Think Hosting Issues Are Not Important? Ask Citibank.
After this appeared in the Wall Street Journal today:
“Citigroup Inc. is closing in on an agreement to boost the federal government’s stake in the company to as much as 40%, according to people familiar with the situation. A deal could be announced as soon as Thursday.”
This appeared on the Web:
Citicard.com has been down all day. Whether or not this is due to the rumors about the Citigroup deal is uncertain. But it’s clear that amidst all the excitement, the website’s hosting environment is the last thing on everyone’s mind – at least until today.
You can ignore your server day after day, and most of the time it will do its job. But the day it fails, you’ll wish you had paid more attention.
Here’s a basic checklist that everyone (even Citibank) should follow:
- Make sure your domain is registered in your name, and be sure to renew it before it expires.
- Check the amount of traffic that has been coming to your server. Is it time to upgrade?
- Find out who else is hosted on the same server. Are they using up bandwidth you need?
- Are you expecting traffic spikes from special events, announcements, or media stories? Don’t forget to clue in your IT guy before it happens.
An ounce of prevention saves you a lot of heartache: lost revenue, damage to your reputation, and “emergency” efforts on the part of your web team. It also means that your customers will always be able to find you online… and won’t lose confidence in your ability to deliver the products or services you offer.
