Hosting suspended: possible reasons and how to get it running again

If visitors see a notice instead of your site and the service shows as suspended in the client area, your data has not been lost. A suspension only stops the service from running. To bring it back, first work out the reason, because that decides what you need to do.

How to find the reason

• Check your invoice list: an overdue invoice for this service is by far the most common cause.
• Look through your mailbox, Spam folder included, for messages from TopHost. Notices about resources, malware or breaches of the Terms go to the email address on the account.
• See whether our team has opened a ticket for you.

Reason 1: an unpaid invoice

For unpaid services, the TopHost Terms (clauses 9.3, 9.4, 5.22 and 5.23) set out this sequence:

1. 14 days before the due date the renewal invoice is issued.
2. On the due date unpaid domains expire.
3. Within 5 days of the due date unpaid hosting is suspended.
4. After 30 days unpaid TopHost may permanently delete the hosting account from the server.
5. Backups are normally kept for up to 90 days after the service is suspended or deleted. After deletion you can ask for the site to be restored from an older backup, where that is possible.

Pay the invoice in the client area by bank card, MIA QR payment, PayPal or bank transfer. The service normally comes back on its own once the payment is recorded; a bank transfer can take longer to show up than a card payment. If the invoice is marked paid but the hosting is still suspended, read what to do when you paid and the service is not active, or open a ticket quoting the invoice number.

Reason 2: excessive resource use

When a script uses so much memory, CPU or SQL queries that it can destabilise the server, the account may be suspended or the script disabled without prior notice (clause 5.7). Track down and remove the cause with the Resource Limit Is Reached guide and why website scripts load the server, then tell us in a ticket what you changed. If the site constantly needs more, ask for a higher plan.

Reason 3: malware on the account

Imunify 360 scans the accounts on our servers. If it finds malicious files that put the server or other users at risk, you are notified and have 24 hours to clean the account (clause 5.30). For a serious threat the account can be blocked straight away, and we will contact you with the details. The clean-up steps are in Imunify found infected files and what to do about viruses on your site.

Reason 4: a breach of the Terms

Sending spam, launching DDoS attacks or anything that breaks the law of the Republic of Moldova gets the account blocked without prior notice. In that case, reply in the ticket our team opened, explaining what happened and what you have done about it.

Worth knowing

• Do not wait: after 30 days unpaid the account can be deleted, and a restore from backup is no longer guaranteed.
• Keep copies of your own as well. You can download one at any time by following the full account backup steps.
• If payment reminders never reach you, check the email address in your client area profile and add info@tophost.md to your contacts so the messages stay out of Spam.

Related articles

• Invoice paid, but the service is still off
• Resource Limit Is Reached explained
• How viruses on a site are detected