BWD Server down (host.bwd-graphics.com) - RESOLVED

May 24, 2022 6:27pm EDT - BWD server is down. Determining cause, and attempting reconnection.

May 24, 2022 6:35pm EDT - Server is back online; self-resolved. Investigating potential cause.

May 24, 2022 6:38pm EDT - Server load looks fine, potential traffic issue with one user. All is well.

RESOLVED

The primary BWD server is being upgraded! This will involve a complete data migration to the new server, which will require downtime - up to three hours of downtime, actually. The migration is currently scheduled for 1:00am EDT Saturday, April 4th. This time should allow for the least disruption for everyone on this server.

Nothing will be changing for your account (logins, settings, etc) but the hardware will be improved. Here's what the hosting company said about the migration:

Why are we doing this?

The upgrade offers many benefits such as safer and more secure environments, increased stability and overall better quality of service. 

What will happen during your VPS server migration?

During the migration, your VPS server will need to be offline while we migrate your disk storage data. This means your website(s) will not be available. The migration will not require a change in your IP address or server name. No data will be lost in the migration.

If you experience any issues following the migration, please let me know and I'll address them as soon as possible.

Again, sorry for the inconvenience of website and email downtime, but the service improvement will be worth that inconvenience going forward.

BWD-Graphics.com Server Offline - May 2 [RESOLVED]

The main BWD hosting server is down since ~5:30am EST today, May 2nd. The technicians are aware of the issue, and working to resolve it. At this time there is no solid estimate for when the server will be back online. Will update this post when it has been restored.

RESOLVED: Server is back online at 7:15am EST

Google Search Console - Update Wordpress Email --- DISREGARD

Today I received three emails as an administrator for Wordpress accounts hosted on the BWD VPS server. One was my own account (gregshead.net) but another belongs to a client (christianhospitaltank.org).

The reason for the post is that there were three. It appears to be a phishing scam of some kind. The emails appear to come from Google Search Console, and claim to recommend an update of Wordpress software, with a URL to one of your site's pages. But all the links in the emails are using a /appserve/ directory from Google, which is suspicious. Add to that two of the three sites NOT currently having any required updates available... AND the code referenced in the email does not match any found at or via Google...

And we have a scam.

Here's a screen shot of one of the messages.



BOTTOM LINE:

• To my knowledge, Google doesn't send these messages - or anything like it. So disregard anything you get like this "from" Google.
• For many of you, I monitor and update all Wordpress software weekly. So even if your software is out of date, it won't be for long.
• Also important in that point: I'll handle it for you.

So if you got a message like this, delete and move on!

Server Connectivity Issue - Jan 6, 2017

The network of servers that includes the BWD server is currently offline (not just the BWD server, or your website) and the technicians are working to resolve. This post will be udpated when the server is back online.

The affected servers are:

host.bwd-graphics.com
force-server.com
lifestream.org

The servers were inaccessible around 2pm EST on Friday, January 6th, 2017. Updates to follow.

NOTE: at 2:10pm EST, the server is online again, but this is the second time in the past hour the server has been offline. We will consider this temporarily resolved, but will monitor.

Server Connectivity Issues - Nov 30 ~2:00pm EST

The server that hosts BWD websites (host.bwd-graphics.com) has been very slow, and or not connected at all for the past 30 minutes or so. InMotion Hosting (the company that maintains the server) is aware of the issue and taking steps to remedy this. I will update this post when full connectivity has been restored.

UPDATE: RESOLVED. The server seems to be running normally around 2:40pm. Please contact us if you are still experiencing any slowness or not able to connect to your website or email.

Servers Offline - 8/26/16 - 3pm ET

BWD and Force servers down. Message from data center:

Network Packetloss

We are currently experiencing Network Connectivity issues to our West Coast Data Center, At this time we are currently working on getting this matter resolved as quickly as possible, and services will be restored as quickly as possible.

Will monitor and expedite return of service in any way possible. Also will update this post with any relevant information.

RESOLVED: 3:19pm ET

Server Offline - July 14th, 2015

The data center where the BWD server is located is currently offline. Top-tier support techs are working to restore service. It should be back online "within the hour" (not sure which hour).

Will update this post when service is restored.

UPDATE: Service restored at 4:05pm ET

Data Center Down—Sites Offline

Wednesday morning, November 26th, 7:15am ET, the data center hosting all BWD sites (and email) is temporarily down/out of service. The current status predicts the service will be back online "within the hour”.

UPDATE: Issue resolved 7:17am ET.

ALERT: Possible Down Time, Wed Apr 9th, 2:20pm ET

I just received the following notice from the hosting service company:

This notice is regarding imminent, emergency service restarts within your VPS. A recently discovered openssl vulnerability has been patched in your VPS, however a restart of your server's Apache web service is still required in order to load the new openssl version.

Unfortunately, the nature of this vulnerability means we must do so as soon as possible.


In most cases, Apache will only be down for a fraction of a second while the old service stops and the new one starts.

Please be aware that this may cause some down time for your website, and/or email. I will monitor the process as it unfolds. Hopefully, their best-case scenario will be what actually happens.

Server Offline - Reboot in progress

There were some mail server issues today (dropped connections, webmail inaccessible) and subsequent attempts to restart/repair services were also ineffective. An attempt to restart the server was made, and is currently in progress. The Tier II (and higher) techs are currently working to restore services.

UPDATE: 4:00pm ET:

Four hours later, and still "in progress". Very sorry. I am assured every time that the resolution will come soon, and I'll be notified once the server is back online.

FINAL UPDATE: 4:40pm ET:

The server is back online, and should be functioning properly. Please contact me if you are noticing any further connection issues.

The official response from the server techs was this: "...it seems there was an issue with the IP address associated with your account and routing. Our system administration team routed the IP correctly and this issue isn't happening anymore, we apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused."

Sadly, this was caused by their reconfiguration of *another* issue they were attempting to correct.

My apologies for the down time.

ALL SITES DOWN - Hosting Server Company change IMMINENT

To all BWD clients—

*****************************

ALL SERVERS/ACCOUNTS are temporarily offline.
I am not sure when this will be resolved. I will do everything I can to expedite the recovery of your sites and email.
*****************************

Unfortunately, the hosting company I have used since 2010 was sold last year to an awful, horrible (greedy, unscrupulous) internet mega-company (Endurance Int. Group - the same company that owns iPower, whom I last left because of similarly shoddy service/support)

Since then their service and customer support has plummeted. It is beyond frustrating to me, and I am certainly aware that the same is (likely) true for you. I am very sorry for this inconvenience. I was hoping to ride it out a bit longer with the current company, but as I am aware of the business practices and philosophy of their parent company, I am certain now that it will NOT improve.

Please stay tuned to this page, and your email. I will be in touch soon about the transition to a new host. As much as is possible, it will be a transparent, seamless transition for you. (You won't notice it, if all goes perfectly.)

Thank you for your continued business.
Let's hope the next server company does not sell out to the same sort of mega-business that does not care about service and customer support.

Greg Campbell
BWD

----------------------
UPDATE: All sites are now back online. The migration to a new hosting company will happen today, if possible.

----------------------
NEW UPDATE: All sites are back offline, and have only intermittently been online today. I am in the process of moving everything to a new hosting company. That should be completed by Monday morning, August 5th.

Slow or Offline Websites/Email ** UPDATED **

Hi folks

You may have noticed that your website or email have been fairly frequently going down the past few weeks. We have been investigating and attempting to correct as soon as we become aware of it (which has been sometimes nearly instantly). The hosting company has also been very quick to respond, and has assured me every time that the culprit is not a BWD-hosted account. (All BWD-hosted accounts are on a shared hosting server, meaning there are other "accounts" on the same machine. That's where the problem was originating.)

The culprit appears to be some malicious (and over-active) scripts on another account on the server. They've been deleting/removing them as soon as they discover them, but they have not successfully removed all of them until (they are fairly certain) today. Here's the message from the hosting company.

There have been so many script problems on your server recently. I see that we disabled one script on the 13th and two scripts yesterday. I was seeing a higher than normal load on your server right now and I contacted one of our team of experts that monitor your server. They found yet another script to disable. The load average is coming down and things appear to be getting back to normal. He is not seeing any other problems at this time.

I'm very sorry that you are having to deal with other users' script problems. Our team of monitors are viewing our shared servers around the clock, making sure that all services are running and users are "playing nice". Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I know that some of you have had trouble sending email (hitting the mail server at one of the times it was overloaded/down). Hopefully the problem has been (finally) completely corrected.

Thanks,
Greg Campbell
BWD-Graphics.com

UPDATE: Issue Re-Opened

The issues are apparently not completely resolved. I am working directly with level II tech support with the hosting company to resolve this as quickly as possible. Again, the issue is not with any BWD-hosted account, but with a handful of other accounts hosted on the server. When the source is discovered it is immediately disabled, but the original source has not yet been discovered as new scripts are constantly surfacing and bogging down the server, at least hourly or more! Will update again when a final resolution has been reached.

UPDATE Jun 23 10:55am ET: The server was down AGAIN today... this issue has obviously not been corrected. Working on it again with the hosting company. Very sorry for the inconvenience.

Security Issues = Password Changes

Three times in the past month or two I have spent DAYS cleaning up from compromised websites (even using fairly secure passwords) so over the next couple days I am going to be changing everyone's master account passwords to 20-character, very secure passwords. I will email each of you with the updated password. Please email me if you don't get an email, or if you just need it before I can email everyone.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but the alternative is DEFINITELY not fun. (I know first-hand!)

Thanks for your patience,
Greg Campbell
BWD

High Server Load - Resolved

The server that hosts all BWD-hosted accounts was experiencing unusually high loads over the past few days. This was causing at least slowness, and sometimes websites and email were intermittently down. After investigation, the cause seems to be an account owned by another reseller on the same server. The account has been brought under control now, and you should not have any further downtime for your websites or email.

Please contact us if you are still having trouble connecting to the server for either.

Thanks,
Greg Campbell
BWD-Graphics

Servers Down

It would appear that as of about 1pm ET the BWD server is down. I am checking into it, but am unable to reach tech support at the moment. Past experience says that this will be remedied in 5-10 minutes, but I'll keep on top of it and update this post if I learn of any more delay than that.

Thanks,
Greg Campbell
BWD

UPDATE:
A couple bad signs are that the tech support line is "busy" (or, when I did get through a message said they are not accepting calls at the moment) and most of their own access points are down as well. So it's the hosting company, or a large chunk of it, not just the BWD server.

UPDATE:
And, right on cue, at 1:06pm ... the server seems to be operational once again. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Old Hosting Accounts Closed

As was stated previously, all (nearly all) BWD hosted accounts have been closed/deleted from the old server. I am in the process of moving the old (main) domain name [bwd-graphics.com] to the new hosting service. That should be completed by the end of this week. All of your domains should be pointing to the new servers. If you are unsure, please contact me via the email address in the left sidebar.

Thanks everyone for your patience through this. I am very happy with the new hosting service and hope that the months and years ahead will be very, very stable!

Greg Campbell
Basic Web Design & Graphics

Hosting Server Move Information

For those of you whose accounts I have moved to the new hosting service, here are some important links for you during the transition time.

EMAIL INFORMATION:
All your settings will remain the same (I even tried to get most of your passwords copied correctly, after you sent them to me). You can login and correct any errors using the information below (login to the new server). But your mail server settings will remain:

incoming/outgoing mailservers: mail.[yourdomain]
username: your full email address
pw: your password

[NOTE: Some ISPs require that you use their mail server to send mail. If you have trouble sending, check with your ISP to see if this is the case. Also, you may need to set the outgoing port to 26, rather than the default 25. I found this to be the case with one account, but no others so far.]

NEW SERVER LINKS:
cPanel (settings like email accounts and passwords, redirects, databases, etc):
http://basicwebdesignandgraphics.com/cpanel

OLD SERVER LINKS:
cPanel (to check/retrieve any old settings not correctly transferred, email, auto-responders, databases, etc):
http://bwd-graphics.com/cpanel

Webmail (to retrieve any mail incorrectly directed to the old servers, which can sometimes happen during the name server change):
http://bwd-graphics.com/webmail

Your cPanel login should be the same as it was before. And to check mail on the old server, just use your email address(es) and the associated passwords. If you need me to send your login information to you, just send me an email to the address in the left sidebar here.

IMPORTANT: Accounts will be on the old server only until July 31st. They will be deleted shortly after that.

Very sorry for all the issues over this past month. I am hopeful that there won't be anything like this ... ever again! :-)

Thanks for your business.
Greg Campbell
Basic Web Design & Graphics

Continued Server Issues

As you may have noticed, there was another good chunk of time that the [old] BWD servers were down/inaccessible today. That will be the last straw. About 40-50% of the BWD accounts were moved to a new hosting service over the past several weeks. Tonight and the rest of this week I will move ALL accounts to a new hosting service.

Ideally you will not notice the change. If you have changed your email password since I created it for you then I will not be able to set that up for you. That will be a simple password "change" once the domain is pointing to the new server. You will not miss any mail. I will send you a link to check mail on the old server in case any does get directed there.

(In fact, I'll post it here: http://bwd-graphics.com/webmail ... login there with your email address and password to get any mail sent to the old server once the domain points to the new server.)

I'll send an email to everyone once all have been officially moved.

So sorry for the past month of at best inconvenience, at worst giant headaches. (I know I have one...)

Thanks for your patience.
Greg Campbell
BWD

Server Downtime [Conclusion?]

The hosting service has decided that the problem is a hardware issue that is not repairable, and are currently moving ALL of their accounts (including all BWD accounts) to brand new servers. This will result in a bit more downtime this weekend, but by Monday, all should be smooth sailing.

Here is their message in response to a support ticket yesterday:

I am transferring your sites now... Your nameservers for ns1.bwd-graphics.com / ns2.bwd-graphics.com will be updated towards the end of the transfer. Please note that it could take some time for propagation, and it will probably be a rough transition as a result of the old server occasionally going down, but when it's all done it should be very nice.

Because of this, I have suspended any migrations that were in process to the other hosting service. Probably about 20% of BWD accounts have been moved from the company who has had the hardware trouble for three weeks now to the new hosting company. You have been notified if yours was one of these accounts.

I will be watching very closely over the next week to see what will happen with the current hosting company (on the new hardware). If there are still issues, I will have to continue moving accounts.

If you would prefer me to move your account anyway, just let me know. Use the email address in the left column of this page.

Thanks.
Greg Campbell
BWD

UPDATE:

FYI, as of this afternoon (Jul 10), All BWD accounts have been moved to the new hardware (but with the same hosting company, except for those mentioned above who have been individually contacted about being moved to a new hosting company). There may be some domain name server propagation issues (being directed to the wrong server) but overall it seems the switch has been made and this should resolve all of the downtime and slowness issues. Please contact me if you're still experiencing problems after Monday. (A couple of days to make sure any name server issues are resolved.) Thanks.