Are you using a utility that requires Zip Archive Enabled in WordPress? For me, this was the backup utility Duplicator.
And there’s the pain point. This took quite a bit longer to find than I expected! Here’s the journey to success.
1. The Issue
The issue arose because I wanted to backup my site using Duplicator with Zip archive.
Most of the documents mention changing this in WHM. This was not the case for me.
Of note: What you are about to do has the capability of totally crashing your WordPress site. Be sure to document any changes you make, and test the changes regularly in an incognito window or another computer.
2. The Fix
Log into your hosting company
Access WHM
Go to List Accounts in the left hand menu
Access the cPanel for the site in question
Click Select PHP Version
Select Extensions
Scroll down to activate Zip
Test your site in Incognito window
Go back to Duplicator to confirm it is working!
Zip backups selected, and no errors! We’ve fixed the issue.
Now you can create a Zip archive.
3. But now the question, should you?
Up until now, I’ve used Zip archives because I’ve had issues with Daf archives where the entire site would not be handled. I’m reading this shouldn’t be the case… but it just has been.
Diving into the world of web hosting can feel like navigating a complex network, a bit like the physical landscapes of wilderness paths and waterfalls I often hike. I’m searching for that stable, secure hosting company that not only keeps my online presence running smoothly and sets up a reliable foundation for sharing my experiences with you.
Speaking from my perspective, both stability and security are paramount. I don’t want to hear about compromised hosting, defaced web sites, exploited accounts, and downtime. In this case, when it comes to hosting with HostMantis, the deafening silence has been golden. No alarms, no breaches, no unexpected outages, just consistent uptime and reliable service. For someone involved in computer network operations and vigilantly aware of potential vulnerabilities, this “no news” scenario is the ultimate reassurance. It means HostMantis is doing its job, allowing me to focus on other priorities. In the case of a business owner, it is to get sales from my site; in the case of a newspaper, it is to share newsworthy articles with readers. In my case those priorities are wanting my website to work flawlessly so I can tend to the issues of sharing life and my experiences with valuable readers like you.
For the past four years, I’ve relied on HostMantis to provide hosting services. Their service has consistently exceeded, my expectations. In this review, I’ll share my experience, outlining why HostMantis has been a solid hosting provider and why it might be the stable, dependable, and effective solution you’ve been searching for. From my viewpoint.
A few notes on my baseline site hosting and configuration, including a background on URL and Domains vs Hosting.
My domains are registered somewhere else, I keep the domain registration separate from hosting. Here are a few reasons:
Pro: Avoid vendor lock-in, increased portability: Domain registration is a somewhat static task that is very well defined, and costs are generally constant. Hosting on the other hand is a bit more messy. There are plenty of bad hosting providers. Keeping my domains separate, with a separate billing account, reduces the opportunity for cross issues.
Pro: Security: Separating services can reduce the risk of losing both the domain and hosting if one provider has issues.
Pro: Email control: I maintain a separate Domain Name System (DNS) in order to route mail most definitively. If integrated correctly, mail can be routed directly to a public high availability mail service like Microsoft, Google, or even Yahoo instead of through a web host who then forwards the mail. This avoids any issues with hosting downtime.
Con: Additional costs. Separate renewal fees, and often the host provider will “give” a domain registration with the cost of hosting
Con: Complex management: Yes, it is true, this increases complexity (an enemy of security), but in my experience this is worth the lift.
2. HostMantis Account Configuration
HostMantis provides two factor authentication with any 2FA app. I’ve tried it with Microsoft Authenticator, Twilio Authy, and Google Authenticator. All three worked flawlessly.
Account security appears to be an area that HostMantis takes seriously.
I have not validated their “break glass” system; that is, if I’ve lost access to my account due to hijacking or lost authenticator token (for example, if your phone blows up), I’m unclear what the break glass back door is. I expect calling them would allow them to unlock my account. But, again it has not been tested.
For the package I own, login starts as a Reseller account into a general HostMantis page.
From there, enter the WHM (WebHost Manager) console. WHM is an industry standard from the makers of cPanel and is adopted by every hosting company I’ve used that use cPanel. WHM is where creation and management of individual web pages happens. Creating sites is straightforward.
Migrating Sites Into HostMantis
Migrating active sites into HostMantis proved flawless. I used Duplicator in my old hosting company, downloaded my zip files, and uploaded and ran the php installer. Everything was more than perfect.
SSL Certificates
HostMantis makes HTTPS is available on all sites through the free service Let’s Encrypt, a platform I’ve been using since its official launch in 2016. As a background, in the early days of Let’s Encrypt, securing sites with ssl/tls required cron jobs and other manually configured automation. HostMantis’ solution is integrated in a button.
I would strongly recommend avoiding any hosting providers that do not provide free SSL.
3. Performance and Reliability
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed has remained exceptional throughout my tenure with HostMantis. Seeing a 97 on a site makes there not much else to report!
Uptime has been excellent. I test uptime with a test of whether the opening page opens, tested every five minutes. Over the course of two years, according to Uptime Robot, my primary site has experienced four incidents of downtime totaling 8 hours.
Downtime incidents
However, I was not able to corroborate this data point. At each of the downtime reports, by the time I tried to manually test the sites, they were all active again. It may have been an issue with Uptime Robot, not saying it was, but I am not able to assign “real” downtime to HostMantis.
Response times
The UpTime Robot response times are not nearly as stellar as the PageSpeed Insights. I’ll have to defer here to others who may be able to “make this make sense”. If you happen to understand where the discrepancy between the two exists please get in touch with me.
4. Customer Support: Always There When You Need Them
Every one of the minimal tickets that I’ve created has been answered in timely fashion, definitely nothing but admiration for the team.
Pricing and Value
HostMantis does not come cheap, but the uptime and reliability value is baked into the cost.
5. Overall Experience: A Highly Recommended Hosting Company
Considering the excellent performance I’ve experienced from this company, based on my experience over the last few years, I would fully recommend HostMantis as a web hosting company.
HostMantis is a web hosting company that has been providing reliable and affordable hosting services since 2014. They offer a range of hosting solutions, including shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers.
One of the standout features of HostMantis is their excellent uptime guarantee. They promise 99.9% uptime, and many users report that their sites are up and running smoothly without any issues.
HostMantis also offers fast and responsive customer support. They have a support team available 24/7, and users can contact them via live chat, phone, or support ticket. Many users report that the support team is knowledgeable and helpful, and they always go the extra mile to solve any issues that arise.
Another great thing about HostMantis is their user-friendly control panel. The cPanel interface makes it easy to manage your website, set up email accounts, and install popular applications like WordPress.
HostMantis also provides a range of security features to keep your site safe from cyber threats. They offer free SSL certificates, daily backups, and malware scanning and removal.
Configuring a new host is meaningfully time consuming. Do the right thing today, and there should be smooth sailing tomorrow.
HostMantis proved extremely efficient at setup and installation. Website installation through ftp was flawless, and there was sufficient compute site services to perform the unpacking and installation of WordPress zip files.
I did not use the service, but HostMantis offers free website migration services for customers who want to transfer their website from another hosting provider. Their migration team handles the entire process, including transferring files, databases, and DNS settings, making it easy for website owners to switch to HostMantis without any hassle.
Uptime testing
Uptime guarantees are a contractual Service Level Agreement. In these agreements, the vendor will promise to compensate the buyer if uptimes are not adequately provided. The problem is, you as a consumer usually aren’t interested in uptime guarantees, you are interested in uptime for your customers.
Say you own a restaurant. You’ve contracted with a company to provide “99% uptime guarantee, or we will refund your entire month of service!” Well, that sounds good, if they experience less than 99% uptime, you will be refunded the $100/month service fee they charged you. But how is this going to affect your company? 99% uptime is 8 hours downtime per month. This means your restaurant could experience two four hour downtimes during the most busy days you have, and they’ve met their contractual obligation. How is that going to work out for you? What are your business continuity plans for the eight hours of downtime? Even worse, if they exceed the 8 hours, their only obligation is going to be the $100 fee they’ve charged you.
Testing process
We will be testing HostMantis uptime over the next two years, and report back to you on findings.
Testing the uptime guarantee of a web hosting service can be a tricky and time-consuming task, but it is an essential aspect to consider before choosing a hosting provider. The uptime guarantee is the percentage of time that a web hosting service promises to keep your website up and running without any interruptions. Most reputable web hosting providers offer an uptime guarantee of at least 99.9%.
To test the uptime guarantee, you need to monitor your website’s uptime continuously over a period of time using a reliable monitoring tool. These tools check your website’s availability at regular intervals and alert you if it goes down. Some popular monitoring tools include Pingdom, Uptime Robot, and StatusCake.
When monitoring your website’s uptime, you should set up alerts for downtime and track the uptime percentage over time. This will give you an idea of how often your website experiences downtime and whether it meets the uptime guarantee promised by your hosting provider.
It’s important to keep in mind that downtime can be caused by factors outside the hosting provider’s control, such as internet outages or server maintenance. However, if your website experiences downtime frequently or for extended periods, it may be a sign of poor server performance or inadequate resources, and you may need to consider switching to a more reliable hosting provider.
HostMantis uptime results
Testing after two years was unexpected and impressive. Two different uptime monitors were used through the two years of hosting through HostMantis.
The results were that HostMantis provided 100% uptime through the terms of service.
Security is critical to success
Web site security is critical to success. Whether you are running a multinational corporation, or a home based business, web security is going to be reviewed by your customers.
TLS/SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is an essential technology for securing online communications and protecting sensitive information on the internet. SSL is a protocol that establishes a secure, encrypted connection between a website and a user’s browser. This encryption ensures that any data transmitted between the user’s browser and the website is protected from being intercepted by hackers or other malicious actors.
The importance of SSL cannot be overstated, especially in today’s digital age, where online security threats are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated. Without SSL, sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card numbers, and personal data are vulnerable to interception, which can lead to identity theft, fraud, and other security breaches.
In addition to protecting sensitive information, SSL also provides website visitors with assurance that the website they are visiting is legitimate and trustworthy. SSL certificates are issued by trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs), who verify the identity of the website owner and ensure that the SSL certificate is legitimate. This verification process gives website visitors confidence that the website they are visiting is not a phishing site or a fraudulent site impersonating a legitimate website.
Having an SSL certificate is also important for search engine optimization (SEO). In 2014, Google announced that SSL was a ranking factor in their search algorithm. This means that websites with SSL certificates are more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) than websites without SSL certificates.
HostMantis SSL included
HostMantis provides an excellent SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate service that offers reliable and secure encryption for websites. SSL certificates are essential for protecting sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card numbers, and personal data from being intercepted by hackers or other malicious actors.
HostMantis offers free SSL certificates for all of their hosting plans, which is a significant benefit for website owners who want to secure their website without incurring additional costs. Their SSL certificates are issued by Let’s Encrypt, a well-known and respected certificate authority, which ensures that your website’s encryption is both secure and reliable.
HostMantis SSL certificates are easy to install and integrate with your website. They offer a range of SSL certificate types, including Domain Validated (DV), Extended Validation (EV), and Wildcard certificates, depending on your website’s needs.
Stress testing
Stress testing is an essential part of web development and website maintenance. It involves simulating heavy traffic and high user loads on a website to evaluate its performance under extreme conditions. The purpose of stress testing is to identify potential bottlenecks and weaknesses in the website’s infrastructure before it goes live.
To perform a stress test, a testing tool or software is used to simulate large volumes of traffic to a website. The tool sends multiple requests to the website, emulating the behavior of a large number of users accessing the website simultaneously. The requests are designed to simulate a range of user actions, such as loading pages, submitting forms, and downloading files.
During the stress test, website performance metrics such as response time, CPU usage, memory usage, and server load are monitored and measured. These metrics help identify any potential bottlenecks or performance issues that may arise under heavy user loads.
Once the stress test is complete, the data collected is analyzed to identify any areas of weakness or performance issues. These issues can then be addressed through optimization and performance tuning to ensure that the website can handle high traffic loads without experiencing downtime or slow performance.
Stress testing is particularly important for websites that experience high volumes of traffic or that are critical to business operations. By identifying and addressing performance issues before they occur, website owners can ensure that their website remains available and responsive even under extreme conditions.
HostMantis stress testing
HostMantis is an exceptional web hosting provider that delivers reliable and efficient web hosting services. Their commitment to performance and stability is evident in their ability to handle stress testing for up to 1000 users.
A recent stress test on a website hosted by HostMantis demonstrated exceptional performance under extreme traffic loads. Throughout the test, the website remained stable and responsive with minimal slowdowns or errors.
HostMantis’ proactive approach to performance optimization was noteworthy. They provided detailed performance metrics and optimization recommendations that helped fine-tune the website for optimal performance under heavy user loads.
Customer support
Customer support cannot be overstated. You don’t need them… until you need them. It is like the fire department. Do you think about the fire department when you are driving to work or having dinner with your family? Probably not. You only think about them… when you need them.
No different than customer support in web hosting. Customer support is a critical aspect of any web hosting provider, and HostMantis sets a high standard in this area. Their commitment to customer satisfaction is evident in their comprehensive and responsive customer support. The support team is available 24/7 via live chat, phone, or ticketing system and is highly knowledgeable and professional. Their technical expertise and willingness to go the extra mile to resolve customer issues promptly are impressive.
As a customer, it is reassuring to know that any issues or questions can be addressed promptly and efficiently. HostMantis’ customer support provides a seamless and stress-free hosting experience, ensuring that any concerns or problems are resolved quickly and effectively.
The importance of customer support cannot be overstated, and HostMantis delivered exceptional customer support that prioritizes customer satisfaction. Their commitment to providing a reliable and stress-free web hosting experience is evident in their comprehensive and responsive customer support.
Concluding remarks
So far, HostMantis has proven to be an effective and efficient web hosting company. Continued monitoring and testing over the next months and years will be reported. If you have any particular concerns or questions about HostMantis, feel free to send me a note. Otherwise, stay tuned to this channel for more information as it evolves!
Do you remember when domain names were free? Then you had a domain before I did! Yes, they were free before 1995.
Do you remember paying more than $100 for two years of domain name registration, and self hosting the sites on your own servers? Then you’ve been in the domain business as long as I have, since the late 1990s. And over the course of twenty years, you have likely wound up using many different hosting companies. If you recall, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was most common to host your own websites on your own servers on your own DSL line or some other self hosting configuration.
Nowadays I’m a big proponent of cloud services. Find yourself a good “As a service” vendor, and host there. And yes, sometimes it is finding a “good enough” hosting vendor.
My last vendor of many years went out of business, so I was left with a dozen personal sites that I run — and no host. Out went proposals, and came up on top of my list.
This article last updated after a year of hosting with InMotion.
1. In the beginning
Establishing an account with InMotion went very smoothly. Sales set everything up perfectly. The documentation provided is extensive, and support is available 24×7 via chat and phone.
However, there were technical issues with establishing the package. The first day, I was informed that there was a database platform problem that would not be resolved until the next day. Okay, these things happen. So I waited 24 hours and started again.
Then there were problems with AutoSSL. At the time of setup, InMotion was using Comodo. Truly, in the day of free SSL through LetsEncrypt, I was surprised to see Comodo. Accounts with InMotion are set up to auto renew SSL though, so it really doesn’t matter to the end user.
But the problems persisted. For four days.
While the help desk is available 24×7, it was difficult to get anyone to do anything other than change passwords and tell me to “wait 24 hours”. Finally, through the course of so many chat sessions it felt like I was social engineering myself into a solution, I wound up with someone who was actually able to fix the problem. According to the representative, there was a queuing problem on InMotion’s cPanel configuration that was affecting all users, including his own accounts. He explained that earlier in the week there was a cPanel update on their servers that appears to not have gone smoothly.
2. Since the beginning
Since that first week, InMotion services have been working smoothly but erratically. Uptimes have not been great. Seven day average for one WordPress domain was 90%, with 30 day uptime around 97%.
Example Uptimerobot monitor
To put “uptime” in perspective:
There are 168 hours in a week. Uptime at 90% is 16 hours DOWN in one week. That is two full 8 hour working days down in a five day work week, or of course it might have been three hours each night for five days when no one was accessing the site, but when dealing with uptime one should consider worst case scenarios.
There are 720 hours in 30 days. Uptime at 97% is 21 hours DOWN in 30 days. That is three full 8 hour working days down in a 20 day working month.
Here’s a stat clip:
A demonstrated instance of more than 14 hour downtime
To note, these are WordPress sites, and the test is against having a text artifact on the WordPress site completely load. In creating a monitor that loads a simple text file, the uptime response was much higher (not 100%), but testing a single file load doesn’t help identify “site uptime” when the site is hosted in WordPress. Think of it this way: If the first few bytes of your WordPress site load fine, but the WordPress engine itself cannot render your site because of server constraints, then your users and customers still cannot interact with your site.
3. Logging in
In my opinion, logging in and managing sites was made more difficult than necessary.
Login to management site
Logging into the main site (or Management Site) Login page works as one expects. Go to and click Login.
Login to cpanel site
To login to a cpanel, go to https://yoursite/cpanel
But of course this requires yoursite to already resolve in DNS.
4. Speed and responsiveness
Websites seem to have periodic issues with speed tests. Going to the inmotionhosting main web site is always very fast, but the hosted sites are not necessarily fast. Let’s take a look.
Duplicator backups
Resource constraints seem to be a common occurrence. For example, I use (and recommend) Duplicator for backups. However, the sites under test on inmotionhosting aren’t easily backed up with Duplicator.
Pagespeed insights
Google’s Pagespeed Insights (PSI) is an invaluable tool for identifying poorly performing sites. Why Pagespeed Insights? Because Google is going to judge you on the speeds they experience!
Here are a couple of clips of this page with PSI
Adding gzip compression in .htaccess did not materially change PSI.
A common error message obtained was a server response timeout in Lighthouse. Trying the test several times eventually bypassed the problem.
Email
I have not tested email capabilities. Since the uptime was not near 100%, I chose to not configure inbound email capabilities on the sties. Instead, the domain registrar (Google Domains) allows configuring the MX records to manage emails directly and independently of the web host. I also do not use inmotion for outbound emails. Instead I use a relay where I can add monitoring capabilities to my emails.
Remember, emails are important, and important emails are more important. You need as close to 100% email capability, regardless of whether your web site is alive. If your web host goes down, you want to continue to send and receive emails!
Security
I’ve experienced no security issues with inmotion hosting.
Two factor is limited to specific carrieres for SMS and to Google Authenticator. No other 2FA is available. This is a limitation, especially in the current security world, since there are many authenticator apps available. If you are using one particular authenticator app that happens to not be Google Authenticator, you are forced to use Google just for this one company.
5. Concluding thoughts
I used the InMotion Hosting service for about two years.
There were some technical issues in configuring the account, but everyone was professional — including the help desk fellow who kept trying to get me to call back to someone else. Okay, maybe that one was not quite as professional as the rest! 🙂 . Eventually the services were created (about a week), and I’ve been running on those servers since then.
Speed and resource constraints were common. Had to identify different methods to perform backups, for example.
Uptime was poor. The InMotion engineers contacted claimed 100% “server” uptime, while running WordPress resulted in poor uptime results. If you are using WordPress, be aware of this limitation.
