On why my blog was down yesterday

I know you’ve been noticing them – the intermittent down times in my blog.    They started around April and each lasted for at least an hour.

And then every time I report it to my host, GoDaddy, the site will go up and they’ll say that it’s just their server experiencing high loads (meaning there are too many people uploading posts or pictures in the server all at the same time).

At some point, I was asked to consider transferring to Linux, because working in a Windows OS is also contributing to the problem.    Ano daw?   Why am I being told this only now??  And since I’m not a programmer, I didn’t understand any of that.

I tried to study the problem on my own by reading up about server errors in tech forums but they’re all too technical, I could not follow. Even the GoDaddy technician helping me at that time was too technical I decided to just do nothing and observe things first.

Then my blog went into a lucid phase and for a good few weeks it was running smoothly – until yesterday, that is, when it was down for a good 8 hours!  I was frantically working with the tech support at GoDaddy (via Twitter) and thankfully a new technician was online.  This time, the explanations were simple, and now I realized what they previously meant by me transferring to Linux.

It doesn’t mean I have to transfer from a Windows OS (operating system) to Linux.  Gosh, that’ll be nightmare!  I’ve tried Linux before (it was bundled with the Asus EEE netbook I bought) and the programming was totally different and alien to me.  I had AJ install a Windows OS immediately so I could work on my netbook.  What GoDaddy was trying to tell me was to just change my plan option and choose a Linux server to host my blog.

Why Linux?  Because WordPress’s programming is native to Linux (meaning, this is the language that the programmers used when they created WordPress), hence, it will run more smoothly in a Linux server.

So if you’re going to get a hosting account for your WordPress blog, CHOOSE A LINUX-BASED HOSTING ACCOUNT.   Remember that the type of hosting you choose will have nothing to do with the OS that your PC or laptop runs.   You can still use a Windows or Mac OS.

The logic here turned out to be very simple:  you can’t use diesel fuel on a gasoline engine.  I wish I was told that sooner.

Now back to our regular programming.