March | 2026 |

During the interim period of March 2025 to March 2026, when I was unable to get into dhnexus.com, the All in One Migration plugin that had served me so well for many years became out of reach for me. Result of which I was unable to restore my backup easily. I had to create a new Website from scratch.

The original owner/s of the All in One plugin must have sold it to a business who was out to make big bucks, which some users may be OK with, but I just cannot afford. $69 for one year only for a single plugin is a bit over the top I think. You can check the charge at the link below:

https://servmask.com/products/unlimited-extension

So when I realized what was happening, I changed all of my WordPress Websites to the Duplicator backup and migration plugin. However of course because my dhnexus.com Website was blocked, I could not back up my dhnexus Website with Duplicator. Once I realized that my VPS for dhnexus had been terminated, I had to puzzle a way to save my dhnexus.com from the All in One plugin backup, without the use of the plugin. How I managed to do this was to find a way to unpack the All in One Migration backup file so I could extract the database.sql file. I imported the database into a temporary database and in the phpmyadmin app I was able to extract and copy the pages and posts. It took a bit of effort to set it up, but at least dhnexus is up and running again.

I discovered my guilt in baby steps after my return from a trip to Africa. First I was dumbfounded when it happened after my arrival in Johannesburg. When I tried to update my Website, my access to the VPS was completely blocked. I didn’t have access to the InstaFree Forum either, and was unable to contact the Admin or anyone at InstaFree. A VPN also didn’t work.

So after my return in March 2026, when I was able to check in at the Forum, I learned, as to be expected after a long time of absence from my VPS, my VPS had been terminated. Initially I thought I couldn’t have been aware of the country blocking, but after studying the original application, I noticed that when one signs up for a VPS hosting account, it immediately comes up with a country block warning from InstaFree. So when I originally applied in March 2024, I must have ignored the content of the blocked list and assumed the list would contain the usual ones that have been banned by US legislation. So when I finally checked the list I noticed a much more elaborate and detailed list in which the whole of Africa had been blocked. I should have been more careful when I signed up for the VPS. So this is my fault entirely.

Regardless, there were so many good things that came from having the VPS and participating in the discussion Forum. InstaFree provided me with a VPS account that was of very high quality. The VPS came with an IPv6 instead of the easy IPV4. So I was provided with a challenge and opportunity for learning for the first time how to use an IPv6 to set up a VPS. And also how to create a working WordPress site on a VPS that works with an IPv6. I discovered through this learning experience that WordPress is not as on the level as it should be with IPv6. I was unable to automatically update my plugins. It will be interesting when one day I have an opportunity again to work with an IPv6 on a VPS, to check whether WordPress has finally caught up with IPv6 times.

Here is a list of InstaFree’s forbidden countries:

https://www.instafree.com/forbidden_countries.php

AFGANISTAN	AFRICA – CONTINENT	ALBANIA
ALGERIA	ARGENTINA	BANGLADESH
BELARUS	BRAZIL	CHINA
COLOMBIA	EGYPT	INDIA
INDONESIA	IRAN	IRAQ
ITALY	IVORY COAST	KOSOVO
KUWAIT	LIBYA	MALAYSIA
MOROCCO	MYANMAR	NIGERIA
OMAN	PAKISTAN	PHILIPPINES
POLAND	PORTUGAL	ROMANIA
RUSSIA	SAUDI ARABIA	SERBIA
SINGAPORE	SOMALIA	SPAIN
SRI LANKA	SUDAN	SYRIA
TAIWAN	THAILAND	TUNISIA
TURKEY	UKRAINE	UZBEKISTAN
VENEZUELA	VIETNAM	YEMEN

Monthly Archives: March 2026

Saving dhnexus …

Oops! InstaFree terminated my VPS …