It was well past midnight at LBN Tech. Though we’re not a round-the-clock team, that night was different. One of our longtime clients from Oregon, Joseph Baer, reached out in distress—his website which was hosted with a local company, had gone down, and it looked like it had been hacked.
Venkat from our team was already on the case, trying to raise a ticket with the hosting provider. I stayed back in the office with him, along with Valandeena, our programmer. Desigan, our designer, insisted on staying too, just in case we needed to throw up a splash page in a hurry.
“Try the numbers again, Venkat,” I said.
“They don’t even go through,” he replied, clearly frustrated.
Joseph was pinging us for updates. We were doing our best, but our hands were tied. It took three full days before we could restore the website. And that’s when we decided—no business should have to go through this. After that experience we always insist that our client websites should be transferred to our own managed server.
The Cost of Poor Hosting
That incident was a wake-up call. Hosting isn’t just about buying space on a server. It’s about uptime, data security, and support when you need it most. Your hosting provider is the invisible infrastructure holding your business together online. When it fails, your brand, sales, and credibility suffer.
So, what should you look for in a reliable hosting provider?
Must-Have Features of a Good Hosting Company
Here’s our checklist, refined from years of experience in firefighting hosting issues for clients.
- 24×7 Human Support
In emergencies, you don’t want to be stuck with automated bots. You need a real human on the other end—one who understands the urgency and has the authority to act fast.
- Daily Backups
When disaster strikes, backups are your safety net. The best hosting providers run automated daily backups and make it easy to restore a previous version of your site.
- Speed and Reliability
A slow website is an instant turn-off. Choose hosting providers with high-performance servers and a proven uptime record of at least 99.9%.
- Support for Legacy Code
Not every website gets rebuilt every year. Your host should support older PHP or CMS versions and give developers breathing room during migrations.
- SSL and HTTPS by Default
HTTPS is no longer optional. A good host helps you set up the right SSL certificate and keeps it automatically renewed.
- Efficient Email Hosting
Business emails hosted on the same domain should be reliable, with robust spam filtering and proper email routing.
Additional Features That Make a Great Host Even Better
For businesses that want to scale or maintain their tech edge, look for hosts that also offer:
- Staging Environments – To test updates without risking your live site.
- Automatic Software Updates – Keeps your CMS, plugins, and core files secure.
- Resource Monitoring Tools – Track CPU, RAM, and bandwidth usage in real time.
- Firewall and Malware Scanning – Proactive security to prevent hacks before they happen.
- Custom Error Pages – Keep users engaged even when a page breaks.
- Access to Logs and Cron Jobs – Crucial for advanced debugging and automation.
- Data Center Location Options – Choose servers close to your customer base for improved speed.
Why Choose LBN for Your Hosting Needs?
At LocalBizNetwork, we don’t just sell hosting—we manage it for you. We’ve handled hundreds of hosting setups and migrations, and we’ve seen the worst. That’s why we’ve curated reliable, business-grade hosting solutions designed for peace of mind.
When you host with us, you get:
- Personalized domain + hosting setup
- Managed SSL and security monitoring
- Email setup and spam control
- Backup configuration and disaster recovery
- One-on-one tech support—not ticket queues
- Scalable plans as your business grows
Don’t Wait for a Crisis to Choose the Right Hosting
Your website is your storefront, your portfolio, and your voice. It deserves hosting that’s secure, fast, and dependable.
Let us help you avoid 3 a.m. firefights.
Get in touch with LBN for hosting that works when you need it most.
Thank you for sharing the incident details so elaborately. Great insights.
Some queries to help understand your strategies better.
How often do you restore the back-up and test it’s correctness?
Is it differential backup or full backup that’s restored and verified for correctness?
In which environment do you restore the backup for testing purposes?
In case of data back restoration how long does it take? What’s the strategy to minimize outage caused due to backup restoration?
Thanks & Regards,
Jai Ganesh
Jaiganesh, here are my replies.
*How often do you restore the backup and test its correctness?*
Database: A full MySQL database dump is created daily at 12:05 AM. The dump file is then archived (tar) and uploaded to an S3 bucket at 12:30 AM. Document Root: A full backup is performed weekly every Friday at 1:00 AM.
*Is it a differential or full backup that is restored and verified for correctness?*
We use full backups for restoration and verification purposes.
*In which environment do you restore the backup for testing purposes?*
Backups are restored on the live server in maintenance mode to validate correctness and integrity.
*In case of data backup restoration, how long does it take? What is the strategy to minimize outage caused by restoration?*
Restoration typically takes 15 to 30 minutes. To minimize downtime, we place the live server in maintenance mode during the process, ensuring minimal disruption to users while restoring critical data efficiently.