Hosting questions! (not review related!)

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KevySaysBeNice

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 7, 2001
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Hi all!

I'm thinking about switching from 1and1 to HostHawk (I'd like SSH and multiple FTP accounts), but have a few questions:

1) I like 1and1, and really have no problems with them. Is there any reason to transfer my domains I have registered with them to my HostHawk account?

2) If I did transfer domains to HostHawk, what happens to my domains if HostHawk were to someday flake out and shut down? My concern is that I don't want to ever loose the domains I have - if I moved my domain registration from 1and1 (which in my mind is about as solid as you can get, as far as being there down the road, or at least as far as being reliable) to HostHawk, is there any risk?

3) Any other thoughts?

Thanks, sorry for the newb questions!!

<3
 
1. I'm not a 1and1 fan, and do you mean HawkHost? They are pretty solid, small company.

2. You don't need to transfer your domains anywhere, you can keep your domains with whatever major registrar you would like to. All you need to do is point to their nameservers and bam, no more domain name worries. Hosting is the only thing that needs to change.

3. Go with a reseller account so you can break down domains into their own accounts, rather than addon's, easier to keep things clean and tidy that way.
 
Thanks for the quality reply :)

Sounds great!

Follow up question: were you refering to a reseller account on hawkhost? If so, does that advice still apply, considering I plan on keeping my domains on 1and1?

<3 Thanks again!
 
Correct, it does not matter what type of service you get, shared, reseller, vps, etc. You can keep your domains wherever you want 99.9% of the time.

With a reseller account you can do the same, each domain you just point to their nameservers.

For example your nameservers might be this on 1and1.
ns1.1and1.com
ns2.1and1.com

With Hawk it would be.
ns1.hawkhost.com
ns2.hawkhost.com

(just examples)

But that's basically all you would need to change with 1and1, drop your 1and1 hosting but keep the domains registered with them. :) After you migrate your data of course. :)
 
Funny thing, as SOON as I bought the domain, I got an email from 1and1 telling me the price is going up for their hosting (but they are adding 5 FTP accounts). Basically, I'm very happy I'm starting the process of moving hosts.

Thanks again for the responses!!
 
So, I have a totally, 100% unrelated question, but it happens to do with hosting, and I feel bad starting a new thread when this thread (which is also abotu hosting) is still so close to the top of the page. So, here goes:

The (very small) company I work for currently pays around 500 bucks a month for a fairly beafy dedicated server. We host a number of client sites on it. Nobody here is what I'd call a "hardcore system admin" nor are any of us really linux/console pros. Our host uses cPanel, and we use cPanel and WHM to manage most of the lower level "stuff" - backups, etc. The issue with our current setup is that if/when something goes down, it can take us a while to recover. I guess we have backup drives, and if the server were to completely die, then (apparently) the backup drives can be moved to a different server, and the new server can pull in the files from the old drive and we can get things back up and running.

I don't really know what I'm talking about, by the way, so if something sounds wrong it might be. This is what I've been told by the guy that normally actually handles the server stuff. The bottom line is that the guy feels comfortable enough handling these things because cPanel makes it pretty easy to handle this "stuff."

ANYWAY, we are interested in looking into something a bit more solid, and perhaps a bit more forward thinking (and possibly even a bit cheaper). So, I've been looking into Amazon's EC2 hosting, and the point of everything I typed above is to give you some context for this question: Is EC2 a good hosting solution for a smaller company hosting multiple websites where we don't have a ton to invest in server costs but we want something reliable?
 
Check out ColocateUSA, talk to Ryan.

He can get a dedicated server, prefferably with RAID as well as R1Soft block level backup storage space for less than $500 bucks. They generally only use Intel and Supermicro branded hardware.

PM me and I'll get your info over there if you'd like

EDIT: I can probably get them to discount it, just don't mention it until after you get a quote. :)
 
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Never register a domain with a host. They own it when you do it that way. Register it separately so that way you are the owner. Too late now, but you may be able to get them to transfer it to you.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Never register a domain with a host. They own it when you do it that way. Register it separately so that way you are the owner. Too late now, but you may be able to get them to transfer it to you.
Click to expand...

So, at the risk of (almost certainly) sounding stupid, what do you mean? Don't I need to go through some sort of domain registrar (godaddy, etc?). I can transfer my domains from 1and1, I have the ability to "unlock" them and transfer them, I've done it before actually. Is there a better/safer way to register my domains then through 1and1/GoDaddy/etc?

Thanks !!
 
The point is that you don't need to transfer your domain from your registrar, you can just point it to whatever host you want to without a transfer. :)
 
MikeTrike said:
The point is that you don't need to transfer your domain from your registrar, you can just point it to whatever host you want to without a transfer. :)
Click to expand...

But you said, "Never register a domain with a host." - I originally registered my domains with 1and1, and I'm wondering if it would be smart to move them some place more "safe." The thing is that I'm not sure who/where that would be - 1and1 is a host (my was my host), GoDaddy is a host, etc, etc. Are there any safer, "registrar ONLY" options or something? I'd hate for 1and1 to flake out on me in a year and me to loose access to my domains!
 
Just pick any major accredited registrar, GoDaddy is fine. It's generally fine as long as you keep them separate, it's the hosting providers that might end up holding you hostage. But most accredited registrars should not hold your domain hostage. This is generally only a problem if a provider gives you a "free" domain when you sign up for hosting.

I use eNom for my domains.
http://www.enom.com/
 
Just a follow up - I've decided to transfer all of my domains to GoDaddy. Frankly, I hate the site, I don't like their pricing, etc, however I figure at the very least they are probably not going to do anything to crazy considering their size. So I imagine my domains will be at least safe at GoDaddy for the time being.
 
KevySaysBeNice said:
Just a follow up - I've decided to transfer all of my domains to GoDaddy. Frankly, I hate the site, I don't like their pricing, etc, however I figure at the very least they are probably not going to do anything to crazy considering their size. So I imagine my domains will be at least safe at GoDaddy for the time being.
Click to expand...

Your last point is exactly what I was going to say. Godaddy isn't going anywhere, and while in some cases their prices can be a bit extreme, for their domains they're right on par with what other domain providers sell at.

Though I'll be honest, it's been a while since I've actually price checked.

We use Amazon EC2 at work to host some of our larger sites (larger in traffic) and it does wonderfully. My coworker did the initial setup, but from what I could tell it's pretty maintenance free after you get it going. I do recall that same coworker mentioning that Amazon provides very little support, if any at all, when problems do occur though.
 
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