web-hosting on S Anand

Github page-only repository

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 02:54:51 +0000

Github offers Github Pages that let you host web pages on Github.

You create these by adding a branch to git called gh-pages, and this is often in addition to the default branch master.

I just needed the gh-pages branch. So thanks to YJL, here’s the simplest way to do it.

Create the repositoryon github.
Create your local repository and git commitinto it.
Type git push -u origin master:gh-pages
In .git/config, under the [remote "origin"] section, add push = +refs/heads/master:refs/heads/gh-pages

The magic is the last :gh-pages.

Monitoring site downtime

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:00:00 +0000

If something goes wrong with my site, I like to know of it. My top three problems are:

The site is down

A page is missing

Javascript isn’t working

I’ll talk about how I manage these over 3 articles.

My site used to go down a lot. Initially that was because I kept playing around with mod_rewrite and other Apache modules without quite understanding them. I’d make a change and upload it without testing. (I’m like that.) And then I’d go to sleep.

Next morning, the site’s down, and has been down all night.

This is a bit annoying. Partly because I couldn’t use my site, but mostly because of the Oh yeah, sorry – I goofed up last night replies that I have to send out the next day.

So I started using Site24x7 to track if my website was down. It’s a convenient (and free) service. It pings my site every hour. If it’s down, I get an SMS. If it’s back up, I get an SMS. It also keeps a history of how often the site is down.

Over time, I stopped making mistakes. But my site still kept going down, thanks to my hosting service (100WebSpace). When I goof up, it’s just an annoyance, and I can fix it. But when my hosting service goes down, it’s more than that. My site is where I listen to music, read comics, read RSS feeds, use custom search engines, watch movies, browse for books, etc. Not being able to do these things – nor fix the site – is suffocating.

Worse, I couldn’t sleep. I use my mobile as my alarm. It’s annoying to hear an SMS from under your pillow at 3am every day – especially if it says your site is down.

So I switched to HostGator a few months ago. Nowadays, the site is down a lot less. (In times of trouble, it becomes sluggish, but doesn’t actually go down.)

That came at a cost, though. I was paying 100 WebSpace about $25 per annum. I’m paying Hostgator about $75 per annum. Being the kind that analyses purchases to death, the big question for me was, is this worth it. There is where my other problem with the site being down kicks in. I get a bit of ad revenue from my site, and I lose that when the site’s down. (Not that it’s much. Still…)

According to Site24x7, my site was up ~98% of the time. So I’m losing about 2% of my potential ad revenue. For the extra $50 to be worth it, my ad revenue needs to be more than $50 / 2% = $2,500 per annum. I’m nowhere near it. So the switch isn’t actually a good idea economically, but it does make life convenient (which is pretty important) and I sleep better (much more so).

The important thing, I’ve realised, is not just to track this stuff. That’s useful, sure. But what really made Site24x7 useful to me is that it would alert me when there was a big problem.

There are many kinds of alerting.

There’s a report you can view whenever you remember to view it. (It could be an RSS feed, so at least you won’t have to remember the site. But you still need to read your feeds.)

Then there’s the more pushy alerting: sending you an e-mail. That may catch you instantly for the half of the day that you’re online. Or, if you’re like me, it may completely escape your attention. (I don’t read e-mail.)

And then there’s the equivalent of shaking you by the shoulder – getting an SMS. (At least, that’s how it is for me. Incidentally, I don’t reply to SMS either. Calling me gets a reply. Nothing else.)

The type of alerting is clearly a function of the severity of the problem. Wake me up when my site goes down. Don’t wake me up if a link is broken.

Site24x7 sends me an SMS when my site is down. Fits the bill perfectly.

Comments

Arun 24 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: Thanks for your post on Site24x7. Glad that you liked it! Arun Site24x7
Noel 24 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: You can also try Dotcom-monitor. It smart and cheap service

Where you host determines your page rank on Google

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Google’s dirty little secret talks about how Google determines whether your site appears on top for a search depending on whether you and the searcher are in the same geography or not. So if your server is in Kazakhstan, expect fewer hits.

Site Helper

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Site Helper: simple instructions on how to get a web site up and running.

Google Music Search and Google Home Page API

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Google Music Search and the Home Page API. With the home page API, Google Base, and Blogger, looks like Google has bypassed conventional web hosting and become a Web 2.0 host.

Google domains

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 12:00:00 +0000

Google domains is next, possibly leading into site hosting with 1GB space, and linkages with Blogger.

Comments

Bhuvan 2 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: nice to have you back Anand
S Anand 2 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Font size of comments? Or the whole page? The latter can be increased through View - Text Size - Larger
Sumeer 2 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: can you do something about the font sizes

Blogspamming

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Blogspamming: the new phenomenon. It works only if you have a referral log, and look at it. Unfortunately for me, thanks to my crazy domain hosting service, I am blogspam-immune. via kuro5hin

Domains and hosting

Wed, 23 Oct 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Anita’s article on domains and hosting.

Mumbai bloggers meet photos unavailable

Tue, 08 Oct 2002 12:00:00 +0000

The Mumbai Bloggers’ Meet photos are out of action. The site should be back some time today. The page is about 1.5MB (including pictures), and my quota is 50MB per day. So about 33 hits is enough to kill the page.

DomainsNext

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 12:00:00 +0000

DomainsNext works out cheaper ($18) than Namezero ($25) for a 1-year registration. But is it worth the effort?

Comments

peytonman 3 Feb 2007 6:33 am: Actually domainsnext.com is only $11.95 for registration theyre the best
peytonman 3 Feb 2007 6:33 am: And the hosting is good too on domainsnext
peytonman 6 Feb 2007 12:43 am: http://www.domainsnext.com/ They also offer hosting and website creators

No FTP on Geocities

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 12:00:00 +0000

I hate this. “Beginning April 2, 2002, we – Geocities – will no longer provide FTP access as part of our free home page service.” Nice of them to let me know well in advance, though.