VPS terminated. How do I retrieve database and files

[Onirix]

Hello again.

I am another partner in our small company, and we are in a desperate situation, as are our partners and clients, who relied on us with their data.

Our dedicated server was obviously hacked or infiltrated in some way, and we were closed because of "abuse". In good faith, we had previously tried to solve the problems in MyEgallery and other places, where we believed the problem was, and indeed we thought we were in the clear, with no problems in over a month. But obviously we were wrong. Apparently something else happened because everything just stopped. We were cut off from our data and files with no warning and no chance to retrieve them.

We are ready to admit that perhaps a dedicated server was more than we could handle with our limited experience. And at the moment we are looking into moving back to shared servers where security problems are taken care of by people with more experience than us. But we are left with nothing to work with, and we are searching desperately for solutions which we know must exist if only we could get hold of the right person at JaguarPC to help us.

At this point all we are concerned about is our files and our data. Can someone out there help us? Is there a way we can activate our account again for long enough to get our data? Is there a way it can be put somewhere temporarily for us to access it? Could it be moved to another shared server so we could start up a different type of account?

I apologize for such a wordy letter. In short, all we are concerned about is our files and data. Any help getting them back would be appreciated.

Paul Rombough
Onirix Services...

[the_ancient]

You need to contact on of the Following

Jpc-Les ---> COO (I think maybe CTO, big shot anyway)
Jpc-Masood --> Head Support Guru
Jpc-Ben ------> Customer Service Manager

[Onirix]

I got some answers from sales, finally.

----
We have no backup of your VPS as it was our fault the vps was terminated and not just suspended we will be prepared for offer you 1 month of free service, I am sorry about the loss would you like us to go ahead and proceed with recreation?
----

OUCH !

Are you telling me that all my domains are GONE ?
MYSQL databases, and mail, and web sites ???
If so, you just killed by small business. I'll get sued for sure by my customers, and for way more than a month's worth of hosting.

What do you mean it was your fault, what happened to the VPS ?

No backup at all ??? ALL DEAD ???
Mirror image of the VPS, anything ?

I can't believe this. That is unacceptable and terrible !

Please follow up...

Eric

[Onirix]

Hello again,

I just want to make sure you understand that even if Onirix is a small business, my customers are not.
Could you please make extra efforts to check your drives and servers for anything you can recover. The MySQL databases are so important !
It is hard to believe that it's not somewhere on your systems.

Regards,
Eric

[Ron]

Oh my God, if losing your data would cause you to be put out of business, how can you possibly not keep copies yourself? I'm not trying to kick you while you're down, I am just shocked.

Maybe your clients had their own copies.

[the_ancient]

I got some answers from sales, finally.

----
We have no backup of your VPS as it was our fault the vps was terminated and not just suspended we will be prepared for offer you 1 month of free service, I am sorry about the loss would you like us to go ahead and proceed with recreation?
----

OUCH !

Are you telling me that all my domains are GONE ?
MYSQL databases, and mail, and web sites ???
If so, you just killed by small business. I'll get sued for sure by my customers, and for way more than a month's worth of hosting.

What do you mean it was your fault, what happened to the VPS ?

No backup at all ??? ALL DEAD ???
Mirror image of the VPS, anything ?

I can't believe this. That is unacceptable and terrible !

Please follow up...

Eric

First off you should have never assumed responsibility for Data loss, your customers should have backups of all their sites, and you should have had backups for your VPS

JPC, nor any host, takes legal responsibility for data loss.

You need to contact Ben, Masood or Les, these are the Managers they will be able to help you more than just emailing the "sales" address

[thisisit3]

One month of free service? oh my god... after a total failure the compensation is one month free... i'd feel like somebody is making fun of me... !!!

Still, Ron is right, if you depend your business on that data then you should have kept backups yourself. I've been there (server died and Jag had a very old backup) so since then i've been keeping my own complete backups.

[Frank Broughton]

This story is getting too old and too common.

Is there a problem of communication with the world wide clientèle - poorly written initial instructions to new accounts - or are we dealing with incredibly stupid people? No insult intended but I for one am embarrassed as to the degree of "who's fault is it" arguments when these things happen and that on a weekly / monthly basis.

Am I all wet or is an audit of instructional emails in order?

Who makes the call when as error is made as to what is offered? Should all the multiple levels of support be required to report to JPC Houston level manager when an issue occurs to have consistent satisfactory steps taken?

Just trying to help not jump on any that are sore!

[EuroNut]

This story is getting too old and too common.

Is there a problem of communication with the world wide clientèle

I agree Frank - This type of issue occurs frequently (There's a similar thread to this one running right now on the forum of one of my other providers).

We are all inherently lazy when it comes to reading Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policies, etc, etc, before we sign up, but, in common with every other provider I use, Jag's Terms of Service state clearly their level of responsibility for customers' data (Down at the bottom under Liability and Warranty.

I too have no wish to kick Onirix or anyone else when they're down, but if you haven't got your own backups, and a similar disclaimer on your own web sites, then you are laying yourself wide open to failures like this, and potential law suits.

Good luck Onirix - I truly hope that Jag can find some of your data on their systems to help you out here.

[Vin DSL]

Hold your site close! Keep your data closer!

[Connie]

The bottom line is if your data is important be responsible for your own backups. If your responsible for someone else's data you d**m sure better back that data up.

I would not trust Jag or anyone else for the only backup solution on my sites. Backups fail, and frankly you can't have to many IMHO.

Onirix I'd be really surprised at this point if Jag has any backups, even if the problem was their fault. I suspect once the account was terminated any backups were also deleted. Hope I'm wrong.

[Connie]

Onirix, Eric, Brendan or whoever you are. I approved your comments on my blog.

If files are vital to your business make your own d*m backups. If Jag screwed up, bad on Jag. If there was an error on Jags end, that is no excuse for your company not taking responsibility.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

When men, machines, and software are involved s**t happens. You can never have to many backups.

[Ron]

If I recall correctly, let's not forget what started the problem -- their account was hacked and caused problems on JAGs network. JAG deleted the account instead of suspending it. Although JAG might take a softer approach in some cases, to me that doesn't sound like a violation of any sort.

[st1905]

If I recall correctly, let's not forget what started the problem -- their account was hacked and caused problems on JAGs network. JAG deleted the account instead of suspending it. Although JAG might take a softer approach in some cases, to me that doesn't sound like a violation of any sort.

I agree with you.

[Spathiphyllum]

It seems like it's time to make lemons out of lemonade. Yes, these backup issues are a recurring issue and I'm reminded repeatedly of the risks of negligence. As a matter of fact, I spent yesterday resurrecting the drive on my personal development computer that "failed" w/o warning. Fortunately, the steps to bring it back to life were short since I had the right diagnostic tools to handle this particular issue. Such a circumstance is typically rare.

Knowing what we know about catastrophic "failures" or TOS violations in and out of our control along with the resultant policies or responsibility and/or remuneration, what should be done? I'd suggest that in this case where "abuse" or negligence led to an account purge that Jaguar institute a policy of disabling the account for some period of time (31 days?) and archiving it securely rather than wiping it. As a condition for this temporary data archive/retrieval courtesy, Jaguar could charge 2-months worth of that account's billing to the client for the entire archive.

This is a ballpark figure to a) provide Jaguar an income stream to subsidize their work required for a malignant account and b) to give a client the opportunity to get their data back so that they can move it somewhere else and reduce the impact of their actions. That would help alleviate that client's concerns for their own clients depending on their data and help solve a bad situation. It's imperfect but it does hit a middle ground where Jaguar can protect its network/servers, can finance this "insurance" should a client desperately need that data, and will help a customer in their move elsewhere without an exorbitant cost but enough of a penalty to discourage abuse.

What do you all think?