Dryline Hosting is closing

[John Farley]

As of May 2, this announcement appeared on the Dryline Hosting website:

"We here at Dryline Hosting have come to a difficult decision, and that is that we must close up shop. We’ve had a good run since 2003, but the hosting landscape has changed, and we can no longer continue to change with it. We thank you so very much to all of our customers that have supported us. Effective May 31st, 2016, all services for Dryline Hosting will be shut down.

EXISTING CUSTOMERS:

At the time of this post, this is a 30 day notice, and this will also be broadcast by our support system notification, emails and social media accounts.

You will need to unlock your domain names and initiate a transfer from another domain name registrar before that time. Do this right away, because some of those can take time depending on who you use. If you fail to unlock it first, the transfer will fail. Please start that process right away. After May 31st, you will no longer be able to transfer that domain name and will loose access to it.

All web hosting and other services will cease to function on May 31st. Regardless of your renewal date, no refunds of any kind will be given. It is your responsibility to request via support ticket if you want your services to end on or before your renewal date. This means if you don’t request that, and your renewal date is on May 30th, you will be billed again. All accounts will be closed on June 1st, 2016 and nothing will be billed beyond May 31st, 2016. All PayPal subscriptions will also be cancelled on June 1st, 2015.

Please attend to this in a timely manner that is most beneficial to you.

NOTE: We are unable to assist you in moving your files/websites to any other host."

I saw a mention of this in a somewhat unrelated thread, but cannot see any thread on it, so thought I would start one. Since I know a lot of chaers use Dryline Hosting - including me - this could impact a lot of us and some chaser sites could disappear or change drastically. I am going to try to move mine elsewhere, but know nothing about doing this so it may not be easy. And I get my email through Dryline Hosting, too. Any of you who use dryline hosting need to get started on relocating your Website now, and everyone should be aware that some chaser sites could be disappearing.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Some quick ways to ensure you don't lose any data (this should be done with any web host, as failures can happen anywhere):

- If you do server-side updating via a CMS (like Wordpress or Joomla), install a backup plugin (such as Dropbox), then save this backup file on your local computer. When you get set up on your new host, you can restore the site from this backup file (you'll have to install the same backup plugin on the new host).

- If you have FTP access - regardless of whether you use a CMS or not - log in and download the entire directory structure and files of your site to your local computer. If you're not using a CMS, all you need to do is FTP the files to the new host. If you are using a CMS, just uploading the files won't restore your site - you need to use the CMS itself to restore a backup file as described above. Even so, if you are using a CMS, it's good to have all of the raw files of your site in case something goes wrong.

 

[John Farley]

Thanks, Dan. I actually did download the directory structure and files to my computer, so I won't lose anything. Still a bother, but at least I should not lose anything and should be able to get my Website up with another provider. Hope most people affected will do this; would hate to lose more chaser sites.

 

[ScottCurry]

Don't forget to make and download a backup of your database too.

If you use SSH, you can use the mysqldump program.

If you use Dryline Hosting, you can use cPanel:

To backup your databases in cPanel:

1. Login to your control panel and click Backups.
2. Under Download a MySQL Database Backup, click the name of the database.
3. Click Save As.
4. Select a destination for where you would like the back up to be saved, locally.

To restore your databases in cPanel (on your new host):

1. Login to your control panel and click Backups.
2. Click the Browse button next to the option which says Restore a MySQL Database.
3. Select the .sql.gz file which you want restored.
4. Click the Open button and click the Upload button.

 

[David Drummond]

The absolute simplest thing you can do is find another cpanel web host and have them do a server to server transfer. All they need is your cpanel user name and password and the server IP. It's quick and easy and brings your entire cpanel account over. You'll still have to transfer the domain as a separate process though.