The importance of Back-Ups and Accountability. This is story of Black Monday when PokerAffiliateWorld lost 3 weeks of data.

I write this article after coming off one of the worst weeks I have had in a while.  Not only did I get massacred every time I decided to actually play poker, I also just underwent one of the worst experiences of my life with a hosting company.

If you read the title of this article it pretty much sums things up.  Allow me though to explain what happened.  In early March as PAW continued growing I realized that being on a reseller server was not conducive to running a community that is this large and receives the amount of traffic that PAW does.  So I asked around a bit and almost went with a few other hosting companies but in the end I settled on HostGator.  I have had my reseller account with them for years and never had any problems, likewise they promised a "seamless" process in the move over.  Well let me tell you, problems is all I have had since this began.  The next paragraph will explain exactly what transpired for you techie's who might actually care.  For the rest of you just skip a few paragraphs.

On March 10th I purchased a dedicated server and the hostgator technical support moved all the files from the reseller server to the new server.  The tech also told me that he had re-routed the DNS so I didn't need to worry about doing it on my end.  He explained it as a redirect of sorts.  About a week later I noticed the site hadn't gotten any faster and I called hostagtor again.  Just as I had thought............the DNS never got moved over!  So I then went ahead and moved the DNS on the 18th.  Immediately all the PAW visitors started showing up on the new server where the website was uploaded on the 10th.  Slight problem though, the last 8 days were still on the reseller server.  So I called support back and explained what I believe had happened and they sounded stumped, wtf? how am I figuring this out but hostgator technical support doesn't get it!  So anyways they began restoring MYSQL databases.  In all their wisdom they copied the SQL database on the dedicated server and wrote over the reseller account.  So now it is March 18th and I have 2 websites on 2 servers that are each only updated through March 10th.

Well I conceded the fact that this information was simply gone as hostgator "claims" they didn't have any backups on either server.  So now another 10 days goes by and each and every day I spent countless time on the phone with hostgator as the website is still running awful and slow.  Every time I call they tell me to email support and "open up a ticket".  So I do this and they all get closed by techs saying that all is well.  Obviously it is not when there is 20 second lag times and SQL errors everywhere.  Then to my dismay I see that there are 2 different Cpanels on my dedicated server and one says partyriches.com and actually contains PAW databases.  Now I'm really confused so I open another ticket and sure enough after about 10 hours (seriously) on the phone throughout 2 days hostgator acknowledges that the server has a problem.  The re-assure me though that for the time being the 2 cpanels is fine while they get everything sorted out.

Then on March 26th in the middle of the night PAW literally disappeared!  Oops, unfortunately in a random audit they saw that there were 2 cpanels on one account and decided to just delete one without backing it up.  And there we were back to the most recent backup again, March 10th.

That is the story folks.  The lesson to be learned here is that never.........ever depend on a hosting company to do your backups.  This is where I made the mistake, I depended on hostagator and assumed that since they were the supposed pro's that they would make sure everything was taken care of.  After all they did promise a "seamless process".

The other lesson to be learned is to take accountability.  Although yes, hostgator screwed this up in the sense that a third grader could have done the transfer with more competence, I still take accountability.  At the end of the day the buck stops at my desk.  I am not going to blame anyone individually or feel sorry for myself.  I was the one that was too busy running my other businesses to do a simple backup on the SQL databases each week.  This has always been a principal that I take very seriously both in my professional life as well as my personal life.  If you lose your rent money playing online poker then it is 100% your fault.  If you donk off all your affiliate income it is your fault.  If you get a DUI, it is your fault.  Bottom line is that you are all responsible for our own actions and when you make a mistake, admit it, take responsibility, and move on.

So in closing, I do apologize once again for the lost data.  It is my hope that some of you reading this will realize the importance of backing up all your websites and data.  Disasters happen!

Jeremy