So, it’s 4:50pm Friday afternoon. I’m about to click “Publish” on a post about the random image rotator dealie. Boom. WordPress throws up a big old “Error establishing a database connection” error screen. Crap.
I login to my Godaddy account page, hit the database manager, and PHPMyAdmin can connect. The database is there, and running. WTF. I notice my ShortStat table has ballooned to over 100MB of data. That’s insane, so I truncate it. I’ll remove the plugin. I check again – maybe I was over my DB quota or something – and it’s still no joy from WP. I try Referrer Karma – it uses the same MySQL database, and throws a scarier – but more helpful – error message. “Warning: mysql_connect(): User ‘dnorman’ has exceeded the ‘max_connections’ resource (current value: 50)”
Ahah! Something wrong with the database server. But… I haven’t added any new apps or anything, and am in a relatively low traffic load (compared to, say the week of WWDC), so my blog shouldn’t be crippling the database server.
I decide to go to the GoDaddy support page – they’ll have a “Status” section that indicates that Apache is up, MySQL is up, etc… Right? No. OK, So I fill in the email form, even though it says they won’t be able to respond to email for an estimated 10 hours. About 1 minute after clicking “Send”, I break into a cold sweat.
My blog is dead in the water. So, I call their phone support line. In the back of my head, I’m thinking “So, this is how they keep their rates so low – I’ll get gouged on long distance support, since they don’t offer a toll-free line.” At least it isn’t a 1-900 number or anything. I get connected, pass through voicemail menu hell (why does it ask me to type in my account number if the person who eventually picks up will just be asking me to repeat it anyway?). I eventually get through, and the support tech is nice enough. He doesn’t know what’s wrong, but would I mind if he put me on hold while he goes to talk to someone with a clue? Sure. The hold music doesn’t suck.
13 minutes on the phone, long distance, to GoDaddy tech support. Only to hear “oh, yeah. that’s a known issue. They’ve got their wrenches and hammers out, and are working on it. It should only be a couple of hours. Uh, yeah, your data is probably safe. Can I send you an email survey so you can let us know you were satisfied with this call?”
3 hours later, and it looks like things are back up and running. How about sending me a survey about that?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, GoDaddy is located in Phoenix… do you want me to got throw an egg at their window?
Heh. That explains the funny accents they had
It’s working now, so hold off on the eggs for awhile. Thanks, though! 
I’d like my eggs over hard with a side of bacon please.
Eggs sound good! Could you make a skillet for me and add some ham and mushrooms…
Hey – if I’m ever in the Phoenix area for a extended period, I’ll take all of you Godaddy folks out to Denny’s and buy a round of Grand Slam Omelettes. Actually, I’m pretty impressed that a number of Godaddy employees have been to visit this post, and I haven’t had a single complaint from The Company about it. That speaks volumes about the openness of Godaddy, and makes me MUCH more comfortable staying with you for my hosting.
sorry to hear that your blogs were down, but glad to hear they are back up for you.
Alex, sure thing. About the bacon and the survey
Can I just have the plate of bacon? Thanks
Oh, by the way, do you mind if I send you a short customer survey… :p
Hey D’Arcy ~ I have an account with GoDaddy and I’ve had a similar miserable database experience. I got so pissed off at the pre-canned responses of customer service that I contacted the president, but not before I was asked if I could fill out a brief survey. I declined because I was pissed off and angry anyways.
I sent an email to the president about not being able to add records to my database. I had code that several web designers said it looked fine. Mr. Parsons, GoDaddy president, writes back that it will cost me $300 to have someone LOOK at my code. They can stick it!
Did you have any luck with your database? If so, can you send me an email? I’d love to ask you a couple questions.
Cheryl, my database issues just magically disappeared. No idea if it was a problem with their database, some evildoer attacking the site, or some other transient issue. Without a way to login to the box and run top or ps, I have no idea what the bottleneck was. Not sure I have any answers for you, but fire away…
Hi D’Arcy ~
Thanks for responding so quickly. I wrote 2 scripts that allow the user to add data via a form and one that is supposed to add that information to the MySQL database. The html script executes wonderfully, but the PHP script won’t add a record to the database. I don’t receive any errors so I don’t know what the problem is. I’ve attached a zipped file of my PHP script and the corresponding HTML form in my email. The sample form can be found at http://www.mygurlstuff.com/trials/sample_form.htm
If you could shed some light I would deeply appreciate it. Thanks so much!
I’ve always loved godaddy’s nice customer service.
(the hold music however….)
I got into a big argument with a “techsales support” guy once about my ssl certificates.
I really tried to explain my certs where named ..
secure.mydomain.com
secure.myotherdomain.net
and I wasn’t talking about domain names, … these where the names of my certificates in the management interface they provide.
“You need to talk about domain names are certs dude, what are you talking about, do you know the difference?” …
Another happy experience with gocrappy.com !
You know you guys are complaining about godaddy, but have u really tried other hosting solutions? I have tried dozens besides some other large ones like one and one (who has horrible control panels) Godaddy is definitely the way to go, Despite their Monopoly and smushing the little guys, I do believe they are the walmart of the web world for hosting solutions. (great prices + really fast, but not always reliable tech support + wide array of items )
EJ, actually yeah. I switched to Dreamhost over a year ago (or has it been longer?) and haven’t looked back.