GoDaddy's server limitations Retracted

Last year I had a lot of trouble with my genealogy program, TNG, that was being hosted on GoDaddy; and I laid out these problems in a blog Lumoto's Woes: GoDaddy's server limitations - be warned. GoDaddy subsequently sent me an email stating that they had found the problem; and it was a specific script that was causing this look of queries. It was all over my head. I asked TNG programmer if that script was familiar to him, and he stated no, it was coming maybe from a report. Since I was moved and all was going well, I abandoned the idea of trying to fix anything. I just left my site up at GoDaddy but the database was deleted.
I was having pretty good luck with the new home, though it would crash periodically; one time for over a week and another time for about a month, which was last May (2012; over a year after the move). I went back to the email GoDaddy had sent me and looked at the offending script again and figured out what report it had to be in; verified the script was there, and deleted the report. Why it didn't cause a problem on the new server site I can't say. But since I was crashed there for their own reasons, I decided I should rebuild my database on the GoDaddy site and see what happened. I found that a little complicated, but thought it through. I had a couple of questions and called GoDaddy and the young man was very helpful and though he didn't know the program I use, he did know enough that he guided me and together we figured it out. I was so happy!
I've been using it now since May and so far, so good. Looks like that script had been the problem all along, and all that other discussion about how TNG was too data intensive and how GoDaddy wasn't capable of handling large databases and various other guesses of why I kept crashing were all wrong. It had to have been the script all along.
The 2nd site finally got back on line; but by then I seemed to be stable with GoDaddy. I've opted to keep both hosting sites and though I'm posting to my GoDaddy site, giving out that URL, I am still keeping the other site as a clone copy. That seems to be the safest thing to do since these servers do leave you vulnerable. Besides, at the moment, Google searches seem to find the 2nd site a lot better than the GoDaddy site. I guess I have to register it again. I need to refresh myself on how to do that.
In defense of my 2nd host, the people who run the server - or part of the server I am on - have been amazing. They do everything they can and work very hard to keep things running smoothly and efficiently. The crashes were further up the food chain, the actual owners of the server - and as I understand it, they sort of contract out some of it and they manage that. I'm not sure exactly how that works. They were probably more frustrated than I was. I couldn't directly communicate with the top tier on my own, which was a big drawback.
Anyway, I wanted to reprieve GoDaddy of my complaints against them. My site seems to be stable; and whenever I have any question at all, their support staff are always so nice and helpful and readily accessible and would highly recommend them for anyone who needs a hosting site.
I guess for completeness' sake, I also have a little program Gallery that I use for my photographs. For some reason the new site could never keep that working. Since genealogy was my biggest concern and Gallery always has worked on the GoDaddy site, I haven't worried with it; but it has been a negative to the newer site. They haven't really wanted to help me with that and I haven't pushed it. But it is another reason I'm happier at GoDaddy.

GoDaddy's server limitations - be warned.

Just two years ago I decided to go online with my genealogy file. I found a very cool php program called The Next Generation (TNG) and had to set up a MySQL table, which was new to me.I had been using GoDaddy's free space with the little ad banner at the top. But it was conflicting with TNG, so they assured me I would be fine with their shared server. It was $4.99 a month and they offered a bit of a discount if I paid for a year. Then they introduced me to Gallery, which I enthusiastically added to my site, which required another MySQL table, but they set me up and I was happy, happy.

Then one day relatively soon my Gallery crashed and I learned there were thousands, thousands of spam or some garbage in the comments. So, I ended comment capability. but after that the damage was done. Gallery was quite slow loading. Then soon after that, my genealogy file would not perform correctly. Never anything specific, but not right. It wouldn't export correctly. A whole xnotes table had gone bad. It would hang up on me or time out. Troubleshooting and tweaking, fixing, it'd be okay, then start performing poorly again. So, I was constantly fighting it, contacting the developer and/or GoDaddy till I got lined out again.

Since I'm no expert, I was caught between the two and staying frustrated. Let me say this, though. My genealogy file is pretty big. When I first went online I had about 16,000 people and have added to it till it's now almost double that.

Everything unstable yet again, I posted a query on a forum and an "expert" who also uses the TNG software responded and offered to upgrade me to the newest version and help me get lined out. He quickly saw how poorly GoDaddy was performing and copied all my data to his own server. Everything worked like a top! I mean, it just sings!! His own personal file is 425,000 people! So,it proves it's just a poor server that GoDaddy puts us on.

Thankfully the move of both TNG genealogy program and the Gallery were already in progress when TNG on GoDaddy totally.crashed - I mean unrecoverably crashed. (TNG cannot communicate with your data" crashed. And Gallery is like the old dial-up.

Bottom line, GoDaddy said TNG is to "too data intensive" for their shared server and I should be on a dedicated server. They said my searches were stacking and stacking and not closing off and that was a network violation. So, I suppose it's like trying to wash a full commercial load of laundry in a little apartment size stack-up washing machine. But what they said isn't completely true. The server I moved to isn't dedicated. It's shared, and has files more "data intensive" than mine on it! It's ust their server is crappy and they're trying to make it "my" fault!

So, I'm more than a little annoyed with GoDaddy that they didn't caution me of this. When I had to ask them what mySQL was, that should have told them I was novice at this. We trust them with our precious data and if they aren't going to be able hack it, or if you have limits, they should tell you that up front.

I do have other webpages that don't involve tables. And they're doing okay. Since I don't want to have to rescript them for the new server, I'll keep using GoDaddy and just pay for both places. I think I have the links and flow simple enough leading from one to the other that maybe a user won't really even notice.

The move has been quite painful, though. It started almost two weeks ago, and just yesterday, I think I'm just about lined out. Seems like everything that could go wrong did. No matter how simple something should have been - it turned out to be major. Example -- I use Filezilla as FTP client -- it just would not work, wouldn't access the new server. So, I downloaded about three other free ones, and none worked satisfactorily. So, I'll have to purchase Cute FTP Lite. But at this point, I'm glad to do it. Because Gallery was so full of garbage, we couldn't just do a restore.. So, I had to go through and redo all my album descriptions, reset thumb sizes, and do a lot of work that a good backed up data table should have done for me. But it's getting there and works so much better.

As far as this brilliant and patient young man who helped me get through this disaster -- oh, my gosh, I owe him my life!

PLEASE SEE UPDATE: Aug 6, 2012
GoDaddy's server limitations - Retracted

http://lumoto.blogspot.com/2012/08/godaddys-server-limitations-be-warned.html

GPS, custom Google Maps and Firefox and Adobe woes

One of the features I wanted to have on this GPS was that I could upload a custom map from Google My Maps. Well, I don't know how or something is wrong. I had a map with six points on it, and I followed the directions in the video that I posted the blog "GPS - finally got one" on the 17th, using http://www.takitwithme.com/ Once I put the link to my map in the space and told it to get my map it said at the bottom it was retrieving my map but never did quit spinning. So, I told it to upload to the GPS and got the error "fatal error. File Path: String Stream line 1, char 1. message: invalid document structure." I thought it might be Internet Explorer, so I used Firefox. That time it still didn't retrieve my map. When I clicked for it to upload, it took me to Garmin to get the app it wanted. That process said it was successful. But I couldn't ever get the custom map to upload. I got the same error as with I.E. Searching around I found somebody posted on a forum or something that they couldn't get that feature to work with multiple points. I went back and did it with a start point and one end point, and the same results. It never said it retrieved my map and I go the same error message.
I went to Garmin's site for some kind of help and nothing. Nothing is in the startup booklet about it, and I can't find it in the programmed help section in the unit. Nor does there seem to be a user's manual you can download anywhere. But yet the stats on this unit says that you can upload custom maps. Crap!! I hate this!
I'll have to call Garmin tomorrow and see if they'll tell me how, but I bet they don't do that kind of support. I also tried to just manually type in the coordinates but the keyboard is not active. I couldn't even find the coordinates on Google Maps -- had to look somewhere else to find them. Grrrr!!

Through all this process Firefox said it wanted to upgrade. So, I said okay. It upgraded me to Version 3.6.10. Then it said I had to upgrade the Adobe -- whatever. So, I did, and now every time I start Firefox I get one of the cursed Vista warnings, "User Account Control - Adobe DLM, User Account Control helps stop unauthorized changes to your computer"!!! Then the Adobe Download manager screen is up and I have to close it before I can use Firefox!! Soooo muuucchhh Bullll sh*t!!
UPDATE AT 1:39 A.M. About the Adobe DLM - I have no idea what DLM is other than it's Flash, I guess. Nor do I know if I need it or if not, how to get rid of it, if I even should. I didn't see it in the Add/Remove Programs nor did I see it in my Programs list, even though it had just been installed! But I did find where to turn off the User Account Control and that seemed to remedy all the frickin' authorization pop-ups. God, I hate Vista.

GPS - dilemma resolved...

(continued from blog "GPS - I finally got one" found directly below this blog)

Wow, what confusion - but all is well. Here's the deal. I realized this morning that the opening in the cradle where I put the SD card was not the SD card slot. It was a slot for the dc power. Oh, no wonder it wouldn't pop out!! But then if that's the case, why does it see the jpgs on the card!?? I decided if I sent it to Garmin, they wouldn't fix it under warranty because that's not even where the card goes. So, I was going to just have to buy a whole new unit and chalk that $129 up to stupid. But one last ditch effort, I put all the stuff together in a bag and took it down ECP Computers. They've very nice there and helpful, and I thought just maybe they could get it out.

Thankfully, they were not loaded down with customers; and the man there was super nice. He thought the card was in there, too. We decided might as well open up the cradle and see if it would come out. Once he got it open, lo, the slot where the card was - we thought - was not deep enough to hold the card. Now, that's just weird! Where is it? I looked in the slot on the unit where it's supposed to be, and granted, I can't see well -- but just didn't see the card. He said he didn't see it either, but when he stuck a little screwdriver in the slot -- out it popped!! JIMMINY! It was where it was supposed to be all along!! Oh, My God!! I'm really losing it. So, which is worse -- to put the SD in the wrong hole or to put it in the right hole and forget where you put it! Oh, My God!

Well, the man was, as I said, very kind. He acknowledged he even thought it was in there, too. He put the cradle thing back together and was concerned that maybe the AC plug might not work, that maybe something got messed up with all that jacking around with it. He didn't charge me even a dime! And even gave me a little plastic bag to put my now retrieved micro card in so I wouldn't lose it.
As soon as I got back to the car, I plugged the unit into the cigarette lighter and the battery light on the unit came on like it was supposed to. IT STILL WORKS! GLORY BE!! So, walked back in the store to tell him it does still work! Woo-hoo!!
My mom said it was just a miracle. Well -- I guess that's a better way to look at it! But let me tell you --- getting old is hell!

GPS - I finally got one.

For a long time I've thought it would be cool to have a GPS but I didn't know what kind to get, exactly what they would do, and wondered if I even went anywhere enough to warrant spending money on one. But recently I've had a bit of a case of "buy something" fever - which I rarely get -- and decided I'd look into them. Besides, my birthday is this month -- so I figured I'm entitled to get myself a birthday present!!

One of the things I wondered is if you can download routes from Google to it. Every now and then me and my mom like to take a day trip, and we might have a couple or destinations in mind and then have to hunt for where we're going. If I'm prepared, I'd look it up on Google maps ahead of time. I found a video about how that works,


and it mentioned the brand-name Garmin. So, that was the first stage of narrowing down my choices. I'd go with a Garmin. Then after about two days of reading about what features they have or don't have, and contemplating what I would want or not want -- looking at a very handy comparison chart at GPSTracklog and then looking up who had them for how much cost -- reading the reviews -- I finally made a decision and bought a Garmin 855; and got it from Tigerdirect.com. It doesn't have bluetooth; but I figure I'll never use that anyway. But it does have the feature that I can give it voice commands. The guy at Tigerdirect said Garmin is the best brand and I picked out a good unit.

One thing, though, the reviews said it's a discontinued model. But I guess that doesn't matter. And, I never like to buy refurbished; but looking at BestBuy and Walmart and Radio Shack -- they seem to all sell these refurbished. As long as it's warrantied - and seems to be how they sell these things - guess it's okay.

Well, Tigerdirect was very good. I had ordered an extra ac/dc adapter that was $20-something more; and when the salesman gave me the total price, it included it. But when I got my email receipt it wasn't on there and neither was the $20-something. Not wanting to be without that capability, I called them and asked why it wasn't there. The guy who answered the phone told me it came with one; so they took it off my order. That's very cool! They could have easily got that extra purchase from me!

It was supposed to be here Friday, but it came a day early -- Thursday (16th). So, while running the usual errands today, I tried it out. What fun! Definitely have a new toy There will be several things to get familiar with it so when I am driving, I won't be fumbling; but I figure now it's one of those things I'll soon wonder how I ever did without.

My car has a very huge windshield and slants at a steep - slant. So, I don't want to mount it on the windshield. And I have a dash cover to cut down on glare; so I can't suction cup it to the dash. So, I found a vent mount on ebay tonight and ordered that. I hope that will solve the positioning dilemma.

I also didn't buy an SD card for it; and not too sure I'll even need one. But it uses a micro SD memory card. So, messing with it tonight, I took the micro SD out of my cell phone to try it out and then figured I would order one for the GPS. Well, it works, can see the pictures I had on it; but -- as my crappy luck would have it -- I can't get the blasted thing out! It's stuck in there! I figured it's supposed to sort of be a spring and push in a little and it will pop out -- well, it didn't!! So, I tried pushing harder on it with a little small flathead screwdriver to try to get it to pop out! It didn't!! Now I'm afraid I've buggered up the edge of it - and I'm in a state of almost panic!

I called Tiger Direct, and he said it could be that that spring mechanism in the device that's supposed to pop it is faulty, but I have to call Garmin. Of course, as luck would have it, Garmin is only open regular business hours. So, I hope they can tell me what to do tomorrow. There's a little screw on the cradle that the SD card goes in, and I don't know if I loosened that screw, if it would allow the card to fall out. The guy at Tiger Direct said I shouldn't try it as it might cancel my warranty. Damn, I hate myself sometimes -- but it's not my fault! That's what the slot is for!

Well, it will be all right. I guess worse case scenario is I'll have to buy another cradle. I was able to hook the GPS up to the computer and copy the pictures on the card to my computer hard drive. So, I won't lose them if the damn thing has to be dug out.

Oh, well -- it's going to work out, and it's going to be fun to use and maybe even give me a little incentive to get out more to play with it.

To All President Obama Haters

To All President Obama Haters
By admin on Apr 22, 2010 in Barack Obama

I did not write this. I wish I had! It should get the point across, and everybody should read it. It was posted at a blog here:
http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/to-all-president-obama-haters/1199/
Links to sources are at the original site. I've copied it and posted it and linked
back to the original because I don't want to lose it and with election time coming up, people need to read it.


You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden.

You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown.

You didn’t get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.

You didn’t get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars were redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage which cost over 20 percent more for basically the same services that Medicare provides.

You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark, and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark.

(The above is a copy/paste of a nice rant about some of the many errors of the Bush admin. This rant has been making the rounds for awhile now and I don’t know where it originated. What follows is my addition.)

Yet you get mad at President Obama for what exactly?

Expanding health care coverage to over 30 million more Americans while making the worst health insurance industry abuses illegal and reducing the deficit? (source)

Credit card reform which protects consumers from credit card company abuses? (source)

Lowering taxes for 95% of working families? (source)

Being on target to cut Bush’s huge deficit in half within four years? (source)

The DOW going from 6500 to over 11000 during his Presidency? (source)

Is it because he signed expanded gun rights into law while not making any moves towards gun control? (source)

The recession reversing with job losses turning into job gains? (source)

Working to reform Wall Street Reform so we don’t experience another economic meltdown like what happened under Bush’s “leadership” in September 2008? (source)

Working to reduce loose nukes in order to decrease the chances of a nuclear attack on the US by terrorists? ( source )

—

Notice those last two are “works in progress.” These are things Obama is trying to do but the Republicans are doing everything they can stop him from being successful on these fronts (similar to how they pulled out every trick in the book to try to stop health care reform.) They don’t seem to care that stopping Obama from getting “political victories” (their biggest concern it seems) may lead to a terrorist nuking a major US city or another economic meltdown.

Think about that. “Country First”? Hardly. The Republican Party of today seems to exist only to further it’s own existence. They will stop at nothing to defeat Obama politically. They don’t care how many lies they have to tell or what the long term consequences are for average Americans.

It’s because of this that I think it’s of very much importance for the future of the United States that the “Republican Tea Party” be defeated this November. Do your part. Make sure you are registered to vote and get to the polls to vote against all Republican Tea Party candidates.

George W Bush, Republicans

Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus - London 1968

"You are about to be transported to another age; swinging London in the late Sixties. The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a time capsule. Two days in December 1968 that in many ways capturee the spontaneity, aspirations and communal spirit of an entire era. ...for a brief moment it seemed that rock 'n' roll would inherit the earth."

--- David Dalton (founding editor of Rolling Stone Magazine)

Invitation - December 11, 1968

Rock and Roll Circus

http://www.iorr.org/iorr27/circus.htm

It is early morning Wednesday, December 11, 1968. Paul Lovell has catched the first train from Birmingham into London. Today he was supposed to have an exam at school, but nowit is more important business to take care of.

Last month, he had received the monthly fan club letter, telling about a special concert to be held by the Rolling Stones on Dec. 11. Being fan club member number 10,435 since Oct. 1964, and knowing the fan club had grown to probably 20,000 by now, he realized he didn't have much chance of getting tickets to the special event. Much to his surprice, the tickets arrived, red print on a yellow card. He even got an extra ticket for Barbara!

About 300 people has queued up outside the Intertel Studios, Wembley, in the morning. There seems to be one entrance only for the place. While queuing up each of the performing artists is arriving. John Lennon arrives in a Rolls with Yoko Ono, being one of the first times they show up publicly together. The Stones and all the others walk by the fans queuing up. This is really developing to something very special...

When entering the studio, which is a TV recording building, he has to turn in his ticket, signing on it, stating his appearance on any film taken is not his property. All fans are given special red, orange and yellow ponchos, and large, strage hats. Inside the studio, the Stones have arranged for a Circus being built, like a half circle part of the circus, so that there is space for the cameras and crew. The fans are free to find a seat in the half circle around the center canvas, and Paul is selecting a central spot a couple of rows from the front.

The show is soon starting up. Mick Jagger is saying welcome, dressed up as a ringmaster. and the first band is on.

Jethro Tull is a new group. They do their song "Song For Jeffrey".

Then The Who is on with their set.



This is not a normal concert. The songs are done several times, and film shooting is not done all the time. There are plenty of breaks. During the breaks, the fans are free to walk wherever they like. Paul is finding himself standing next to Mick, then some time later next to Keith. Being a veteran Stones fan by now, since his first concert in 1964, he does not want to bother any of the Stones, asking for autographs. But when he bumps into John Lennon, he simply ask for his autograph. After all, John is a big star, but not in the same league as the Stones, at least not to Paul...

Taj Mahal is next.



Then the important appearance by Marianne Faithfull. This is the apperance when Mick wants everything to be right. Marianne is to be a major star, and Mick has been working hard on the set. Marianne is beautifully located in the center of the circus ring. She performs Something Better, and the camera is rotating 180 degrees around the circus ring, making a perfect panning.



This is really a strange event. There are circus artists performing in-between the sets. Nobody have planned this in detail. Things seems to take much longer time than originally planned for. People are getting tired and hungry. There is a break in the evening for food. Then there are more rehearsals and camera takes. During one of the breaks, Paul find himself next to Brian Jones on the men's room. Again, privacy first, no autographs...

It's about midnight, and still the Stones have not been on. this will probably take till tomorrow! John Lennon is showing up, leading a supergroup of himself, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell.



Then Yoko Ono is joining. It's now about 2 o'clock in the morning, and finally, it's time for the Rolling Stones! Mick has changed into causal wear, and they jump into their set of songs taken from Beggars Baquet, being released just before the week-end.
Jumping Jack Flash is on. The Stones are great! Then Parachute Woman and No Expectations.








Brian is great; great slide. They do several takes. Some people in the crowd is now really sleepy! You Can't Always Get What You Want. More takes. The Stones doesn't seem to be satisfied with what they are doing.



Then Sympathy For The Devil, which they have been rehearsing a while back for the One Plus One film. At 5 am in the morning Sympathy is perfect - may be not to the Stones - but it's perfect!



Then they all move into the crowd, all wearing ponchos, the chords of Salt Of The Earth is sounding, Keith and Mick is singing the closing song.
(Salt of the Earth)



Then it's over. Not a usual concert, but a memory for life time.The fans are saying goodbye. The Stones have rranged for transportation. Paul and Barbara is hanging around in London for the first train back to Birmingham. Well, doesn't bother about the exam, the concert, the rehearsals and the happening is still strong in the mind...

ATT and wireless -- tech support sucks!

There's not too many things in life I hate worse than having to call any computer tech support! Today was one of those days. I have ATT/DSL. All was fine till I left the house to go mail in my reason for not being able to serve on Jury Duty (ah, yes, another woe, but not worth a whole blog) - and when I got back, I had no internet connection. I hit the reset on the modem, and that didn't work. I called them, and the recording said, "Did you unplug modem and restart?"

Well, no, I didn't. So, I hung up and did that. But I still didn't have a connection. So, I called back. Apparently hitting the reset erased my password; and the guy walked me through setting a new one. All is fine -- so far.

Then he has me turn on my laptop, which I might mention has not been turned on for quite some time - months - but it had connection when I used it last. But I agreed a good idea to check it. Good thing, because there was no connection.

He had me do several things; then had me delete the connection, let it create a new one; didn't work. An error message came up, something about the ISP wasn't compatible. Then the phone went dead. I suppose he hung up! They make it a big deal to get your phone number so they can call you back - but he didn't call me back.

So, I called them back, started over. "Let me connect you to the wireless tech support." GEEZ! Okay.

Then we go through the same things again, answering the same basic questions about modem and operating system and all that . She does the same stuff the first guy had me to do - properties, look at this, look at that -- then delete the connection; let it create a new connection, etc. Got to the same place - three or four times. Each time she would say, "Can you hold while I check your account?" Sure, I'll wait. Then she'd come back to do the same thing we did before.

Then she's quiet - then asks me, "You are having trouble getting the wireless to work on your laptop; is that right?" YES!!! Damn!!

I tried to tell her about the message, the ISP wasn't compatible; but she pretty much ignored me and said bla bla bla about ATT supporting Internet connection and I could connect; apparently it was something wrong with my laptop; and did I want her to connect me to the Connect Tech Support? I said there's nothing wrong with my laptop, and I thought that's who she was!! Yes, connect me.

Well, getting connected to that department, the recording alerts me that it is fee-based and to have a credit card handy. OH, NO YOU DON'T! So, I hung up; got out my ethernet cable and hard wired it, and it connected just fine.

Once again, I got the message about the ISP not being compatible; but when I tried to click on the error for more info, it went away. By this time I had wasted well over 2 hours, maybe even three, of stress and rising blood pressure; so I gave it up. I know I'll have to call them back and go through the whole thing -- again! But it won't be today!

There's no reason in this world that so much time and mental energy should be expended on something that should be so minor!