MySQL PS server down for 22+ hours

My MySQL PS server has been down for 22 hours and counting. Websites show "Error establishing a database connection" and I can't connect to the databases in the usual way via sqlyog software either (I was actually happily using sqlyog when the connection was lost but nothing I was doing would have caused this). I tried rebooting the server but no luck.

I submitted a support ticket 22 hours ago but received no response whatsoever yet. Sent a followup ticket an hour later (so 21 hours ago) ensuring the "critical" option was selected but still no luck.

I switched both web and mysql to PS servers because I was unhappy with the instability of shared hosting on Dreamhost. But even though I'm now paying substantially more I've had small periods of downtime the past month and now a 1 day outage (so far) and not a peep from Dreamhost support.

Any suggestions/recommendations?

I'm currently looking into dedicated hosting because it's not substantially more than PS hosting. With PS hosting there seems to be several servers involved, web server, shared file server, mysql server. I'm wondering if a dedicated hosting solution (assume Dreamhost dont do one so from another provider) would be more reliable with no virtualization layer underneath and no other users on the same hardware?

If your sites are intensive and it's economically feasible then dedicated is indeed the best option. I'm unsure if DH offer "complete" dedicated, but I'd ask Support about that. Whichever host you go with, make sure up front that you'll be getting true dedicated before signing anything. Alot of hosts out there sell virtuals under the "dedicated" tag and/or have SQL on the network rather than locally on your machine.

A couple of days of questions can save months of unwanted contract

After 1 day of downtime it's now back up and running. No response or explanation from support yet though.

This episode has pretty much made my mind up to move away from Dreamhost now. About 735 dollars per year is a bit much to have unreliability and 24 hour support response times. Had this happened in about a months time this would have been crippling to me so at least I can act now before I've rolled out some stuff essential to my business.

The frustrating thing is I like the way Dreamhost works, as in the features and the control panel (since they revamped it). Everything is straightforward to use. I just wish I could find a dedicated solution with the Dreamhost control panel thrown on top and I'd be happy.

One thing that's not clear to me is security with dedicated solutions. If the web and mysql software is on the same box, just how secure is that. If I have one user setup related to a blog, and another user setup related to more essential stuff (as I currently have it with Dreamhost), how hard would it be for someone who hacks my Wordpress blog to gain access to the mysql files on the harddisk. That kind of thing.

Good advice to ask questions upfront. I'm currently making up a list of requirements. It's knowing where to start that's the problem. Knowing what the limitations of other control panels etc. A bit daunting.

It's only ever as secure as we make it.

If your Wordpress is compromised then yes, the perps would have access to your blog's database info. Assuming you don't use the same users, databases, and passwords for your other scripts and information then that will remain secure - ie. by getting access to one thing doesn't necessarily mean they have "complete" access, unless you failed to take standard measures such as different users with different passwords and each script accessing separate databases.

If they were to hack your actual root account then they'd have access to everything, but that's the case in any serving scenario whether it be shared, virtual, or true dedicated. It would be like someone getting hold of your actual Panel login here at Dreamhost.

The greatest benefit with true dedicated is we have our own machine. The greatest downside is that it relies completely on our own security practices to remain a secure environment.