A Note on Redundancy
So we had a fun night fielding contacts from customers because of server issues.
After a while things slowed down because the admins got the problem stabilized. There were plenty of people I talked to that were complaining that We should have redundancy. The response I wanted to give them was simple: For the amount of money you're paying for service, you can't expect this.
Yeah I've mentioned this before, but this time I got curious and went around to several hosting companies and asked if they offer redundancy on shared servers.
The results were an astounding HELL NO! (yeah I'm paraphrasing).
A list of providers I asked were (in alphabetical order):
Bluehost
MidPhase
UK2.net
GoDaddy
HostGator
WestHost
So as you can see a large cross-section of the hosting industry does not offer redundancy for shared hosting.
Why no redundancy?
Well it's all a matter of economics! You want redundant servers and connections? Guess what? YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM! It's that simple!
Having complete sets of backup hardware ready for a fail-over is not an easy thing, not only must you have separate hardware you also have to have other hardware and software to manage the fail-over process.
So it wouldn't just require a doubling of the price of hosting it would more likely cost around triple (gee is that why a VPS/Cloud setup costs about 3x as much as a shared hosting account?).
SO STOP EXPECTING!
I really hope this has shed some light on why, when you buy cheap hosting you get no redundancy (although I must say, to someone who can take a step outside their situation and look at things in a rational matter, this should be obvious!).
The Life of a Mind Reader
This was an actual ticket I got this evening:
Error message: Trying to log in to this IMAP/SMTP account failed. Verify that
the username and password are correct. This affects my business directly.
That's it, no other explanation of what was happening.
Well thanks to my finely tuned Techtard Translator (patent pending), I assumed that he's using a Mac. This is due to the mac.com email address he emailed this wealth of information from. That and I looked at his domain name which also has to do with Macs so I figured I'm safe here.
From there I figured that his problem was related to the recent server migration and the fact the Mac mail uses SSL by default.
While that's a great thing from a security standpoint, it's HORRIBLE when you're dealing with the dumbest people on earth.
So I ended up sending this wonderful human being along with the name of the server his account is now on.
You know, I got curious so I went and looked up this idiot's site. Apparently he makes his living providing support for Mac users.
Wow.
This F*cktard (yes, that's with a capital f) really oughta know better.
“Unlimited” Shared Hosting
So I've been dealing with a lot of crap the last few weeks.
Many of the problems I've seen at work have simply been due to us offering "unlimited" shared hosting. Which in terms of IT is a very dangerous offering, specifically because people are batshit stupid when it comes to stuff like this. People see "Unlimited Bandwidth" and "Unlimited Diskspace" and think "ZOMG! I can totally run Facebook for $4.95 a month!"
Yeah, when I was talking with one of the admins about stuff like this he about pissed himself laughing.
It's really misleading because no where do you see any mention of CPU or Memory restrictions. Then these same batshit stupid people come back constantly wondering why their accounts are suspended or things are running incredibly slowly.
"Well sir, it's because you and 10 other people on the server have 200G of crap in your accounts."
I can't imagine that anyone who actually has to deal with support for these types of services actually wants to put quotas like this in place. It's just ridiculous!
Way to go Sales teams! You've ruined shared hosting for everyone!
Yes the unlimited packages are all a sales ploy, there I said it. The constant game of one-up-manship that goes on in the world of marketing is the sole reason for this insanity (I know, I know, it's how capitali$m works).
But holy shit, what if things that actually mattered were offered?
Why not limit accounts and then simply state something like the following:
"We're aware that while other companies may offer 'unlimited' bandwidth and diskspace, it's really a bunch of horse shit marketing hype. By limiting our account sizes we help ensure more stable performance of the servers."
I could go on and on about this, but ultimately I know it's an exercise in futility. It's for the simple fact of the matter that people who are fucking dumb enough ignorant enough to think that Facebook runs on a single server won't find this post anyway.
So I'll just leave this at what everything else comes back to: "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR DIPSHIT!"
Seriously Apple WTF?
Howdy everyone, it's about time I got off my arse and updated the site.
I just spent 40 minutes the phone helping a customer configure her iPhone. I don't blame her though, she was nice enough. I blame the iOS design in this case. Seriously this is a HUGE fail in the department of logic.
The reason this lady was having such a problem was because of how the geniuses at Apple laid out the damn email settings. I knew why her phone wasn't connecting properly, but she was getting confused as to where to put this stuff because of the design fail. Here's what I'm talking about right here:
See that section labeled Advanced? Yeah see how it's somewhat grouped together with the SMTP section under Outgoing Mail Server? Yeah When you click on the Advanced tab, it gives you the advanced settings for the Incoming Mail.
ARE F*!KING KIDDING ME APPLE? The majority of your users are already handicapped anyway! WHY THE F*!CK WOULD DO THIS?
Apple may be the most valuable company in the world now, but it still doesn't say anything for the actual logic involved in their products.
Mac Myths: Part 1 – Viruses
The basis of this site has been my frustration with ignorance. Not the type of ignorance where you just don't know. But the type of ignorance where you're too lazy to find out, or you're arrogant enough to think you shouldn't have to learn.
Nowhere is the later case more evident than within the Mac "community." The phrase "this should just work" abounds.
What this says to me is: "I'm too f*!@ing lazy to figure out what any of this actually means."
Case-in-point, I was recently watching the documentary Welcome to Macintosh. One of the people interviewed was an early adopter of Apple products. At one point in the movie he was talking about why he does like Windows, his big complaint? "... makes me feel like an idiot" He was referring to the error messages Windows displays.
Oh gee, if only there was something in existence that allows you to search arbitrary pieces of information against a large source of answers. Answers that might even come from say a software company that wrote an Operating System you're using and are having trouble with.
Yes, error codes such as 0x000157a aren't the most immediately informative. But if I pull up my friend Mr. Web Browser and put that code in with the name of the program I'm using, guess what? You'll generally get a result with a link to a solution.
It's that simple it really is, you just have to know how to use Google.
So anyway, enough about that particular instance of how stupid/lazy some Mac users are. Lets move on the specific topic of this post, Macs and Viruses.
Translate Me!
Recent Musings
- It was really hard to leave for work when a fresh batch of computer parts showed up today... right as I was leaving for work! 2 days ago
- I love helping retarded people for a living #TooLazyTooStupid 2 days ago
- RT @Support4Idiots: There are no dumb questions, just dumb people. 2 days ago
- RT @Support4Idiots: Why do the admins find it necessary to perform updates that will cause downtime in the middle of the day? 2 days ago
- RT @Support4Idiots: Nope, you asked me that same question 5 minutes ago. You exceeded your patience quota for the day. 2 days ago
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