AmpHosted

Hey guys, so for the last couple months, I have been working on a new design for AmpHosted, and so far, it looks perfect! I am very pleased with it, and I think it will be kept live for a very long time. It is very user friendly, easy to navigate, and loads much faster. The old layout had some computability issues with a lot of browsers, such as chrome, but this site was tested using Browser Shots, and seems to work in 90% of all browsers.

One difference you may have noticed, would be the fact that we now have VPS Hosting, thats right! We have had so many requests from customers asking us to start VPS hosting, and how, the request has been granted. We belive our VPS plans are some of the best plans on the market, I mean.. what other providers offer FREE management services, FREE cPanel, FREE Litespeed, FREE Fantastico, FREE offsite backups, etc etc. These should be a rather big hit on the VPS market, and it will give our clients room to move up and expand their websites!

Whats next? We will be working on a theme for our forums!

Will update you soon!

Justin H

We have had an unusual amount of requests to host video sharing websites, such as PHPMotion and ClipBucket. The “problem” with video sharing sites, are the requirements set by the developers. Some of them wont work correctly unless you have implemented specific PHP settings. The reason why this is a problem, is because the PHP settings could possibly effect other users on the server, or effect the integrity if the server itself. It’s a little hard to find a middle ground, due to the fact that the videos wont play/upload/download correctly without these specific PHP settings in place.

AmpHosted now has a new server, SVR3, this server is stronger and faster than SVR2 or SVR1, and it has all the correct PHP settings and server requirements for sharing videos with the scripts mentioned above. This way, video sharing sites will not interfere with the other users on a shared environment.

Due to the fact that it is a stand alone server specifically for PHP video sharing sites, and it will house less users, the price must go up a bit. The price is $25 a month, and that is not negotiable. The server will never have many customers on it, so for $25 a month, you get the optimal PHP settings for sharing sites, guaranteed unlimited bandwidth, and unmetered disk space, and you are basically on a semi-dedicated server envoronment.

Some of you may ask, do I need to have a video sharing site to use this plan? No, not at all. You can use it for any reason at all. It is just built for video sharing sites. This means you can use it for file sharing, and any other type of site that requires the same type of settings as a site that demands more from the server.

For those of you who wish to see the PHP info, click here

Sometime before the end of the month, we will move all clients to a new server.

The reason behind the migration is for hardware and software upgrades. The connection speed is being upgraded, as well as the servers hardware. Server migrations do not take long. We will migrate all accounts on SVR1 at once, and late at night, so you will not lose any data while working on your site. We plan on starting the migration around 9-10PM MST. During the migration, your site will not be down, and you should not receive any notifications from any monitors. The site will stay up.

Currently, the new server is being configured and optimized. So you will remain on SVR1 until the process is complete. Once the setup is complete, and the server is tested, another email will be dispatched regarding the specific date of the account migrations.

After all accounts are ported over, a backup will be taken of SVR1, and sent to SVR2. If your site was modified while it was on SVR1 during the transfer, then you can submit a restore request, and we will restore the backups that were taken from SVR1 right after the account migration.

Also, to help minimize the downtime, we will have SVR1 point ALL DNS records, to SVR2, meaning, if your DNS has not propagated yet, and you are still looking at SVR1, then SVR1 will be forwarding you to SVR2

If this causes any problems for you, please open a ticket via http://amphosted.com/billing, and we will do the best we can do make this move work for everyone.

Once again, this will NOT result in any data loss, or any downtime.

Hello,

Its about 5AM here in Arizona, and I am unable to sleep, so I suppose I can write another blog entry about AmpHosted.

A new customer signed up today, and had some troubles with his website transfer. He was leaving 1&1 web hosting, and joining AmpHosted. He was worried about his database, the transfer time, the downtime, and the compatability of the content. Knowing the troubles he was about to encounter, I was more than willing to help. I helped him backup his MySQL database, and import it, which was actually not a typical import, some customization of the backup had to be done. After that was done, he was asking about his domain, he wanted to transfer it. He was expecting 10 days downtime, because he did not know how to change the nameservers within 1&1 control panel, and the transfer of the domain its self takes between 5 to 7 days (5 for the transfer, 1-2 days for the confirmation email before the transfer). I was able to login for him and change his nameservers, then begin the transfer. This would result in no more than 42 hours downtime, in most places, it would be seen within a few hours. (Read Domain Propagation FAQ).

Not many customers get that kind of customer service from hosts such as Yahoo, Godaddy, Bluehost, Hostmonster, etc etc etc. AmpHosted is able to provide top end customer support because of the simplicity of the company. There isnt 1000 clients per a server, or 500 different support representatives, with fewer clients and fewer support reps, support is much more personal, and much faster. The average response time of a ticket put into AmpHosted is about 30 minutes. Tickets are often solved within the first Support Rep response.

Helping customers is what I do best. I actually enjoy helping customers with issues they may have, I spend most of the day helping customers and posting in the AmpHosted Forum than I do anything else. Not because of the troubles, but because I enjoy making customers happy.

Well, it’s time to get to work! Have a great day

- Justin Hyland

HELLO! AmpHosted has started up its very own community. We decided that we need another way for our clients to interact with AmpHosted, it seems that a forum would be the best way. You can post about pretty much anything, doesn’t need to be related to AmpHosted, or even websites at all!

We will be posting forum contest for forum members, winners will get free months, refunds, discounts, free addons, or anything else we can think of.

http://forum.amphosted.com

AmpHosted provides 20% off!

AmpHosted is hosting a Christmas Special for all new customers that sign up. Every new user gets 20% off any virtual hosting plan, reseller hosting plan or email hosting plan! The discount is 20% off all recurring invoices! But hurry! This promotion will expire on Christmas Day! This is a one time deal.

Expires: Dec 25, 2008
Promotion Code: Merry_Christmas

Welcome Guest!

My name is Justin, I am the official owner of AmpHosted. I have decided to start a blog about my adventures as a web host, so that guests and customers can get a glimpse of the action.

I suppose its appropriate for the first blog to be about how AmpHosted started…

Some of the first customers may remember Toasted Penguin. Toasted Penguin was a hosting company created by Jordan D. (Owner of CodeCall.net), He started Toasted Penguin to pay off the server for CodeCall, however, shortly after he started Toasted Penguin, CodeCall started to pay it’s self off. Jordan was aware of the fact that I was contemplating starting a hosting company of my own. He confronted me and mentioned that he wanted to sell ToastedPenguin, and focus all of his attention on CodeCall.

I then purchased ToastedPenguin from him and changed it around a bit, at the end of the transformation, the only things that weren’t changed would be the customers. It was moved to a new server, the name was changed, the template was changed, the plans got cheaper as the value of them grew larger, and everyone was happy, this was a fresh start for a new company.

Jordan and John (John was the co-owner of the website), still help from time to time. However AmpHosted is managed 365/24/7 by two employees, myself and the co-administrator, Ricky C.

As of now, AmpHosted doesn’t have too many customers, but with some help, it will grow, we will grow.

What sets AmpHosted aside from other hosts, are the value of the plans and the extensive customer support. If you have taken a glance at our hosting page, you will question the prices and the plans, but once you try us or a month, you will realize they are genuine, and the customer support can’t get any better.
Thank you! Come back later and check for more entries!

• Justin H.
• AmpHosted Administrator