A2 Hosting

5/8/2018

A2 Hosting

Modify domain registry to point name servers to:

ns1.a2hosting.com (162.159.25.95)
ns2.a2hosting.com (162.159.24.221)
ns3.a2hosting.com (162.159.25.82)
ns4.a2hosting.com (162.159.24.227)

For example, for Dynu.com: Log in > Domain registrations > domain name > Manage Name Servers > Add the above servers.

IMPORTANT: all DNS records (A records, MX records) must be set up again in A2 hosting.  

A2 hosting's default TTL (Time To Live) is long (24 hours).  Just in case DNS settings changes happen and need to take effect quickly, it should be changed to 1 hour (Plesk control panel > Websites & Domains > DNS Settings >  SOA )

 

A2 hosting's FTP user name is quite different from conventions.  They are like xxx-xxx/hzhang  where xxx-xxx is the first part of the host xxx-xxx.a2hosting.com that you can see at the address bar after you logged in Plesk Control Panel.

 Migrate an Umbraco to A2 Hosting:

  1. Upload the zipped directory of Umbraco.
  2. Unzip the directory.
  3. Add a virtual directory to point to the Umbraco directory (if not possible, then rename the uploaded directory so that a physical directory with the name can be created in the process of creating a virtual directory, then delete this directory, and rename the original directory back).
  4. Give app users -Application pool group (IWPG_accountname) the full permission to this directory.
  5. On A2Hostiing's Plesk control panel: Databases > Add Database > Same name as the existing Umbraco database, take notes of database name (e.g. yourdomain_umbraco), newly created user name and password.
  6. In SSMS: Right-click the Umbraco database > Task > Backup... > OK
  7. On A2Hostiing's Plesk control panel: Databases > Import Dump > Choose File > Select the backup file. If the backup file is small (e.g. < 1 GB), one can use the "Upload" option.  If it is large, "Upload" option may not work. In this case, it is the best to upload the backup file first, then use the "Import" option.
  8. Modify <connectionStrings> of web.config to use A2Hosting's SQL server (server=mi3-wsq3.a2hosting.com), newly created Umbraco database, user name and password.

Creating a new instance of Umbraco:

  1. Create a directory for the web site if it is not there.  It is create automatically when you add a domain in A2 hosting.
  2. Download the latest binary of Umbraco to the newly created directory
  3. Unzip the files.
  4. Create a machine key and add it to system.Web in file web.config.  The setup process is supposed to create this automatically, but it does not work on A2 hosting.
  5. Browse the Umbraco web site: http://www.myumbraco.com to start the setup process:
  6. Enter name, email, password, and choose "Customize" not "Install"
  7. Select Microsoft SQL Server, then enter the server name (e.g. xxxx-xxxx.a2hosting.com), login and password, then click continue
  8. The process will take one to two minutes to finish the setup.

Email client configuration:

POP: 

Incoming server (POP3): 110

Uncheck "This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL/TLS) to avoid prompt "Internet Security Warning" ... "The server you are connected to is using a security certificate that cannot be verified"

Outgoign server (SMTP): 465

Use the following type of encrypted connection: SSL/TLS (this may lead to  "Internet Security Warning" ... "The server you are connected to is using a security certificate that cannot be verified" the first time to send an email after Outlooks starts.

IMAP:

Incoming server (POP3): 143

Use the following type of encrypted connection: None to avoid prompt "Internet Security Warning" ... "The server you are connected to is using a security certificate that cannot be verified".

Outgoign server (SMTP): 465

Use the following type of encrypted connection: SSL/TLS (this may lead to  "Internet Security Warning" ... "The server you are connected to is using a security certificate that cannot be verified" the first time to send an email after Outlooks starts.

 

 Since 2018-05-02:

mi3-wsq3 was down for 2 hours on 2018-06-02

mi3 was down for 2 hours (18:25 - 20:06) on 2018-06-13

mi3-wts7 was down 1.5 hours (18:07 - 19:33) on 2018-06-19

 A few days and loss of two month data. 2018-04-22

 Since there is no regular backup, the database log files will grow indefinitely. They need to be shrunk regularly with the following command:

        ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks2012
        SET RECOVERY SIMPLE
        GO
        DBCC SHRINKFILE (AdventureWorks2012_log, 1)
        GO
        ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks2012
        SET RECOVERY FULL
where AdventureWorks2012_log is the logical name of the log, NOT the log file name.