For many years I've used IXWebhosting and been very satisfied, but I fear they are heading downhill.
A major reason for using IX is the ability to use SQL server manager to connect to SQL Databases. I have been doing so and writing native windows back ends for websites form many years with no problems.
All of a sudden, something has happened to SQLServer. Response times that were virtually instantaneous have jumped to 5-10 seconds with no changes on my part.
The following exchange with Tech Support sums up my frustration. I would very much like to hear from anyone who believes I am being unreasonable.
Up until two weeks ago, I was recommending them. I'm afraid I can no longer do so.
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Below is a very disappointing exchange with IXWebhosting's technical support. It is the first time they've let me down. I hope they aren't becoming like so many other companies who try to blame their customers for all problems. If anyone thinks I'm wrong or overreacting, I'd like to hear about it.
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To Tech Support:
All of my sites using SQL Server are experiencing incredibly slow response times. The server is mssql9.
For example, when updating one row updating one row of a 1000 row table it sometimes takes 4-5 seconds.
I just logged on to the site www.jayalums.com and it took five seconds to verify login information.
So, I logged off and logged back in. This time it took about 1/2 second.
Everything I do with SQL server has unpredictable results. This all started about two weeks ago.
If this can't be fixed can I move to a different SQL server?
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Dear Dave,
thank you for contacting our technical support team.
Let me express the most sincere apologies regarding to the issue you were facing. Unfortunately, I am unable to reproduce it now. As I have checked the server logs, there were no issues noticed on the server level for the specified time period. Please, could you verify the problem once again on your side, and inform us once it continues with exact steps for reproducing from our side, so we will initiate deeper investigation regarding to it. Thank you for cooperation. Should you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at anytime, we are available 24/7.
Respectfully,
Vlad Demyan
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To Tech Support:
It is difficult to tell exactly what the problem is but it seems that the server almost has to "wake up" the first time it is hit.
Try this. go to www.jayalums.com.
Below the login button click on "here" to register.
Now, on the left side of the page, click on one of the years and see how long it takes for the name list to appear. I just did this and it took 7 seconds for the class of 1965 list to appear.
Subsequent clicks on a year seem to respond more quickly but they are still much much slower than they were a few weeks ago.
Thanks,
Dave
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Dear Dave,
Thank you for contacting our tech department team.
I regret to inform you but we won't be able to provide you with a better performance due to Shared Server environment. The best we can suggest you is to organize your scripts for better performance. You are using connection to database to get results from a request, maybe you should suggest to optimize your requests or database structure to be able to get requested results faster. We count on your patience and understanding.
Please feel free to contact us if you need further assistance. We are available 24/7.
Respectfully,
Stepan Radibog
Technical Department
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To Tech Support:
Stepan,
I have been a loyal customer of IXWebhosting for many years. During that time I have used SQL Server extensively and I have never experienced these problems. Your response is not an answer but a simple dismissal of my problem. This is exactly the type of response that causes bad reviews and loss of customers.
My scripts haven't changed. My databases haven't changed. Only response times have changed.
If my scripts are bad or my database structure is bad, why are the queries sometime very rapid and sometimes very slow?
Here's are two scripts that are almost identical. The first took 14seconds to execute. The second was executed immediately afterward and took less than a second.
1- update alums set password = '12345' where uniq = 10xxx
2- update alums set password = '56789' where uniq = 11xxx
It doesn't matter which script is run first, it is very slow but the second is much faster.
Please explain that.
Can we move our databases to a different server?
Dave