My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (Full Version)

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Lanimilbus -> My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 15:16:52)

My website, www.lanimilbus.com, which I have hosted by DreamHost.com, has now been completely inaccessible for the past 48 hours or so. Dreamhost.com posted an announcement on February 2nd that said
"Your webserver 'foothill' is being moved to new hardware
(Downtime)

Posted: Feb 2nd, 2006 - 07:11:33 PM PST (1 day 16 hours ago)
For the last hour or so, we've been experiencing hardware issues with your
webserver 'foothill'. Our administrators decided the best and fastest way
to resolve this problem is moving the server to new hardware. The move is
already in progress and everything should be back to normal within 30
minutes or so," but almost two days later, my site is still inaccessible, and none of its pages will load for me or anyone else. I've e-mailed the support staff about this but haven't gotten an answer, and don't really expect one until Monday morning. I've been told that since people get a 404 error, it makes it seem like it's up and running, but that there aren't files in the web directory. I'm not totally sure what this means...does it mean that the move to a different server is complete, but my actual site/files were deleted in the process, or will it be back to normal in a matter of time?
I signed up with dotcom-monitor.com as someone recommended, and got this e-mail about my site:

Error occured during the device monitoring www.lanimilbus.com at 2/4/2006 1:05:15 AM
Monitoring location:London, UK
-----------------------------------------------------------
Task sequence:
TASK Name -> www.lanimilbus.com
TASK Data -> Type:HTTP;Request Type:GET;Url:www.lanimilbus.com;Full page download:NO
RESPONSE-> Duration:135;Error Code:404;Reason:Not Found
***
Network TraceRoute: http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/trace_view.asp?PID=0C2754B9BF144BF4B3E4C73F39632E82&ID=1109030520
HTML Page snapshot: http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/body_view.asp?PID=0C2754B9BF144BF4B3E4C73F39632E82&ID=1109030520

I also got this same error message from California, US, Hong Kong, China, Frankfurt, Germany, Minnesota, US, and New York, US.

Then someone told me; "The 404 means the server is up, so I'm not sure why your pages aren't there.

Just FTP into your account and see what's there. If you see your folder, but it's empty, upload your site and the 404 error will go away."

When I tried to do this, using FrontPage (the program I've always used to upload files to my site) I got this error message, even before it asked me to enter my username and password:

404 Not Found
Not Found The requested URL /_vti_bin/shtml.exe/_vti_rpc was not found on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

When I hit OK it gave me the following error message:

Unable to connect to 'http://lanimilbus.com'.
Server error:
Possible causes:
1. The web server may not have the FrontPage Server Extensions installed.
2. The web server may be temporarily out of service.
3. If you are connecting through a proxy server, the proxy settings may be incorrect.
4. An error may have occured in the web server.

So could anyone tell me what all of this means? How can I get my website back to normal? Why did this happen in the first place?
Thanks,

-Alec



womble -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 15:35:48)

Not sure, but I just tried pinging that domain and it came back okay so the server seems to be up.



BobbyDouglas -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 15:53:02)

quote:

Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) FrontPage/5.0.2.2634

- The above is what the 404 page is being ran as, so FPSE are installed- they just might not be working correctly. Have you tried to log into your control panel and see what's up? Does it show any files at all? Also, if your host doesn't work on the weekends, find a new host.

Sometimes when hosts change servers, you need to update your nameservers.



Lanimilbus -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 16:10:39)


quote:

ORIGINAL: BobbyDouglas

quote:

Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) FrontPage/5.0.2.2634

- The above is what the 404 page is being ran as, so FPSE are installed- they just might not be working correctly. Have you tried to log into your control panel and see what's up? Does it show any files at all? Also, if your host doesn't work on the weekends, find a new host.

Sometimes when hosts change servers, you need to update your nameservers.


They're open on weekends, but they're just not responding. They have a "24 hour response time" guarantee, but I got an e-mail saying that "due to the large amount of questions we have right now, we may have to go a bit over."
I have tried to log in to Dreamhost.com to see what's happening, but the latest announcement is still the one from Thursday night, and no one else with DreamHost seems to be having this problem anymore, according to their messageboard.
Where do I go to check if there are any files at all?
And how do I update my nameservers?

Sorry, I'm still pretty new at this...thanks in advance for any further help.

-Alec



womble -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 16:37:43)

Do you have access to your conrol panel on the server? Normally, when you sign up with a host you get an email confirming all your details, domain, username and password, nameservers etc.

If you do have access to your control panel, from your browser, type in the IP address or url of the control panel and you'll be prompted for your username and password. Once you're signed in you should have an option somewhere to view the files on the server for your domain (mine's called 'file manager' on my control panel). It works like the Windows file manager, click folders to open them and see what's inside etc. There'll also be the option in there to create new folders, upload files etc.

I don't use FP these days, but I never found FPs ftp particularly friendly when I did use it. (bear in mind though that if you use ftp and you have any FP widgets on your site (photogallery, FP forms etc.) that ftp-ing will most likely corrupt your FP extensions and you'll need to reinstall them or get your hosts to reinstall them for you.
If you want to try ftp-ing though, I'd recommend FileZilla (free and easy to use), you can basically drag and drop files between your local window and remote window (the server) - just type in the ftp address, your username and password and away you go. You'll be able to see on ftp also what files are on the server and copy them over if they're not there.

As Bobby said, sometimes when hosts change servers, your nameservers need updating. If that's the case, your hosts should tell you the new nameserver names, and if your domain wasn't registered though them you'll need to contact your domain registrar with the new details.

Try seeing what files are on there first though, either through your control panel or ftp and we'll take it from there.



Lanimilbus -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 17:59:47)


quote:

ORIGINAL: womble

Do you have access to your conrol panel on the server? Normally, when you sign up with a host you get an email confirming all your details, domain, username and password, nameservers etc.

If you do have access to your control panel, from your browser, type in the IP address or url of the control panel and you'll be prompted for your username and password. Once you're signed in you should have an option somewhere to view the files on the server for your domain (mine's called 'file manager' on my control panel). It works like the Windows file manager, click folders to open them and see what's inside etc. There'll also be the option in there to create new folders, upload files etc.

I don't use FP these days, but I never found FPs ftp particularly friendly when I did use it. (bear in mind though that if you use ftp and you have any FP widgets on your site (photogallery, FP forms etc.) that ftp-ing will most likely corrupt your FP extensions and you'll need to reinstall them or get your hosts to reinstall them for you.
If you want to try ftp-ing though, I'd recommend FileZilla (free and easy to use), you can basically drag and drop files between your local window and remote window (the server) - just type in the ftp address, your username and password and away you go. You'll be able to see on ftp also what files are on the server and copy them over if they're not there.

As Bobby said, sometimes when hosts change servers, your nameservers need updating. If that's the case, your hosts should tell you the new nameserver names, and if your domain wasn't registered though them you'll need to contact your domain registrar with the new details.

Try seeing what files are on there first though, either through your control panel or ftp and we'll take it from there.


I can get into the DreamHost.com Control Panel, but I can't find anything that's like a File Manager...here's a guide to the DreamHost Control Panel, though, so maybe you could tell me where to go, if such a thing exists with DreamHost? http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Control_Panel



Kitka -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 18:19:05)

There definitely is a problem with the name servers - see here:

http://www.dnsreport.com/tools/dnsreport.ch?domain=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lanimilbus.com

quote:

ERROR: Some of your nameservers listed at the parent nameservers did not respond. The ones that did not respond are:

66.33.206.206


This is something your hosts need to sort out.



BobbyDouglas -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 18:30:13)

The only things you can do is continue to ask your host for help, make your problem public, or change hosts. It looks like dreamhost has a message board, which might help you get your issue resolved.

If I ever had a host that didn't respond within 24 hours to an emergency (websites down), they would be dropped asap. Since you are using FrontPage, I assume that you have a backup of your website on your local machine, if so, you can be up and running within minutes if you decide to switch.

I've tested out ServerFly's response time before, and must admit it is very good. Their price range is right around that of dreamhost, except they won't overload the server as much. If you don't need that 20gb+ of storage, there is no reason at all to pay for high storage and crappy service.

I have a feeling that one of your nameservers is pointing to the old server, and thus causing the 404 error, while the other two nameservers have completely changed over to the new server, but haven't had their IPs updated. This is all a guess though, because the only people who actually know what's going on is DreamHost.

Also, I took a look at the control panel screenshot and noticed that it doesn't look like there is a way for you to view your files using their control panel.



womble -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 18:47:12)

I'm with Bobby on this one Alec. Ditch DreamHost and get yourself a decent host.

First hosts I used messed me about with nameservers and claimed it wasn't a problem at their end because they could see my site just fine...that was when I actually managed to get hold of their support! I switched to my current hosts on the recommendation of a friend and I moved all my domains to them. The only time I've waited over 2 hours for a response from tech support was when they recently had all their servers attacked, and within 10 minutes of the problem there was an announcement on their support site apologising for the problems and lack of response from their support service.

Without a decent host, your site's nothing. Do yourself a favour and get a decent host.



drogers -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/4/2006 19:19:23)

I didn't read through everything above, but just an FYI, a lot of the larger domain registration companies will switch your name server settings within minutes. Your site could be up and running at your domain very quickly if you control your own registration and sign up someone where else. You could even take advantage of a free one month offer somewhere. That will buy you time until you can figure out where you want your site to be. If you need help with that, let me know.



Lanimilbus -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/5/2006 19:58:49)

I finally got a response from DreamHost today. This is what it said;

"Hello,

Ok, I fixed your domain, however it seems that your content was moved
to the "home" directory. I would reupload your site, but make sure you
specifiy the remove directory as "lanimilbus.com".

That should take care of the problems. Sorry about that! If you need
anything else, please let us know.

Thanks!
Brian"

My website isn't giving the error message anymore, but as you can see, there's nothing there now. Unfortunately I'm not currently at home so I can't try FrontPage again to see if it will let me upload anything, but I'm a little confused about the e-mail he sent me. What does he mean by a "remove directory" and how do I set it to lanimilbus.com?



BobbyDouglas -> RE: My site has been down for 2 days...FrontPage giving me errors...help! (2/6/2006 1:28:14)

Never heard of a "remove directory" before... maybe he means "publish directory"?



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