Comments (0)

By blobaugh, November 15, 2007 8:06 pm

A couple years back I needed to move to a new web server and I had some specific criteria. First off I needed a Virtual Private Server (VPS) so I could have full control of my system. I also needed to have root access and be able to install any program I felt like. I wanted to be able to use the space any way I wanted, files, email, domains, etc. So I shopped around and I found WestHost. They sounded pretty good. They even provide a custom control panel with many prepackaged programs available. So I emailed them with a large list of questions, high up on the list was that I wanted full control over my host, and I wanted the Operating System (OS) install all to myself. I was assured of this and much more.

So I signed up. Because of all the assurances I felt confident in my choice and did two years. That was the two worst years of hosting I have ever seen. For starters the "VPS" was not a full OS installed just for me. It was a chroot with a very limited toolset, and I could not install most of the programs that I wanted. The connections after a few months became very very laggy, and timeouts would occur on a regular basis. The control panel was terrible! Just to move to a new page would cause a few minute wait. The email system was just horrendous. I could add more domains, but email was ridiculously limited. If I wanted to make a contact@bleah.com email account for a client I was locked out of ever using 'contact' again. Any account that I created worked for all domains. contact@bleah.com and contact@yomotha.com were both the same account! Highly aggravating. The tech support was terrible too. I had a domain suddenly just stop working. I traced the issue back to the webserver so I submited a ticket. After a couple back and forth messages I got fed up and logged into the server to do some extra testing. Sure enough I had it fixed in about 5 minutes. It was not something that I should have had to figure out though. WestHost should have known what was going on. That is what managed hosting is for right? They take care of your issues.

Well that was the last straw. I started looking for new web hosts. A guy I work with recommended MediaTemple. He has had an account for years and loves it. Plus they started this new service called Grid. It is a cluster of servers all hooked together. It assures you constant uptime, and if your load goes up it will spread the load across servers. MediaTemple did not give me a VPS, but they are very up front and have not hidden anything. I am able to ssh into the server to do things myself, and I can install any programs I want. The real clincher for me though was their control panel. All custom made in house and it works beautiful. Super easy to setup new client accounts, and email account are on a per domain basis just like they should be. I highly recommend MediaTemple if you want a simple hosting solution that is easy to setup and maintain. Of course I also have my own private dedicated server elsewhere that I have absolute control over, but MediaTemple makes it so easy and convenient to get clients up and running I think I will keep it around for a while.

Do not, I repeat DO NOT EVER use WestHost under ANY circumstances.

Cheers

Comments Off

By blobaugh, February 15, 2007 10:34 pm

With Vista about ready to come out many of us, especially in the open source community, are asking how it will affect us, and what if any are the benefits.

This link was passed on to me and I pass it on to you. It was a plain text file but has been spruced up a bit. Probably because so many people are viewing it.

Great read of network admins as well.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Comments (0)

By blobaugh, December 19, 2006 7:32 pm

So I was talking with a good friend of mine today about my words. I know that I am bad with words and have often gotten myself in trouble with them. Sometimes I have even said things that seem two faced. I want to apologize to anyone who I have done this too. Also I believe that anything I say about a person I should be able to say to them as well. I try to live that. Now I should just leave it at the apology and be done with it but I cannot. This is usually the point in which I do something stupid with my words but I want to defend myself at least a little.

The only real defense I have is towards the two faced thing. Yes I know I can be confusing with this. I tell one person that they should not drink alcohol, yet to another person I am not bothered by it at all. Sometimes I even say it is fine that they drink. That seems pretty conflicting right? I do not see it that way. In my mind it is ok for one and not the other. Why is that you ask? Well I shall explain. When I learn what moral code someone holds or claims to hold I throw it in their face when the violate it. I have no tact so it usually comes off harse even when I do not mean it that way. Not everyone has the same morals either. Let's keep using alcohol as an example. If someone that tells me they think drinking alcohol is wrong and then they go out and do it I will confront them on it. If someone thinks alcohol is fine and goes out and gets themself plastered I will let it fly. Yes I can totally understand how that can seem two faced but I hope you can understand where I am coming from here. I am not imposing my moral code on them, just throwing theirs back at them.

Maybe it would make more sense to do the same to all, but then I would just be imposing my moral code on them, and that is not right. Each person needs to make up their morals for themselves. Maybe it is that I am too confrontational and I need to hold my tongue more, which I am honestly trying to do.

But whatever. We shall see how you respond based off your comments.

Comments Off

By blobaugh, March 11, 2006 11:50 am

I'm sure alot of you remember going to KMart as a kid. Back in the day it was the cool place to shop. I know I loved it when I went in there. I usually lost myself in the LEGO section for and hour or so while my parents went off and shopped. I still remember my first remote control car that I got there. I spent weeks saving up my allowance and was thrilled when I brought it home and got to play with it. Of course a couple weeks later I took it apart but that's another story... Right now I'm going to talk about why KMart is going to fail.

I have a very good insight into the companies inner workings and let me tell you that it is not pretty in there. Lets take a look at the most basic part of any business, it's workers. Not the management, the real workers, the people that actually get out there and do the stuff no one else wants to do. If you want to succeed in your business you treat your employees good right? Well think again. KMart believes that if you push down your employees, give them crappy hours, pay them the minimum you can legally get away with, and work them hard enough that they should be pulling in the wages for multiple people then you will have a bright happy store. Well let me tell you something. The employees treat the store just like KMart treats them. Imagine having to run around literally half the store helping customers BY YOURSELF! I'm talking multiple departments here and you are the only one there! You can see why after a while the employees cease to care what goes on in other places. They don't perform to the best of their abilities because they are being pulled so many directions at once. And what happens if someone calls in sick? Oh well, just have the other people cover that person. Then what? Instead of covering 3 departments someone winds up covering 8 or more. And lets not even go into some of the things management does. Try this on for size. By Washington State law if an employee gets hurt on the job you have to file an incident report. Sometimes management says NO! And then if you do not show up for work because you are in pain and taking medication because of the injury they write you up, EVEN if you called them before your shift and told them why you could not make it! And then if you miss more than one day they will threaten to fire you. That's not cool in my book. Talk about slamming your employees. I do not understand why anyone would want to work there, let alone try to make it a career which many people have done.

Now lets talk about their customer service. On a whole when you can find an employee to talk to they always seem to be somewhat cheerful and will help you to the best of their ability. The downside is that it can sometimes take up to a half and hour to find a person with only one person covering half the store, and then even when you find them you may have to wait if they are helping someone else or taking a phone call. Heck they may even have a couple of people waiting on them. See what I mean? It's not that the employees have a lack of knowledge, rather many of them can tell you where to find anything in the store almost to the exact spot, it's that there is only one maybe two if you are lucky that are even there to help. That's strike two.

Then how about the stores themselves. Who wants to shop in a dinky run down place thats not taken care of when they can probably go across the street to another that is updated, newer, and cleaner. Maybe if they spent less time trying to screw their employees and customers they could spend a little more time and man power to clean up the stores and make them look nicer. Honestly I don't understand how some even pass the fire saftey inspections, and don't even get me started on some of those food courts.

So now that I've ripped KMart apart what do I think they could do that will improve it vastly, and *smirk smirk* maybe even help them make a comeback? Well for starters, treat your employees better. If you have happy satisfied employees then they will be more inclined to try to make you happy. They will take more pride and ownership in their stores and will therefore keep the appearances up. And for god's sake STOP BEING SO SUSPICIOUS OF THEM, nothing kills the mood of a work environment more than knowing your boss doesn't trust you, infact trusts you less than most customers that come in the door. Next at least double up on your staff. KMart has good service when you can find it. Make it your motto that no customer will ever have to ask where to find something. Because your employees will be out there making sure everything is done and the customers and being taken care of. Then why not invest a little money into fixing up your stores. I know it may seem like a lot now, but it will pay off by creating a better atmoshphere and lowering the costs next time you have to do a repair cause it will only be one thing that needs fixed, not a dozen just for one part. Oh yeah and don't forget to have plenty of cashiers on hand. It doen't matter if there are alot of customers or not, if they can't get out quick when they are done shopping they won't come back.

So there is my little rant on KMart. Stay tuned cause I'm sure more will come later on.