Virtually EVERY email or Web server will go down now and again.
So what to do about it? PLAN.
Select a provider that has the business backbone, or infrastructure to best handle the inevitable, i.e. typically a large, well-known and reputable company such a GoDaddy.com or Hostmonster.com
Remember, it’s a question of “WHEN”, not “if”, your website and/or email WILL go down – at some time. So be prepared. Keep local backups of your website. You should be able to perform (at least) manual backups using your provider’s control panel. If you have an always changing database, you can use an auto backup service such as rsync.net.
Regardless, it WILL likely happen – as it has for GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Amazon, Yahoo! – and yes – even Google.
If it does happen, don’t panic, as it will likely be only very temporary, e.g. 1-2 days. (We’ve never personally experienced longer.) After all, this is technology we’re talkin’ about here. Sometimes stuff (simply) happens.
The KEY is to have a plan “B”, so PLAN (and react) by
a) having an alternate email address ready to deploy, i.e. from a separate provider, e.g. gmail… anything to continue the communication process.
b) keep your domain name records with one provider, and your website with another. That way if your website goes down, you can point your domain name to a secondary host and have your site come back within a few hours.
c) CALL anyone you feel needs to be called – on a phone, that is. Next, be patient. Things (almost) always come back. Of course plan “C” could be going back to snail mail. (Yeah, right.)
