I have previously discussed in most of my BLOG websites that I have created and continue to display a wide variety of personal Hobby Based web sites. I don’t want to brag how many but let me admit, there are a lot more than 10.
I have been doing them since the Internet was first invented. So I am a very “old hand” at website creation.
The first website was a directory of HTML files and nothing like what is displayed today. It was called a “static” website. No dynamic presentation or need of a database.
I have created stand alone web servers on AWS (Amazon Web Service) where I controlled every aspect of the website and web server hardware except for being able to “touch” the actual hardware.
OK, credentials established. I know how to “make” websites.
What I do now is use a “hosting service” that totally manages the hardware and the internet connection. They have a “back end” where I can check in as webmaster, then create and access many websites from one location.
There is another level of access which is the individual “back end” of every website I manage. A lot of different hierarchy and yes, it is all rather complex.
Currently I have two “Hosting Service” companies running my websites. They own space on data-centers and sell shared space to clients like myself. I don’t touch any hardware except my own computer.
I call this post “The Blue Web” because having 10 (or more) websites running at one hosting service is the same adage as “Having all my eggs in one basket.” The link will explain what that implies.
When all my eggs break, I feel a bit “blue”.
I just had a week of “the blues” because my main hosting account crashed all my websites and email accounts. Mostly restored now but there are still some broken pieces.
This website is on a different host and so no problems here.
So, the lesson learned is that it’s not really a great idea to put all my trust into only one hosting service. Especially all my email accounts.
I am not talking redundancy. Good hosting companies usually provide for back-ups and multiple duplicate locations. But it takes time to get things restored.
I just like having an alternative resource at the ready if I need it. Total crashes are very rare. This was my first and I hope last.
But I felt better knowing I can come over to this Hosting Service and nothing is broken. It’s also a head start if I need to abandon the crashed host.
No idea what caused my problems. Many .htaccess files were corrupted. That’s an instruction file in a website that controls website access. It seems like a deliberate change by something and someone.
If it returns, I have a place to move… But doing that is no fun. In my many years of web publishing, I have done that a few times. Truly hoping I don’t need to do it again.