Today at around noon, HostGator experienced a major outage in its Provo, UT datacenter that appeared to affect many of my clients. When I first realized the problem, I tested several of your sites and found them either offline or responding slowly. As I write this at about 6:30pm EST, it appears that all sites are back online.

HostGator, in an unusual move that attests to the severity of the outage, posted a public notice: http://forums.hostgator.com/network-outage-t302250.html.

This is a very significant outage and it concerns me greatly. I have been advising my clients to use HostGator for over three years and it has been my top economy hosting suggestion. I have had no complaints until this spring, when HostGator “moved” its datacenter. What I think really happened was that HostGator’s parent company, Endurance International Group, consolidated operations of several of its companies in one of its datacenters. While this may make business sense for Endurance, I do not believe the company handled the transition well and there have been numerous problems since.

After the crisis dies down, probably by tomorrow, I will register a complaint on your behalf. I am simply one voice; if you can find the time, I urge you to make inquiries as well.

No Web hosting company is perfect but HostGator has had more than its share of imperfections this year. If any of you wish to relocate your hosting between now and the time your current plan at HostGator expires, I will do the work at no charge. Please check your renewal dates.

My top recommendation for business-class hosting for small businesses remains InfoQuest Technologies in Harrisburg, PA. I have had clients there for over 12 years. Earlier this year, InfoQuest adjusted its shared hosting plans, advancing them technically while at the same time making them much more economically attractive and competitive.

if you had any reports of problems from your customers, clients, or Web site visitors, I would very much like to hear about them.