Am considering moving to Bluehost and have several questions

[ranajo]

First question pertains to the number of inodes one is allowed. Is there a specific limit? I talked to someone in tech support and he said there was no limit "set in stone" as he put it. It all depends on whether specific files cause problems with the servers.

Second question relates to forwarded emails. I am referring here to my ability to forward an email that I receive to others. I had a problem with this with my current host when I first started with them. Any emails I forwarded were bounced automatically - I was told that it was a security measure and that I needed to send the emails in the form of a zip file. It was a potential deal-breaker for me and at that point, they allowed me the capability to forward emails.

Also, is there an expeditious way to transfer all my files from my present host to Bluehost if I sign up with you - other than "ftping" every single file? My present host did the transfer for me as a courtesy so it was seamless.

Finally, is there a way after making the transfer of files to test whether all is functioning properly without changing the nameservers? Again, with my present host I was given a "dummy" domain to check out everything before I changed the nameservers on my domain.

I will be using the hosting for personal/family purposes.

Thanks for any guidance that anyone can provide.

[Early Out]

First question pertains to the number of inodes one is allowed. Is there a specific limit? I talked to someone in tech support and he said there was no limit "set in stone" as he put it. It all depends on whether specific files cause problems with the servers.
You're encouraged to limit the number of files to 50,000, and there's an absolute limit of 200,000. The person you talked to in tech support was ill-informed.


Second question relates to forwarded emails. I am referring here to my ability to forward an email that I receive to others. I had a problem with this with my current host when I first started with them. Any emails I forwarded were bounced automatically - I was told that it was a security measure and that I needed to send the emails in the form of a zip file. It was a potential deal-breaker for me and at that point, they allowed me the capability to forward emails.
No such restrictions on BH. The only email limit is on outgoing messages per hour, which starts at 50, and can be increased, on request, to 750.


Also, is there an expeditious way to transfer all my files from my present host to Bluehost if I sign up with you - other than "ftping" every single file? My present host did the transfer for me as a courtesy so it was seamless.
BH won't do any transferring for you. You can either FTP everything, or get shell access, and use wget to fetch stuff from another server.


Finally, is there a way after making the transfer of files to test whether all is functioning properly without changing the nameservers? Again, with my present host I was given a "dummy" domain to check out everything before I changed the nameservers on my domain.
You'll be given a temporary URL, using the IP address of the server you're on, which you can use to test things. Of course, some things are dependent upon having an actual domain name, so there's a limit to what you can test.

[felgall]

Of course, some things are dependent upon having an actual domain name, so there's a limit to what you can test.

Of course you can just update the "hosts" file on your own computer to point your domain to the new hosting in order to do the rest of the testing while the nameservers continue to point to the old hosting for everyone but you.

[ranajo]

Thanks for the responses.

I do have to say that the two people I chatted with on live-chat provided erroneous information.

The first relates to the limitation on inodes which I have already addressed above where I was misinformed by a tech support person on live-chat.

The second pertains to the special promotion that Bluehost was offering at $3.95 per month. I specifically asked the sales guy on live-chat how long the offer would be valid. He informed me not once but two times that the offer was good until the end of the year. It was available yesterday - it is no longer available today!

Are live-chat personnel given any training before they are asked to assist customers and potential customers?

[Early Out]

The second pertains to the special promotion that Bluehost was offering at $3.95 per month. I specifically asked the sales guy on live-chat how long the offer would be valid. He informed me not once but two times that the offer was good until the end of the year. It was available yesterday - it is no longer available today!
That offer seems to appear, disappear, and reappear with some regularity, so keep checking! :)

[nitrocrzy]

You're encouraged to limit the number of files to 50,000, and there's an absolute limit of 200,000. The person you talked to in tech support was ill-informed.



When did they change this? As far as I know it's still set in stone at 50K. :confused:

[Early Out]

When did they change this? As far as I know it's still set in stone at 50K. :confused:
Sometimes, I really wonder if BH knows what it's doing. :rolleyes:

In the thread you started about the 50k file limit, a Level II BH tech posted that BH had relented, and agreed not to suspend accounts that had under 200k files. They're still strongly encouraging account holders to get the number down to 50k, and will keep pestering you if you're over that line, but apparently they won't shut you down.

Then, alligosh deleted that post, indicating that this wasn't supposed to be public knowledge.

WTF? Steve, forgive me, but having "secret" policies is a lousy business decision. It benefits absolutely no one. As a moderator, and not a BH employee, I won't keep "secrets." If BH can't live with that, I'm gone.

[nitrocrzy]

I was wondering why they hadn't shut me down. I hadn't gotten any help on what was safe to delete from Menalto and suspect I'm still around 100K files after my cleanup. The support I have received has left me with no other option but to leave Bluehost. Nice to know I might have some breathing room until I make a decision on which provider I want to go with. I'm more than happy to pay for a premium service but since the only thing the site is for is sharing pic's with family and friends, I'm not sure this really justifies a big expensive dedicated server.:rolleyes:

[EricJ]

I'm not sure this really justifies a big expensive dedicated server.:rolleyes:

I don't know if you're still looking for new hosting, but you know, there is a step between shared and dedicated. It is called VPS (Virtual Private Server). It would be where I would go if I was just barely outgrowing shared hosting.. they run anywhere between 20 - 90 dollars a month, and for these you're actually paying for "shares" on the server's hardware (aka if you need more resources, you'll need a more expensive setup).. There are still multiple accounts on the same box, but far fewer, and not too much more than shared hosting.. but LOTS cheaper than a dedicated server :)

[alligosh]

Sometimes, I really wonder if BH knows what it's doing. :rolleyes:

In the thread you started about the 50k file limit, a Level II BH tech posted that BH had relented, and agreed not to suspend accounts that had under 200k files. They're still strongly encouraging account holders to get the number down to 50k, and will keep pestering you if you're over that line, but apparently they won't shut you down.

Then, alligosh deleted that post, indicating that this wasn't supposed to be public knowledge.

WTF? Steve, forgive me, but having "secret" policies is a lousy business decision. It benefits absolutely no one. As a moderator, and not a BH employee, I won't keep "secrets." If BH can't live with that, I'm gone.

There is no "secret" policy. The file limit is 50,000 due to the issues hashed out repeatedly on these forums. When they implemented it, the support and abuse departments were crushed trying to handle all the feedback and to help the customers that needed it. A decision was made internally to not immediately push anyone under 200,000 files in order to reduce the concurrent calls and the load on support and abuse. It was further told to the support personnel, with a strict admonishment to NOT tell this to customers, as it would cause the (well-founded) sense of confusion and anger at the inconsistencies. One of the techs went straight out and posted it on the forum here that the limit is now different. When I saw it, I removed it, in the hopes that he hadn't already caused all the issues we had hoped to avoid. It seems that I was too late, and should have given a full explanation.

The limit is still 50,000. Due to technical reasons in implementing it, we had to ease off from enforcing it all the way with everyone at the same time. Do not think that the limit does not apply, or is higher for certain people and not others. It will be enforced, sooner or later, as the technical reasons for it are still valid.

And no, we do not try to keep secrets from the customers. Matt is very open about almost everything. But we *will* keep certain decisions low-key in order to not cause the very issues that this seems to have caused.

[Early Out]

It was further told to the support personnel, with a strict admonishment to NOT tell this to customers, as it would cause the (well-founded) sense of confusion and anger at the inconsistencies.
Do you mean inconsistencies like having someone posting in here, "Gee, I've got more than 50k files, and they haven't shut down my account yet?" See the problem? When you state one policy (50k is the absolute limit) but enforce a different policy (50k is the target, but we won't cut you off right away if you've got more), you're in trouble territory. It only works if you can figure out a way to keep your customers from comparing notes. ;)

[sac0o01]

This kind of concerns me as I have a friend who had to move his site for having too many files. What is the quickest way for me to get a total file count for my account?

**sorry for getting off topic....

[Early Out]

Take a look at the /tmp directory on your account - you'll see one or more userquota* files. They're just text files, and list the number of files you have in each directory, starting with the largest. At the bottom, there's a total file count. The multiple userquota* files seem to reflect the totals on different dates - it looks like they're keeping several versions.

[nitrocrzy]

Take a look at the /tmp directory on your account - you'll see one or more userquota* files. They're just text files, and list the number of files you have in each directory, starting with the largest. At the bottom, there's a total file count. The multiple userquota* files seem to reflect the totals on different dates - it looks like they're keeping several versions.

I was told that this file is not regularly updated. If you want an accurate count, which I highly recommend, you'll need to hop on live chat and request it to be done.

[nitrocrzy]

I don't know if you're still looking for new hosting, but you know, there is a step between shared and dedicated. It is called VPS (Virtual Private Server). It would be where I would go if I was just barely outgrowing shared hosting.. they run anywhere between 20 - 90 dollars a month, and for these you're actually paying for "shares" on the server's hardware (aka if you need more resources, you'll need a more expensive setup).. There are still multiple accounts on the same box, but far fewer, and not too much more than shared hosting.. but LOTS cheaper than a dedicated server :)

Can you send me a PM with more details? I'm still awaiting the shoe to drop. I was so torque'd about the 50K thing that I was ready to just let my domain go bye bye and start all over from scratch. However, now that it looks like I might have a little wiggle room, I need to make plans.

[Early Out]

I was told that this file is not regularly updated.
The dates on the three versions of the file on my account are 7/1, 7/5, and 7/12, so it's tough to figure out how often the count gets updated.

[nitrocrzy]

Just got off live chat after getting an updated file count. They will only do one quota report a day on request. The tech was very friendly and suggested I not worry about my number of files for the time being 200777. It has gone up despite my getting rid of thousands of files. I need to seriously look into how this can be because I deleted close to 100,000 files. :confused: