Failover When a Host Shuts You Down
Short answer: A host can ban you, go offline, shut down entirely, or raise its price. When that happens you move the whole stack to another host. Failover is not a one-time setup — expect to do this more than once.
What you are planning for
The pillar page lists four triggers, and only one of them is dramatic: a host can ban you, go offline, shut down entirely, or raise its price. Any of the four ends the same way — the whole stack moves to another host.
Hosts in this market can also change their rules after you have uploaded your data, and some close accounts without warning. Failover planning starts from that, not from the hope that it will not happen.
What has to exist before you need it
A second host account, opened before the emergency. Your data backed up somewhere you control. A restore script. And a test that proves the restore works.
The guide is blunt about the test: backups you never restored are not backups until you do. A restore you have never run is a hope, and the middle of a shutdown is the worst time to find out which one you have.
What to watch for while you move
Keys that still work on the old host — close them down as part of the move. And a domain or address that still points at a dead box, which makes a finished restore look broken.
When the move is done, the weekly work continues: backup checks and key rotation are part of this step's weekly hours, because the next move is a matter of when, not if.
The hours, as estimated on the pillar page
First time: about 15 to 30 hours. Then about 1 to 2 hours a week for backup checks and key rotation. These are the pillar page's estimates, not measured data, and they assume you have built software before. If you have not, add time.
Related DIY pages
Back to the pillar: What it takes to do this yourself
Adults only (18+). What it takes to do this yourself · Apply