BEWARE: Vilayer dayz hosting

[MarKeR (DayZ) 57]

Hello, Lee.

We have rent the server, and vehicles are not spawning. Can you please explain this some how?

Vehicles do not spawn straight away after you launch your instance fr the first time...

It can take a few days for them to spawn... Which is out of the hosts hands anyway.. As long as you have an instance number from dayz, which you will have. Then they will spawn.

[solo_888 24]

Vehicles do not spawn straight away after you launch your instance fr the first time...

It can take a few days for them to spawn... Which is out of the hosts hands anyway.. As long as you have an instance number from dayz, which you will have. Then they will spawn.

Thank you for your fast reply.

What is instance number from dayz?

[Krusty McNugget 0]

So i Orderd a Server a few days ago, 5 mins into having it i had to send a support ticket in about "Waiting for host" issue, this turned out to be on the DayZ hive end, atleast i think thats what they tried to tell me. :)

Second was retarded ping times to all their LU servers, their FR servers was running just fine, i was told to wait for 24h if the problem was persistant i should get back to them and they would look into it... the problem resolved it self in the 22th hour, so here's to hoping it stays away. :)

When all that is said and done, the interface for managing the server is quite nice and works well when you first figure it out... and their support on the my two tickets was fast and respectful..

All and all im quite happy with what we got for 40 euro.

Oh, and lemme add this, a dude at work orderd a server in FR to get arround the retarded ping issues while it was still goin on, he got the server 10 minutes after it was orderd and it was white listed that same evening... my order took 10 hours or so, so id say kudos on the fast response time.

Edit: and to the vehicles question, ive read somewhere that you need to give it 3-5 days for vehicles to spawn.. im fairly sure none have spawn'd on my server either.. been looking for them like crazy since it came online and have found none so far.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Krusty McNugget

[The Zepher 0]

Vilayer Vilayer OMG Vilayer!

Let’s start,

So you look around for a Dayz host and you find Vilayer they look on the outside a professional company however let’s look deeper. You purchase the Dayz server to find some 8-12 hours later a email with the following detail, please login into your Dayz server it’s ready that’s it nothing else no other detail! so we login to our new exciting server and find the following:

· The mission files not even loaded

· Arma 2 map files not even on the server

So after 3-4 hours of trying to work this out via reading forums and surfing the internet detail on how this should be setup I send in a 4^th ticket to support to be told the server files have been loaded you are ready to play.

Ok great news, so we login again, nothing server error hmmm ok ticket 5 sent in to get a response some 12 hours later:

We've confirmed a hard drive failure within the server you are on.

I am extremely sorry for this issue and a replacement hdd is being installed now.

All users on the machine will get a free day added to there service to allow for any billing issues.

Your server will be back online shortly.

If you have any further issues please let me know.

I'll put this ticket to in-progress util the server is fully 100% back online.

Best Regards,

Lee Benson (CEO)

Thank you for a response Mr CEO, 15 hours pass we are still with no server I should point out, the following update follows below!

Unfortunately hardware failures will happen anywhere, you will of course be compensated for this. This ticket has not been open for twenty four hours, this is not merely a matter of replacing a hard drive and restarting the machine.

Best Regards,

Casey Baer (Support Technician)

So I respond with the following:

So what you are saying is that you have no DR or resilience in place for your gaming servers.. wow? Why not move the accounts affected onto a different blade?

We still have no update some 30+ hours later

Edited July 27, 2012 by TheG4nk

[CamP 81]

I've been with HostAltitude.com aka dayzhosting.com for almost a month now with little to no issue. The support response time is a tad slow (about half a day to a day), but that's because they're in the UK, our time difference is a bit extreme. They seem to do well with keeping servers up-to-date with the latest verified beta patches.

Note! Client updates are backwards compatible with previous versions of servers. Lets say ArmA 2 Beta 96310 (or whatever it's at now) was just released and you instantaneously update both the server and client. You would still get a rejection notice from Battleye because they would still need to verify the latest version of the beta.

Edited July 27, 2012 by CamP

[Lee-Vilayer 51]

Hello,

I am extremely sorry to hear about your issue.

1 Machine out of 1000s we have had suffered from a hard drive failure unfortunately, the drive is being replaced as i post this.

All servers on the machine will be reinstalled and re-configured, I will be giving all users 2 free weeks on that machine for the problems you have received.

As i stated i am extremely sorry, hardware does fail from time to time there is nothing anyone can do about this. All we can do is replace the drive or components in the server that has failed.

[NigeyS 16]

In all fairness, as Lee has just said, hardware problems will occur, they are unavoidable, I have 2 servers with vilayer, and am more than happy with them, and the support in teamspeak and would recommend vilayer to anyone who wants a dayz server.

[The Zepher 0]

Hello,

I am extremely sorry to hear about your issue.

1 Machine out of 1000s we have had suffered from a hard drive failure unfortunately, the drive is being replaced as i post this.

All servers on the machine will be reinstalled and re-configured, I will be giving all users 2 free weeks on that machine for the problems you have received.

As i stated i am extremely sorry, hardware does fail from time to time there is nothing anyone can do about this. All we can do is replace the drive or components in the server that has failed.

Lee thank you for your kind responce, however you siad what you typed here some 17 hours ago and i linked this above and servers are still down...?

Let's hope they are fixed soon, i'm not sure what SLA you work to but 30+hours with a server down is odd, i'm in the business myself sir look at my invoice details..

Regards,

Richard AKA Gank

[The Zepher 0]

In all fairness, as Lee has just said, hardware problems will occur, they are unavoidable, I have 2 servers with vilayer, and am more than happy with them, and the support in teamspeak and would recommend vilayer to anyone who wants a dayz server.

Hi NigeyUK, I agree with you for most of what you typed however having a server down for some 30+ hours is not really support, sure you have issues but really what DR is inplace?

[randalp@gmail.com 8]

TheG4nk

unfortunately your an outlier case when it comes to server troubles, from what I understand Vilayer hosts 1000+ servers with multiple hard drives.

And ofcourse failovers are in place unfortunately in your case a hard drive failed that was running the O/S which brought the whole system to it's knees.

The manufacturer of the SSD has offered to replace it, that will however take atleast a week. So Lee actually shelled out cash to have it replaced ASAP by a network tech on location.

On top of that he is giving away 2 weeks of free hosting, that is a huge compensation!

And believe me Lee is just as aggrivated by the whole issue as you are and he's working his ass off to get this issue resolved ASAP.

TheG4nk if i were you i would really come and join Lee on the vilayer teamspeak and have a chat with him, i am sure that this will clear the air with all parties involved quickly.

Just like others in this thread i am very pleased with Vilayer and the services they offer, and so far with any issues (even issues not caused by Vilayer) Lee has been more than open and helpful with getting them resolved ASAP.

[zyfer.nyholm@gmail.com 131]

vilayer is in my experience a bunch of great great guys, my group leader has a server at vilayer and i was having some ping issues, 188 ping to a server in NL so i was getting pissed off, i was invited to teamspeak and we found out what the issue was, it was one of the internet providers my internet provider goes through who then goes to vilayer, he wrote them and in one hour it was fixed.

so im thumbing these guys up, lee is a great guy.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Zyfer

[CamP 81]

Vilayer's SLA states the following:

("Performance Credit") occurs when 100% uptime is not met. Vilayer. will refund the customer 5% of the monthly fee for each 30 minutes of downtime (up to 100% of the customer's monthly fee). Network downtime is measured from the time a trouble ticket is opened by a customer to the time the server is once again able to transmit and receive data.

4.3 Hardware Replacement will occur within two hours of the reported problem, Vilayer. will refund 5% of the monthly fee per additional one hours of down time (up to 100% of customer's monthly fee).

30*0.05 = 1.5 = 150% = full month of free service.

Current! Exclusions to said SLA. (None in which are an issue as far as you know.)

3.1 This SLA does not cover Service Downtime caused by problems in the following:

• Client's local area network.
  
• Client-provided Internet connectivity or end-user software.
  
• Entities inside Client's internal network including, but not limited to, firewall configuration and bandwidth shaping, local area workstations, or other servers, equipment, and software that have a potential bearing on the local networking environment.
  
• Any predetermined Scheduled Service Downtime.
  
• Any problems beyond the immediate Vilayer. network segment.
  
• Any interruptions, delays or failures caused by Client or Client's employees, agents, or subcontractors, such as, but not limited to, the following:
  
• Inaccurate configuration.
  
• Non-compliant use of any software installed on the server.
  
• Client initiated server over-utilization.
  
• Any problems related to attacks on the machine such as hacking, bandwidth-based attacks of any nature, and service or operating system exploits.
  
• Problems associated with Operating System, Software, or Applications.
  
• 3.2 Billable System Administration which applies to any "advanced support" not covered under the given Server Management Services and defined in section 1.8 includes the following.
  

• Servers have an specified amount of "advanced hours" that are included. In the event these are exceeded billable system administrations will apply, based on approval from client.
  
• System Administration of the client's server.
  
• Software installations performed by Vilayer.
  
• Virus and Security Scans of the server.
  
• Configuration of the operating system, services provided on the server.
  
• Security auditing and resource management & efficiency of the server.
  

Edited July 27, 2012 by CamP

[randalp@gmail.com 8]

Nice find CamP

I still however strongly suggest TheG4nk and Lee strike a conversation with eachother and come to a mutual agreeable solution and compensation.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Randal

[CamP 81]

Nice find CamP

I still however strongly suggest TheG4nk and Lee strike a conversation with eachother and come to a mutual agreeable solution and compensation.

I don't disagree, I just sent TheG4nk a PM saying...

I personally run a web hosting company, on one end I feel for the customer, I've suffered a bit from downtime before and it's rough. Vilayer should stand by their word of reimbursing the full month of service as stated in their SLA. On the other hand, I feel for Vilayer because I've also experienced hardware failure as a hosting provider. It sucks and could potentially ruin your company.

I feel something could be worked out, perhaps in the future Vilayer will be more readily available to correct hardware issues. Possibly make an announcement with a plan for future issues of the same variety.

[randalp@gmail.com 8]

Very well said CamP, i totally agree and I am sure as well that they can come to a good solution, and like you said Vilayer can use this case to further improve their (in my opinion) already great support.

It just saddens me that most people will only come to a forum to complain and then more drama queens come out of the woodworks with pitchforks in hand, hence why me and probably Nigey felt it was needed that we shared our positive experience with Vilayer.

Customer reviews/experiences can literally make or break a hosting company.

[The Zepher 0]

Nice find CamP

I still however strongly suggest TheG4nk and Lee strike a conversation with eachother and come to a mutual agreeable solution and compensation.

It's not really a find Sir, it's the SLA of " Vilayer Ltd" as a UK trading business this forms the backbone foundation of the company. Terms of business are in place to protect you the consumer and the business.

With regard to compensation, I'm really not interested I’m a small customer that's spent £31.00 pounds and this affects me personally, if this was affecting my business and we had a signed SLA in place it would be a totally different story. Let’s keep it in perspective and give Lee the time he needs to correct this ongoing Issue.

This will be my last post as I will be dealing direct from this point forward.

All the best

Gank

Edited July 27, 2012 by TheG4nk

[Lee-Vilayer 51]

Hello,

As wished 1 free month of service will be added to everyone affected, One thing i may add is that 6 DayZ servers have been affected by this issue nothing more.

The two hour hardware replacement is for DELL servers only, these servers are not DELL based servers and it can take sometime to replace hardware.

Unfortunately in this instance it has taken a little longer than expected, Again i am extremely sorry to anyone who has been affected by this issue.

[Lee-Vilayer 51]

@CamP

Normally when hardware fails it is replaced within a couple of hours depending on the specific hardware issue.

As you run a Web Hosting Company yourself you must understand that hardware failures do happen, The issue with this instance is unique and should not happen again however, we are a provider of professional services and we understand that within this instance there have been issues so we have granted 1 free month of service for the 6 DayZ servers affected.

This is an extremely rare issue and we hope that everyone understands that only 6 DayZ servers have been affected.

[CamP 81]

@CamP

Normally when hardware fails it is replaced within a couple of hours depending on the specific hardware issue.

As you run a Web Hosting Company yourself you must understand that hardware failures do happen, The issue with this instance is unique and should not happen again however, we are a provider of professional services and we understand that within this instance there have been issues so we have granted 1 free month of service for the 6 DayZ servers affected.

This is an extremely rare issue and we hope that everyone understands that only 6 DayZ servers have been affected.

I most certainly respect the route you've taken to ensure your clients are taken care of. I would hate for you to think that I'm hypocritical in this situation, I too have experienced hardware failure (as stated previously) and was held liable, It really does put a damper on doing what I love. I suggest adding a separate SLA for game servers, or DayZ servers specifically.

[solo_888 24]

Lee, who wil help me with my issue?

Just for now i found in server logs:

Warning: CfgVehicles missing in PreloadConfig - may slow down vehicle creation

Warning: CfgAmmo missing in PreloadConfig - may slow down vehicle creation

Warning: CfgNonAIVehicles missing in PreloadConfig - may slow down vehicle creation

I gues that is why vehicle not spawning?

[randalp@gmail.com 8]

@solo_888

Vehicles not spawning is probably due to a Hive issue i know that yesterday any servers with instance id's of 6000 and higher were not spawning vehicles because of some Hive maintenance.

Sometimes at server boot vehicles are not spawned in and a server reboot will fix that 9/10 times.

I suggest you come on the Vilayer TS server and talk to Vilayer there to figure out what the deal is (ts3.vilayer.com).

[solo_888 24]

@solo_888

Vehicles not spawning is probably due to a Hive issue i know that yesterday any servers with instance id's of 6000 and higher were not spawning vehicles because of some Hive maintenance.

Sometimes at server boot vehicles are not spawned in and a server reboot will fix that 9/10 times.

I suggest you come on the Vilayer TS server and talk to Vilayer there to figure out what the deal is (ts3.vilayer.com).

Just was in TS, I want to say thanks for answers which i got)

[silentbob@nicey-css.co.uk 1]

I only wish i read this a few weeks ago.

I currently have a day z server with them its a great server i had no issues with it so i figured why not try out one of there dedi boxes. I have to say it all went wrong from there. The box was ordered on the 12/09/2012 and to be fair i expected a few days wait. Im still waiting. I've issued numerous tickets & all i got was lies as replies. Lee from vilayer even gave me a reply after i contacted him on here.

Currently im having to go through pay pal to try & re coop the money i forked out. The replies on the support tickets are to say the least terrible. I didn't want to make it public but someone last night said that other people might fall into the same hole i did.

My advice would be to use caution if your going to go with vilayer for dedi boxes. Buy cheap buy twice.

[FoOKaa 15]

I just wanted to add to this post...

 

It seems in 2 years Vilayer has not changed...

 

I will be posting this review in as many places as possible to help others avoid this company like the plague...

 

WORST GSP IN THE WORLD - DO NOT USE VILAYER !!

This company is the worst I have ever used and I have used lots. I tried these guys out for the DayZ SA servers as they seemed to pop up everywhere and their website seemed very tidy and well made. I really wish I had done my homework 1st on these guys.

Firstly make sure to read everywhere on their website before ordering anything as there is lots of information that is not very obvious, lots of information that is very misleading and very badly linked together.

Their clan packages just seem too good to be true and that is exactly what they are. They don't allow all games they make out they support on the clan packages and they make you submit a ticket (which they will take minimum 24-48 hours to reply to) to get a teamspeak 3 server AND you have to provide your own 'non profit license' file from Teamspeak for which Teamspeak are not even issuing out anymore at time of writing this.

Then on to their support. Lets be honest, anyone who's rented a game server or any kind of service hosted on a server know full well and pretty much expect there to be some down time or issues from time to time, the two kind of go hand in hand. And that means you need to contact support to get issues resolved.

This is where Vilayer completely fall over sideways. Their support is almost non-existent. You make a support ticket and they will generally take 24-48 hours to reply to it IF YOUR LUCKY, and then you may say get a reply saying OK we will check out your problem, you then have to wait ANOTHER 24-48 hours for the next reply. It can go on and on and on before you get your issue resolved IF you do.

They have phone numbers on their website for support 'ALL' of which are disconnected or non existent phone numbers so phone support is not even an option.

Then you have email support, yay !! Not a chance, you write them an email and guess what, it just pops up in your support section on their website as if you had put in a ticket AND dealt with in the exact same way, i.e. it does not get dealt with.

They also offer Teamspeak support, this I thought to begin with was a very nice touch, little did I know at that time. The ViLayer Teamspeak will generally have 5 -10 ViLayer customers with their ticket numbers as their name as it asks you to do on joining sitting in a channel waiting to speak to someone, and guess what, they never come in their teamspeak, see for your self. ts3server://ts3.vilayer.com

Then there is the refund situation.

I asked for a refund for over a week, the server they provided me with kept randomly crashing and they would not reply to my tickets to help me get it to work correctly, so I just thought enough is enough, asked for my money back and am still yet to see it. They first cheekily told me I was asking for a refund for a reason that did not count ? So the service I'm renting doesn't have to actually work ? lol, then I complained more and more and they finally escalated the ticket. I thought ok at last I'm getting somewhere now, then 2 days past and still no response, so I asked what is happening and was told the billing department were still deciding if I should get a pro rata refund as I used my server oO ?? So me trying it out apparently counted as it being used and means I can not get a full refund ? lol

So this carried on for a further week, I sent in more tickets asking what was happening and no reply at all, then I decided I will make a further reply, they then tell me I am bumping my ticket and that is why it is not being replied to ? This was complete rubbish as I had left plenty of tickets for over 48 hours with no reply even at all. How was I going to get my refund if they never reply and I never reply ? lol

The whole situation was a complete joke and the best was yet to come.

I decided to send a ticket via email to the billing department asking for a refund and cc'd the mail to the admin email in hope some one of authority might see it too, and basically asked for a full refund and quoted things form their site explaining about a 30 day money back guarantee ect, 48 hours later I get a reply saying the matter was being escalated to senior billing and that I would only get a Vilayer credit refund ?? oO As you can imagine I was and still am completely livid, why on earth would I want ViLayer credit ? I will never use this company again ever even if they were the only hosting company left on earth, I would rather quit gaming.

This matter is still not resolved 2 weeks after the start of my issues and does not seem any closer to being resolved...

Be warned, ViLayer is a terrible host, has terrible support if you can even call it that and they do not give two cares about their customers, once they have your money that is that by the looks of it, you could almost accuse them of being a type of scam company.