Topic: Non Godaddy Users need not apply.....

[DW7240]

Hi,

I need some advice from anyone on here that users Godaddy's Classic Linux server and has since moved over to their CPanel Shared Hosting Plan.  I have problems with my cron jobs stop working every few weeks (yes it's a Godaddy server problem) it involves the hosts resetting the cron part of the server to get things working again.  This can be a pain, everything works for a few weeks, then stops, they have to reset, then everything works again.  After speaking at some length about the CPanel hosting was told that if a user of the shared Cpanel over users the server in some way it will effect the other users - something I don't want - So what do you think ?

Is it worth the changeover ?

I know that the server I'm currently using is old according to Godaddy, but they won't make the change for me, figures, they suggested setting up another domain using the CPanel and transferring the website over to that, but at the same time keeping the original one intact, incase of issues, then dropping the original site once the Cpanel server is fully up and working.  Good idea in mind, not so practically, am I moving over for a good reason - namely have everything running as it should - or am I taking on other troubles - ie everything working good but at a reduced speed amd open to crashes from other users on the Cpanel.

Any advice which either way I should take would be awesome.

Thanks in advance.

Nick. dw7240.com.

[saratogaWX]

On a shared server, you're already sharing server processes (httpd, etc) with other websites on the host.  cron is no different .. yes, it's possible for another user to abuse cron jobs and cause the cron process to stop working for other users.  It's the price you pay for shared hosting .. you just have to hope for 'good neighbors' or request to be moved to a different webserver in the complex.

If you use a VPS, then you're master of all BUT the 1 and 2 CPU VPS systems can have their own foibles.  I have a 2 CPU VPS and have finally tuned PHP 7.1 to use the minimum resources so the 500 errors are few and far between.  Only go to a VPS if you're comfortable with running Linux/centOS, doing your own security setup (fail2ban), iptables firewall, etc.. you do become master of your own cron jobs

I think the newer cPanel sites are fine.. I use it with one GoDaddy site (the Southwestern network site) and have 6 cron jobs (each running a circle of 5s  (0,30 5,35, 10,40 ...) to get one 'every 5 minute job'.  GoDaddy forces a single cron job to run no more frequently than every 30 minutes .. 6 cron jobs with offset start minutes gets one cron running every 5 minutes.

I do suggest you switch to a cPanel site .. I did for the one hosting I have with GoDaddy and it works fine.

Hope this helps...

[PaulMy]

Sorry to butt in, but I have not yet moved to GoDaddy's cPanel.  GoDaddy encouraged me to do so some time back but moving (copying and re-downloading) my site (6 sites/domains) kind of scares me   What do you see as the benefits Ken?  Especially for someone who is still very uncomfortable doing any thing significant on the server...


Thanks,
Paul

[saratogaWX]

Likely, you'll get a more up-to-date Linux server and PHP 7.x available.  Some hosters offer a transparent move (they do it) if your DNS is also authorative with them.. If the DNS is authorative on DNS systems outside their control, you'd be left with doing the DNS changes (and maybe moving the document trees).

It likely means changes in any cron jobs you may have (due to path changes for the new server), and may mean setting up new FTP users accounts.  It varies from host-to-host.

Ask the technical support if they offer a 'turnkey' migration from old->new servers.

My 1and1 experience (moving Saratoga-weather.org) from a shared host to a VPS was fairly complicated with a lot of SSH work (making tarballs, downloading, uploading, unballing the document trees). Moving the 9 sites DNS meant untangling three DNS entries that were 'free' with the original hosting so they could be moved.  It was a fairly long slog, but I'm pleased with the result.
I have Plesk to control the container my site runs in, a dedicated IP address (so no spambot neighbors to worry about), and I can setup virtual hosts as I like.  I did have to customize the apache logging via a plesk script change to create the extended common log format I was used to, and code up some bash/cron to do some additional log management.

In short, Paul, if they don't offer a 'turnkey' upgrade and you don't want to dig into server stuff, I'd say remain on what you have until they force you to upgrade.. then they'd likely offer a 'turnkey' conversion in order to decommission the older servers.

[PaulMy]

Thanks Ken,
I did some quick reading on GoDaddy's DNS page and VPS hosting so at least now know what that stands for.  After my inquiry with them earlier this week on SSL and now VPS it all gets a little pricey for a hobby!


I will talk to them again on cPanel conversion as that would allow me to go to more current PHP.


Enjoying, I think?  But certainly learning!
Paul

[ebweather]

Have you considered a 3rd party free cron job site? You can secure your script with password if you wish, they support it.

https://cron-job.org/ is the one I use, I prefer it over internal tools since they allow the last 20 results to be saved for review.

[droiddk]

https://cron-job.org/ is the one I use, I prefer it over internal tools since they allow the last 20 results to be saved for review.

But https://cron-job.org/ can be very unstable for longer periods, that's why I stopped using cron-job.org and now use my webhost cron-jobs. But, I did actually like the service https://cron-job.org/ provided.

Regards

[ebweather]

https://cron-job.org/ can be very unstable

Sorry to hear that, for my needs it does not matter if an event is skipped now and again or if the trigger drifts in timing, so I did not notice any issues. What kind of instability have you experienced? Skipped jobs, time drift or something else?