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jamesray50
09-10-2012, 03:15 PM
First of all I want to thank everyone who helps me when I ask. I do attempt to search for answers on my own, but sometimes it's easier to ask a question than searh for an answer.

My website is in WordPress and hosted on GoDaddy. I am getting this message when I try to access my website: Error Establishing a Database Connection

I have done a Google search for this error and and GoDaddy. When I click on the links I get these errors: The connection was reset. The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.

I was trying to access my website in Firefox. I am writing this post in Chrome. I just checked and I can't access my website in Chrome either.

I am going to call GoDaddy, but wondering if anyone had any other ideas.

Thanks.

vangogh
09-10-2012, 04:01 PM
I have a feeling this might be a GoDaddy issue. When you get the message about not being able to connect to the database, it means just that. Your application, in this case WordPress, can't make a connection with the database. There could be a variety of reasons why that's happening. Your password or other connection details could be incorrect for one, but I assume you didn't change those so there's not reason they should stop working.

I'm currently getting the message that FF can't find the server. That's more likely an issue on GoDaddy's end and it's probably best to give them a call. It's likely something they can fix relatively quickly, but need to know the problem exists.

Pack-Secure
09-10-2012, 04:03 PM
Give Go Daddy a call they have always been very helpful when I have an issue. I am not familiar with the issue you are having, but I can vouch for Go Daddy's support.

MyITGuy
09-10-2012, 04:35 PM
I heard some reports earlier that GoDaddy was the target of a DDoS Attack...here is a quick article I found on it:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/10/godaddy-outage-takes-down-millions-of-sites/

On that note, I finally got all of my Domains away from GoDaddy this morning (It's been a month's long process since they made their view/stance on SOPA public, which is a position I didn't agree with).

As far as Irony, a website I occasionally use to see if a website is up or down, is also down: http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ ;)

jamesray50
09-10-2012, 04:52 PM
I just read on another forum that GoDaddy was offline. What is a DDos Attack?

MyITGuy
09-10-2012, 04:56 PM
What is a DDos Attack?

DDoS is a Distributed Denial of Service.
Denial-of-service attack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack)



In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of the efforts of one or more people to temporarily or indefinitely interrupt or suspend services of a host connected to the Internet.

jamesray50
09-10-2012, 05:41 PM
A couple of hours ago when I couldn't access my website I logged into Godaddy (before I found out they were offline). Now I can't get to their website. I guess I find it weird that my website was offline and theirs wasn't, but now theirs is. I don't understand all the technical stuff behind hosting, so I'm wondering if they just took their website offline while they are working on the hosting issue.

vangogh
09-10-2012, 05:59 PM
It's probably that the same issue affecting your site is now affecting their's too. Like Jeff said a DDoS is a Distributed Denial of Service attack. Many, many requests are made to the server flooding it with more requests than it can handle. The server shuts down because of the amount of requests. Odds are it'll just take a little time for everything to get back to normal.

Pack-Secure
09-10-2012, 06:05 PM
When calling Go Daddy 480-505-8877, they address the issue immediately via a pre-recorded voice message.

vangogh
09-10-2012, 06:07 PM
Good to know that they know about it. Sadly all you can do is wait for them to get everything working again, but at least you know they're working on it.

Harold Mansfield
09-10-2012, 09:37 PM
Go Daddy is down from a major attack. It's not just you, I still have 3 cleints on Go Daddy and they've been down all day.

jamesray50
09-10-2012, 10:46 PM
Thanks everyone. I was only offline for about 4 hours. I'm just glad that is wasn't a problem with my website. Although I do hate that this happened. Being offline for a few hours didn't really hurt me financially, but I wonder about ecommerce sites and how it may have effected them.

MyITGuy
09-11-2012, 10:49 AM
A couple of hours ago when I couldn't access my website I logged into Godaddy (before I found out they were offline). Now I can't get to their website. I guess I find it weird that my website was offline and theirs wasn't, but now theirs is. I don't understand all the technical stuff behind hosting, so I'm wondering if they just took their website offline while they are working on the hosting issue.

Not necessarily weird, its just how the internet works.

When an initial request is made for a website, the flow kind of looks like this:
User --> Local DNS --> Root Servers --> Name Servers for Domain --> IP Address for Domain

The Local DNS Servers then Cache that information for a period of time, which makes subsequent requests look like this:
User --> Local DNS --> IP Address for Domain

Since it was only their DNS/Name Servers that were attacked, this explains why you could access godaddy.com for a period of time (Someone using the same local DNS servers as you went to the site earlier that day and the response was Cached, while your site was not visited earlier that day by users on the same Local DNS Servers).

Harold Mansfield
09-11-2012, 10:53 AM
I always tell people that with everything that has to go right all of the time, between the DNS servers, various hosting solutions, your local ISP, and your computer, it's amazing that the whiole thing works at all, and as consitently as it does with so many people constantly trying to take each one of those things down.

vangogh
09-12-2012, 01:46 AM
I'm not sure if anyone saw, but today GoDaddy said it was an internal error and not an attack that caused the problem.

Pack-Secure
09-12-2012, 01:55 AM
I saw that also.

vangogh
09-12-2012, 02:06 AM
Who knows if the claims of attack were just someone wanting a few minutes of fame or if GoDaddy would rather everyone think this was their mistake as opposed to some lapse in security.

Harold Mansfield
09-12-2012, 08:32 AM
Who knows if the claims of attack were just someone wanting a few minutes of fame or if Go Daddy would rather everyone think this was their mistake as opposed to some lapse in security.

Of course I don't propose to actually know, but Anonymous Own3r is claiming responsibility for the outage.

I also remember a few months back, just before I started moving people off of Go Daddy, and was on with customer service A LOT, after a few days of (by now) demanding that they give me a straight answer about why one of my clients keeps getting service interruptions, one of the tech support guys told me (paraphrasing), "If you people only knew what goes on here. Half the people hosting sites have no idea what they are doing and try to upload all kinds of garbage, and we are fighting off a new attack every single day...."

He made is sound as if tech support was spending more time trying to keep the network clean, than they were doing any improvements to make it run better.

That was back around February, when they really started getting slow. It was so bad that I wrote a couple of blog posts about how bad it had gotten, and moved any of my clients who would go. Confidence in their hosting products, is not high for me right now. And the funny part is, that I can pin point exactly when it started. Before that, they were decent for at least 3 years and I had no problem recommending them to somone who needed something easy and reliable.

MyITGuy
09-12-2012, 10:53 AM
I'm not sure if anyone saw, but today GoDaddy said it was an internal error and not an attack that caused the problem.

Yeah I saw that, and I call BS on their story.

They stated it was an issue with their routing tables, which tells their network how to connect with their ISP's network...if this were the case then it would've affected their entire network, not just the DNS/Name Servers. During this outage, all of the servers were accessible via IP Address.

If it was just a routing issue, then why did they migrate their DNS Servers to one of their competitors (http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/09/godaddy-moves-to-verisign/) who happens to also provide DDoS Protection/Mitigation services?

MyITGuy
09-12-2012, 11:01 AM
I also remember a few months back, just before I started moving people off of Go Daddy, and was on with customer service A LOT, after a few days of (by now) demanding that they give me a straight answer about why one of my clients keeps getting service interruptions, one of the tech support guys told me (paraphrasing), "If you people only knew what goes on here. Half the people hosting sites have no idea what they are doing and try to upload all kinds of garbage, and we are fighting off a new attack every single day...."

He made is sound as if tech support was spending more time trying to keep the network clean, than they were doing any improvements to make it run better.


The person you spoke too is correct, the attacks are non-stop and multiple methods are used...but Tech Support doesn't necessarily handle these types of issues. This would be left to the Network Engineers and System Administrators to deal with and mitigate on a large scale.

The issue with GoDaddy and some other larger hosts is that they don't take security seriously. Their servers are outdated hardware, running older OS and Software packages that have not been updated to account for any bug/security fixes that have since been released/patched which leaves them and their customers in a vulnerable position. They would rather gamble with this position rather than applying the updates as this can break things with their customer sites which leads to a higher volume of support calls and more time spent on the issue.

vangogh
09-12-2012, 11:29 AM
Not that I know one way or the other what really happened, but the feeling I got was GoDaddy's story was more about PR than what really happened. Guess that says a lot about what their brand means to me and to many others I'd imagine.

Pack-Secure
09-12-2012, 03:17 PM
They are sending out these notices: (The button was on the email, but did not copy paste over to this post)

We owe you a big apology for the intermittent service outages we experienced on September 10 that may have impacted your website, your email and other Go Daddy services.

We let you down and we know it. We take our responsibilities — and the trust you place in us — very seriously. I cannot express how sorry I am to those of you who were inconvenienced.

The service outage was due to a series of internal network events that corrupted router data tables. Once the issues were identified, we took corrective actions to restore services for our customers and GoDaddy.com. We have implemented a series of immediate measures to fix the problem.

At no time was any sensitive customer information, including credit card data, passwords or names and addresses, compromised.

Throughout our history, we have provided 99.999% uptime in our DNS infrastructure. This is the level of performance we expect from ourselves. Monday, we fell short of these expectations. We have learned from this event and will use it to drive improvement in our services.

As a result of this disruption, your account will be credited for the value of 1-month of service for each of your active/published sites.* This credit will be available to you for the next 7 days. Please click the button below to redeem your credit.


It's an honor to serve you. Thank you for the opportunity to re-earn your business and trust.

As always, please call us 24/7 at 1-480-505-8877 — anytime, for any reason.

Sincerely,

Scott Wagner
CEO

billbenson
09-12-2012, 06:48 PM
I heard some reports earlier that GoDaddy was the target of a DDoS Attack...here is a quick article I found on it:
GoDaddy Outage Takes Down Millions Of Sites, Anonymous Member Claims Responsibility | TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/10/godaddy-outage-takes-down-millions-of-sites/)

On that note, I finally got all of my Domains away from GoDaddy this morning (It's been a month's long process since they made their view/stance on SOPA public, which is a position I didn't agree with).

As far as Irony, a website I occasionally use to see if a website is up or down, is also down: Down For Everyone Or Just Me -> Check if your website is down or up? (http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/) ;)

What's their view on SOPA that you disagree with and who is your preferred domain registrar and why?

MyITGuy
09-12-2012, 07:08 PM
What's their view on SOPA that you disagree with and who is your preferred domain registrar and why?

GoDaddy had originally applauded the SOPA bill, going so far to call opponents "myopic". They only changed their tune after a boycott of their services was implemented (Less than 24 hours had passed).

Here's some background on the SOPA bill:
An Updated Analysis: Why SOPA & PIPA Are A Bad Idea, Dangerous & Unnecessary | Techdirt (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120117/23002717445/updated-analysis-why-sopa-pipa-are-bad-idea-dangerous-unnecessary.shtml)

Heres an overview on GoDaddy's position:
GoDaddy Faces boycott over SOPA support | Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support/)

In addition to their views on the SOPA bill, I also had some concerns with them as I was a reseller of their services.
First - They charged me $250/year for the right to resell their domains while every other provider was/is giving away reseller accounts
Second - They had no issues contacting your customers in an effort to "steal" them away from your service, this mainly occurred right around the time of their renewal period and involved phone calls made from GoDaddy where they attempted to renew your customers domains under their brand.

As far as my current registrar, I'm currently with eNom as they provide an excellent interface and support for resellers with pretty decent pricing on their products (Domains, SSL Certificates and etc...)

billbenson
09-12-2012, 08:21 PM
I have my domains with godaddy and host elsewhere. It's all for personal use although my main business domain is with them and I have a whm account (elsewhere) for srewing around. Would you use enom in my case, or are there others you would recommend since I'm not reselling etc.

MyITGuy
09-12-2012, 09:52 PM
I have my domains with godaddy and host elsewhere. It's all for personal use although my main business domain is with them and I have a whm account (elsewhere) for srewing around. Would you use enom in my case, or are there others you would recommend since I'm not reselling etc.

You don't necessarily have to be a reseller in order to get an account with enom directly, however I would recommend that you have some sort of volume as they require a minimum of $100 with each deposit that you make in order to purchase/renew their products.

If your interested in using enom, then their are plenty of hosting companies out there that can register/transfer your domain to their reseller account (You would still be able to maintain control). I think I've mentioned this before, but I make mine available via Cingular Hosting (http://cingularhosting.net)

If your interested in another registrar, I've heard good things about Cheap Domain Names Registration, Domain Transfer, SSL Certificates, Free DNS, Privacy Protection • Namecheap.com (http://www.namecheap.com/)

dianecoleen
09-13-2012, 01:14 PM
I've heard of the news too. Was it resolved already? I'm wondering how long was the DOS attack takes place?

vangogh
09-14-2012, 02:08 AM
Everything seems to be resolved. GoDaddy is saying it was internal errors on their part, which it very well may have been. Someone claimed to attack them prior to them saying it was their error.


What's their view on SOPA that you disagree with and who is your preferred domain registrar and why?

Bill there have been a number of things causing people to want to migrate away from GoDaddy. The owner of the company, Bob Parsons can be controversial at times. There was an incident last year where he posted a video of him standing over an elephant he had just shot and killed that angered a lot of people. It's also not too hard to see how the company's commercials would turn a lot of people off and they use a lot of what are called dark design patterns on their site. Dark patterns are essentially tricks to get you to take an action you don't want or intend. For example when you register for a domain there's a big giant button on the form which adds things to your cart when you really want the small link below the button to purchase your domain.

Not everyone has a problem with them of course, but some do. My domains are still there, but I'll likely move them away at some point. The more I learn about GpDaddy, the less I want to support them.

Harold Mansfield
09-14-2012, 07:38 AM
The biggest (and probably only reason) that I moved as many clients away from Go Daddy as I could, and now NEVER recommend them, is that their hosting just sucks. It's sporadic, they have far too many problems and outages. WordPress runs like crap on it. And customer service never has a straight answer. Once you beat down thier, "It's all WordPress' fault" excuses, then they move on to blame you, your computer equipment, your ISP or or whatever else they can think of that effects only sites hosted with them, and no others.

The average person running a part time business or hoby site probably won't notice that much. But if you depend on your site daily for ecommerce or lead generation ( and your email) it's a pain in the ass.

It didn't used to be that way. I used to be able to offer Go Daddy as an easy alternative for people who were just starting out for the last 3 years. It all seemed to get really bad at the first of the year around February, and it's been downhill since.

As a domain registrar, I don't know of any problems. But their hosting issues ruins the entire brand and makes you suspect of the other services.

billbenson
09-14-2012, 08:39 AM
The biggest (and probably only reason) that I moved as many clients away from Go Daddy as I could, and now NEVER recommend them, is that their hosting just sucks. It's sporadic, they have far too many problems and outages. WordPress runs like crap on it. And customer service never has a straight answer. Once you beat down thier, "It's all WordPress' fault" excuses, then they move on to blame you, your computer equipment, your ISP or or whatever else they can think of that effects only sites hosted with them, and no others.

The average person running a part time business or hoby site probably won't notice that much. But if you depend on your site daily for ecommerce or lead generation ( and your email) it's a pain in the ass.

It didn't used to be that way. I used to be able to offer Go Daddy as an easy alternative for people who were just starting out for the last 3 years. It all seemed to get really bad at the first of the year around February, and it's been downhill since.

As a domain registrar, I don't know of any problems. But their hosting issues ruins the entire brand and makes you suspect of the other services.

The upsell has always been a pain with them. I did think they were good for people just starting out as I didn't and still don't think they would play the games 1 and 1 and Network Solutions were doing years ago and possibly today (put you on eternal hold etc if you tried to move your hosting or domain). I heard good things about site builder (for people that go that route).

@Steve - I'm a gun owner and enjoy killing tin cans. I don't mind people out hunting bambi or ducks as long as they eat the meat and do it legally, I just have no desire to do it. I don't like someone shooting an elephant just to stick its head on the wall though. That could be reason enough for me to leave Godaddy.

vangogh
09-14-2012, 11:04 AM
If I remember right Bob Parsons said it was done to help locals. The elephants might have been destroying crops or something like that. The video did come across more like it was just trophy hunting than anything else.

With me, it's less any one thing the company has done and more the totality of things suggesting this isn't a company I want to support.