Web hosting in Germany can be risky

[Torsten]

Hi everyone, you might have noticed that our site was unavailable for a couple of days. Quite a lot of you have emailed us asking why you were not able to use our site. Here is an example:

"Good morning,

I am actually an English Trainer in France and I have some problems accessing your very useful website. Is there some way or the other to access it please? Or would you mind telling me if the site is still operational please?

Many thanks for your kind response.

Regards,
Sheila Hayes"

So what happened? Well, our mistake was to use a German web hosting company. As it turns out, Germany is at least several years behind the US when it comes to server management and web security. In Germany the vast majority of all web hosting companies will tell you that DDoS attacks are extremely rare and that there is no need to offer DDoS prevention facilities such as Tipping Point, Cisco Guard, dedicated Firewalls, load balancing, etc. We have tried several major German hosting companies such as ServerLoft, Plusserver or Hetzner and none of them offers anything that would protect their clients from even very common Dos or DDoS attacks.

When you speak to German server hosting companies, they give you the impression that DDoS attacks don't exist on the 'German speaking Internet'.

The other point is that the level of customer service provided by US based hosting companies is several times better than what you can expect from German companies. Now, for the first time since 2003 english-test.net is being hosted by an American server company and I'm sure our chances of keeping the site up and running have improved dramatically.

TOEIC listening, talks: Lecturer is starting a new of the training program

[Kitosdad]

Good morning Torsten. I was unable to access the Forum yesterday for a couple of hours.
_________________
Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.

[Jamie (K)]

Torsten, I really like the service of (most of) the US web hosting companies I've used, but what do you think accounts for the difference in service between the US and Germany? Is it more competition for customers?

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie,

That's a pretty good question. As far as I can see, ecommerce and Internet business in the US is much more developed and competitive in the US than in the rest of the world. In our particular case, we have not been able to find a German web hosting company that would provide us with a sever that has an up to date level of security. The company we used previously is called 'Sever4You' and its a subsidiary of the ServerPlus AG. The servers they are offering look pretty good at first glance: Fast processors, lots of RAM and disk space etc.

The problem: The network of those Germany companies are vulnerable when it comes to DDoS attacks. For some reasons DoS and DDoS attacks or rather their prevention is not an issue in Germany yet. That's completely different in the US and as a result they offer much better products. In addition, their customer service is simply better. I can give you more details if you like.

Germany is by far not as competitive as the US when it comes to web hosting and I wish we would have considered this a couple of years ago....

TOEIC listening, talks: A young man calls up regarding an advertisement

[Jamie (K)]

Do you have Windows or Linux hosting? A lot of people eliminate quite a few security problems by migrating to a Linux host.

[Torsten]

Yes, we have always used Linux but that's not enough if want to fight off DDoS attacks.

TOEIC listening, talks: A traffic report is being given on the radio

[Parveen Kawsar]

Hello Mr. Torstan,
I could not open your link since last wednesday.I did know what was happed. So, I could not answer you. Now it is ok.I became very scared, I thaught I have lost the forum and teachers. I tried to listen the audio recording but it is not opened. How I could listen it?
Thanks.
Parveen.