A real-world production migration from DigitalOcean to Hetzner dedicated, handling 248 GB of MySQL data across 30 databases, 34 Nginx sites, GitLab EE, Neo4j, and live mobile app traffic — with zero downtime.
I’m in the US and when I tried migrating from DO to Hetzner, I got asked to upload my passport to prove I’m not spam or something. Same experience with OVH.
Is this a thing for all European hosting companies? I ended up finding some Canadian hosting that would just let me sign up and pay like normal.
Lots of respectable EU hosting companies, and also aparently OVH, if they think there’s a chance you’re taking the piss will ask for a ID so they can ban you. It’s not just anti-spam, it’s anti-abuse and for preventing non-payment. They think there was a risk involved in accepting your business (whatever that may be, obviously companies don’t dilvulge their criteria here), and if you go elsewhere they’re not upset about it for that reason.
When I signed up at Hetzner, I had to go through the same anti-abuse check. However I could choose to not upload my ID and pre-pay 20€ instead. Did that and have been a happy customer since.
I never had that kind of experience with Hetzner or OVH as a European. I suppose there are extra hoops to jump through for US customers for some reason?
I don’t like uploading IDs. But recently I block almost all datacenters across the world due to ddos attack or other malicious attacks on my websites. So I don’t think it’s a bad idea to keep the web better. It’s a mess today due to all those cheap cloud providers
Netcup was the one I had most problems years ago about uploading identify check. Last year when I signed again they actually put a system in place that it’s simpler, you just show your face for some photos and show your identity card and it checks if it matches. So an external identity provider. Simpler than having to see how to upload copies by email with pgp (which they support and have documentation about).
I’m in europe. If you put a name that may seem a bit non standard they will fire that verification immediately. I think i tried hetzner before and same thing. On ovh was no problem for the little time I tried. Anyway they all always want full physical address and name and a bunch of personal details.
If you put a name that may seem a bit non standard they will fire that verification immediately.
You mean you also tried with a standard name? What exactly is “non standard”? How exactly is it “fired”?
My name isn’t standard either.
Is there anything else out of the ordinary in your application? Like, payment method, no/invalid smartphone, no/invalid email, no/invalid mailing address, etc.?
I repeat, I had to do no identity check whatsoever. Neither with one other European provider I used.
I’m in the US and when I tried migrating from DO to Hetzner, I got asked to upload my passport to prove I’m not spam or something. Same experience with OVH.
Is this a thing for all European hosting companies? I ended up finding some Canadian hosting that would just let me sign up and pay like normal.
Lots of respectable EU hosting companies, and also aparently OVH, if they think there’s a chance you’re taking the piss will ask for a ID so they can ban you. It’s not just anti-spam, it’s anti-abuse and for preventing non-payment. They think there was a risk involved in accepting your business (whatever that may be, obviously companies don’t dilvulge their criteria here), and if you go elsewhere they’re not upset about it for that reason.
Good. I’m sick of all those ddos attack and bot attacks from other cloud provides like alibaba etc.
When I signed up at Hetzner, I had to go through the same anti-abuse check. However I could choose to not upload my ID and pre-pay 20€ instead. Did that and have been a happy customer since.
I never had that kind of experience with Hetzner or OVH as a European. I suppose there are extra hoops to jump through for US customers for some reason?
I’m European and had to do the same, so it’s based on something else.
I don’t like uploading IDs. But recently I block almost all datacenters across the world due to ddos attack or other malicious attacks on my websites. So I don’t think it’s a bad idea to keep the web better. It’s a mess today due to all those cheap cloud providers
I’m a U.S. user and did not have this problem.
Absolutely not. At least not in Europe.
Have you tried netcup as well?
Let’s see! 🤞
I was able to sign up for netcup without any hassle! 🙌 No passport requirement.
Thanks!
Netcup was the one I had most problems years ago about uploading identify check. Last year when I signed again they actually put a system in place that it’s simpler, you just show your face for some photos and show your identity card and it checks if it matches. So an external identity provider. Simpler than having to see how to upload copies by email with pgp (which they support and have documentation about).
It’s so weird. Where from? I never had any such requirements with any provider, even when I, from Europe, bought something from abroad.
I’m in europe. If you put a name that may seem a bit non standard they will fire that verification immediately. I think i tried hetzner before and same thing. On ovh was no problem for the little time I tried. Anyway they all always want full physical address and name and a bunch of personal details.
Europe or EU?
You mean you also tried with a standard name? What exactly is “non standard”? How exactly is it “fired”?
My name isn’t standard either.
Is there anything else out of the ordinary in your application? Like, payment method, no/invalid smartphone, no/invalid email, no/invalid mailing address, etc.?
I repeat, I had to do no identity check whatsoever. Neither with one other European provider I used.
EU, normal name.