Lost website management

[BO Terry]

Ok, so this is a bit outside my normal realm but a favorite client asked my help with the issue. They have a super basic website (one-page static site with a request info submission box), nothing fancy at all. It was created maybe 8 or 9 years ago and has not been touched in a long time.

Fast forward to maybe 2016, they changed ISP's (and email management) from Windstream to TWC/Spectrum. Email is all fine and domain management is now in their direct control (after being left behind at Windstream until a few weeks ago) through Network Solutions. When they were getting the Network Solutions profile setup, they were prompted to buy an SSL certificate which they did. This uncovered the fact that they have no idea where the site is hosted or how to gain access to it. I have tried, unsuccessfully thus far, to track it down. I started with the company who created the site originally and then went to the old and new ISP's as well as a few other hosting companies indicated by various searches.

Any suggestions?

If I don't figure it out soon, I'm tempted to just try my hand at recreating the site. If I end up going this path, any suggestions where I may be able to import formatting etc from the existing site? The site is accessible, I'm guessing just hanging out there and missed by whoever's server it is being hosted on.

Once control is regained, I plan to suggest they move hosting to their ISP since their current bundle covers it.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

https://centralops.net/co/domaindossier.aspx can check dns records and service scan for clues, might help.

 

[Tech Savvy]

Did you do a Whois search? It should show you a name server like NS1.MYWEBHOST.COM.

From there you can try to track it down with the web host.

Also, maybe try asking them to search their bank statements for a charge? There’s no way they can get away with not paying for hosting unless it’s locally hosted.

Another thing you can try is to ping the website, grab the domain name and do a search on the googles for that IP.

Worst case scenario, if it really is just a static page, it’s not hard to replicate (view -> page source) and switch the NS over to a new host. You’ll need to recreate the data collection for more info requests but that kind of form submission is found all over the net and very easy to add.

 

[Markverhyden]

What is the domain name? PM if you don't want to publicize it.

 

[sapphirescales]

If the site is that old, just rip the HTML/CSS and relocate it. Should take you 5 minutes. If the site is larger you can use a website downloading program. But with only a single page, I'd just copy the HTML/CSS and call it a day.

 

[sapphirescales]

I had written much the same... but if they want to re-use the domain they will have to track down the registrar to point it to a new host... so at the minimum they should get the registrar and make sure they aren't paying for some hosting service elsewhere. Plus, if it is 8 years old, just scrap it and redeploy a fresh one.

OP said they already control the domain and email. And there's no reason to scrap code just because it's old. So long as the website looks good and converts well, all you need to do is put in some simple CSS to make the website responsive for smartphones and you're good to go.

 

[tf76]

Use this site to see previous versions on the web.

https://archive.org/web/

That's if you don't know what it looked like beforehand.

 

[fencepost]

OK, so they control the domain (via NetSol) and DNS (hosted by NetSol? Other?). Other folks have suggested ways to track from the A record in the DNS (which hopefully points to the IP where the site is hosted unless there's weird CDN stuff going on). From that you should be able to get in touch with the hosting provider.

That said, if it's a static site with no scripting or only a very basic contact form behind it, just mirror the site to new hosting that you control. There's a server-side script that's receiving those contact requests and converting them to email, but are they even going to the client's current email hosting or are they dumping into a local unmonitored mailbox on the webhost? It's entirely possible that any non-updated contact script that old is riddled with exploits, so just replace it. The HTML part is likely a very basic form submission.

 

[frase]

I have a similar problem, traced the host and email provider. Now though have an issue with logon credentials, so frustrating is with webs.com. Have been emailing the "support", take forever to respond. They finally did reset password but still doesn't work. I need the epp code to transfer the domain across to a new host I can manage easily.

 

[pb(IT)]

Have you resolved this yet? If you need a hand, feel free to contact me via pm.

 

[frase]

I finally heard back from Host provider - got reset password email and now have full access

 

[BO Terry]

I finally resolved this issue. Unique points (at least to me) along the way included:
The previous host had deactivated the "account" a few years ago but never took the site down. I got lucky with the right person in tech support taking a few minutes to test a change and determined that they indeed had our site. After validation, I got FTP access to copy the live site files.

Then ensued the fun of testing on the new hosting site and issues with the original SSL configuration which took it back down. Fun times!

Thanks for the feedback.