u/Nexorahost

One of the worst parts of a server outage isn't the downtime itself – it's the silence. That moment when you're staring at a status page that just says "Investigating" for an hour.

When this happens on our end, we try a slightly different approach. Instead of waiting for a full diagnosis to say something, we just... ask.

We usually hit the affected customer with two questions immediately:

1. Want us to spin up your last backup on a different node so you're live ASAP?
2. Or do you prefer we spend the time trying to salvage the current state of the server (which might take longer)?

We don't like making that call over their heads because it's their data, not ours.

Transparency is an overused word in hosting, but for us, it just means "don't ghost the customer when things are on fire."

Is this something you'd actually appreciate from a host? Or do you prefer they just fix it quietly and only update you when it's 100% back?

Most people just say "The internet is slow." But where exactly?

With traceroute (or tracert on Windows), you can see every hop along the path to your destination.

How it works:

The tool uses the TTL (Time To Live) field in the IP header. Each router decreases the TTL by 1. When TTL reaches 0, the packet is discarded – and the router sends back an ICMP Time Exceeded message.

This way, traceroute discovers the entire path hop by hop.

What the output means:

• Three times per hop – Each hop is measured three times (Round-Trip Time in ms)
• Asterisk (*) – Router doesn't respond (ICMP blocked or low priority) – not always a problem
• High latency from a specific hop – That's where the issue is (your ISP, peering point, or destination network)

Important to know:

• Windows uses ICMP Echo Requests
• Linux uses UDP on high ports by default
• An asterisk doesn't automatically mean packet loss – some routers just prioritize ICMP traffic lower

Practical usage:

bash

# Windows
tracert google.com

# Linux / macOS
traceroute google.com

The golden rule:

Latency is better measured between hops, not on them. A single slow hop alone doesn't mean much – only when latency stays consistently high or packets get lost does it become critical.

Bonus: When having issues with your hosting or server, traceroute often gives the crucial hint – is it the host, the peering, or the customer's connection?

Questions? Feel free to ask.

I’m currently building and improving my own VPS hosting platform and wanted to ask the community something important:

What’s the thing that annoys you the most about your current hosting provider?

For example:

• hidden fees
• slow support
• poor performance
• complicated setup
• outdated dashboards

I’d love to understand what people actually struggle with so I can build something better.

Curious to hear your experiences 👀

I’m currently building and improving my own VPS hosting platform and wanted to ask the community something important:

What’s the thing that annoys you the most about your current hosting provider?

For example:

• hidden fees
• slow support
• poor performance
• complicated setup
• outdated dashboards

I’d love to understand what people actually struggle with so I can build something better.

Curious to hear your experiences 👀