps trunks.

Thanks!

Andy

a2hosting-andy · September 17, 2013

As a couple of words of warning, you can only host one store on their vps accounts if you use a SSL certificate. It is not like the rest of the industry where a vps account means you get total control. Also, the ssd drives are slower for database queries than a properly setup spinning disk array.

I'll have to correct you here. Our VPSs (managed and unmanaged) support multiple SSL certificates and multiple sites. The only requirement is that you have a dedicated IP address for each SSL certificate on your server. All of our VPSs come with one dedicated IP address, but you can add more to your plan and host multiple sites secured under multiple SSL certs.

Secondarily, I'm not sure why you would say MySQL is slower on SSD as compared to disk array. Our testing shows MySQL running on SSD's increasing the query speeds significantly. If you are comparing one singular or a mirrored set of SSDs to a RAID array of spinning disks, you might see the benefit of SSD's dwindle at that point, but that's not really comparing apples to apples, is it? We do not mirror our SSD drives, for our SSD VPS servers, the SSD drives are all in RAID10 arrays. Comparing an array of SSDs to the same configuration of spinning disks - the SSD's are going to win every time.

The only servers where we mirror our drives are our dedicated servers - which are mirrored by default - though we allow custom configurations for other type of drive configurations by request.

As far as getting total control over their server - we give user the choice between either manage or unmanaged VPS. Our managed VPSs are targeted to users who are not comfortable configuring/managing/fixing a server, so we do not provide them with root access and we managed those aspects of the server. For users who purchase an unmanaged VPS, they have full root acceass to their server.

@Andy, I do have a question though. One of my clients recently signed up and is using you guys for hosting. From my understanding you guys either use a raid0 or a raid1 config with your ssd drives. Is there any chance the data is mirrored on a spinning disk with either a software or hardware controller for backup. Or is it backed up to a ssd drive to? The reason I ask is that I leased another dedicated box for the sites I host this weekend basically to download the sql databases. I was wondering how the backups are handled if I need to connect their account in on the mysql back up server.

I'm not sure if you're asking about VPS or Dedicated servers here - for dedicated servers, the default is a mirrored set of drives, and we have no built-in backup system beyond that. Our VPS's run RAID 10 arrays. In both cases, the users of either dedicated or VPS servers are responsible for coming up with and implementing their own backup scheme - we do not provide any other backup system to those users.

Dh42 · September 17, 2013

@Andy,

I understand the dedicated ip address and ssl certificate, that is how things work. But unless I am wrong, cpanel only allows one ip address per cpanel user and you guys only allow one cpanel account without purchasing a whm license. So to run multiple sites you have to purchase a whm license, correct?

Do you run your ssd drives in raid10? From everything I know most hosts do not because of the cost associated with. raid0 or raid1 is slower for full table reads, giving spinning drives an advantage. I would love to test a vanilla 1.5.5 installation using spinning disks against one using ssd drives. This is what I get with a standard installation of prestashop with spinning disks, I would love to lower it. http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/PWE7c/bijouthings.com/index.php

White Lion · September 17, 2013

Dear friends

Today I'm searching web for find a best hosting partner.

Here are the list of VPS and Cloud hosting provides.

http://www.ukfast.co.uk/configure-cloud.html
http://www.clustered.net/
http://www.viralvps.com/linuxvps.html
http://www.sologigabit.com/en/Dedicated-Servers
http://www.rocketvps.com/vps.html
http://www.ipage.com/advanced-hosting/vps.bml?source=header&cid=1533
http://promo.iweb.com/smart-vps/?sfcid=70130000000lKlW&trkid=V1ADW83232-7420564929-k-vps-27641279289-p-s&gclid=CKTxl6aV0rkCFa0l4god2XcAmw
http://www.a2hosting.com/
http://www.nexcess.net/magento-hosting
http://www.arvixe.com/
http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/
http://www.veeble.org/virtual-servers/managed/

Please advice me to find a best partner.

a2hosting-andy · September 17, 2013

@Andy,

I understand the dedicated ip address and ssl certificate, that is how things work. But unless I am wrong, cpanel only allows one ip address per cpanel user and you guys only allow one cpanel account without purchasing a whm license. So to run multiple sites you have to purchase a whm license, correct?

Do you run your ssd drives in raid10? From everything I know most hosts do not because of the cost associated with. raid0 or raid1 is slower for full table reads, giving spinning drives an advantage. I would love to test a vanilla 1.5.5 installation using spinning disks against one using ssd drives. This is what I get with a standard installation of prestashop with spinning disks, I would love to lower it. http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/PWE7c/bijouthings.com/index.php

We actually used PrestaShop to run our speed comparisons... check out http://www.a2hosting.com/blog-archive/speed-test-a2-hosting-vs-hostgator to see how we stack up. We do indeed run our SSD's in RAID10. And it should be mentioned that the servers we used on our end were at-capacity, meaning we had maxed them out with as many users as we would ever put on those machines - and tested those against accounts on other hosting providers.

Regarding cPanel - the one IP per account is a cPanel restriction. And without WHM, you are correct, there is no way to add additional accounts. This is the case with any host offering cPanel hosting. You would require a separate WHM license to manage multiple accounts, allocate IPs, etc.

White Lion · September 18, 2013

Dear A2Hosting Andy

Please tell me which things affect with page loading speed.

I mean about server hardware (RAM, CPU, Disk Drive) and Uplink port in the server.

I've checked my website on http://tools.pingdom.com.

My home page size is 1.4 MB and Page loading time is 13.29 seconds.

I know, Page loading time is very important thing. most of customers/visitors hate waiting. then they will close the website window.

How i can reduce page loading time with a2hosting and prestashop.

Edited September 18, 2013 by White Lion (see edit history)

Dh42 · September 18, 2013

@whitelion, it is actually a lot of things that can affect loading times. I actually fixed a shop yesterday that their problem was the specials block. It was pulling a query that was about 1400 lines. It was taking their site about 15 seconds to do that query and would knock the server offline if a couple of people were on the site.

But the most important factor is processing power. You can have all of the memory in the world, but if you cannot process anything then it is pretty much useless.

The main thing you can do to increase a site's speed is serve it from memory. To the best of my knowledge you really cannot do this with a managed package from A2. You can do this with an unmanaged package, but you have to set it up yourself.

I have an article about how you can set a server up to get the best possible speed here, http://blog.dh42.com/fastest-prestashop/

If you look at the shop in the bottom of the article, you will notice that it loads about 3 times quicker than what A2 advertises sites load on their server. See this, http://www.a2hosting.com/site/features/swiftservers-solid-state-drives-ssd

a2hosting-andy · September 18, 2013

Dear A2Hosting Andy

Please tell me which things affect with page loading speed.

I mean about server hardware (RAM, CPU, Disk Drive) and Uplink port in the server.

I've checked my website on http://tools.pingdom.com.

My home page size is 1.4 MB and Page loading time is 13.29 seconds.

I know, Page loading time is very important thing. most of customers/visitors hate waiting. then they will close the website window.

How i can reduce page loading time with a2hosting and prestashop.

When you ask "Which things effect page load speed" - it's kind of an open-ended question. Everything effects the page speed. So how do you get your PrestaShop to load faster? You need to be on fast hosting. You're already on the right path by looking at VPS's. If you go with our Managed VPS product, choose the SSD option. SSDs are much more efficient than spinning disks.

Second, you have to tailor your server for PrestaShop. DH42 (the other guy replying to this thread) has an excellent optimization article that gives you a whole list of things you can do to speed up your server and your PrestaShop install - you can read that here: http://blog.dh42.com/fastest-prestashop/

There is a catch, though. If you want to do a lot of the things listed in the article, you'll need to go with an UN-managed VPS. With PrestaShop, especially large/successful PrestaShop stores, there eventually will be a "line in the sand" where you need to cross over into the server administration world if you want to really eeeek out as much performance as possible from your PrestaShop install. There are a *lot* of things you can do to speed it up, but often it ends up having less to do with your PrestaShop install itself, and more to do with the server. Setting up varnish, for example, is almost entirely server-level and has little to do with PrestaShop itself.

I'm sorry there isn't any one easy answer. If you are not as comfortable with installing things within linux and configuring apache, etc. You should get a managed VPS with SSD, and be sure you've followed all the tips here: http://www.prestashop.com/en/top-tips and here: http://www.prestashop.com/blog/en/10-best-tips-to-speed-up-your-prestashop-store-3/

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

Andy

a2hosting-andy · September 18, 2013

If you look at the shop in the bottom of the article, you will notice that it loads about 3 times quicker than what A2 advertises sites load on their server. See this, http://www.a2hosting.com/site/features/swiftservers-solid-state-drives-ssd

Just a quick note about that, by-the-way, we used a completely stock install of PrestaShop for that testing, right is it comes from a fresh install. You can certainly get your PrestaShop to run faster on our servers than what we posted in the speed tests.

Dh42 · September 18, 2013

@Andy

I gave some notes on the bottom, but that site in the test was a completely stock prestashop install as well. It had no modifications from when prestashop installs.

Dolke · September 18, 2013

Hi to all,

After carefully reading the whole topic, which I find very interesting and can relate to original poster and his concerns and dilemmas, I would like to say a few words.

I was hosting my first ever Prestashop website on a shared server (reseller) with HostGator. I was experiencing all the problems like you, White Lyon, and sometimes even more.

As you already said, there were all kinds of timeouts when making sitemap, translating the language files, regenerating images, importing CSV files, rebuilding the search index and bunch of other issues. Then I was told that my website is to much to handle for their shared server and I was suggested to purchase managed VPS lvl 5. There I had even more issues, just unbelievable. I was paying 3 times more and I was getting worse hosting service then on their shared server.

At the end, Hostgator agent were explaining me how their VPS platform is actually a testing environment for those who are moving from shared to dedicated servers (I find this very funny and interesting statement in the same time).

After all this drama and around one month of trying and failing to find the best hosting platform and countless hours on the chat and phone with the support I definitely decided to change the provider.

I'm still with the HostGator with my reseller account but as for a quite a while everything seems to be going downhill with that company I would be searching for alternative too.

After few days of search I finally singed with a2hosting.com
White Lyon, believe me when I say that finally I was able to focus my energy and time developing my website, optimization, SEO, my products and marketing and forget about technical issues related to the server and hosting in general.

Further more I purchased shared account (Prime Hosting) and choose their Iceland DC because it is much more closer to most of my visitors (Serbia). My website is running on their shared server like a charm and even if have some issues their support are providing me with a professional service. So far they have increased every parameter I requested and my php.ini settings are actually set like those in Dh42 article (http://blog.dh42.com/speed-prestashop-php-ini/).

There were willing to increase memory limit as well and install all php extensions and cashing systems in order to speed up my website.

Did I tell you about mySQL queries? Search functionality while I was on HostGator server was just performing poorly. It took around 15 seconds for a server to give back the results. That was unacceptable, and as you mentioned in the earlier post, time is of the essence with every website but even more with e-commerce ones. Customers just wont wait 15 seconds to find what they are looking for. It needs to be much much more faster. Homepage was loading up to 12 seconds some times as well...

Right now I going to get my account to a SSD server to improve speed even more.

That will cost me another 36$ per year. All together, hosting my Prestashop 1.5.4.1 website (www.dekom.co.rs) with around 4000 product and 200 unique visitors per day will cost me around 150$ per year.

I think Its worth every $ so far.

After my website grows more on which Im really hoping, I will probably migrate to their VPS.

I hope this post will help you out.
Cheers
Dean

Edited September 18, 2013 by Dolke (see edit history)

a2hosting-andy · September 18, 2013

@Andy

I gave some notes on the bottom, but that site in the test was a completely stock prestashop install as well. It had no modifications from when prestashop installs.

The testing in your article was done on VPS, though, right? All of the stats we're showing on our speed tests for PrestaShop are on our shared product. We definitely recommend a VPS for PrestaShop, unfortunately the reality is most users go with shared hosting, so that's where we've done our comparisons - at least for now.

White Lion · September 19, 2013

Dear Dolke.

I'd like to thanks your post and your time.

This is the my short story.

I have started my shop in 2011 using Prestashop v 1.4.2.5 and hosted on VPS from yazuhost.com. It was 2 vCPU, 1GB Dedicated RAM (Burst1536MB) 100GB storage with 3TB traffic bandwidth with 1Gigabit port.

In that time we get more search engine traffics. Specially from Google. we got 500+ visitors from Google and i have 700-1000 visitors per day and i sold fashion watches, imitation jewelery and some other items from china.

But unfortunately yazuhost.com has been disappeared in September 2012. Then i lost my data and whole website with more than 800 of registered users. In that day i did not have good knowledge about prestashop and restore my website using backup data.

Then i have create a new website again using my past domain name on GoDaddy sheared server. Unfortunately i lost my search engine rank and traffic.

Then we work hard to grow again. But now server problem again. But i need to thanks because I'm lucky this time because of i did not lost my data and website.

I think now you can understand, Why I afraid about hosting.

Now we are looking for trusted and reliable web hosting partner with Good SEO to get search engine traffic again.

Now I need to thanks Prestashop team and this forum members who help each other. We can learn more from this community.

Finlay I decide to select A2 Hosting as my hosting partner.

I think Power+ plan is okay for start. I'm waiting for Andy's Reply.

a2hosting-andy · September 19, 2013

I think now you can understand, Why I afraid about hosting.

...

Finlay I decide to select A2 Hosting as my hosting partner.

I think Power+ plan is okay for start. I'm waiting for Andy's Reply.

Wow, very sorry to hear about all the trouble you have had with hosting providers. That's unfortunate and I'm glad you've stuck with it and built your business back up. We have been around for 10 years and are still growing, I think you'll find a happy home with us, and one of our Power+ Managed VPS plans should do the trick just fine. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you get started.

-Andy

Dolke · September 19, 2013

Dear Dolke.

I'd like to thanks your post and your time.

Not a problem White.

Hope you will solve this issue with A2.

White Lion · September 19, 2013

Hello Dear Andy.

Thank you for your reply.

I decide to select Power+ plan with SSD. I hope to see fast website and hassle free hosting with A2.

Then we can focus our mind to grow our business and website.

Yes. Andy. I need your help to migrate completely working website from current hosting to A2 VPS.

And I'd like to do Dh42's recommendations on http://blog.dh42.com/fastest-prestashop/

Also I'm looking good SEO for my website.

I think to i can get good result using Prestashop SEO module. (http://addons.prestashop.com/en/seo-prestashop-modules/175-seo-search-engine-optimization.html)

I'll place order within next 12 hours.

White Lion · September 19, 2013

Dear Dolke.

Thank you for your advice.

I hope, I can reborn with A2.

benjamin utterback · September 19, 2013

Hello Dear Andy.

Thank you for your reply.

I decide to select Power+ plan with SSD. I hope to see fast website and hassle free hosting with A2.

Then we can focus our mind to grow our business and website.

Yes. Andy. I need your help to migrate completely working website from current hosting to A2 VPS.

And I'd like to do Dh42's recommendations on http://blog.dh42.com/fastest-prestashop/

Also I'm looking good SEO for my website.

I think to i can get good result using Prestashop SEO module. (http://addons.prestashop.com/en/seo-prestashop-modules/175-seo-search-engine-optimization.html)

I'll place order within next 12 hours.

That is a great selection! If you need anything at all, you can message me with any questions or concerns during this process. You also have Andy and Lesley who can always help.

Cheers!

Dolke · September 19, 2013

I know this is a little off-topic, but this module White has chosen for SEO is it any good?

I would like to hear everybody's opinion.

Thanks.

White Lion · September 19, 2013

Thank you dear Benjamin.

I'd like to share everything in this migration process with this community.

I think it will useful for others members.

After complete this project, I'll update you and community.

White Lion · September 19, 2013

Yes Dolke. you are correct.

After this migration we can talk about SEO in new topic or currently available topic.

White Lion · September 20, 2013

Dear Andy

I have place an order for managed vps plan for 6 months.

and submit a support ticket for Migrate website and Configure custom name servers.

Ticket ID:ZFZ-785729

I hope to update this processes under this topic. I think it will help to other who is looking for server migration from shared hosting to vps.

benjamin utterback · September 23, 2013

I know this is a little off-topic, but this module White has chosen for SEO is it any good?

I would like to hear everybody's opinion.

Thanks.

Make a new topic and send me the link to it in this thread. We can discuss it there. In short, it is actually my professional and personal opinion that this module is well worth it for stores that have many products that are similar in nature.

White Lion · September 26, 2013

A2 support team moved my website to new A2 Managed VPS with SSD.

I've checked back office. it is working correctly. then i access front office by change host file.

It is working. But did not feel FAST. But i need to check it after change a DNS.

I'd like to thanks to A2 team for that job.

After checking all, I've change DNS to new A2 VPS. But i faced long downtime. then contact A2 Host. They said "We found the problem with your DNS and have fixed it". After 20 hors my website did not come live. Then i checked DNS using http://www.intodns.com. and found some misspellings on custom dns domain name. A2 team fixed it and sill waiting to see my site LIVE.

I think GoDaddy service and customer understanding is 100 times good. But they do not have good VPS solutions.

Dolke · September 26, 2013

Honestly White, I don't see any problem with their support from the post you just wrote.

Only problem with A2 support so far is their speed of answering support ticket's.

Sometimes they are super fast and sometimes not so great but overall I think their agents are quite good and knowledgeable.
Those are just my experiences...

Something is probably wrong with your domain at domain register that you use and not on the A2 server.

White Lion · September 27, 2013

Dear Dolke.

Finally. I'm very confused with my A2 Hosting Account.

They did not give trusted answer. I got more than 26 hours downtime with dns issue. they said we checked issues and fix it. Now everything is okay. Then find new errors. I think it is comes with careless. all are misspellings.

PascalVG · September 27, 2013

Hi White,

Thanks for your update on moving your site. I'm quite surprised they let it linger for 26 hours, especially after Andy suggested he would monitor the progress... :-(

Is it now working? If so, is speed up to expectations?

Please keep us updated on this!

Pascal

White Lion · September 27, 2013

Sure dear Pascal

I'll update this topic.

I think it will help others to learn something.

Dolke · September 27, 2013

Well I'm confused as well.

I think we should wait for Mr Andy to step up and see whats going on and what went wrong.

a2hosting-andy · September 27, 2013

Hi White Lion,

Very sorry to hear about the misspelling issue. I am looking into this today and will see what I find out for you. We are very careful about making changes to DNS, etc. Unfortunately we are human and do make mistakes sometimes. I'll get to the bottom of it.

-Andy

White Lion · September 28, 2013

Dear Andy.

Thank you for your reply.

"Unfortunately we are human and do make mistakes sometimes." I agree with you. We do make mistake and we can correct it.

Its okay. your team fixed it and now my website is live.

But currently our new A2 VPS is really slow. I've called my friends in overseas and asked to visit our website. Then they said that is quite slow.

I think we can get good result after install Railgun to our VPS as you said on PM.

In past GoDaddy Shared Server, our website page load time was 12.71s. But we can make page load time to 2-3 seconds, That great.

Fast webpage loading website brings more business to us.

I hope you can help me to make super fast website.

Dolke · September 28, 2013

I don't know if this is general case with Prestashop only or with some other CMS and e-commerce software as well, but they all run better in the shared environment then on the VPS. Those are just my experiences

Share servers are huge machines really powerful as well, more powerful then VPS solutions for sure. Advantage should be that those resources on the VPS are allocated only for you and your website but complaints about Prestashop on VPS can often be seen on the web and then again almost every hosting provider offer that as a most suitable solution.

Edited September 28, 2013 by Dolke (see edit history)

Dh42 · September 28, 2013

@Dolke, I don't agree with that. You are sharing your resources between other users, so you are not in control of how much resources that your site has.

Also, what makes you think the machines are huge? The biggest the machines would be is dual processor E5 serires Xeon machines. That seems to be what kind of servers they sell / stock. I don't know about what kind of traffic you are getting, but my blog used to be hosted on a shared server about a year ago. I knocked the shared sever offline because I had a big traffic spike. As soon as they brought the machine back online, they took my site offline, because that is standard policy on a shared machine.

I think there is a big lack of understanding in general about hosting. VPS accounts themselves are not slow, a lot of factors contribute to how fast they are. Like with A2, I don't buy that they use Raid10 on their machines with ssd drives. Andy said they did, but they don't mention it on their site, they don't even have it for an option on getting a dedicated server. I am betting everything is in Raid1, if that. It is just a cost measure. If you don't know about Raid levels, this is how they work. Your home computer generally does not have Raid installed. A server generally runs either with no Raid, Raid1 or Raid10. Raid1 does not increase the speed, all it does is increase the reliability. See look at their dedicated servers, http://www.a2hosting.com/managed-dedicated-hosting See how each has 2 drives, you only get to access one drive, because the other drive is stored as a mirror of the first drive. Raid10 is actually Raid1 and Raid0, but it takes 4 disk drives minimum to run. I don't know if you have priced ssd drives, but I have a couple 240gb intel drives in my desktop, they cost almost $170 each http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167128 These are cheap low end drives too, I don't think A2 has 4 ssd drives that they are selling space on for $5 a month. You just cannot make money doing that. SSD drives have a short lifespan, they are not like spinning disks which can last a long time, they have a certain number of rewrites that you can make on the drive, then it becomes trash.

As for your site, looking at it, I can tell you a couple simple things to do to speed it up. I would write an expression in your home featured module that does not load the images for the last 10 images and just uses one image for them. You are loading the same image 10 different times, from 10 different urls. You could knock 9 requests and 20kb off your site by doing that. Also, your specials block, it is loading everything on your whole site that is on sale, not just what is shown. I would kill that block, or rewrite it with a limit in it.

@Whitelion, I don't really think railgun is that great of a product. It will increase the size of your site as seen to people downloading it, but all it will do is store your js, csss, and img files on a cloudflare server (I think). I actually don't know how railgun works with A2, they aren't very open with it, but railgun is a cloudflare product. See this https://www.cloudflare.com/railgun Your site is not having issues downloading files to users, your site is having issue compiling files, then serving them to people. So this won't speed anything up in the compiling of your site. Someone needs to take a look at the site and see why the compiling is so slow, then fix that.

Dolke · October 1, 2013

Hi Les,

First of all I want to thank you for taking the time off writing this detailed post.

I will try to cover all of your questions where we disagree and hopefully wont skip anything...

I couldn't agree more when you say that on the shared servers website owner is sharing resources with other users on the same machine, and that they all should be getting the same treatment, meaning roughly same amount of resources. You are not in control, I agree there too but, how much "space" and basic settings and limitation will you get depends greatly on a hosting provider.

You can be hosting the same Prestashop website (completely the same) on a HostGator shared server in the US DC or on a A2hosting shared server in the European DC, paying roughly the same amount of money in both cases, and getting totally different results. By results I mean both mine and my visitor experiences.

In the first case, hosting on a HostGator shared server, you will waste so much time trying to optimize the performance of the website, not focusing on your content, SEO and sales. What I get in the end... frustration, noting more and wish to kill somebody. On the other hand you might say I want everything for noting. Thats is not true, I want optimum for optimum amount of money. If I ever get to the point where I will have few thousand of visitors and all of you are pointing me that my website is grown to a size I need to go dedicated, I wont be ignorant, I will buy dedicated server. Its the times when you know something is not performing right and should perform for the money you are paying what frustrates me.

Prior my migration from HostGator to A2, I spoke with numerous sales agent with several hosting companies mostly from the US but there were also 2 or 3 companies on my list located in Europe.

They all gave me their shared and VPS specifications.

If you leave the fact one don't have control over his resources when hosing website on a shared server aside, shared servers (fiscally) are bigger and better machines with more processing power, more memory etc. These are just my experiences, and if those companies are lying me, I lie to you to.

True, if you are using good VPS solution your website should perform better, but if traffic on your shared server is decant, meaning server is not overloading all the time, and if hosting provider is willing to step up and make necessary arrangements (php.ini settings for example) for your account on a shared server (a2hosting qualify here by all standards so far) you wont see any differences running your site on these 2.

Im advanced user and Im not looking on this as a developer. I don't care to have root access and to have all kind of setting at my disposal. I care about performance (sales in the other words) and if all criteria is meet by my standards and I don't get complaints from my customers that website search is taking 15 seconds to return the results of the search query (like on a HostGator server) I'm fine with my hosting provider. As I developer I can see the benefits of having root access to the server.

Prize of the hosting is not crucial, but it is extremely important. I'm own a small private company here in Serbia and every expense I need to pay is a thing I need to plan.

So for example, right now, I'm quite satisfied with my website performance on A2hosting shared server.

For I year I payed them around 150$. Moving to a VPS could give me improvement of lets say 10-20% but I need to pay around 5 times more that money and even that wont be a problem If I knew that improving performance by 20% can gain me 5 times more profit but I highly doubt that.

I understand your concerns and doubts about their RAID status, I am familiar with RAID and its concept, but I don't want to go that deep into the story. Why not, well I don't really care if they are using RAID10 or not using it at all as long as my website and its content is safe. I can only doubt like you are, if they are not using what they state they use. It will always be speculation, you and me saying one thing, they saying another. This is where trust needs to be implemented or it wont work out. I guess they wont be rated allright among people from the hosting business if all they offer is not what they actually give. Its the same with insurance companies right. You give them money each month or year and what if they don't pay you the money after 20, 30 years? Who can guarantee you they well? Maybe the whole system we have today will stop to exist in the next decade...

At the end I want to thank you Les for all the support so far building my online bussines and for these speeding my website up even more tips, I really appreciate it.

@WhiteLion

I really hope you will be able to fix website issues. I can certainly recommend Dh42 for any custom work you need to be done on your website. Hes the man for the job and I had only positive experiences so far.

Cheers
Dean

Edited October 7, 2013 by Dolke (see edit history)

White Lion · October 13, 2013

Hello my friends.

A2 andy asked some details via Private Message and i have sent message to him on 28 September 2013. But i did not receive any reply from Andy.

Finally My Prestashop theme developer asked me, Friend. What can i do for you? Then i said total story.

Then he give his kindly support. He checked my website and do optimize tips. Also remove "histats" analytics tool and "Zopim" Live chat from my website. I'd like to say, He do it correctly. I'd like to say "Thanks Dear"

He did not do Dh42's recommendations. I think if we do Dh42's optimize tips we can make FAST shopping cart.

Here is my page loading time chart. (Checked using pingdom.com)

Old Godaddy Shared Hosting: 12.71 Seconds (Page size 1.4 MB)

A2 VPS with SSD (Before do optimized tips): 50-60 seconds (Page size 1.4 MB)

A2 VPS with SSD (After do optimized tips): 4.47 seconds (Page size 2.1 MB)

I have checked A2 VPS in past 2 weeks. I did not meet any down time. But sometimes i got slow speed.

Finally I think "A2" is okay. But they take long time to REPLY.

Dh42 · October 13, 2013

To be honest, I had a client that insisted on moving over to A2. I opened a ticket around 3 weeks ago for them to install APC, so far it has not been installed correctly. They have told me several times that it is installed, but it is not. The other day I sent them a couple of apc control panels to look at to see what it looks like when it is installed and I got this back.

Hello Lesley,

Unfortunately I am unable to determine at this time what the issue is with APC. suexec is disabled so that is not going to be the issue. We'll continue looking and let you know once we find something.

Thank you
==============================================
Gerald S. - A2 Hosting Support
Level 2 - We'll take problems (p) as the limit p->inf 1/p
A2 Hosting, Inc. | http://www.a2hosting.com
Online Helpdesk | https://my.a2hosting.com

On my end it is kind of frustrating that they don't give root access because I could have the issue worked out in a jiffy.

PascalVG · October 13, 2013

Hi White,

I'm a little shocked about the 50-60 sec on the non-optimised A2!! Was that just after a straight move from GoDaddy? Ouch...

I AM curious what kind of optimisations your friend did. Could you summarise a little? (If you know/can find out...)

Thx,

pascal

Dolke · October 13, 2013

I'm wondering as well...

I also agree with some previous comments that A2 support is slow, but I don't know, every time they answer I'm getting decent answer and usually all my problems are eventually solved. I have opened over 20 tickets with them so far and they all end up as solved so far...

Les, is APC some sort of php accelerator? Is this on a VPS?

Dh42 · October 13, 2013

Dolke,

It is a php opcode cache. It is on a vps and they say they will install it for you. It is a managed account so they will not let me install it. See this image, http://screencast.com/t/w7g3Vda78wDw

a2hosting-andy · October 14, 2013

Dolke,

It is a php opcode cache. It is on a vps and they say they will install it for you. It is a managed account so they will not let me install it. See this image, http://screencast.com/t/w7g3Vda78wDw

Hi DH42,

I've looked into the ticket for your APC - so sorry about the slow response time. Your APC issue has been fixed, and if you haven't already received a ticket update, you should receive one shortly.

-Andy

Dh42 · October 14, 2013

Andy,

I am about to respond to the ticket, I just got it. The issue is not fixed however. I don't know exactly what has been done, so I cannot say for sure what is wrong, but the miss rate is way to high. FTP into the site and open the apc.php file and you can see the user name and password that I have on the live file. Login and look at the files that are hits and misses. It seems that only the smarty files are being cached while none of the core files are being cached. This is not how it operates when it is set up correctly. It looks like it is disregarding whole directories in the hit / miss calculation.

a2hosting-andy · October 14, 2013

Hello my friends.

A2 andy asked some details via Private Message and i have sent message to him on 28 September 2013. But i did not receive any reply from Andy.

Finally My Prestashop theme developer asked me, Friend. What can i do for you? Then i said total story.

Then he give his kindly support. He checked my website and do optimize tips. Also remove "histats" analytics tool and "Zopim" Live chat from my website. I'd like to say, He do it correctly. I'd like to say "Thanks Dear"

He did not do Dh42's recommendations. I think if we do Dh42's optimize tips we can make FAST shopping cart.

Here is my page loading time chart. (Checked using pingdom.com)

Old Godaddy Shared Hosting: 12.71 Seconds (Page size 1.4 MB)

A2 VPS with SSD (Before do optimized tips): 50-60 seconds (Page size 1.4 MB)

A2 VPS with SSD (After do optimized tips): 4.47 seconds (Page size 2.1 MB)

I have checked A2 VPS in past 2 weeks. I did not meet any down time. But sometimes i got slow speed.

Finally I think "A2" is okay. But they take long time to REPLY.

Hi White Lion,

Sorry about the delay in our responses. We've been hiring techs like crazy and our response times should speed up as a result.

I've PM'd you a bit of info, but will also note here - APC is not installed on your VPS, I'll put in a request to have it installed and then we'll be able to enable APC caching in PrestaShop which should also help out with your speed.

Thanks,

Andy

White Lion · October 15, 2013

Dear PascalVG

Yes. That is correct. It take to 50-60 seconds to load a home page.

I do not have good idea about what he did. He said he enable prestashop cash correctly and remove "histats" and "zopim" codes from my website.

DH42 recommended to remove custom featured product module from my home page. in these days we are planing to jump new custom module.

Also I've deactivated special module.

Have a nice day.

White Lion · October 18, 2013

Same problem here. I'm using PrestaShop 1.5.3.1.

I got An error occurred while updating object. meta () when updating meta Page title and Meta description using Preferences > SEO & URLs > Edit.

I've posted same questions to this topic.

http://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/105133-an-error-occurred-while-updating-object-meta/

Someone said use chmod 666 for .htaccess

Is it okay. But some one said, Do not allow to write public.

Please tell me, How I can resolve this error.

White Lion · October 18, 2013

I have try to use chmod 666 for .htaccess

But i got this error message.

Request denied.
Please verify that the file or folder exists and that you have the necessary permissions on the server to perform the requested operation.

need help to resolve this issue.

awmawm · November 23, 2013

Anyone who thinks a2 is so great: We have set up a Prestashop on a shared SSD on their Iceland server two weeks ago and already had two outages, the most recent one today lasting 8 hours and STILL counting. Apparently, they had a "unrecoverable failure" and have to reload from their "most recent backup" (whatever that means). While they advertise RAID 10 on their shared SSD servers, their response as well as the time it takes them to restore service gives me the impression that they do not use RAID 10 even though they prominently advertise it on the website.

We chose a2hosting because Prestashop.com endorses them but based on our today's experience of a massive outage without an end in sight, I strongly recommend to look at other options first.

a2hosting-andy · November 23, 2013

Anyone who thinks a2 is so great: We have set up a Prestashop on a shared SSD on their Iceland server two weeks ago and already had two outages, the most recent one today lasting 8 hours and STILL counting. Apparently, they had a "unrecoverable failure" and have to reload from their "most recent backup" (whatever that means). While they advertise RAID 10 on their shared SSD servers, their response as well as the time it takes them to restore service gives me the impression that they do not use RAID 10 even though they prominently advertise it on the website.

We chose a2hosting because Prestashop.com endorses them but based on our today's experience of a massive outage without an end in sight, I strongly recommend to look at other options first.

Hi Awmawm,

Yes we are having an outtage in our Iceland data center with our thss1 server. While it is unfortunate, these instances are incredibly rare with our hosting and we are doing absolutely everything in our power to get the server back up and running and soon as possible. We are definitely sorry about the downtime and we take such situations incredibly seriously. I personally can completely understand your frustration, and apologize deeply for the situation.

-Andy

Dolke · November 23, 2013

This is mine first bad A2 experience. My website is also on the same shared server.

There is very much truth in what Awmawm said. This outtage is taking to long.
Any news Andy?

a2hosting-andy · November 23, 2013

This is mine first bad A2 experience. My website is also on the same shared server.

There is very much truth in what Awmawm said. This outtage is taking to long.

Any news Andy?

I unfortunately don't have any news other than we're working as fast as we possibly can to restore service on thss1. As soon as we know more I'll post here, and as always the most recent information about any outtage can be found on our server status page: https://my.a2hosting.com/serverstatus.php

So sorry about this - we hate having downtime as much as you guys hate having it happen to you.

-Andy

Edited November 23, 2013 by a2hosting-andy (see edit history)

Dolke · November 23, 2013

To be honest, I'm not that worried about downtime as much as I'm worried about the data.

I really hope data is safe and up to date

Btw, not long ago I recommended A2 to a friend and he finally moved to your hosting few days back and guess what, he have few of his websites on that same server

Edited November 23, 2013 by Dolke (see edit history)

a2hosting-andy · November 23, 2013

To be honest, I'm not that worried about downtime as much as I'm worried about the data.

I really hope data is safe and up to date

Btw, I recommended A2 to a friend few days ago and he recently moved to A2 and guess what, he have few of his websites on that same server

I'll post back as soon as I know more about what is restored. Again - so sorry it's been a rocky start you and your buddy are having with our hosting.

Dolke · November 23, 2013

Anyone who thinks a2 is so great: We have set up a Prestashop on a shared SSD on their Iceland server two weeks ago and already had two outages, the most recent one today lasting 8 hours and STILL counting. Apparently, they had a "unrecoverable failure" and have to reload from their "most recent backup" (whatever that means). While they advertise RAID 10 on their shared SSD servers, their response as well as the time it takes them to restore service gives me the impression that they do not use RAID 10 even though they prominently advertise it on the website.

We chose a2hosting because Prestashop.com endorses them but based on our today's experience of a massive outage without an end in sight, I strongly recommend to look at other options first.

Well my Alexa uptime monitor showed great uptime for the last 30+ days (99.96%) and that is really great service but this last outtage is just taking to long, I agree with you there. If they do have RAID 10 then I guess it would be much simpler and quicker to restore the server assuming SSDs are problem and not something far more greater like power supply unit or something third...

awmawm · November 23, 2013

Well my Alexa uptime monitor showed great uptime for the last 30+ days (99.96%) and that is really great service but this last outtage is just taking to long, I agree with you there. If they do have RAID 10 then I guess it would be much simpler and quicker to restore the server assuming SSDs are problem and not something far more greater like power supply unit or something third...

I asked technical support today whether they really use RAID 10 on their shared SSD servers (which they advertise and which was the reason why we chose a2hosting over inmotion) and I was told that they do. I then inquired why they do not just take a set of disks and install them in a functioning server and was told that they lost all the data on the whole RAID 10 setup while trying to restart the server... This sounds to me that they do not really use RAID 10 (i.e. false advertising) OR the technicians are highly incompetent and manage to loose all data despite a RAID 10 setup.

Since they lost all the data, they were forced to load the "most recent backup" but technical support could not tell me how old it is other than 1-2 days prior to the server failure...

Dolke · November 23, 2013

I'm with the support technician as I'm writing this:

This is the transcript:

Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: Welcome to A2 Hosting Live Chat. My name is Jamie, how may I help you?
Dean Dolić: Hi Jamie
Dean Dolić: My website is affected with the thss1 outtage
Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: Hello Dean
Dean Dolić: Can you tell me the current status of the incident?
Dean Dolić: and maybe have your engineers found the cause?
Dean Dolić: It has been more then 24h now
Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: We are currently restoring backups on this server and anticipate it to be completed by the end of the day.
Dean Dolić: That means we wont have our websites filled with up to date data?
Dean Dolić: how old are these backups?
Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: At this time, I am not 100% certain on the backup age, however, it should not be more than a week old.
Dean Dolić: Even with a week old backup that can be a really big problem
Dean Dolić: We have Prestashop website
Dean Dolić: and there are a lot things we done in the last week and on the other hand we have purchases in the store every day
Dean Dolić: OK I guess you wont be able to give me more info Jamie
Dean Dolić: thank you
Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: Completely understand.
Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: You're welcome.
Dean Dolić: do you mind if I put this transcript on to the forums
Dean Dolić: because there are other PS users that use your hosting services and are affected with this outtage
Jamie J. - A2 Hosting Support: If you would like to sure.
Dean Dolić: thank you
Dean Dolić: bye

awmawm · November 23, 2013

"it should be not more than a week old" - that is a scary thought. We have a more recent backup but that does NOT help as long as we cannot even access the server to load our own (more recent) backup.

Andy, as I have posted on the other thread, it is about time that a2hosting transparently communicates what the date and time of the backup is you are restoring from. Since you have been in the process of restoring from that backup for more than 15 hours, you certainly have that information...

Dh42 · November 23, 2013

I would like to add a couple points to this thread.

Data backups from hosts are not to be trusted. It has nothing to do with whether the host is a good host or not, just don't trust anyone with your data. You alone are responsible for your backups.

That being said, there are two things that I recommend. One is a service called code guard, it is $5 a month and backs up your site to amazon daily. The other is this module from Presto-Changeo http://www.presto-changeo.com/en/prestashop-modules/37-automatic-prestashop-backup.html It can back your website up a few different ways and you can schedule backups.

As for the downtime for the rebuild, it can take a long time to build back a raid10 array, it is not something that goes quick. Since rebuilds are handled on the block level, a 50% full drive takes the same amount of time as a 90% full drive. There are also other factors that you have to account for. I know I have had a couple instances of raid arrays being built back only to find out another disk in the array is failing and it has to be replaced and rebuilt again.

Servers failing is unfortunate, but I wouldn't use it as a chance to jump hosts unless they were constantly failing. No matter where you move to, there is always going to be the same risk. That is why you should back your data up yourself off site. Doing a cpanel backup is not really that great unless you download it.

a2hosting-andy · November 23, 2013

"it should be not more than a week old" - that is a scary thought. We have a more recent backup but that does NOT help as long as we cannot even access the server to load our own (more recent) backup.

Andy, as I have posted on the other thread, it is about time that a2hosting transparently communicates what the date and time of the backup is you are restoring from. Since you have been in the process of restoring from that backup for more than 15 hours, you certainly have that information...

Hi Awmawm,

It is my understanding that we using multiple backups in the restore, which is both why it is taking longer than usual, and why we don't have a specific date to offer in regard to what date the backup is being restored from. Once the restore is complete, we will post full details on backup dates and causality.

Thanks,

Andy

Dolke · November 23, 2013

Dh42 made some good points here.

Doing a full cPanel backup is something that is taking quite some time and process is not completely automatic (you need to initiate it manually if there is no option to set a cron job) and even once you have your full cPanel backup it is still fiscally located on the hosting server so you need to download it.

As for the big websites like mine full cPanel backup is quite heavy file it needs to be downloaded via FTP and that is something that usually takes couple of hours. I dont have time and nerves to exclude some of maybe not needed files and folders from the cPanel backup so I go with th flow and just made full cPanel backup, aware that this is adding more weight on the backup file and time needed for a download.

Lets say that I have this full cPanel backup on my local drive and server had some failure so I need to restore my backup?

I need to upload that heavy file somewhere on the web if not the server root it self in order to extract the files and DBs and that is some extra time (usually hours) needed for a task to be done.

And what if you are adding and deleting products each day, change some product data and descriptions, new orders are being made each day and new signups too? Then you would need to have this cPanel thing done each day and that is just to much time invested into a backups.

These all are arguments from my perspective towards what Dh42 has explained in the post above.
Some of these solutions would be easy and affordable daily basis backup solutions I guess.

awmawm · November 23, 2013

I would like to add a couple points to this thread.

Data backups from hosts are not to be trusted. It has nothing to do with whether the host is a good host or not, just don't trust anyone with your data. You alone are responsible for your backups.

That being said, there are two things that I recommend. One is a service called code guard, it is $5 a month and backs up your site to amazon daily. The other is this module from Presto-Changeo http://www.presto-changeo.com/en/prestashop-modules/37-automatic-prestashop-backup.html It can back your website up a few different ways and you can schedule backups.

As for the downtime for the rebuild, it can take a long time to build back a raid10 array, it is not something that goes quick. Since rebuilds are handled on the block level, a 50% full drive takes the same amount of time as a 90% full drive. There are also other factors that you have to account for. I know I have had a couple instances of raid arrays being built back only to find out another disk in the array is failing and it has to be replaced and rebuilt again.

Servers failing is unfortunate, but I wouldn't use it as a chance to jump hosts unless they were constantly failing. No matter where you move to, there is always going to be the same risk. That is why you should back your data up yourself off site. Doing a cpanel backup is not really that great unless you download it.

You are absolutely right about doing our own backups. Unfortunately, with the service being down for 30-36 hours (best case scenario, who knows, maybe we wake up tomorrow morning and it is still down), all our own backups are not of any help until we get again access to the server.

In regards to reliability, we bought a hosting account with a2hosting on their Iceland server roughly 2 weeks ago and already experienced two outages. 2 weeks of service with 2 outages amounting to 30+ hours of outage = highly unreliable in my view. For some, this might be acceptable but I doubt any Prestashop owner would want to take that risk.

Dolke · November 23, 2013

Agree with you there.

Until we get fully operational server all these backups are irrelevant, but as Dh42 said this could happen on any other server and hosting provider. I'm with A2hosting for a few months now and I came from Hostgator.

I can tell you that my Prestashop website is performing much much better on A2 shared server then it was performing on Hostgator shared and even VPS level 5 hosting. Thats a true story.

I'm not defending A2hosting but truth is also that uptime was 99.99% for last 28 days.

I can show you mine Alexa uptime monitor stats if you wish.

Dh42 · November 23, 2013

You are absolutely right about doing our own backups. Unfortunately, with the service being down for 30-36 hours (best case scenario, who knows, maybe we wake up tomorrow morning and it is still down), all our own backups are not of any help until we get again access to the server.

In regards to reliability, we bought a hosting account with a2hosting on their Iceland server roughly 2 weeks ago and already experienced two outages. 2 weeks of service with 2 outages amounting to 30+ hours of outage = highly unreliable in my view. For some, this might be acceptable but I doubt any Prestashop owner would want to take that risk.

What you have to realize is that you need off site backups. I have a few clients that I consider critical clients. They have high traffic and high sales. The reason for an off site back up is say the server is going down for an extended amount of time, you can change the name servers and have the backup loaded to a new server in a different location. Then while the main server is down being repaired, the site is still up hosted somewhere else. Amazon is actually really good for this, if you use tomerg3's back up module, you can back your site up in the amazon cloud. Then if something like this happens, you can redeploy from amazon until the server is restored.

I think also one thing that is lost about the whole raid thing is an understanding of the disks involved. I do not know A2's server set up, so I am going to guesstimate and tell you what I think it is, it might shed a little light into the situation. Since they are using ssd's on the machine they are limited to what a ssd drive can store and how they operate. Most servers have either 1-2TB of storage. So if they have 2TB of storage on the machine and are using 256gb drives running in raid10 they would need 16 drives. It takes a while to verify 16 drives and that is where the time is spent. Copying the data does not actually take very long, it is the verification process that takes a long time.

Also you have to realize what you are getting yourself into when it comes to hosting as well. That is why a lot of times it is best to consult with a developer. People buy into technologies because they are buzz words and don't actually know much about them. Like with the ssd drives, it helps to actually know about them before you chose the hosting. See, the way that ssd drives work is totally different from a spinning hard disk. SSD drives are actually rated by how many rewrites they can achieve. So when you buy a 256gb SSD drive, it might actually have 20tb of space in it. SSD drives write to a part of the disk, then after a few writes that part of the disk dies and then it writes to another part. It basically keeps writing to the disk until all of the parts of the disk die. They have a finite life that can actually be calculated. This is one reason I choose to not use them. They are faster, but because of their limited reads and writes, they are more prone to dying. This has nothing to do with the hosting, any SSD works this way. When you choose what drive you want in a sever you have to weigh your choices and make a decision.

awmawm · November 23, 2013

@Dh42

For a truly critical (high volume site), I doubt that uploading a backup to a different server and then redirecting it will be the solution since the DNS propagation will take time (even if it is just a few hours, it is still too long for a high volume site). If sales volume justifies the cost and down time must be limited to minutes and not hours, a mirror on a separate server in a different location is the only true redundancy, imho.

I also fully understand that a complete restore from a backup will take time. My concern is, however, that there seemingly was a complete failure and data loss in the RAID 10. Technical support told me that they attempted to restart the server and lost all data during that process so it seems to me that the technicians in charge did not follow proper procedures to protect the data before restarting the server.

Dolke · November 23, 2013

@awmawm

You made a good point.

@Dh42

Les, you have suggested alternative backup solutions like code guard or presto-changeo module.

As they are making website backup and store it in a cloud do they provide such possibility to provide customer with a mirror site too?

Is there such a feature?

Also, if we somehow have a mirror/clone of the website on some other server and even hosting provider, how that affects our SEO and ranking. I'm not sure but I think using things like whole website clones raises a bunch of questions related to ranking and SEO or maybe I'm mistaking.

Also, this mirror would need to be up to date (at least on daily basis) so I wonder if such a service exists?

Once main site is back online who will decide it is no longer needed to provide mirroring and switch back to original server, but before that syncing data of the main website to a mirror?

And last but not least, if mirror website doesn't require DNS change are we talking about some redirection?

Edited November 23, 2013 by Dolke (see edit history)

Dh42 · November 24, 2013

@awmawm

DNS propagation takes minutes from custom servers, not hours. You can set your own TTL. The sites I host can deal with that kind of down time. If I was hosting something that could not I would use an IP failover.

Also about the corrupted data, it happens even in raid formats all of the time. That is why backups are made. For all we know they could not have dropped a drive at all. The issue sounds more like the raid controller failed. Read scenario #2 on this, http://www.adrc.com/raid_failure_types.html

@Dolke,

Yes you can do that without any impact on the SEO of the site. What you do is block all access to the server the mirror is stored on except for the other servers ip address and your ip address if you are on an static ip. It will consume more resources on the server though. I mean honestly you can set a cron up on one server to rysnc another server every few minutes. But then again you are talking about a set up that is going to cost you a few hundred dollars a month.

Dolke · November 24, 2013

@Dh42

Once a day is a period that I can live with.

There are few people working on the store in the same time, its not just me. Some of my colleagues are working on the images, others on the product descriptions for example and there are people who are updating prices. We do add/delete/modify our product DB each day so we can live with a day lost work, but more than that would not be a solution.

So this sync would go on a daily basis.

When it comes to locking the clone site from a Google and other search engines Im not sure why my test website at test.dekom.co.rs is not hidden? Im pretty sure that I locked it up.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Dolke (see edit history)

Dh42 · November 24, 2013

Things do not hide on there own, have you done anything to hide it? Disallow ip addresses to it. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4400154/htaccess-deny-all-allow-only-one-ip

Dolke · November 24, 2013

I did Les, Its already done by A2 support.
Thanks for the link anyway.

awmawm · November 24, 2013

@Dh42

Thanks for your feedback. Some good suggestions!

In respect to scenario #2, are you telling us that it is common for hosting providers like a2hosting to use single controller RAID setups for shared hosting? That would absolutely shock me.

Also, in terms of time it takes to restore data, what is the typical amount of data that sits on one shared hosting server before it becomes too much to handle (particularly during a disaster like we have been experiencing with a2hosting over the last 2 days)? The tech support person from a2hosting told me earlier today that they have hundreds of TBs to restore...

Dh42 · November 24, 2013

I can't speak to how they have the raid setup on the machine, but if they have 4 controllers and one goes bad it really does not matter. That one bad controller can ruin enough of the disks in the array that it cannot be restored.

I really have no clue how much data a server holds, it is all up to whoever sets it up and manages it.

awmawm · November 24, 2013

Well, whatever amount of data they had to backup, I just learned that they restored the server from the most recent backup which is 16 days old!

PascalVG · November 24, 2013

@awmawm: Ouch, that's unforgivable... Did you have your own backup?

And what about their: Quote:

"

Free Server Rewind Backups

Freedom from accidental deletion, mistakes & data corruption!

Server Rewind is our free file recovery program. Easily restore your data from saved snapshots when recovery is necessary.

Automatic - Account backup snapshots are taken regularly.
Flexible - Restore a single file, MySQL database, site or your entire account.
Convenient - Access Server Rewind from your control panel.
Exclusive – You can only get your hands on it at A2 Hosting!
Free - Yes, it's actually 100% free. We promise.

"

So how regularly is regularly? 16 days ago doesn't sound like 'regularly', for hosting practises.

Or can you do this, now that the servers are back to work?

DH42: Les, reading post #85, it looks more like scenario #4, some procedure that went wrong... Andy wrote earlier they hired a bunch of new people lately. This may be the result of in-experience, or lack of knowledge of the specific situation there...

I think they have some explanation to do here. And we all have to learn that Raid-?? doesn't save us from disasters... Backing up off-host regularly is a minimum!

@Dolke: did you have the same old backup restored, or a newer one?

pascal

awmawm · November 24, 2013

@Pascal

This is what I just got from a2hosting:

"We apologize greatly. The backup the engineers had to restore to was November 8th. Unfortunately the data after that point is unrecoverable. We will be publishing a formal report on Sunday, 11/24 to our customers.

Our engineers are currently still working to bring MySQL back online. That will be up within the next hour or so.

Thank you for your understanding,"

So, they obviously forgot to check for 16 days that their greatly advertised "Server Rewind" feature is actually working. I have a 2-day old SQL backup but two days of building the website with a custom theme and translation is gone. Since we go live by next Tuesday, I will have 5 days of no sleep ahead of me...

At least our shop was not live but I am sure other Prestashop owners who operate from that server have been loosing quite some data (besides 36+ hours of zero sales).

koconborz · November 24, 2013

@Pascal

This is what I just got from a2hosting:

"We apologize greatly. The backup the engineers had to restore to was November 8th. Unfortunately the data after that point is unrecoverable. We will be publishing a formal report on Sunday, 11/24 to our customers.

Our engineers are currently still working to bring MySQL back online. That will be up within the next hour or so.

Thank you for your understanding,"

So, they obviously forgot to check for 16 days that their greatly advertised "Server Rewind" feature is actually working. I have a 2-day old SQL backup but two days of building the website with a custom theme and translation is gone. Since we go live by next Tuesday, I will have 5 days of no sleep ahead of me...

At least our shop was not live but I am sure other Prestashop owners who operate from that server have been loosing quite some data (besides 36+ hours of zero sales).

I have an empty hosting account because I moved to a2hosting last weekend Lucily I have a backup from last week (7 days ago).

So my loss is a week order list and the registered users. Now I have to send the e-mails manually to the customers that the order is shipped and so on...

Next week I'll buy a HDD only for the daily backup.

Dh42 · November 24, 2013

I want to say that I am sorry for your data loss guys, hopefully in the end you guys will get everything worked out and back better than ever.

That being said, I want to address something said in the couple of threads about the issue. Prestashop makes every effort to secure partnerships with some of the best companies in the industry. But at the same time Prestashop has no control over how these businesses are run.

@koconborz You might look into the Presto-changeo backup module I posted above or code guard. Both will do automatic backups.

awmawm · November 24, 2013

@Dh42

I fully understand that Prestashop has no control over the hosting providers but I think this event should give Prestashop second thoughts about recommending a2hosting going forward. I also understand that hardware failures happen but forgetting for 16 days to check whether data is backed up has nothing to do with that and one has to wonder what else they are missing.

It would not surprise me if the time of this outage was extended because a2hosting was erratically running around looking for a more recent backup...

Dolke · November 24, 2013

@Pascal

Fortunately I have full cPanel backup from the November 16th and I'm uploading it to the server as I'm writing this.

Although it seems server is back online (I'm able to log on to cPanel) my website is not working and back office is not working too.

From all written above lets say that I can understand i pass over the following:

* Server went down for some unknown reason - fine it happens, not a problem

* If it went down due to hardware failure and a2hosting is using what they are stating on their website and that means RAID 10, server rewind etc - fine again, that's beyond anyone so not a problem.

* If most recent backups they have are from the November the 8th so 16 days old - I'm not fine with that because what happened with that "server rewind" technology they advertise and statement that user data is regularly backuped, but lets say that I can go over that too and as Dh42 said, have my own destiny in hands and make my own regular backups one way or the other...

* What I cant forgive and I wont is the fact they are not able to restore even from those most recent backups they have on this or some other shared server...

I really hope this whole situation will end soon and have a happy ending and I really have intention to gather all a2 customers affected by this disaster and file a complaint asking for compensation for damage that is done.

awmawm · November 24, 2013

So much about bringing MySQL back online "within the next hour or so" (that was 8 1/2 hours ago when they sent me an email).

As of now, neither email nor Prestashop installation are working...

45+ hours plus outage and still counting...

The level of incompetence at a2hosting is mind blowing...

How to Migrate a GoDaddy Shared Hosting to A2hosting.com VPS server

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