Hi there, these are the last updates on the server issue - we will keep you informed every 30 - 60 minutes with new news.

LATEST @ 16:00 - SERVER IS BACK ONLINE! We are thoroughly checking it over.

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 10:15 AM

Hi there,

Just to give you an update on the situation:

The server was rebooted early this morning and has been performing a disk check since. We hope it will be back very soon but we currently have no ETA.

Unfortunately a disk check takes as long as it takes and is forced to run every X times the server is rebooted, it is checking the consistency of approximately 900GB of data.

We will keep you in the loop & mail you back as soon as its fixed.

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 10:40 AM

Vortex Server - further update.

Disk Consistency check has finished however the server refuses to boot, we are assessing the server for hardware failure and running another FSCK.

We will keep you updated.

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 11:26 AM

Further update on Vortex.

The second FSCK (disk consistency check) is still running, the server will reboot automatically once that has finished - we will then be able to see the state of play in full.

At the moment it is not looking like a hardware failure, no monitoring devices have picked up any physical faults.

Please rest assured that we do understand the severity of the problem and we are doing everything within our power to make it right.

We will update you in the next 30 - 60 minutes.

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 12:00 PM

Vortex - Further Update:

Some customers are interested in the intricacies of how the servers work, some customers just want their sites online again so I will explain where we are now and try to address the balance:

The bottom line: At this stage we’d expect to see the server back in a time frame of 1 - 6 hours depending on how many more times we have to perform a disk check.

More info for those who want it: We have been checking the server for hardware faults, none have been found so it is most likely ‘only’ a file system problem. (A file system problem can be bad, yes, however a hardware fault on (for example) a Raid Array Controller would be a LOT more problematic).

The good news is that the FSCK has gotten further without manual intervention - it is currently at 23%, the previous time it managed to get to 11% before it required intervention and failed.

We will most likely need to run FSCK 1 or 2 more times before the server will become operational, each time we run it we would expect to get it back into a better state.

I will update you again in 30 - 60 minutes (or sooner if there is news in the meantime).

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 12:43 PM

Vortex Server - Update:

The FSCK is progressing well, we haven’t had to manually intervene and it hasn’t crashed out - I estimate this disk check should finish around 13:30 - 14:00, the moment it finishes the staff will diagnose it and I will reply you again.

Expect the next update within the next 60-90 minutes, I’ll reply earlier if the FSCK crashes out or if anything changes.

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 02:06 PM

Vortex Situation - Update.

The FSCK is still progressing well, no intervention required - however we cannot see the % complete as that is no longer visible on the screen.

It could be as little as 1hr or as much as 6hrs.

I will reply every hour with a standard update if there is no further news, however I will reply sooner if anything else happens - I will make sure to keep you in the loop at all times.

We are on top of the situation and hope to have it worked out as soon as possible.

Posted on: 11 Feb 2008 05:08 PM

Vortex Server - Update. Total downtime 13 hours.

Hi, I am INCREDIBLY relieved to tell you that this server is back online now. Thankfully our team did their jobs impeccably behind the scenes, big thanks to them.

I am truly sorry for the outage today, we will spend the rest of the day actively monitoring this server and will work on a solution to make disk checking a lot quicker, this may require some overnight maintenance downtime but I’m sure you’ll understand that it will be worth it in the long run.

I will also work out some compensation for each customer who has written to us, I’ll arrange for each customer to have a month free.

I hope by the amount of updates Ive given that you do realise that we do care about the quality of service we offer - uptime, customer relations. It’s so important to the ethos of Evohosting, I will make steps in the future to make our public site entirely transparent so you can see what goes on behind the scenes.

Again, I’m truly sorry for the inconvenience caused and will do my best to make sure this cannot happen again.

But first I need to go make a cup of tea as I’ve been sitting here for 13 hours.

We have one special offer this month, see below for details.

Enter code: LOVEEVO for 90% off first month of web hosting when paying monthly.

Two special offers for you this month.

Enter code: BIG90 for 90% off your first month of web hosting when paying monthly.

Enter code: JAN25 for 25% off your whole first year of web hosting when paying annually.

Until the end of December UK domain registrations and transfers have been dropped from £8.00 for 2 years to just £6.50 for 2 years!

See http://www.evohosting.co.uk/domains/

We have a new shared hosting server, a Dell PowerEdge 2950 with 8GB RAM, Dual CPU Quad Core, Dual PSU, Dual LAN and 2TB of storage on RAID5. It’s name is Firestar and from today all new web hosting accounts will be installed onto it.

Firestar is located in our fully monitored and managed rack at Bluesquare Datacenter in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

December is a special month so we have packed it full of special offers, enjoy!

OFFER1: Spend £49.99 or above on a web hosting package and recieve a £5.00 play.com e-voucher on Christmas day — OR — Spend £99.99 or above on a web hosting package and recieve a £15.00 play.com e-voucher on Christmas day. (You can use this with either a new order or when you pay annually for an existing account!) (Offer expires 23/12/2007 @ 22:00 London)

OFFER2: (Updated) These coupon codes are valid for Web Hosting, Gameserver Rental, Teamspeak Server Rental or Shoutcast Server Rental when you pay according to the billing cycle you wish to use below.

Monthly: To get 50% off your first payment enter SANTA
Quarterly: To get 10% off for the duration of your account enter MERRY
Semi-Annually: To get 12% off for the duration of your account enter XMAS
Annually: To get 15% off for the duration of your account enter RUDOLF

(Offer expires 27/12/2007 @ 23:59 London)

OFFER3: (Continued from November) COM NET ORG domains reduced to just £4.50 each, try finding them cheaper elsewhere! Good luck. (Offer expires 31/12/2007 @ 23:59 London)

All offers can be used in conjunction with eachother.

We are now out of stock on the lava lamps for our November promo, all orders over £49.99 before today which are either:

a) New orders

b) Renewals for annual accounts

Will receive their lava lamps in the next week.

New promo with free stuff starts Dec1 and covers both new orders and annual renewals.

Thanks

Tim.

Here are our christmas open hours.

Web Hosting Support Department = 24/7/365 During Christmas & New Year.

All other departments

Christmas Eve = CLOSED

Christmas Day = CLOSED

Boxing Day = CLOSED

New Years Eve = CLOSED

New Years Day = CLOSED

All other days = Open 0800 - 22:00 (London time).

What does this mean? If you are looking for web hosting support over christmas we’ll be here 24/7 as ever, if you have domain transfer requests, sales/billing requests we won’t be available on the days marked as closed.

As usual around the end of the year there is a whole range of new and exciting games being released. In November we can look forward to titles such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Crysis, Hellgate: London and The Witcher.

I am personally very interested in seeing how Call of Duty 4 (or COD 4) will handle multiplayer as the past games in the series have had a very linear story mode which isn’t really my cup of tea, I will however give the campaign an honest chance to amaze me.

Crysis is also looking very interesting but I’m afraid my poor laptop wont like this very graphically tasty title. I’d be amazed if it could even render the menu without me getting BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) but that’s enough about my sad excuse of a laptop.

If you find your self bored with gaming on your own, feel that singleplayer just isn’t what it used to be or just want to hang out with like-minded people while having a game or two I would like to invite you to join Team Evo in our clan nights. Just drop a message in the forums saying you’d like to join in and we’ll make sure you get information about day and time. The games we are currently playing is Battlefield 2, Counter-Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2.

We have a number of special offers going this month, the lava lamps are pretty cool, about 6 inches tall, they simply plug into the USB port of your computer and brighten up your desk - they sell for about a tenner in PC World.

Free USB Lava Lamp when you spend over £49.99 in a single day during November’07. This offer can be used in conjunction with any other coupon codes you may find around, this offer is available to new and existing customers who are opening new accounts and is valid with a purchase of any service we offer, we send them after 30 days.

UPDATE 26/11: We are out of stock on Lava Lamps, everyone who spends over £49.99 on either a annual renewal or new order will have our Dec’07 offer sent to them (although we’re not announcing what it is until Dec1)

Domain Prices Dropped from £5.50/year to £4.50/year for com, net, org for new domains and transfers.

50% Off Your First Month with any web hosting or reseller account during November’07 (this offer has been continued from October). Enter code: NOVEMBER50